Scripture Reading: Exo. 24:16; 40:34-35; 1 Kings 8:10-11; Acts 7:2, 55; John 17:22; Eph. 3:21; Rev. 5:13; 21:9-11

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 9　DAY 1　»

　　Exo. 40:34-35 ...The cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud settled on it and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle.

　　John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father)...

　　In Exodus 40:34-38 we have a record of the glory of the Lord filling the tabernacle. Verse 34... speaks of two aspects; it speaks of something that happened outside the Tent of Meeting and something that happened inside the tabernacle. The cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory filled the tabernacle. The same structure was both the Tent of Meeting and the tabernacle. With respect to man, it was the Tent of Meeting. But with respect to God, it was the tabernacle. We may also say that outwardly it was the Tent of Meeting and that inwardly it was the tabernacle.

　　In the church life we may simply be gathered around the Tent of Meeting. We may not be in the tabernacle. In Exodus 40 the Tent of Meeting was covered by the cloud, but the tabernacle was filled with glory. Those who only gather around the Tent of Meeting may have the cloud. However, we need to enjoy not only the cloud upon the Tent of Meeting, but also the glory within the tabernacle. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 1950)

　　It is important for us to understand the relationship between the cloud and the glory. We may say that the cloud is the outer part, the “shell,” of God’s glory. By shell we mean an outer covering... The human body has the skin as its shell. The skin covers the body, and the body contains our being... Our being is the spirit. Those who were outside the tabernacle could see the shell. Anyone who entered into the tabernacle would see not the shell, but would see the inward glory of the tabernacle.

　　The young people may enjoy the church life and testify how wonderful it is. However, they may be enjoying only the shell of the church. But this does not mean that they should give up this enjoyment. On the contrary, they should go on to enjoy the inward glory of the tabernacle... Do not throw away the shell because you do not yet have much of the inward glory.

　　When we were in Elden Hall in Los Angeles, we were on the “roof” of the church life enjoying the cloud... Nevertheless, we must admit that what we are enjoying today is something deeper and more inward than what we enjoyed in Elden Hall. We may no longer be on the roof enjoying the cloud, but we are learning to intercede at the incense altar. Anyone who intercedes at the incense altar is no longer in the cloud that covers the Tent of Meeting. Rather, this one is encompassed by the glory that is on the inside of the church life. I hope that more of us will see this and experience it.

　　Some of the older saints may feel bothered or frustrated. They may say to themselves, “Why are we not as fresh as we used to be? Why is the church life not so exciting?” It is good to be excited and it is also good to be able to excite others. However, it is mainly the young ones who are excited and exciting, for they are enjoying the cloud outside the Tent of Meeting. But it is difficult for the older ones who are experiencing the glory within the tabernacle to be excited. I can testify that as an older one I may not be excited outwardly, but I find it wonderful to intercede at the incense altar. How I love to enjoy the bread at the table and to linger at the incense altar!

　　Those in the outer court may gather around the altar of burnt offering and see the cloud covering the Tent of Meeting. But if they want to see the glory, they need to come inside the tabernacle. The glory is not on the roof; it is within the tabernacle. When we come into the tabernacle, we shall see that the glory is there. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1951-1952)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Exodus, msg. 185; Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6

«　WEEK 9　DAY 2　»

　　1 Kings 8:11 And the priests were not able to stand and minister because of the cloud, for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah.

　　Acts 7:2 ...The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham...

　　But being full of the Holy Spirit, he looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

　　First Kings 8:1-11 shows us that the tabernacle was merged with the temple... The tabernacle was a portable precursor moving through the wilderness... The temple was a consummation of God’s building in typology built upon Mount Zion, a peak of Mount Moriah... The glory of Jehovah filled the temple (cf. Exo. 40:34), bringing the God who is in the heavens to the earth and joining the earth to the heavens. This should be our situation today.

　　In Genesis 28 Jacob had a dream and he called that place Bethel, meaning “the house of God.” There heaven came down to the earth, and the earth was joined to heaven by the ladder which Jacob saw in his dream. This ladder was a type of Christ who, as the Son of Man, keeps heaven open to earth and joins earth to heaven (John 1:51). Today the heavenly God comes down to the earth, and the earth is joined to God by the very Christ who dwells in us. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Kings, p. 36)

　　Whenever God is expressed, that is glory. But whenever God is hidden, concealed, there is no glory expressed... While the unseen God is God, the seen God is glory. God’s glory was seen as the children of Israel journeyed from Egypt to the good land (Exo. 13:21). During the day God was seen as the cloud, and during the night He was seen as the pillar of fire—that was glory. In the Gospel of John we read that the Word was God, that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and that we all beheld His glory (1:1, 14). Verse 18 says, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” There is glory in the declaration of God.

　　In Acts 7:2 ...Stephen [testified], “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham...” The glory here might have been visible glory, as when the cloud and the fire appeared to Israel (Exo. 16:10; 24:16-17; Lev. 9:23; Num. 14:10; 16:19; 20:6; Deut. 5:24) and filled the tabernacle and temple (Exo. 40:35; 1 Kings 8:11). It was the God of such glory who appeared to Abraham and called him. His glory was a great attraction to Abraham. It separated, sanctified, him from the world unto God (Exo. 29:43), and it was a great encouragement and strength which enabled him to follow God (Gen. 12:1, 4).

　　Stephen’s word about the God of glory fits in with God’s New Testament economy. In his second Epistle Peter tells us that God has called us by His glory and to His glory (2 Pet. 1:3). Because we were called by the glory of God our Savior (2 Pet. 1:1), we eventually received the Lord Jesus, realizing that He is better than anything and anyone else.

　　The God of glory called Abraham, and Abraham was attracted and caught by that glory. The principle is the same with us today. We all have been caught by the Lord in His glory... One day the God of glory came to us through the preaching of the gospel, and we were attracted and convinced and began to appreciate Him. During that time, the God of glory transfused some element of His being into us, and we believed in Him spontaneously. To be attracted by the God of glory means that God transfused Himself into His called ones without their realizing it or being conscious of it... We may say that God is the strongest “radium.” If we stay with Him for a period of time, He will transfuse Himself into us. This transfusion will cause infusion, saturation, and permeation. Once God has transfused Himself into us, we cannot escape; we must believe in Him. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 36-37)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 4, 11, 21, 45, 61-62, 73, 80, 337-338

«　WEEK 9　DAY 3　»

　　Eph. 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory...

　　Heb. 1:3 Who, being the effulgence of His glory and the impress of His substance...

　　John 17:5 And now, glorify Me along with Yourself, Father, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

　　The Father of glory [Eph. 1:17] is God expressed through His many sons. The title Father implies regeneration, and the word glory implies expression... We have been regenerated by God, and we are His expression.

　　The regeneration of many sons and the expression of God are the consummation of the divine economy. Through His crucifixion the Lord Jesus accomplished redemption for us. As a result, we, the fallen creatures, have been redeemed. Then we were regenerated to become sons of God the Father so that we may express Him. On the day we are glorified, God will be fully expressed from within us. In this way we shall become His expression in full. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 37-38)

　　Hebrews 2:10 says that God is leading many sons into glory. The last step of God’s great salvation is to bring His many sons into glory. Romans 8 tells us that God’s work of grace upon us began with His foreknowing through His predestination, calling, and justification and will end with His glorification (vv. 29-30)... [and] that the whole creation eagerly expects the revelation, the glorification, of the sons of God, hoping that the creation itself will enter into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (vv. 19-20). This will be accomplished by the Lord’s coming back (Phil. 3:21), at which time we shall appear with Him in glory (Col. 3:4). This is our hope (Col. 1:27). This glorification of the sons of God, as the goal of God’s salvation, will last through the millennial kingdom and will be manifested in fullness in the New Jerusalem for eternity (Rev. 21:11, 23).

　　[In Hebrews 1:3] the effulgence of God’s glory is like the shining, or the brightness, of the light of the sun. Christ is the shining, the brightness, of the Father’s glory. The effulgence cannot be separated from the glory just as the shining of the sun cannot be separated from the rays of the sun, since the shining and the rays are one. Hebrews 1:3 says... also that He is the impress, the express image, of God’s substance. The glory is the outward expression, and the substance is the inward essence. God has His essence as well as His appearance; He has His substance as well as His glory... As far as His glory is concerned, Christ is the effulgence of this glory, and as far as God’s substance is concerned, Christ is the express image of this substance.

　　The express image of God’s substance is like the impress of a seal. Christ is the expression of what God the Father is. A seal has an image. When the seal is pressed upon paper, the paper bears the same express image as the seal bears. Suppose a seal has certain letters. When this seal is pressed on a piece of paper, the paper will bear the same image with the same letters as the seal. Christ is not only the effulgence of God’s glory; He is also the impress of God’s substance... The substance within is the source of the express image, and the expression without is the effulgence of God’s glory.

　　For Christ to be the effulgence of God’s glory and the express image of His substance means that He is God coming to us... The shining of the sun’s rays is the sun reaching us. If we remain in the sunshine for a period of time, some element of the sun will be transfused into us. This is an experience of the sun reaching us. Likewise, Christ, the Son of God, is God Himself reaching us and coming to us. We have a God who reaches us, a God who comes to us to save us and to dispense Himself into us. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 38, 226-228)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity,” chs. 14, 17, 39

«　WEEK 9　DAY 4　»

　　1 Pet. 4:14 If you are reproached in the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

　　5:10 But the God of all grace, He who has called you into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground you.

　　The Spirit of glory is the Spirit of God. The Spirit of glory is the One through whom Christ was glorified in His resurrection (Rom. 1:4). This very Spirit of glory, being the Spirit of God Himself, rests upon the suffering believers in their persecution for the glorification of the resurrected and exalted Christ, who is now in glory. Such a Spirit is the Spirit of God expressed through the suffering believers and the Spirit of the experienced God enjoyed by the suffering believers. The Spirit of glory certainly was upon Stephen when he was being martyred (Acts 6:15; 7:55). According to the book of 1 Peter, the Spirit of Christ is in us (1:11), and the Spirit of glory rests upon us [4:14]... One aspect of this wonderful Spirit is that the Spirit is in us to reveal Christ, and another aspect of the same Spirit is that He is also the Spirit of glory resting upon us to express God. The more we suffer and are persecuted for the Lord’s sake, the more glory there will be upon us... Therefore, we should rejoice when we are reproached in the name of Christ, because the Spirit of glory and that of God is resting upon us. This Spirit of glory is the indwelling Spirit, the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of grace, becoming the glory shining upon persecuted believers. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 865-866)

　　Second Peter 1:3 says that God has called us to, or by, His own glory. Furthermore, 1 Peter 5:10 says that God has called us into His eternal glory. According to 2 Timothy 2:10, God’s salvation is with eternal glory. This indicates that eternal glory is the ultimate goal of God’s salvation (Rom. 8:21). God’s salvation leads us into His glory (Heb. 2:10).

　　The Word, who was God, became flesh and tabernacled among us, and... we beheld His glory (John 1:1, 14).

　　Man was made by God in His image in order that man may express Him for His glory. But man sinned. Now instead of expressing God, man expresses sin and his sinful self. Therefore, man is short of God’s glory [Rom 3:23]. Nevertheless, we have been ordained for God’s glory and called to it (1 Cor. 2:7; 1 Thes. 2:12). As believers, we are being transformed into this glory (2 Cor. 3:18) and shall be brought into it (Heb. 2:10). Eventually we shall be glorified with Christ (Rom. 8:17, 30) to bear the glory of God for God’s expression in the New Jerusalem.

　　Romans 9:23 says, “In order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory.” God created us as His vessels to contain Him and express Him. God makes known the riches of His glory upon us, His vessels, which He has prepared unto glory. We were predestinated by His sovereignty to be His containers, vessels of honor, to express what He is in glory. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 111-112)

　　God moves within us as the God of all grace, perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and grounding us so that we may participate in His eternal glory, into which He has called us in Christ (1 Pet. 5:10)... Eventually, through God’s move in us, we will participate in His eternal glory. The eternal glory will not come to us by accident. The coming glory is being built up today by God’s move in us. He is now perfecting us to build up that glory. He is now establishing us to build up that glory. He is now strengthening us and grounding us to build up that glory. Eventually, that glory will be a building, the holy city, the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:10-11). The place where we should be is the divine glory, which is now being built up by God’s perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and grounding. This is all God’s move in us. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 1, “The Move of God in Man,” p. 480)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 35

«　WEEK 9　DAY 5　»

　　John 17:22-23 And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.

　　According to John 17, the first ground of oneness is regeneration, receiving the life of the Father, and the second ground is sanctification... When we have been separated from everything outside of God to God Himself, then we are on the ground of sanctification, being separated from all worldly places and worldly things unto one center. This one center is the Triune God, the Father in the Son as the Spirit. We have been sanctified unto this very center, and herein is oneness. The third ground of this oneness is even deeper and higher than this. It is the oneness in the manifestation of the divine glory. After we have been regenerated, we must be sanctified by giving up the world, and after being separated from the world, we must live, through the denying of ourselves, by Christ as our life who is the hope of glory within us (Col. 1:27). (Life-study of John, p. 485)

　　Since the glory which the Father has given to the Son has been given to us by the Son, genuine oneness is in the divine glory. What is glory? Glory is the sonship given to the Son by the Father with the Father’s divine life and nature to express the Father in His fullness. Notice that there are four aspects of glory: sonship, the Father’s life, the Father’s divine nature, and the expression of the Father in His fullness. These four things together equal the glory... The Father has given this glory to the Son, and the Son is privileged to express the Father in this way. This is the very glory which has been given to us by the Son. Today we all have the sonship with the Father’s life and nature to express the Father in all His fullness in the Son... It is in this divine glory that we are truly one.

　　If we would be one in the divine glory, we must forsake and forget ourselves. It must be no longer I, but Christ who lives in me (Gal. 2:20). The “I” has been crucified, and the self must be denied that Christ may live in us... On the one hand, we have been sanctified from so many worldly places and worldly things and have come home to the Father’s house. On the other hand, each of us has his opinions, thoughts, or ideas. If this is the situation, how can we be one? Once we were separated into various worldly places, but now, having come home, we may still have trouble with the self. For this reason, we must not live by our own life but by the life of glory, the divine life. After we have been regenerated, we must be sanctified, and after we have been sanctified, we must be glorified. In other words, after we have the life of God, we must give up the world, and after we give up the world, we must forsake ourselves and live by the divine life. Then, in the glory of this life, we shall be one. Hence, there are three grounds or steps of the oneness of the believers: regeneration, sanctification, and glorification. Having God as our Father by regeneration is the first step; coming to the Triune God by separation from the world through the holy word is the second step; and living by the divine life of glory through denying ourselves is the third step. It is in the very application and realization of the divine life of glory that we shall all be one.

　　It is only in the third stage of oneness that the Lord’s prayer will be fulfilled. Only in this stage will the Son of God be glorified that the Father may be glorified in and through the Son. It is only in this stage that we shall glorify the Lord and manifest the Lord in oneness. In this stage we shall be absolutely perfected into oneness to manifest and glorify the Lord. Then we shall realize the sonship because all that God is and has will be embodied in us. This means that we shall have the life of God, the nature of God, and even God Himself for the purpose of becoming the very manifestation and expression of God. Finally, we shall have the full glory which God has given to the Lord as the Son of God. (Life-study of John, pp. 495, 486-487, 497)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of John, msgs. 38, 40-41

«　WEEK 9　DAY 6　»

　　Eph. 3:16 That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man.

　　21 To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all the generations forever and ever. Amen.

　　Rev. 21:11 Having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone...

　　An outstanding feature of the New Jerusalem is that it has the glory of God (Rev. 21:11), His expression. The entire city of New Jerusalem will bear the glory of God, which is God Himself shining out through the city. Actually, the glory of God will be the content of the New Jerusalem, for this city will be completely filled with His glory. This indicates that the city is a vessel to contain God and express Him. The glory of God is actually God Himself being manifested. The fact that the New Jerusalem is full of God’s glory means that God is manifested in this city. The church life today should also have God’s glory, manifesting and expressing Him in this marvelous divine attribute. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 112)

　　In his prayer Paul asked that the Father would strengthen the saints according to the riches of His glory [Eph. 3:16]. This implies that the glory of God is wrought into the saints. In the doxology Paul said, “To Him be the glory” (v. 21). This implies that the glory of God returns to God after it has been wrought into the saints... As an illustration, Isaac’s wealth was firstly given to Rebekah for her beautification; then when Rebekah came to Isaac, all the wealth came back to Isaac with Rebekah for his glorification (Gen. 24:47, 53, 61-67). The apostle prayed that God would strengthen the saints according to His glory, but eventually God’s glory, after being wrought into them, returns to Him along with the strengthened saints. This is the way God is glorified in the church.

　　To be strengthened according to glory [cf. Eph. 3:16] is to have the glory of God worked into our being. This is the only way to be strengthened according to God’s glory... To be strengthened into the inner man according to the Father’s glory means to have His glory wrought into our being... When the glory comes into our being, we are filled and strengthened. When it returns to God, He is glorified in the church.

　　In verses 20 and 21 it seems that Paul was saying, “Now that the church has come into existence as the fullness of God, God can be glorified in the church. Before this time it was impossible for the glory to return to God. But because the church has become the fullness of God in a practical way, this is now possible.”

　　The church is the glory of God coming to us with God and going back to God with us. In such a church there is two-way traffic between God and us, and between us and God. By means of this two-way traffic, God’s glory is wrought into us and God is glorified in us. This traffic is signified by the little word “but.”

　　Verse 21 says, “To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all the generations forever and ever. Amen.” God’s glory is wrought into the church, and He is expressed in the church. Hence, the glory in the church is to God; that is, God is glorified in the church.

　　As the household of the believers, the church, we take the lead to give the glory to God the Father by having God’s glory wrought into our being. In order for the glory of God to be wrought into us, we need to be strengthened into our inner man according to the riches of God’s glory. Then this glory will come to us with God and, after being worked into us, will return to God with us. By means of this two-way traffic the church takes the lead to give the glory to God. In this universe, as the believers, we are the firstfruit. If we take the lead to give glory to God, all the other families both in heaven and on earth will follow us to glorify Him. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 300-301, 303-304)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Revelation, msg. 64