西一18　　祂也是召会身体的头；祂是元始，是从死人中复活的首生者，使祂可以在万有中居首位。

　　徒十三36　　大卫在神的旨意中，服事了他那一代的人…。

　　弗四12　　为要成全圣徒，目的是为着职事的工作，为着建造基督的身体。

　　约拿单爱大卫，与大卫结盟，并预测自己在大卫作王时，必在大卫的国里，位居第二。（撒上十八1~4，十九1~7，二十8，14~17，41~42，二三16~18。）扫罗的心意是将国留给约拿单；然而，约拿单不愿接受这国，反而认定大卫该在宝座上。约拿单应该告诉他父亲这事，并且离开他父亲来跟随大卫。按预表，约拿单跟随大卫，原可表征今天我们跟随基督，并让祂居首位。

　　约拿单知道大卫必要作王，但他因着对自己父亲天然的情感，没有去跟随大卫，反而留在他父亲那里。…约拿单因着没有离开他父亲，就遭受他父亲同样的〔悲惨〕结局，与他父亲一同死在战场。…约拿单由于对自己父亲天然的情感，没有照着神的旨意去跟随大卫，失去了他对神所应许之美地那一分正确且充分的享受。（撒母耳记生命读经，一五九至一六○页。）

　　Col. 1:18 And He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things.

　　Acts 13:36 Now David, having served his own generation by the counsel of God…

　　Eph. 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

　　Jonathan loved David, covenanted with him, and predicted that he would be the second in David’s kingdom when David would be the king (1 Sam. 18:1-4; 19:1-7; 20:8, 14-17, 41-42; 23:16-18). Saul’s intention was to preserve the kingdom for Jonathan. However, Jonathan was not willing to take the kingdom but recognized that David should be on the throne. Jonathan should have told his father about this and then should have left his father to be with David. In typology, for Jonathan to follow David would have signified our following Christ today and our giving Him the preeminence.

　　Jonathan realized that David would be the king, but instead of going to follow David, Jonathan stayed with his father because of his natural affection toward his father. Because Jonathan would not leave his father, he suffered the same fate as his father and died with him in the battle. Jonathan lost the proper and adequate enjoyment of his portion in the good land promised by God because of his failure in not following David according to God’s will due to his natural affection toward his father. (Life-study of 1 & 2 Samuel, p. 129)

　　在每一个时代里都有那时代的职事。这些时代的职事与地方性的执事不一样。路德乃是他那个时代的一个执事，达秘也是他那个时代的一个执事。主在每一个时代都有祂特别要作的事，祂有祂自己所要恢复、要作的工作；那个恢复、那一个工作，就是那一时代的职事。

　　约拿单乃是在扫罗和大卫之间，他是一个人在两个职事当中；他所应当站的地位，就是跟随第二个职事。但是因着约拿单与前一个职事的关系太深，所以没有办法脱离。要跟上时代的职事，就需要有看见。米甲是嫁给大卫的，但是她没有看见；她只看见大卫〔外面〕的光景，她就受不了，因此就跟不上。（撒下六16，20~23。）

　　一个人能看见、能遇见那时代的职事，乃是神的怜悯。但是一个人能否舍弃已往的职事，又是另外一件事。…人能不能把已往的职事摆在一边，乃是在乎神的怜悯。（倪柝声文集第三辑第十一册，二九九至三○○页。）

　　到了大卫和所罗门的时代，神要建造圣殿。…当时并没有两个不同的职事在建造圣殿，所以也没有两个不同的带领。在大卫的时代是大卫带领；大卫过去了，是所罗门带领。

　　头一个有分于建造召会职事的，就是主耶稣。〔太十六18。〕主的职事是要建造基督的身体。为此，祂拣选了十二使徒，把他们带进建造召会的职事里。

　　按理推论，在这个时代当然也该有主职事的继续。我们不能否认，今天在地上有主的建造。愿主开我们的眼睛，叫我们看见，只要是个人，就应该作基督徒；只要是个基督徒，就应当进入主今时代的职事里。（李文集一九八七年第二册，一二二至一二三页。）

　　参读：倪柝声文集第三辑第十一册，第二十五篇；关于生命与实行的信息，第二篇。

　　In every age there is the ministry of that age. These ministries of the ages are different from the local ministers. Luther was a minister of his age. Darby was also a minister of his age. In every age the Lord has special things that He wants to accomplish. He has His own recoveries and His own works to do. The particular recovery and work that He does in one age is the ministry of that age.

　　Jonathan stood between Saul and David. He was one man standing between two ministries. He should have followed the second ministry. However, because Jonathan’s relationship with the first ministry was too deep, he could not disentangle himself. In order to catch up with the ministry of the age, there is the need for us to see the vision. Michal was married to David, yet she did not see anything. She saw only David’s condition before God, and she could not tolerate it. As a result, she was left behind (2 Sam. 6:16, 20-23).

　　It is God’s mercy that a person can see and come into contact with the ministry of that age. Yet it is altogether a different thing for a man to take up the courage to forsake the past ministry…. Whether or not one can set aside his past ministry is entirely up to God’s mercy. (CWWN, vol. 57, pp. 260-261)

　　During the age of David and Solomon, God desired to build the temple…. At that time there were not two different ministries building the temple; hence, there were not two different leaderships. In David’s age it was David who was taking the lead. After David…, Solomon was the one taking the lead.

　　The first one who participated in the ministry of building the church was the Lord Jesus [Matt. 16:181. The Lord’s ministry was to build up the Body of Christ. For this He chose twelve apostles and brought them into the ministry of building the church.

　　It stands to reason that in this age also there should be the continuation of the Lord’s ministry. We cannot deny that on the earth today there is the Lord’s building. May the Lord open our eyes to see that as long as we are human beings, we should be Christians; as long as we are Christians, we should enter into the Lord’s ministry in this age. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 2, “Words of Training for the New Way,” pp. 99-100)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 57, ch. 25; CWWL, 1987, vol. 2, “Words of Training for the New Way,” ch. 2