Scripture Reading: Matt. 2:1-2; 3:11; 4:12-16; 8:20; 16:16; 21:5

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　»

　　Matt. 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

　　21:5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King is coming to you, meek and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, a foal of a beast of burden.”

　　Christ is the title of the Lord according to His office, His mission. The Son of God is His title according to His person. His person is a matter of God’s life, and His mission is a matter of God’s work. He is the Son of God to be the Christ of God.

　　In Matthew 16:16…”Christ,” the anointed One of God, refers to the Lord’s commission, whereas “the Son of the living God,” as the second of the Triune God, refers to His person. His commission is to accomplish God’s eternal purpose through His crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and second advent, whereas His person embodies the Father and issues in the Spirit for a full expression of the Triune God. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 230)

　　Matthew 21:5 says that the King would come “mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, a foal of a beast of burden.” This signifies the meek and lowly state in which the Lord was willing to present Himself. The Lord did not tell His disciples to get a carriage or a wagon but a donkey and a colt. He did not even choose to ride on a horse but on a little donkey…The donkey was probably the mother, and the colt was probably her offspring. Both the mother and the offspring worked together to bear the King.

　　The donkey and the colt together give us an impression of meekness and humility. If the Lord had been mounted only upon a donkey, the impression of meekness would not have been so striking. Suppose a very small sister stands before us holding a tiny baby in her arms. This would give us a deep impression of smallness, for the tiny baby would strengthen the impression of smallness. The significance of the Lord’s riding on a donkey is not smallness but meekness. The heavenly King came not with haughty splendor but with gentle, humble meekness. This impression of meekness is strengthened by the colt accompanying a donkey to bear the meek King. The Lord Jesus did not ride into Jerusalem proudly on a horse… The Lord Jesus seemed to be telling His disciples, “Take the donkey and the little colt. I will ride upon the beast of burden, but the colt must go along too in order to show My meekness. This will help the people see how meek the heavenly King is.”

　　The presence of the baby donkey testified that the Lord did not care to fight or compete with anyone. Rather, He was humble and meek. I believe that this was the impression the Lord Jesus wanted to convey to the people. Yes, He was the heavenly King, but He had no intention to come as a great King fighting or competing with others. Instead, He came as a meek King who did not fight against anyone or compete with anyone.

　　In Matthew 21:7 we see that the disciples put their garments on the donkey and the colt, and verse 8 says, “Most of the crowd spread their own garments in the road.” Garments signify the human virtues of people’s conduct. The disciples honored the lowly King by putting their garments on the donkey and colt for Him to ride on, and the crowd honored Him by spreading their garments in the road for Him to pass through. The people honored the Lord with their clothing, that is, with whatever they had. No matter how poor a man is, he at least has some clothing with which to cover himself. We need to honor the Lord, the meek King, with whatever we are. No matter what our condition may be, we have something with which to honor Him. I do not believe that the garments put on the donkey and on the road were splendid or beautiful. Nevertheless, the people used what they had. Although we are sinful, pitiful, and even evil, the Lord likes to be honored with what we are. Even sinners can honor the Lord with what they are, if they have a heart to honor Him. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 630-632)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 21; Life-study of Matthew, msg. 56

«　WEEK 8　DAY 2　»

　　Matt. 4:4 But He answered and said, It is written, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.”

　　3:11 I baptize you in water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is stronger than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He Himself will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.

　　The tempter tempted the new King to take His position as the Son of God. But He answered with the word of the Scriptures, “Man…” [Matt. 4:4], indicating that He stood in the position of man to deal with the enemy. The demons addressed Jesus as the Son of God (8:29), but the evil spirits do not confess that Jesus came in the flesh (1 John 4:3), because in confessing Jesus as a man, they admit that they are defeated. Although the demons confess Jesus as the Son of God, the devil will not allow people to believe that He is the Son of God, because in so doing, they will be saved (John 20:31).

　　The Lord seemed to be saying, “Satan, don’t tempt Me to assume My position as the Son of God. I am here as a man…Satan, I know that you are not afraid of the Son of God, but you are afraid of man. The first man, the man whom God created to defeat you and to fulfill His purpose, was defeated by you. Thus, God sent Me as the second man to defeat you. Now you are tempting Me to leave My position as a man to assume My position as the Son of God. But I tell you, Satan, I am standing here as a man.” (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 129-130)

　　In Matthew 3:11 John seemed to be saying, “I have come to baptize you with water, to terminate you, to bury you. But the One who comes after me is stronger than I. He will baptize you in the Spirit and fire…If you repent, He will put you into the Spirit. But if you continue to be the offspring of vipers, He will certainly baptize you in the lake of fire.”

　　According to the context, “fire” here is not the fire in Acts 2:3, which is related to the Holy Spirit, but is the same fire as in Matthew 3:10 and 12, the fire in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15), where the unbelievers will suffer eternal perdition… The Lord’s baptism in the Holy Spirit initiated the kingdom of the heavens, bringing His believers into the kingdom of the heavens, whereas His baptism in fire will terminate the kingdom of the heavens, putting the unbelievers into the lake of fire. Hence, the Lord’s baptism in the Holy Spirit, which is based on His redemption, is the beginning of the kingdom of the heavens, whereas His baptism in fire, which is based on His judgment, is the ending of that kingdom. Thus, in Matthew 3:11 there are three kinds of baptisms: the baptism in water, the baptism in the Spirit, and the baptism in fire. The baptism in water by John introduced people to the kingdom of the heavens. The baptism in the Spirit by the Lord Jesus commenced and established the kingdom of the heavens on the day of Pentecost and will carry it on to its consummation at the end of this age. The baptism in fire by the Lord, according to the judgment at the great white throne (Rev. 20:11-15), will conclude the kingdom of the heavens.

　　[In Matthew 3:12] those typified by the wheat have life within. The Lord will baptize them in the Holy Spirit and, by rapture, gather them into His barn in the air. Those typified by the chaff, like the tares in 13:24-30, are without life. The Lord will baptize them in fire, putting them into the lake of fire.

　　Jesus the King exercises two kinds of baptism…The beginning of the kingdom of the heavens was on the day of Pentecost. On that day Jesus the King baptized the believers into the Holy Spirit. By that baptism in the Spirit, the kingdom of the heavens began. The kingdom of the heavens will end with the judgment at the great white throne. At that time the unbelievers will be judged and cast into the lake of fire. That will be the baptism in fire. That fire baptism will terminate the kingdom of the heavens. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 105-107)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msgs. 9, 11

«　WEEK 8　DAY 3　»

　　Matt. 4:16 “The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light; and to those sitting in the region and shadow of death, to them light has risen.”

　　9:11-12 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, Why does your Teacher eat with the tax collectors and sinners? Now when He heard this, He said, Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill.

　　The Lord took the opportunity given Him by the Pharisees’ question to give a very sweet revelation of Himself as the Physician. In Matthew 9:12 we see the Lord’s reply to the Pharisees’ question: “Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill.” The Lord was telling the Pharisees that these tax collectors and sinners were patients, sick ones, and that to them the Lord was not a Judge but a Physician, a Healer. In calling people to follow Him for the kingdom, the King of the heavenly kingdom ministered as a Physician, not as a Judge. A judge’s judgment is according to righteousness, whereas a physician’s healing is according to mercy and grace. Those whom He made people of His heavenly kingdom were lepers (8:2-4), paralytics (vv. 5-13; 9:2-8), the fever-ridden (8:14-15), the demon-possessed (vv. 16, 28-32), those ill with all kinds of diseases (v. 16), despised tax collectors, and sinners (9:9-11). Had He visited these pitiful people as a Judge, all would have been condemned and rejected, and none would have been qualified, selected, and called to be the people of His heavenly kingdom. However, He came to minister as a Physician, to heal, recover, enliven, and save them so that they might be reconstituted to be His new and heavenly citizens, with whom He could establish His heavenly kingdom on this corrupted earth. The Lord’s word here implies that the self-righteous Pharisees did not realize that they needed Him as a Physician. They considered themselves strong; hence, blinded by their own self-righteousness, they did not know that they were ill. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 311-312)

　　The new King’s ministry for the kingdom of the heavens began not with earthly power but with heavenly light, which was the King Himself as the light of life, shining in the shadow of death. When the Lord began His ministry as light, He made no display of power and authority. He walked upon the seashore as a common person. But as He came to [Peter, Andrew, James, and John] by the Sea of Galilee, He shined upon them like a great light, shining in the darkness and in the region and shadow of death…John the Baptist was a great magnet. But the Lord Jesus is the greatest magnet of all. As He shined upon those four disciples, they were attracted and captured. They immediately forsook their jobs and followed this little Nazarene.

　　In Matthew 4 there is no record, as in Luke 5, of any miracle being done by the Lord when Peter was called. However, in Matthew 4 there was the great light that attracted the first four disciples. This attraction came not from what the Lord Jesus did; it came from what He was. He was a great light, a great magnet, with the power to attract people and to capture them. In this way He attracted and captured the first four disciples. No one who follows the Lord because of what He does can be trustworthy or faithful. The trustworthy ones are those who are caught by what the Lord is. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were attracted and captured at the seashore not by seeing what the Lord did but by realizing what the Lord was. Because they had been attracted and captured, they became faithful followers of the Lord Jesus unto the end. Eventually, they were all martyred because they followed the King of the heavenly kingdom.

　　Moreover, when the Lord Jesus called these four disciples, He did not start a movement or a revolution. Rather, He attracted the disciples to Himself for the establishment of the kingdom of the heavens. (Life-study of Matthew, p. 146)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msgs. 12, 27

«　WEEK 8　DAY 4　»

　　Matt. 9:16-17 No one puts a patch of unfulled cloth on an old garment, for that which fills it up pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither do they put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out, and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.

　　Christ first was the unfulled cloth for making a new garment, and then through His death and resurrection He was made a new garment to cover us as our righteousness before God that we might be justified by God and acceptable to Him…To sew a patch of unfulled cloth on an old garment means to [only] imitate what Christ did in His human life on earth.

　　The old garment in Matthew 9:16 signifies man’s good behavior, good deeds, and religious practices produced by man’s old, natural life…The Lord Jesus indicated to the disciples of John that…their garments had holes and that by fasting they were trying to patch the holes. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 319-320)

　　The Lord Jesus likened Himself to a piece of unfulled cloth. This points to what He was between His incarnation and His crucifixion. During this period of time He was unfulled cloth, new cloth that had never been fulled or dealt with. Through His death and resurrection this “new cloth” was dealt with and was made a “new garment.” The Lord’s intention was to give Himself to us not as a piece of unfulled cloth but as a complete, finished garment that we might put on as our righteousness to be justified before God. After His death and resurrection He was made the finished garment for us to put on so that we may attend His wedding. Thus, He is not only the Bridegroom but also our wedding garment that qualifies us to attend His wedding feast. When we are baptized into Him, we put Him on. Immediately, He as the Spirit becomes our clothing, our covering, and we are qualified. Therefore, the new garment that we must put on is Christ Himself as the all-inclusive Spirit.

　　The new wine [Matt. 9:17] signifies Christ as the new life, full of vigor, stirring people to excitement. The new wine is Christ’s cheering life…This new wine strengthens us, energizes us, and makes us very happy. The kingly Savior is not only the Bridegroom to the kingdom people for their enjoyment but also their new garment for them to be equipped outwardly that they may be qualified to attend the wedding. Furthermore, He is their new life to stir them up inwardly to enjoy Him as their Bridegroom. He, as their heavenly King, is the Bridegroom for the kingdom people’s enjoyment, and His heavenly kingdom is His wedding feast (22:2), at which they will enjoy Him. To enjoy Him as the Bridegroom in the kingdom feast, they need Him as their new garment outwardly and their new wine inwardly.

　　In Matthew 9:17 the Lord said that we should not put new wine into old wineskins. The old wineskins signify religious practices, such as the fasting maintained by the Pharisees, who were of the old religion, and by the disciples of John, who were of the new religion. All religions are old wineskins…To put new wine into old wineskins is to put Christ as the exciting life into any kind of religion.

　　The fresh wineskins [in verse 17] signify the church life in the local churches as the container of the new wine, which is Christ Himself as the exciting life. The kingdom people are built into the church (16:18), and the church is expressed through the local churches in which the kingdom people live (18:15-20). They are regenerated persons who constitute the Body of Christ and become the church (Rom. 12:5; Eph. 1:22-23). The Body of Christ as His fullness is also called “the Christ” (1 Cor. 12:12), referring to the corporate Christ. The individual Christ is the new wine, the inward exciting life, and the corporate Christ is the fresh wineskin, the outward container that holds the new wine. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 320-326)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msg. 28

«　WEEK 8　DAY 5　»

　　Matt. 9:38 Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest that He would thrust out workers into His harvest.

　　11:29-30 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

　　The heavenly King considered the Israelites as sheep and Himself as the Shepherd [Matt. 9:36]. When Christ came to the Jews the first time, they were like lepers, paralytics, the demon-possessed, and all manner of pitiful persons because they had no shepherd to care for them. Now in His kingly ministry for the establishing of His heavenly kingdom, He ministered to them not only as a Physician but also as a Shepherd, as prophesied in Isaiah 53:6 and 40:11. The heavenly King considered the people not only sheep but also the harvest [Matt. 9:37]. The sheep needed shepherding, and the harvest needed reaping. The King of the heavenly kingdom considered Himself not only the Shepherd of the sheep but also the Lord of the harvest [v. 38]. His kingdom is established with things of life that can grow and multiply. He is the Lord who owns this crop. We are both the flock and the crop. The flock is made up of living animals, and the crop, of living vegetation. Under the hand of the Lord Jesus, nothing is lifeless…Everything under the care of this heavenly King is living. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 340-341)

　　We all need to see a vision of the Lord Jesus as the Lord of the harvest. In Matthew 9:38 the Lord told us to beseech the Lord of the harvest that He would thrust out workers into His harvest…Many times when we sense the need for workers, we sound out the call for help. But from now on, whenever you sense the need for workers, you must first pray to the Lord of the harvest, saying, “Lord, here is Your harvest. You are the Lord of the harvest. We call on You to thrust out some reapers. Lord, send more reapers into Your harvest.”… To pray like this means that we have seen a vision that our Christ, the kingly One, the Shepherd, is the Lord of the harvest. Whenever you pray that the Lord would send reapers into His harvest, you honor Him very much. How different this is from inviting people to help you in your work! When you do that, you do not honor Christ as the Lord of the harvest…You become the master of that work, and He is not considered as the Lord of the harvest.

　　In 11:28 the Lord sounded out a call: “Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”…What a gracious word! The toil mentioned in verse 28 refers not only to the toil of striving to keep the commandments of the law and religious regulations but also to the toil of struggling to be successful in any work…Rest refers not only to being set free from the toil and burden under the law or religion or under any work or responsibility but also to perfect peace and full satisfaction.

　　To take the Lord’s yoke [vv. 29-30] is to take the will of the Father. It is not to be regulated or controlled by any obligations of the law or religion or to be enslaved by any work but to be constrained by the will of the Father. The Lord lived such a life, caring for nothing but the will of His Father (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38). He submitted Himself fully to the Father’s will (Matt. 26:39, 42). Hence, He asks us to learn from Him. God’s will is our yoke. Thus, we are not free to do as we please; rather, we are yoked… The Lord’s yoke is the Father’s will, and His burden is the work to carry out the Father’s will. Such a yoke is easy, not bitter, and such a burden is light, not heavy. The Greek word rendered “easy” means “fit for use”; hence, good, kind, mild, gentle, easy, pleasant, in contrast to hard, harsh, sharp, and bitter.

　　The Lord said that if we take His yoke upon us and learn from Him, we will find rest for our souls [11:29]. The rest we find by taking the Lord’s yoke and learning from Him is for our souls. It is an inward rest; it is not anything merely outward in nature. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 341, 371-373)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msgs. 29—31

«　WEEK 8　DAY 6　»

　　Matt. 15:26-27 But He answered and said, It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs. And she said, Yes, Lord, for even the little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.

　　When the Lord Jesus referred to the Canaanite woman as a dog, she said, “Yes, Lord, for even the little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” (Matt. 15:27). The Canaanite woman, not offended by the Lord’s word but admitting that she was a heathen dog, considered that at that time Christ, after being rejected by the children, the Jews, became crumbs under the table as a portion to the Gentiles. The Holy Land of Israel was the table on which Christ, the heavenly bread, had come as a portion to the children of Israel. But they threw Him off the table to the ground, the Gentile land, so that He became broken crumbs as a portion to the Gentiles. What a realization this Gentile woman had at that time! No wonder the heavenly King admired her faith (v. 28). (Life-study of Matthew, p. 522)

　　According to doctrine, [the Canaanite] woman [Matt. 15:21-28] definitely needed to be washed. But why did the Lord Jesus not ask her to wash herself before eating of Him? If the Lord had done this, He would have been acting contrary to what He had said in the foregoing verses when He belittled the matter of outward washing. Here the Lord was emphasizing the matter of eating. But this does not mean that we do not need to be washed. The blood is available. We may strike the blood and eat the Lamb. But in order to not confuse matters, in this section on eating, the Lord Jesus said nothing about washing. I believe that the Lord Jesus did this purposely to show His disciples that they needed only one thing—the eating. Even if we are as dirty as pagan dogs, we still have the right and the position to eat Jesus. Oh, we need to be uninhibited eaters! Do not wait until you have washed. Come to the Lord just as you are and eat of Him. As the words of a hymn say, “Just as I am, I come.” We need to say, “Lord, I come just as I am. I don’t need to change or to be cleansed. Lord, I need You, and I come to You to eat. Even if I am a dirty dog, I come to You just as I am.” Eating is primary, and eating is everything.

　　The Canaanite woman did not come to the Lord because she was hungry; she came because her daughter was sick. But the Lord turned the situation to the matter of eating. The Lord did not say, “I came as a Physician to the children of Israel, and I cannot heal any heathen. I cannot cure dogs.” Rather, the Lord seemed to be saying, “I came as bread to the children. It is not right to throw the children’s bread to the dogs.” Although the woman’s request had nothing to do with eating, the Lord purposely related her case to the matter of eating to show us that what we need is not outward washing but eating for the inward nourishing. In his doctrinal arrangement Matthew put these matters together that we might understand that for the kingdom of the heavens we do not need outward cleansing, but what we need is for Christ to get into us. Are you sick or weak? Do you have certain problems? Do not try to deal with these things in an outward way. Instead, deal with them in an inward way by eating Jesus. In fact, you should forget about all those things. What you need is not outward washing but Christ coming into you. The Lord seemed to be saying to the Canaanite woman, “You don’t need healing. You need Me! And you do not need Me outwardly; you need Me inwardly. You need to eat Me. I came as bread for people to eat, to digest, and to assimilate. I would like to get into your being, into your system, vessels, and fibers. I would like to get into your very constituent and become you. Thus, you need to eat Me. Don’t deal with things in an outward way. Rather, deal with everything in an inward way by taking Me into you. As long as I can get into you to nourish you, every problem will be solved.” (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 523-524)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msg. 46