Outline

«　WEEK 1　DAY 3　»

　　Heb. 4:16 Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of

　　grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

　　11:7 By faith Noah, having been divinely instructed concerning things not yet seen…, prepared an ark for the salvation of his house, through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

　　Genesis 6:8 says, “But Noah found favor in the sight of Jehovah.” Favor can also be translated “grace.”

　　Grace is God Himself enjoyed by us and helping us to face the situation of the flesh…If it were not for the flesh, probably God would not have to give us so much grace…According to Hebrews 4:16, we may find grace for timely help. What element causes us to need grace? It is mainly the flesh… As I passed through all the human experiences, I came to realize how much we are in the flesh…Once, I got mad at the Lord and said to Him, “Lord, why don’t You take away my flesh?” Eventually, He showed me that, in a sense, I needed the flesh, for the flesh is the very factor that compels me to come to the throne of grace. I cannot do anything with this flesh. All I can do is go to the throne of grace. Although there is nothing that we can do, yet there is somewhere that we can go—the throne of grace. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 372, 377)

　　The flesh is the very presence of the devil, and grace is the very presence of God. In order for us to face the presence of Satan, we need the presence of God…Every minute, even while you are praying, Satan is in your flesh. A good number of times my prayers have been frustrated by the flesh…This frustration of the flesh forces us to come to the throne of grace…Although

　　Satan is greater than we are, God is greater than Satan…Since Satan is here with us, we need God to be present. We have to say, “Lord, You know that Your enemy is right here. You have to come and stand with me against him.” When God comes to us and stands with us, that is grace. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 378)

　　With God’s creation there is nothing of God Himself in His creatures… In God’s creation He did a work with His hands, not with Himself, but in His building God works with Himself as the material…God’s building is a divine mingling of God Himself with man as His creature. As merely a part of God’s creation, we have nothing of God within us, but as a part of God’s building, we have something of God within us…What is God building? It is the building of Himself with humanity.

　　The first building of God in the Scriptures is Noah’s ark (Gen. 6:14-16). The ark is a type of Christ the Redeemer to be the Savior to us. With Him there is redemption, deliverance, salvation, safety, and refuge. Why then was the ark a building?

　　Christ the Redeemer and Savior is a building. Christ is not only God but a God-man; He is God built together with man…John 1:1 says that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. However, verse 14 says that the Word became flesh. The Word as God mingled Himself with humanity. This was a building. Verse 14 says that when Christ as the Word of God was incarnated in the flesh, He tabernacled among us. The incarnated Lord is a tabernacle, a building of the divine material mingled together with the human material. In Christ is divinity and humanity. His two natures are the materials, which are mingled together and built up as one. Christ as the Savior, who is God incarnated as a man, is the building, the mingling, of divinity with humanity, a building of God with man.

　　Before we were saved, we were only a creation and not a building… However, now that we are saved, God has mingled Himself with us. He has mingled the divine nature with our human nature, making us a divine building. (CWWL, 1963, vol. 3, “The Building of God,” pp. 172- 173)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1963, vol. 3, “The Building of God,” ch. 1