Scripture Reading: Eph. 2:5-6, 8, 18-22; 3:4-5; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:17

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 8　DAY 1　»

　　Eph. 2:5-6 Even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up together with Him and seated us together with Him in the heaven-lies in Christ Jesus.

　　18 For through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father.

　　As sinners we need God’s forgiveness and justification, as revealed in the book of Romans. But as dead persons we need to be made alive. Forgiveness and justification bring us back to God’s presence to enjoy His grace and participate in His life, whereas making us alive enables us, as the living members of the Body of Christ, to express Him. God made us alive by imparting His eternal life, which is Christ Himself (Col. 3:4), into our deadened spirit through His Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2). He has enlivened us with Christ. God enlivened us together when He enlivened the crucified Jesus. Therefore, He made us alive with Christ.

　　[“Grace” in Ephesians 2:5] denotes not only God freely dispensed into us for our enjoyment, but also God’s action in freely saving us. By such grace we have been saved from our wretched position of death into the marvelous realm of life. (Life-study of Ephesians, p. 180)

　　Positionally we were reconciled to God; experientially we have access unto the Father [Eph. 2:18]. To be reconciled to God is to be saved; to have access unto the Father is to enjoy God, who, as the source of life, has regenerated us to be His sons.

　　In the one Body we have been reconciled to God through the cross. This is a fact. Now we may have access unto the Father and contact Him directly. This is an experience. We have been reconciled to God positionally for salvation, and we have access unto the Father experientially for enjoyment.

　　In verse 18 the Trinity of the Godhead is implied. Through God the Son who is the Accomplisher, the means, and in God the Spirit who is the Executor, the application, we have access to God the Father who is the Originator, the source of our enjoyment.

　　After being reconciled to God, there was still the need for the Jews and the Gentiles to have access unto the Father for enjoyment... To be in the Body is a fact, but to be in the Spirit is an experience. Although we are in the Body, we may not be in the Spirit. Instead, we may be in our wandering thoughts.

　　We may have God in fact by being in the Body, but if we would enjoy the Father in experience, we must be in the Spirit. Once we were far off from God, but we have been reconciled to Him positionally. Now there is no separation, no partition, between us and God. However, if we are not in the Spirit, we do not have the enjoyment of this fact. Hence, in order to enjoy experientially what we possess positionally, we need to be in the Spirit. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 227-230)

　　Ephesians 2 reveals God as the Father and Christ as the Son. After His death and resurrection Christ the Son came as the Spirit to announce the gospel. When the Spirit came, He came with the Father (John 15:26 and footnote, Recovery Version) in the Son’s name (14:26). This means that when the Spirit came, the Son came. Therefore, when the Son comes to announce the gospel to us, the Spirit also comes. When we receive the Son in His announcing, we receive the Spirit. The Spirit then brings us back to the Father through the Son. This is marvelous! The Father came to us through the Son in the Spirit, and now the Spirit brings us back to the Father through the Son. Through this wonderful two-way traffic we enjoy the threefold dispensing of life by the Triune God. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity,” p. 305)

　　Further Reading; Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 3, 21, 27, 87-88; CWWL, 1975-1976, vol. 1, “The Building of the Church,” chs. 1, 3-4

«　WEEK 8　DAY 2　»

　　Eph. 2:20 Being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone.

　　3:4-5 ...The mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in spirit.

　　In considering the church as God’s building, we need to pay special attention to the foundation... Many Christians have difficulty understanding what the foundation is in Ephesians 2:20... Christ is the only foundation [1 Cor. 3:11]. Nevertheless, Ephesians 2:20 speaks of the foundation of the apostles and prophets... In contrast to Revelation 21 where the foundations are the very persons of the apostles, the foundation here is not the apostles and prophets themselves. Since the mystery of Christ has been revealed to the apostles (Eph. 3:4-5), the revelation they received is considered the foundation upon which the church is built. This corresponds to the rock in Matthew 16:18, which is not only Christ Himself but also the revelation concerning Christ, upon which Christ will build His church. Therefore, the foundation of the apostles and prophets is the revelation they received regarding Christ and the church for the building of the church. The church is built upon this revelation. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 233-234)

　　We need to build the church upon the revelation received by the apostles and prophets. The so-called churches established according to nationalities are not built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Some so-called churches even exclude members of particular racial or ethnic groups. Surely those congregations are not built upon the foundation spoken of in Ephesians 2:20... The Presbyterian denomination is built upon the concept of presbytery. The apostles and prophets, however, never received a revelation that the presbytery should be the foundation of the church. The Methodist Church is built upon the principles of John Wesley, and the Catholic Church is built upon the concept of hierarchy... The charismatic churches are built upon the foundation of certain charismatic gifts and experiences. In contrast to all these so-called churches, we in the Lord’s recovery must be able to strongly affirm that the churches in the recovery are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. This means that the churches in the Lord’s recovery are built according to the revelation received by the apostles and prophets. This revelation embraces believers of all races and nationalities; it includes those who speak in tongues and those who do not. If you have the vision of the proper foundation of the church, you will realize that only the churches in the Lord’s recovery, not the Catholic Church, the denominations, or the independent groups, are built upon the proper foundation.

　　Ephesians 2:20 reveals that in God’s building Christ is the cornerstone. Here Christ is referred to, not as the foundation (Isa. 28:16), but as the cornerstone, because the main concern here is not the foundation but the cornerstone that joins together the two main walls: the wall of the Jewish believers and the wall of the Gentile believers. When the Jewish builders rejected Christ, they rejected Him as the cornerstone (Acts 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:7), which joins the Gentiles to them for the building of God’s house.

　　[In Matthew 21:42] the Lord revealed that after His resurrection He would become the cornerstone to join the Jews and the Gentiles... Peter’s word [in Acts 4:11 and 12] shows that salvation implies building. God’s intention in saving us is not to bring us into the heavens; rather, it is to join us to the Jews so that He may have His building.. Whether we are Jews or Gentiles, we have been saved in order to be joined together in Christ for God’s building. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 234-236)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, “The Building Up of the Body of Christ,” ch. 3; CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, “Basic Lessons on Service,” lsn. 5

«　WEEK 8　DAY 3　»

　　Eph. 2:21 In whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.

　　1 Cor. 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.

　　Col. 2:19 ...Holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together..., grows with the growth of God.

　　[In Ephesians 2:21] we see that in Christ, who is the cornerstone, all the building, including both Jewish and Gentile believers, is fitted together and is growing into a holy temple. The actual building of the church as the house of God is by the growth in life of the believers. Today the church is growing. However, it is not growing in our natural life, but in the divine life, the spiritual life. The word fitted means being made suitable for the condition and situation of the building. As the Body of Christ, the church has been regenerated, and as the house of God, the church is being built. Apparently, growth and building are separate things. Actually, the building of the house is the growth of the Body. If the Body does not grow, the house cannot be built. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 236, 233)

　　In the Scriptures we often see that growth and building are linked together. First Corinthians 3:9 says, “You are God’s cultivated land, God’s building.” As God’s cultivated land, we need to grow; as God’s building, we need to be built up... Hence, Ephesians 2 says that this spiritual house, this dwelling place of God, is built up by growing (vv. 21-22), just as our body reaches its full stature by growing. Moreover, 1 Peter 2 says that having been saved and having put away sins, we need to long for the spiritual milk so that we may grow (vv. 1-2). Following this, it says that as living stones we are being built up as a spiritual house (v. 5). Ephesians 4:12-13 says, “Unto the building up of the Body of Christ, until we all arrive... at a full-grown man.”... The more we grow, the more we are built up... God’s growth and mingling in us are God’s building. (CWWL, 1958, vol. 2, “The Building Work of God,” p. 279)

　　[God] gives the growth by getting into us... The growth of the Body depends on the growth of God, the addition of God, the increase of God, within us. Therefore, God gives the growth by giving Himself to us in a very subjective way. We should daily take time to absorb the Lord, take time to assimilate the riches of Christ. Our contact with the Lord should not be rushed. If we are in a hurry, we shall not be able to absorb much of His riches. We need to allow adequate time for prayer. This will enable us to absorb more of the riches of our God.

　　Our God today is the processed, all-inclusive Spirit, and we have a spirit with which to absorb Him. Thus, we must exercise our spirit to stay in His presence to absorb Him. This takes time. Although we all have experienced absorbing the riches of God, our experience is not yet adequate... Do not spend so much time in your mind, emotion, and will, but spend more time in your spirit to adore the Lord, to praise Him, to offer thanks to Him, and to speak to Him freely. As you fellowship with Him in this way, you will absorb His riches, and He will add more of Himself into you. The more God is added into us, the more growth He gives to us. This is the way God gives the growth.

　　Only God can give growth. In my ministry the most I can do is to plant or water. I cannot give growth to anyone, for I cannot give God. Only God can give you Himself... God Himself is our food, and we need to seek Him at His dining table, where we need to take time to eat Him slowly. Then more of Him will be added into us. This addition of God into us is the growth He gives. For God to give us growth actually means that He gives us Himself. (Life-study of Colossians, pp. 456-457)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1958, vol. 2, “The Building Work of God,” chs. 2-5; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 9, 59, 336

«　WEEK 8　DAY 4　»

　　2 Cor. 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

　　1 Thes. 5:23 And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

　　All the building is growing into a holy temple [Eph. 2:21]. The Greek word rendered “temple” means the sanctuary, the inner part of the whole temple. It is in the Lord that the building is growing into a holy temple. This means that the entire building of God’s house as His sanctuary is in Christ the Lord.

　　The fact that the temple is still growing indicates that, from our point of view at least, the temple of God is not complete.

　　The phrase all the building [v. 21] refers to the universal church... The universal building is still growing... The building [of the church] in Matthew 16:18 is the very building in Ephesians 2:21. Although the growth of the building is slow and hardly noticeable, it is nonetheless taking place. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 236-237)

　　To be holy is first to be separated to God; second, to be taken over by God; third, to be possessed by God; and fourth, to be saturated with God and one with God. Eventually, the issue of this in the Bible is the New Jerusalem, which is called the holy city, a city that not only belongs to God and is for God, but a city possessed by God, saturated with God, and one with God.

　　In order for us to be holy, we first need to be separated unto God positionally... Many Christians, however, are saved but not separated. Normally, once a person is saved, he should also be separated. This is the reason a believer is called a saint. Consider the majority of Christians today. They are virtually the same as the worldly people... Many of their relatives and friends do not even know that they are Christians. But to be holy is to be separated unto God. This, of course, is a matter of position.

　　Now we come to dispositional sanctification, which comes after justification (Rom. 6:19, 22). This is sanctification not merely in our position, but also in our disposition. Hence, it is deeper and more subjective than positional sanctification.

　　Separation can take place rather easily and in a very short time. But to be saturated dispositionally takes a long time. If we are faithful to the Lord, we shall be saturated with the nature of God day after day. God intends to saturate us with Himself, and we need to soak up God in our being. This requires time. This is the process of being made holy.

　　God has chosen us for the purpose of saturating us with Himself; He wants to work Himself into our being. Then we shall be holy, just as He is... I have been in this process more than fifty years, and I am still in it, still soaking up God day by day. Sometimes my wife or the brothers and sisters help me to soak Him up. They help me to be willing for this, even when in myself I am not willing. Thus, whether I am willing or unwilling, the Lord causes me to be saturated with Him and to soak Him up. Many of us who were in Christianity for years can testify that while we were there, we did not undergo very much of this saturation. But since we came into the church life, we have been more and more soaked with God. The church life is a life of soaking up God. Whether we are willing or unwilling, we are being soaked with the divine element.

　　First, we are separated unto God; second, we are saturated with God; eventually we become one with God. One day, we shall be just like Him. That will mark the completion of our sanctification, the process that begins with separation, continues with saturation, and is completed with the full redemption of our body. At that time, from within to without, we shall be the same as He is. We shall be holy. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 28, 30-31)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1988, vol. 4, “The Perfecting of the Saints and the Building Up of the Body of Christ,” ch. 3

«　WEEK 8　DAY 5　»

　　1 Cor. 3:16-17 Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?... The temple of God is holy, and such are you.

　　Rev. 21:22 And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

　　In 1 Corinthians 3 the church as God’s building is the temple of God, and the One who dwells in this temple is the Spirit of God (vv. 16-17). The temple of God in verse 16 refers to the believers collectively in a certain locality, such as Corinth, whereas the temple of God in verse 17 refers to all the believers universally. The unique spiritual temple of God in the universe has its expression in many localities on earth. Each expression is the temple of God in that locality. (CWWL, 1969, vol. 3, p. 542)

　　Revelation 21:22 clearly says that in New Jerusalem there will be no temple. The Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. In the Old Testament the tabernacle of God was the precursor, or the forerunner, of the temple of God. New Jerusalem as the tabernacle of God (v. 3) will be the temple of God. This indicates that in the new heaven and new earth the temple of God will be enlarged into a city. The three equal dimensions of the city (v. 16) indicate that the whole city will be the Holy of Holies, the inner temple. Hence, there will be no temple in it.

　　The Greek word for temple in verse 22, naos,... denotes the inner temple, the Holy of Holies. This inner temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb, signifying that God and the Lamb will be the place in which we serve God. The holy city as the tabernacle of God is for God to dwell in, and God and the Lamb as the temple are for us to dwell in. In the new heaven and new earth, the New Jerusalem will be a mutual dwelling place for both God and man for eternity.

　　The entire city of New Jerusalem is the Holy of Holies, and God and the Lamb are the temple in this city. If we put these two points together, we shall realize that this city is God and the Lamb. Because the whole city is the Holy of Holies and because the inner temple is God and the Lamb, the city is God and the Lamb.

　　The whole city is called the tabernacle (v. 3)... The tabernacle is the precursor of the temple. Before the temple appears, there is the tabernacle. But when the tabernacle comes into its fullness, it becomes the temple. Therefore, we need to keep three points before us: that the whole city is the Holy of Holies; that the temple is God Himself and the Lamb; and that the whole city is the tabernacle. When we put all these points together, we see that God Himself is the whole city of New Jerusalem.

　　However,... the whole city of New Jerusalem is also a living composition of all God’s redeemed ones. On the one hand, God is the entire city; on the other hand, the city is a living composition of the redeemed. If you find this difficult to grasp with your natural mind, let me ask you this question: Do we not say that the church today is Christ, and do we not also say that it is a composition of all the believers? On the one hand, the church is a composition of all the believers; on the other hand, Christ is both the Head and the Body. Hence, we have the term, the Body-Christ. First Corinthians 12:12 indicates that Christ is not only the Head, but also the Body... The principle in both the church and New Jerusalem is the same.

　　The church is the enlargement of Christ. Christ Himself is the individual Christ, but the church is the corporate Christ, Christ enlarged and expanded. Therefore, the church is Christ’s expansion, Christ’s enlargement. In like manner, New Jerusalem is the enlargement and the expansion of the Triune God.

　　On the one hand, we shall be the New Jerusalem; on the other hand, it will be God and the Lamb. It is the same in principle with the church today. On the one hand, we are the church, and on the other hand, the church is Christ. (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 731-732, 735)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1970, vol.1, “The Fulfillment of God’s Purpose by the Growth of Christ in Us,” chs. 3, 6-7

«　WEEK 8　DAY 6　»

　　Eph. 2:22 In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit.

　　1 Cor. 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

　　Actually, the word temple [in Ephesians 2:21] should be translated “sanctuary,” meaning the central part of the temple in the Lord. Such a sanctuary is God’s dwelling place in our spirit (v. 22). The church life today is in our spirit... If you are not in your spirit, although you may be in the meeting, you are not in the church in a practical way. The church life is in our human spirit. We must always turn to our spirit, exercise our spirit, and walk according to our spirit. We should not be out of our spirit or have our being apart from our spirit. We must walk, live, act, and have our being in our spirit. When we exercise our spirit in this way, we are in the church. This is for God’s dispensing of Himself into us as life so that we may grow in the church. Both God’s dispensing and our growing are in the spirit. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity,” p. 306)

　　The word you in Ephesians 2:22, which refers to the local saints, indicates that the building in verse 21 is universal and the building in verse 22 is local. In this verse Paul was saying that the local saints, the saints in Ephesus, were being built together in Christ into a dwelling place of God. Therefore, in these verses Paul covered both the universal aspect and the local aspect of the church. All the building is growing—this refers to the universal aspect. The believers in a particular locality are being built together—this is the local aspect.

　　Why does Paul use the term holy temple in referring to the universal aspect and the term dwelling place of God when speaking of the local aspect?... Apart from the universal temple, there is not another temple called the local temple. The temple and the dwelling place refer to two aspects of the same thing... The temple is the place in which God’s people contact God, worship Him, and hear His oracle. The dwelling place is a place of rest. God rests in His dwelling place. However, the temple and the dwelling place are not two distinct places. Rather, they are two aspects, two functions or usages, of the same building. The church is the place where God’s people contact God, worship Him, and receive His word, and it is also the place of God’s rest.

　　All the local churches are part of the universal church, not something in addition to it or apart from it. All the local churches added together equal the universal church. This means that apart from the local churches there is no universal church. Hence, the building of the local church is the building of the universal church. All the local churches have just one building. The church in Anaheim does not have one building; the church in Chicago, another... However, our natural concept of the building is that there is a different building in each locality. In this universe there is just one building with a universal aspect and a local aspect. No matter how many churches there may be on earth, there is still just one building with these two aspects.

　　Verse 22 says that we are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit. The spirit here refers to the believers’ human spirit indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit is the Dweller, not the dwelling place... God’s Spirit dwells in our spirit. Therefore, the dwelling place of God is in our spirit.

　　Verse 21 says that the holy temple is in the Lord, and verse 22, that the dwelling place of God is in spirit. This indicates that the Lord is one with our spirit and that our spirit is one with the Lord. To be in our spirit actually is to be in the Lord. Also, to be in the Lord is to be in the spirit. He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). We simply cannot separate our spirit from the Lord. Therefore, our spirit is the place where the building of the church is. The building is not in our mind, emotion, soul, or heart. It is absolutely a matter in our spirit. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 237-238)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity,” ch. 16