To be grafted into Christ is not to be taught by Christ but to be joined to Christ organically... In order for us to be grafted into Christ, He must be the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17), and we must have a spirit (Job 32:8; Zech. 12:1; 1 Cor. 2:11a). Otherwise, there is no way for us to be grafted into Christ. Our being grafted into Christ is a fact, a reality, in the spirit, that is, in the mingling of the divine Spirit with the human spirit. Today Christ is the life-giving Spirit, and we have a human spirit as the organ for us to receive Christ. Hence, our being grafted into Christ is a matter of our being joined to Christ in our spirit (6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22).

　　Because the grafting with Christ has taken place in our spirit, we need to exercise our spirit continually. If we exercise our mind and neglect our spirit, in a practical sense, we will be cut off from Christ. The best way for us to exercise our spirit is to call on the Lord, saying, “O Lord, O Lord.”... In all kinds of circumstances we need to say, “O Lord.” If we will do this, we will enjoy the fatness of the olive tree. When we open our mouth to say, “O Lord,” we exercise our spirit, and we immediately partake of the Lord as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3b). There is no need for us to compose a long prayer. We only need to say these two simple words: “O Lord.” To call on the Lord in this way is spiritual breathing (Lam. 3:55-56).

　　Another way for us to enjoy the riches of Christ is to read the Word of God. When we read the Bible, we should say Amen to every word. By doing this, we exercise our spirit, we contact the Lord, we enjoy Him, and we partake of the all-inclusive Spirit as the fatness.

　　[Romans 11:24] says that we were grafted into the cultivated olive tree “contrary to nature.” The Lord’s grafting is always contrary to our nature. By nature we were all branches of the wild olive tree, but the Lord has grafted us into Himself contrary to nature. This indicates that there is always something contrary to us in the Lord’s grafting. The nature of the cultivated olive tree that we have been grafted into is contrary to our nature, that is, contrary to our self. In reality, contrary to nature means “contrary to the self” The Lord’s grafting is contrary to our pride, and it is also contrary to our natural humility.

　　Whatever we are and whatever we have in our nature contradict the Lord’s nature. These two natures do not correspond with one another. Our nature is the sinful nature, and the Lord’s nature is the divine, heavenly, spiritual, and holy nature.

　　May the Holy Spirit reveal to us more and more that partaking of the riches of Christ as the fatness of the root of God’s cultivated olive tree is altogether in the mingled spirit, and our being grafted into Christ is contrary to our nature. (CWWL, 1968, vol. 1, pp. 47-49)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1968, vol. 1, pp. 47-56, 11-16

«　WEEK 7　DAY 4　»

　　Luke 10:34 And he came to him and bound up his wounds and poured oil and wine on them...

　　Judg. 9:13 But the vine said to them, Shall I leave my new wine, which cheers God and men, and go to wave over the trees?

　　The olive tree signifies Christ (cf. Rom. 11:17; Zech. 4:11-14; Rev. 11:4a) as the One who is full of the Holy Spirit and anointed with the Spirit (Luke 4:1a, 18a; Heb. 1:9), signified by the olive oil. The oil of the olive tree was used to honor God and man (Judg. 9:9), signifying that those who walk by the Spirit honor God (Gal. 5:16, 25), and those who minister the Spirit honor man (2 Cor. 3:6, 8). (Judg. 9:8, footnote 1)

　　The vine signifies Christ as the One who sacrificed Himself by being “pressed” on the cross to produce new wine to cheer God and man (Matt. 9:17). (Judg. 9:12, footnote 1)

　　Although we have been grafted into Christ, we... are still somewhat bound to our old ways, our old habits, and our old background. As long as we are bound to so many things, we can never partake of the riches of Christ.

　　The more we breathe Christ, the more we partake of and enjoy His riches... The eventual result is that the more we pray-read the Word, the more we are filled with Christ, and the more we are cut off from our old background. There is no need for us to try to cut ourselves off from all the old things. The more we pray-read, the more our pray-reading will do the work of cutting us off from the old things... If we pray-read the Word daily, this pray-reading will cut us off from our old way of dressing. Spontaneously, something within us will do the work of cutting.

　　John 15 and Romans 11 speak of the branches of two kinds of trees—a grape vine and an olive tree. A vine produces grapes for making wine, and an olive tree produces olives for making oil... Oil has the effect of soothing, and wine has the effect of invigorating, of stirring up. The Lord is the olive tree that produces soothing oil, and He is also the vine that produces invigorating wine. Through all the generations many people have been inwardly wounded and have become depressed and disappointed. They need oil to soothe their wounds, and they need wine to stir them up. We are the branches of the vine and of the olive tree... that produce soothing oil and invigorating wine. Oil and wine put together become a healing to people. We can produce the soothing oil and the stirring wine by abiding in the Lord, and we can abide in the Lord by pray-reading His Word. The more we pray-read, the more we will abide in the Lord, the more we will enjoy the Lord, and the more we will bear “olives” and “grapes” to produce oil to soothe others’ wounds and wine to stir people up.

　　When we contact certain brothers and sisters, we have the sense that we are soothed, comforted, and stirred up... This indicates that these brothers and sisters are abiding in the Lord and enjoying the Lord by pray-reading the Word and calling, “O Lord,” throughout the day. Through their abiding in the Lord, much oil and wine are produced.

　　Both John 15 and Romans 11 give us one principle: we are not trees but branches. Furthermore, we are not a single branch but one of many branches. We need Christ as the tree with the fatness of its root, and we also need our fellow branches. Each of us is only one of the branches, and the branches coordinated together become the Body. This shows that we need Christ, and we also need the church. We need the root, and we need the other branches... Therefore, we all need to learn to pray-read the Word. By pray-reading we will enjoy Christ as the fatness, and we will be properly and adequately coordinated with the other branches. Then we will be able to enjoy the Body life. We will enjoy the fullness of the Godhead in Christ and in the church, and we will produce two kinds of fruit to yield oil and wine. This is God’s purpose. (CWWL, 1968, vol. 1, pp. 52-56)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1979, vol. 1, “Life Messages, Volume 2,” ch. 58

«　WEEK 7　DAY 5　»

　　1 Kings 7:15 And he formed the two bronze pillars; eighteen cubits was the height of each pillar, and a line of twelve cubits encompassed each pillar.

　　Rom. 7:18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but to work out the good is not.

　　In typology, bronze always signifies God’s judgment. That the two pillars were made of bronze clearly indicates that if we would be a pillar, we must realize that we are those under God’s judgment. We should not only be under God’s judgment, but also under our own judgment. Like Paul in Galatians 2:20, we must say, “I have been crucified. I have been crucified because I am not good for anything in God’s economy. I am only qualified for death.” Many brothers are intelligent and capable and many sisters are quite nice. Nevertheless, we must recognize that actually we are not good at all... We are only good for death. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 1065)

　　All those who became a true profit to the building of the church were those who did not think of themselves as being qualified for leadership. Rather, they always said, “I am not qualified. I am too poor. My disposition is not suitable, and I am still too much in my natural life. I do not consider myself to be good.” To say this is not only to be under God’s judgment, but also under self-judgment... We all must feel that in us, that is, in our flesh, there is nothing good (Rom. 7:18). We should say, “I am worthy of nothing but death. How could the brothers think that I should be one of the elders? I am terrified of this possibility.”... The Lord will never choose anyone who considers himself to be qualified. If you think that you are qualified, then you have nothing to do with bronze... The experience of bronze is that we are always under God’s judgment and under our own self-judgment. We all must apply this word to ourselves, saying, “Lord, have mercy upon me, for in me there is nothing good.”

　　First Kings 7:17 speaks of “nets of checker work with wreaths of chain work for the capitals that were at the top of the pillars, seven for the one capital, and seven for the second capital.” Every situation faced by the church members is a checker work, a trellis encircled by a crown of pins and thorns... It is our destiny to be in this situation. We must not only bear the responsibility in this intermixed and complicated situation, but also live in the midst of it. In order to bear the responsibility in this complicated situation, we must live by faith in God. First Kings 7:19 says, “And the capitals that were at the top of the pillars in the portico were of lily work.” The lily signifies a life of faith in God. First, we must condemn ourselves, realizing that we are fallen, incapable, unqualified, and that we are nothing. Then we must live by faith in God, not by what we are or by what we can do. We must be a lily existing by what God is to us, not by what we are (Matt. 6:28, 30). Our living on earth today depends upon Him. How can we possibly bear the responsibility in the intermixed and complicated church life? In ourselves, we are incapable of doing this, but we can do so if we live by faith in God. It is not I, but Christ who lives in me—this is the lily. It is not I who bear the responsibility—it is He who bears it. I live, not by myself, but by Him, and I minister, not by myself, but by Him. If you sisters are mothers in the church life, you must say, “I am not a mother in the church by myself, but by Him.”

　　On the one hand, we are the condemned and judged bronze; on the other hand, we are the living lilies. The bronze means, “Not I,” and the lily means, “But Christ.” Those who are lilies can say, “The life that I now live, I live by the faith of Jesus Christ.” By all this we can realize that we are lilies bearing an impossible responsibility in an intermixed and complicated situation full of checker work and chain work... All the checker work is the base, the bed, in which the lilies grow. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 1066-1067, 1073-1075)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Genesis, msgs. 83-84

«　WEEK 7　DAY 6　»

　　1 Kings 6:7 And the house, when it was being built, was built of finished stone, cut at the quarry...

　　1 Pet. 2:4-5 Coming to Him, a living stone, rejected by men but with God chosen and precious, you yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

　　The stones signify Christ’s humanity in transformation, the transformed Christ (1 Kings 6:7, 36; 5:17; 2 Chron. 3:6). As God, Christ in His incarnation put on man’s flesh (John 1:14; Heb. 2:14). Having become a man in the flesh, that is, a man in the old creation, He needed to be transformed in His human part. Such a transformed Christ is now the foundation stone, the cornerstone, the living stone, the precious stone, and the topstone in God’s divine building (Isa. 28:16; 1 Cor. 3:11; Eph. 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:4; Rev. 4:3; Zech. 4:7). The stones in the temple also signify the believers in Christ who have been transformed by Christ as the stone (Matt. 16:18; John 1:42; 1 Pet. 2:5; Rev. 21:11, 14, 19-20). (1 Kings 6:7, footnote 1)

　　In addition to wood, stone was used for the building of the temple (1 Kings 5:15-18). The stones were cut in a mountain quarry in the wilderness with much effort (6:7). This signifies that the materials for the building of the church are found in the world and cut with much effort.

　　Every saved one in the church is a stone in the church. Just as the stones were in the mountains of the wilderness, we were all in the world, but one day God’s workers found us; that is, we were found by God’s work. Then God’s workers and God’s work began to deal with us and do a cutting work upon us. The spiritual stones used for the building of the church must have life inwardly and be worked upon outwardly. Hence, the New Testament speaks of living stones (1 Pet. 2:5), and the Old Testament speaks of cut stones (1 Kings 5:15, 17-18; 6:7). The stones used for the building of the church must be living inwardly and must be cut outwardly. Living implies regeneration. However, after regeneration the stones still need to allow God to cut them over a long period of time.

　　By the time the temple was built, all the stones had been prepared. The preparation work was done at the quarry. The stones were cut and shaped into certain sizes. In the actual construction, the stones were laid on top of each other to form the building. The way of building the temple indicates that those who are built into the church must pass through a considerable amount of God’s cutting work.

　　Both the wood and stones... were used as building materials for the temple... Wood denotes death and resurrection, and stones denote man’s need to be regenerated inwardly and dealt with outwardly. People in the church must not only pass through death and resurrection but must also have God’s life and be dealt with by Him. Those who have been regenerated but not dealt with have no way to be built up.

　　When we consider the condition of some brothers and sisters, we cannot deny that they are stones; however, they are freshly cut stones... They are not stable enough to be built upon, nor are they stable enough to coordinate and serve with others, to fight the battle with others, or to bear the Ark with others... They may be capable and quick-witted, but they cannot bear the testimony because they have never been dealt with. Some brothers and sisters are too round and slippery. They are like rolling stones that can slip away no matter where they are placed... There is the need for much cutting in order for them to become a certain size to match others... In this way they will be able to coordinate and be built up with others wherever they are placed. (CWWL, 1956, vol. 2, “Three Aspects of the Church, Book 1: The Meaning of the Church,” pp. 204-205)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” ch. 17