Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 3:1; 11:1-8; Josh. 9:14; 1 Cor. 1:24, 30; Isa. 45:15; 37:31; Matt. 6:6
Ⅰ
Solomon became a man of wisdom and a man of understanding (2 Chron. 1:10; cf. Col. 2:2b-3); however, because he took many pagan women and worshipped their idols and built places for the people to worship idols, he lost his God-given wisdom and his God-given understanding; he became very foolish and brought in damage to his kingdom (1 Kings 3:1; 11:1-8):
A
Solomon’s father David, a man according to God’s heart, failed in this same gross and ugly sin of indulging his lust (2 Sam. 11); Solomon’s failure in this satanic temptation was much greater than his father’s; his fall was in his indulging his lust by loving many foreign women (1 Kings 11:1-3), in his forsaking God, who appeared to him twice (v. 9b), and in his worshipping the Gentile idols through the seducing by the foreign women whom he loved (vv. 4-8).
B
Solomon had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines (v. 3); in order to satisfy their desire, he built up high places; his wives “turned his heart after other gods” (v. 4); “Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable thing of the Ammonites” (v. 5).
C
“Solomon built a high place to Chemosh the detestable thing of Moab in the mountain that is before Jerusalem and to Molech the detestable thing of the children of Ammon”—v. 7:
１
During the reign of Solomon the temple was built in Jerusalem, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple; the age of the building of the temple was a golden time in the history of the children of Israel—8:10-11.
２
The unique place, Jerusalem, signifies oneness, whereas the high places signify division; just as all manner of evil and abominable things were related to the setting up of the high places, so in New Testament terms, all manner of evil is related to division—1 Cor. 1:10 and footnote 3.
３
It is remarkable that Solomon, the very one who had built the temple according to God’s desire on the ground of the oneness of God’s people, took the lead to build up the high places once again—1 Kings 11:6-8.
D
This caused his descendants to lose more than ninety percent of their kingdom and caused the people of God’s elect to suffer division and confusion among themselves throughout many generations; eventually, they lost the God-given land and became captives in the foreign lands of idol worship.
E
The nation of Israel is still suffering because of Solomon’s failure; what a warning and an alarm this should be to us! We must be careful; even a little failure in the indulgence of lust can damage the church life and kill the splendid aspects of the church life.
F
Therefore, we must be careful, even in the smallest thing; we should walk according to the spirit in everything (Rom. 8:4; cf. Zech. 4:8-10); God’s people should co-live with Him, always relying on Him and being one with Him (Josh. 9:14; 2 Cor. 6:1a; 1 Cor. 3:9; Matt. 1:23).
G
Solomon’s decease was in gloomy disappointment (1 Kings 11:41-43); his glory fell off like the flower of grass (Matt. 6:29; 1 Pet. 1:24), and his splendid career became “vanity of vanities,” as he had preached (Eccl. 1:2).
Ⅱ
We need to see Solomon’s failure under the light of the spiritual life:
A
Solomon was a wise man but not a spiritual man; a man of capability, not a man of life; his enjoyment of the God-given good land reached the highest level through his God-given gift; however, because of his small measure in the maturity of the spiritual life, he was cut off from the enjoyment of the good land in God’s economy because of his unbridled indulgence of his lust—1 Cor. 2:14-15; 3:1, 3.
B
Solomon’s God-given wisdom made him great in the world in his days; however, his wisdom was absolutely in the physical realm, without any spiritual element; his wisdom was a shadow of the real wisdom that was to come, and it was altogether different from the wisdom of Paul—1:24, 30.
C
Paul’s wisdom was a spiritual wisdom concerning Christ making His home in our hearts (Eph. 3:17), our walking and having our being according to the spirit (Rom. 8:4), and the two spirits—the divine Spirit and the human spirit—mingled together as one spirit (v. 16; 1 Cor. 6:17).
D
The mysteries of God’s economy were disclosed mainly to Paul (Col. 2:2; Eph. 3:3-5, 9-10); today, if we would know the highest wisdom in the universe, we must get into the crystallization of the truths in Paul’s Epistles; the real wisdom is God, who is embodied in Christ, who has become our wisdom to be in us, making us one with God and making us God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead; thus, we become the masterpiece of the Triune God, His poem, displaying His infinite wisdom and divine design (1 Cor. 1:24, 30; Eph. 2:10; 3:9-11).
Ⅲ
Solomon was a man full of natural ability but not a man of life, a man whose wisdom was a gift, not a measure of life; the careers he accomplished were evidences of his capacity from the God-given gift of wisdom, not manifestations of the ability of the maturity of life—Heb. 6:1; Col. 1:28-29; Phil. 3:12-15:
A
We need to see the difference between our natural ability and the ability that has passed through death and resurrection; we need to realize the impotence, the insufficiency, of our natural being and natural ability in the things of God—Acts 7:22; Exo. 3:2-3, 14-15; 1 Cor. 2:14; Phil. 3:3-9; 2 Cor. 3:5-6.
B
We should not have any trust in our natural being in the things of God; rather, we must learn to reject our natural being and exercise our spirit in everything for the organic building up of the Body of Christ—Phil. 3:3; Rom. 8:4; 1 Tim. 4:7.
C
In the Lord’s recovery there is no place for our natural being; the churches in the Lord’s recovery, as parts of the living Body of Christ, will spontaneously reject anything that is natural—1 Cor. 12:12-13.
D
In the building of the church, every natural thing in us must be broken before we can be joined together; we can be built only after we have been broken in our natural being—Hymns, #837, stanzas 6 and 7.
E
Natural ability is egocentric and causes us to become proud, resulting in boasting and self-glorification; resurrected ability is not proud and does not boast in itself—cf. Col. 1:17b, 18b; Phil. 3:3; 2 Cor. 12:9.
F
Natural ability is selfish, and all its schemes and devices are for the sake of the self without any regard for the will of God; resurrected ability is for the will of God; it has been broken and is not for self and has no element of self—cf. Matt. 16:24.
G
Natural ability causes self-reliance and self-confidence, acting on its own and causing us to depend on ourselves and not on God; resurrected ability relies upon God and does not dare to act according to self, though truly able and capable; resurrected ability is controlled by the Holy Spirit and does not dare to act according to its wishes—cf. 2 Cor. 1:8-9; 4:6-7; 12:7-9.
H
Natural ability has no divine element; it seeks its own glory and satisfies its own desires; it is mingled with the elements of flesh and temper; therefore, when it is disapproved, it is provoked; resurrected ability is devoid of the flesh—cf. 1 Thes. 2:4.
I
Natural ability is temporary and is unable to withstand tests, setbacks, or opposition; resurrected ability extols the Father, acknowledging the Father’s will—Matt. 11:20-26; John 2:19; Acts 2:24.
J
Those who serve according to natural ability desire rewards or appreciation from others; those who serve according to resurrected ability desire to win Christ and are determined to gain the honor of being well pleasing to Him—Phil. 3:8; Gen. 15:1; Heb. 11:5-6; 2 Cor. 5:9.
K
Natural ability likes to manifest itself, to be known by man, and to be carried out in front of man; resurrected ability likes to do things in secret to be one with the “God who hides Himself ” and to “take root downward and bear fruit upward”—Isa. 45:15; 37:31; Matt. 6:4, 6, 17-18.
L
Natural ability and capability apart from life are like a snake, poisoning God’s people; life is like a dove, supplying God’s people with life and causing us to become a person who expresses in his humanity the bountiful God in His rich attributes through His aromatic virtues; life causes us to become like a lily growing out of brambles and like a bright star shining in the dark night—cf. Exo. 4:1-9; Matt. 3:16-17.
M
Whenever people try to bring their natural ability into the church, the reality of the church is lost; only that which passes through death and resurrection can be brought into the church—1 Cor. 3:16-17.
Ⅳ
The forty-one kings of Israel and Judah were in the highest position, but they were not careful in their enjoyment of the good land; not even David enjoyed the good land in full; we should apply their example to ourselves:
A
The root of the evil of the evil kings, like that of the evil of the people of Israel, was their forsaking the very God as the fountain of living waters and their turning away to the pagan idols as broken cisterns that hold no water; these two evils drowned them in the death waters of idolatry and of the indulgence of lusts—Jer. 2:13.
B
Today we are kings who are reigning with Christ in life by receiving the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness (Rom. 5:10, 17); we should endeavor to follow the pattern of Paul, who could declare that he had been crucified with Christ and that he no longer lived but Christ lived in him (Gal. 2:20); he said that he lived Christ for His magnification by receiving the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the supply of the Body (Phil. 1:19-21a).
C
In resurrection Christ became the life-giving Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God (1 Cor. 15:45b); this divine, all-inclusive Spirit enters into our spirit and mingles with our regenerated spirit, causing God and man, man and God, to become one in the mingled spirit; the two spirits are now mingled together as one entity (6:17; Rom. 8:16).
D
Today God the Spirit is the all-inclusive Spirit, the compound Spirit, the anointing Spirit, the revealing Spirit, and the consummated Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God—Phil. 1:19; Exo. 30:22-25; 1 John 2:27; 1 Cor. 2:10; Rev. 22:17a.
E
In the Lord’s recovery today, we should pay our full attention to the mingled spirit, the Spirit mingled with our spirit, and should live, walk, and have our being in and according to this mingled spirit so that we can truly reign in life (Rom. 8:4; 5:10, 17); this mingled spirit is the beginning of the Body of Christ and will consummate in the New Jerusalem (Eph. 1:17; 2:22; 3:5, 16; 4:23; 5:18; 6:18; Rev. 21:10).
Morning Nourishment
Phil. 3:13 Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing I do: Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before.Rom. 8:4 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.
Solomon became a man of wisdom and also a man of understanding. However, because he took many pagan women and worshipped their idols and built places for the people to worship idols, he lost his God-given wisdom and his God-given understanding. He became very foolish and brought in damage to his kingdom.
Such a history indicates to us that God’s dealing with His people is very strict and very detailed... We should not forget that whatever we do is the sowing of a seed. There will be a result, an outcome, of what we sow. Even a little negligence will produce a result. Thus, we must learn to fear God. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, p. 19)
Today’s Reading
It is true that God is loving, kind, full of grace, and full of forgiveness. However, He is also the righteous God, and He is righteous in a detailed way. If we do not act in the way God wants us to act, He will have no chance to make His home in our hearts. Our doing, our behaving, affects God in His dealing with us... We need to learn the lesson not to speak a wrong word or an idle word. We are people in God’s hands, even in God Himself... We must learn to be careful, even in small things.Today we also are kings, reigning with Christ. Our intentions, desires, character, habits, and behavior affect our enjoyment of Christ. Because we are kings, for us to be cut off from the enjoyment of Christ means that we are cut off from the top enjoyment of Christ, and [this] will cause us to lose our kingship. Thus, we must be careful, even in the smallest thing. We should walk according to the spirit in everything (Rom. 8:4).
Solomon’s fall was in his indulgence of his lust by loving many foreign women... In having so many wives and concubines Solomon was most foolish. Solomon’s fall was also in his forsaking God, who appeared to him twice (1 Kings 11:9), and in worshipping the Gentile idols through the seducing of the foreign women he loved (vv. 4-8). As a result of Solomon’s fall, God’s chastisement came in. God raised up Hadad the Edomite to attack Solomon (vv. 14-22); He raised up Rezon, the king of Syria, to become another adversary to Solomon (vv. 23-25); and He raised up Jeroboam, a servant of Solomon, to revolt against Solomon (vv. 26-40).
Solomon’s decease after reigning over all Israel for forty years (vv. 41-43) was in a gloomy disappointment. His glory fell off like the flower of grass (Matt. 6:29; 1 Pet. 1:24), and his splendid career became “vanity of vanities,” as he had preached (Eccl. 1:2).
Solomon’s enjoyment of the God-given good land reached the highest level through his God-given gift [of wisdom]. However, due to his dwarf measurement in the maturity of the spiritual life, he was cut off from the enjoyment of the good land in God’s economy, in his unbridled indulgence of his lust in sex... This caused him and his descendants to lose more than ninety percent of their kingdom and caused the people of God’s elect to suffer division and confusions among themselves throughout quite a number of generations. They lost the God-given land and became captives in the foreign lands of idol worship. The nation of Israel is still suffering due to Solomon’s failure. What a warning and an alarm this should be to us! We must be careful. Even a little failure in the indulgence of lust can damage the church and kill the splendid aspects of the church life. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, pp. 19-20, 45-47)
Further Reading: Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, msgs. 3-4, 7, 18-23; CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Basic Principles concerning the Eldership,” chs. 15-16
Morning Nourishment
1 Cor. 1:24 ...Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
In 1 Kings 4:29-34 we see that Solomon’s God-given wisdom made him great in the world in his days. God gave him very much understanding and largeness of heart, even as the sand on the seashore (v. 29). Solomon, therefore, had a large heart... In his wisdom Solomon spoke 3, 00 proverbs and wrote 1, 05 songs (1 Kings 4:32). Furthermore, he discoursed about trees... ; he discoursed also about animals, birds, creeping things, and fish (v. 33).
Solomon’s wisdom was absolutely in the physical realm, without any spiritual element. His wisdom was altogether different from the wisdom of Paul. Paul’s wisdom was a spiritual wisdom concerning Christ making His home in our hearts (Eph. 3:17), our walking and having our being according to the spirit (Rom. 8:4), and the two spirits—the divine Spirit and the human spirit (v. 16). Today, God the Spirit is the all-inclusive Spirit, the compound Spirit, the life-giving Spirit, the indwelling Spirit, the anointing Spirit, the revealing Spirit, and the consummated Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, p. 23)
Today’s Reading
Jehovah appeared to Solomon in a dream and promised to give him whatever he would ask (1 Kings 3:5).Solomon asked Jehovah to give him wisdom and an understanding heart to judge God’s people (vv. 6-9). Wisdom is a matter in our spirit, and understanding is a matter in our mind... Quite often we may have wisdom in our spirit but are lacking the capacity to understand in our mind. Thus, we need God’s wisdom in our spirit and God’s understanding in our mind.
We should not overly appreciate Solomon’s glory. The Lord Jesus said of the lilies of the field, “I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these” (Matt. 6:29)... Solomon himself eventually admitted that what he had and did was vanity of vanities (Eccl. 1:2).
The Bible is composed of two sections. The first section, the Old Testament, contains types, shadows, and figures. The reality of the types, shadows, and figures is in the second section, the New Testament. Solomon’s wisdom was a shadow of the real wisdom which was to come.
In the transition period between these two sections, the Lord Jesus said, “Among those born of women there has not arisen one greater than John the Baptist, yet he who is least in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he” (Matt. 11:11). John the Baptist, a pioneer of the New Testament age, was greater than Solomon, but as New Testament believers we are greater still. This means that, in God’s economy, we are greater than Solomon... We were born into mankind, but we have been regenerated, transformed, and uplifted to be another kind. We are not just men in the new creation; we are God-men.
The disciples could not have fully understood the Lord’s word concerning John the Baptist. Later He told them that the Spirit of reality would come and disclose all things to them (John 16:12-15). The mysteries of God’s economy were disclosed mainly to Paul (Eph. 3:3-5)... Today, if we would know the highest wisdom in the universe, we must come to Paul’s Epistles. We must get into the intrinsic significance of the revelation of the Bible, especially the crystallization of the truths in Paul’s Epistles. The real wisdom is God, and God is embodied in Christ, who has become our wisdom to be in us (1 Cor. 1:24, 30), making us one with God and making us God in life and in nature. What a wisdom this is! (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, pp. 18, 24-25)
Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 54, “The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit,” chs. 6-8
Morning Nourishment
Phil. 3:3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.2 Cor. 1:9 ...We ourselves had the response of death in ourselves, that we should not base our confidence on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
Under the light of the spiritual life, we can see that Solomon was a wise man but not a spiritual one; a man of capability, not one of life; a man whose wisdom was a gift, not a measure of life. The careers he accomplished were evidences of his capacity from the God-given gift of wisdom, not manifestations of the ability of the maturity of life.
In the Lord’s recovery we should first take care of life. Then to some extent and in a certain sense we need capability. In the church our capability should be the manifestation of the maturity of life. Capability apart from life is like a snake, poisoning the church; life is like a dove, supplying the church with life. Instead of being today’s Solomon, we should be “doves” with the proper measure of life. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, p. 47)
Today’s Reading
Natural capability, unless broken, is a hindrance to God. It must be broken; it must pass through death and be resurrected... Those who are usable in the hand of God are those who are capable yet whose capability has been broken.The dealing of the cross always brings in resurrection. The more one’s capabilities are dealt with by the cross, the more capable one becomes. The more one’s wisdom is dealt with by the cross, the wiser one becomes. Furthermore, this capability and wisdom are in resurrection.
How can we differentiate natural ability from resurrected ability?... There are seven points of comparison.
First, all natural ability is selfish, and all its schemes and devices are for the sake of self... Fourth, all natural ability contains pride and makes oneself feel capable, thereby resulting in boasting and self-glorification... Seventh, all natural ability does not rely on God and does not have to rely on God but relies wholly upon self.
Resurrected ability is exactly the opposite. First, all ability that has been broken and resurrected is not for self, neither does it contain any element of self. Second, all resurrected ability is devoid of the flesh. Third, resurrected ability does not scheme. Fourth, resurrected ability is not proud, nor does it boast in itself. Fifth, resurrected ability is controlled by the Holy Spirit and does not dare to act according to its wishes. Sixth, resurrected ability is for the will of God. Seventh, resurrected ability relies upon God and does not dare to act according to self, though truly able and capable.
Since we are clear now concerning the difference between natural and resurrected ability, we should examine ourselves in our experience. When we exercise our ability, is it for self or for God? Am I making decisions on my own and acting individually and egocentrically, or am I able to stand the criticism of others and suffer their opposition? Do I employ schemes, or do I look to the grace of God? Do I give glory to God, or do I boast and glory in myself? Am I controlled by the Holy Spirit, or am I acting as I wish? Do I fulfill my own desires, or do I care for the will of God? Do I attempt to achieve the goal by any means, or do I commit all things into the hand of God, trusting Him for the outcome? Am I depending solely on my own resources, or am I relying upon God with fear and trembling? If we examine ourselves strictly, we will discover that in our living and service, many areas are still in the natural constitution and of the old creation; therefore, we cannot bring forth fruit of resurrection. Hence, dealing with the natural constitution is the deliverance that we need most. (CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” pp. 416-419)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” chs. 9, 11; CWWN, vol. 54, “The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit,” chs. 6-8
Morning Nourishment
Matt. 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.1 Thes. 2:4 But even as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but God, who proves our hearts.
In the church service we must reject our natural strength and ability, which are acquired by us either through birth or through learning. Any of our natural strength and ability is unprofitable to the church service in life. Today it is possible that we may act and do some service for the Lord on our own according to our natural strength and ability but not according to God’s will. Because we have the strength and the ability, we feel that we do not need to pray, to wait on the Lord, to seek the Lord’s will, or to look for the Lord’s leading. This was exactly what happened to Moses. When he slew an Egyptian to protect his fellow Hebrew, he did this on his own and not according to the Lord’s will (Exo. 2:11-12). The sad situation in today’s Christianity is that people work for the Lord mostly on their own by their natural strength and ability... They may pray only for the Lord to bestow His blessing upon what they do. They do not pray that much for the Lord’s will, because they trust in their natural strength and ability. (CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, “Basic Lessons on Service,” pp. 140-141)
Today’s Reading
When we work in our natural strength and ability, the goal is to seek our own glory, and the motive is to satisfy our own desire. If we see this vision, it will kill our self-seeking and impure motive... We should do things simply because the Lord leads us to do them. We should not do them because we have something to achieve for our goal... The goal must be the Lord’s.Our own desire and our own goal for our glory are one with our natural strength and natural ability. The natural strength and ability need to be dealt with by the cross... To overcome our natural strength and ability is a great, subjective lesson; it is more subjective than dealing with sin. In a certain sense, our natural strength and ability equal our self, our natural constitution. Our natural strength and natural ability are the embodiment of our self. This is why after the denial of the self we need a lesson on rejecting the natural strength and ability and dealing with them by the cross. The natural strength and ability are useful if they are dealt with by the cross. After being dealt with by the cross, they are in resurrection.
Peter was self-confident in his natural strength and ability even to the point of thinking that he would follow the Lord both to prison and to death (Luke 22:33). Peter was tested, and he denied the Lord three times, even before a little maid (John 18:15-18, 25-27). Peter was absolutely defeated and became a complete failure (Matt. 26:69-75). He did have a heart to love the Lord, but he was too confident in his own strength, his natural strength. His love for the Lord was precious, but his natural strength had to be denied and dealt with. The Lord allowed Peter to fail utterly in denying the Lord to His face three times, so that his natural strength and self-confidence could be dealt with. Through his failure Peter learned to serve the brothers by faith in the Lord and with humility (Luke 22:32; 1 Pet. 5:5-6). Peter was really broken and was turned from the natural ability to something in resurrection.
We all must learn to reject the natural strength and ability. Our natural strength and ability must be dealt with and put on the cross. Then they will be in resurrection and full of the divine element, and whatever we do in the church service will be a ministry of the divine element to others. (CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, “Basic Lessons on Service,” pp. 141-142, 144-145)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, “Basic Lessons on Service,” lsns. 16, 20; CWWL, 1989, vol. 3, “The Experience and Growth in Life,” chs. 21-25
Morning Nourishment
Jer. 2:13 For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which hold no water.Rom. 5:17 ...By the offense of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
The way in which [the kings of Israel] had their being, how they behaved, lived, moved, and acted in their daily living, activities, and careers, paints a full picture of how the elect of God could partake of the God-promised and God-given good land and enjoy all its rights that they could become God’s kingdom on the earth usurped by His enemy Satan. This typifies and signifies how we can partake of the all-inclusive Christ as the portion ordained by God for us and enjoy all the rights in Christ assigned to us by God that we, the people chosen and redeemed by God, can become God’s kingdom in Christ and with Christ on the earth usurped by the evil one, God’s enemy Satan. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, pp. 156-157)
Today’s Reading
There were altogether forty-one kings in the history of Israel. The first three, Saul, David, and Solomon, reigned over the entire people of Israel. Of the remaining thirty-eight kings, only eight were comparatively good. Actually, however, they still were self-seeking and self-glorying, somewhat considering the kingdom of God among them something of their monarchies, not knowing God according to the way ordained by God, not denying themselves, their natural man, to live a life and carry out a career absolutely by the Spirit of God.The root of the evil of the evil kings, like that of the evil of the people of Israel, was their forsaking the very God as the fountain of living waters and their turning away to the pagan idols as broken cisterns that hold no water (Jer. 2:13). These two evils drowned them in the death waters of idolatry, of the indulgence of lusts, and of injustice in shedding the blood of the innocent. Their evils offended their God to such an extent that He would not turn His anger from them but cast them off, first into the hands of the Assyrians and then into the hands of the Babylonians, who destroyed and burned the holy temple and the holy city, carried away into captivity the holy people to a pagan land of idol worship, and desolated the holy land for seventy years. Thus, they, as God’s elect, lost the enjoyment of the God-given good land and, instead of remaining the citizens of God’s kingdom in the holy land, they became captives in a heathen land.
The tragic result of such a pitiful history of the kings among God’s chosen and blessed elect should be a serious warning to us, God’s elect in the New Testament age... Just to be one who is according to God’s heart, like David, and just to be partly right and good in the eyes of God, like some honest Christians, do not qualify us to partake of Christ in full and to enjoy all the rights in Him that we may become adequately the church as the Body of Christ and as the kingdom of God and of Christ. Conformity to Christ’s death by the power of His resurrection is required of us, the New Testament overcomers, that we may die to ourselves, our natural man, and live to God in resurrection. A life of living Christ, magnifying Christ, and moving and acting with Christ by the bountiful supply of the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit, doing everything in and according to the Spirit, is indispensable for us, God’s New Testament seekers, to be winners in the racecourse of the divine life that we may fully enjoy Christ as the God-given good land in the church age and be gloriously rewarded to partake of Christ, in the fullest sense, in the kingdom age. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, pp. 155-158)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations,” chs. 4-5
Morning Nourishment
Phil. 1:19 For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.Rom. 8:16 The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.
Every king should have had a thorough realization that he should be a king who did not rule a nation for his own interest and prosperity but ruled for God’s eternal economy that God could have a nation on the earth to keep the land of Immanuel (Isa. 8:8) for Christ’s reign and a people for a lineage of the genealogy to bring Christ to the earth. For this purpose they had to be a Nazarite to take God as their Head, their authority, and submit themselves to Him as His servants, and abandon all the pleasures (wines) of the world. But all the kings failed God in this, including David, the best one among them. Thus, they did not fulfill God’s purpose for His economy. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, p. 158)
Today’s Reading
Christ today is the heavenly High Priest (Heb. 4:14), a Minister in the heavens (8:1-2), the Mediator of a new covenant (9:15), and the Executor of the new testament (9:16-17). As such, He is working not only in the heavens but also in our regenerated spirit, bringing heaven to us and joining us to heaven. The way for us to follow Christ is to remain, live, walk, and have our being in the mingled spirit. This spontaneously causes us to live Christ, magnify Christ, and be one with Christ (Phil. 1:20-21). The issue of such a life is the Body of Christ, the church.The Bible’s teaching urges and inspires us to live in the spirit, to walk in the spirit, and to do everything according to the spirit. For instance, the way we style our hair and the way we speak with our spouse and children should be according to the spirit. When we visit others for the preaching of the gospel, we should contact them not according to our self but according to the mingled spirit. Furthermore, in the church meetings our singing, praying, praising, and prophesying should all be in the spirit and according to the spirit.
Concerning this all-inclusive, compound Spirit, five portions of the holy Word are crucial.
[The first is] John 7:39... The Spirit was there in eternity and is mentioned in Genesis 1:2, but in John 7:39 this Spirit had not been consummated because Jesus had not yet been glorified. Through the processes of death and resurrection Christ was glorified (Luke 24:26) and became the life-giving Spirit. Second, 1 Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” This divine, all-inclusive Spirit enters into our spirit and mingles with our regenerated spirit, causing God and man, man and God, to become one in the mingled spirit. Third, 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit.”... The Lord here is the crucified and resurrected Christ, who in His resurrection became the Spirit. As we behold Him, we are transformed into His image by the Lord Spirit (v. 18). Fourth, the book of Revelation speaks of the “seven Spirits” (1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6). The life-giving Spirit, who is the pneumatic Christ, the consummation of the Triune God, is intensified to be the seven Spirits. Fifth, Exodus 30:23-25 speaks of the holy anointing oil, composed of olive oil, signifying the Spirit of God, compounded with four spices: myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia, signifying respectively the death of Christ, the effectiveness of Christ’s death, Christ’s resurrection, and the power of Christ’s resurrection. The anointing oil signifies the compound anointing Spirit (1 John 2:20, 27).
In the Lord’s recovery today, we should pay our full attention to the mingled spirit, the Spirit mingled with our spirit, and we should live, walk, and have our being according to this mingled spirit. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, pp. 128-129, 127, 129)
Further Reading: Watchman Nee—a Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age, chs. 15-17