Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 2:4-5; Zech. 3:9; 4:10; John 10:11-16; Ezek. 34:11-31
Ⅰ
The believers are symbolized by living stones, those who are transformed with Christ's stone nature to be God's spiritual house—1 Pet. 2:4-5:
A
Christ is the living stone, the foundation stone, the cornerstone, and the topstone of God's building; after being born of God, regenerated by receiving Him, the believers in Christ are transformed into living precious stones for the building of the church, the house of God—v. 4; 1 Cor. 3:11; Acts 4:11; Zech. 4:7; John 1:12-13, 42; 1 Pet. 2:5; 1 Cor. 3:12; Matt. 16:18.
B
Christ as the stone has seven eyes, which signify the seven Spirits of God, the sevenfold intensified Spirit (Zech. 3:9; 4:10); the sevenfold intensified Spirit is also signified by the seven eyes of the Lamb (Rev. 5:6) and the seven lamps of fire burning before God's throne (4:5):
１
The lamps are for enlightening, searching, exposing, judging, and burning, and the eyes are for infusing; the seven eyes infuse all that the Lamb-stone is into our being to make us His golden lampstand—Zech. 4:2-6, 11-14.
２
The way for us to become living stones is to come to Him and be seen by Him; as the Lord enlightens and judges us, He looks at us and infuses Him-self into us for our transformation into His image; we all need to be under the enlightening of the seven lamps, the beholding of the seven eyes, and the life imparting of the sevenfold intensified Spirit.
３
When Christ as the living stone of the grace of God is constituted into our being through our subjective experience of Him, He becomes our pillow for our rest to make us a pillar in God's building—Gen. 28:11-12, 17-19a; Zech. 4:7; Matt. 11:28-30; John 1:16-17, 51.
C
Eventually, the corporate Christ, Christ with His overcoming bride, will come as a stone to crush the aggregate of human government to bring in God's king-dom—Dan. 2:34-35; Joel 3:11; Rev. 19:11-21; cf. Gen. 1:26:
１
Out of Christ's mouth proceeds a sharp sword, that with it He might smite the nations—Rev. 19:15a; cf. 1:16; 2:12, 16.
２
In order to be constituted and mingled with Christ to become the corporate smiting stone, His corporate warrior-overcomer, we need the killing word that deals with the enemy; we should pray-read the word to experience the sword as the killing instrument—Eph. 6:17-18.
Ⅱ
The believers are symbolized by sheep, those who are under Christ's organic shepherding—John 10:11-16; Psa. 23:1; Matt. 9:36; Heb. 13:20:
A
The Lord Himself comes as the Shepherd to search for His sheep and seek them out—Ezek. 34:11-31; Luke 15:3-7; Rev. 7:17; John 21:15-17; 1 Pet. 2:25; 5:3-4.
B
The Lord brings His sheep to their own land and to the high mountains; the land signifies Christ as the good land of Canaan, and the high mountains signify the resurrected and ascended Christ—Ezek. 34:13-14; Col. 1:12.
C
The Lord brings His sheep back to the streams, signifying the life-giving Spirit, and He feeds His flock by the streams, signifying His feeding the believers with His riches—Ezek. 34:13; Rev. 22:1-2a; 1 Cor. 12:13; Psa. 36:8.
D
The Lord brings His sheep back to the good and rich pasture, signifying Christ as our life supply, and causes them to lie down, indicating that He gives them inward rest—Ezek. 34:14-15; Psa. 23:2; John 10:9; Matt. 11:28-30.
E
The Lord binds up the broken one and strengthens the sick one; through His cherishing and nourishing He causes every weak sheep to become a horse of majesty in battle—Ezek. 34:16a; Zech. 10:3; 11:7.
F
The Lord exercises righteous judgments to clear away all the unjust things among God's recovered people; the One who nourishes us and supplies us causes us to have an accurate sense concerning our relationship with others; when we have such a sense, we judge ourselves, and as a result we have a genuine one-ness with the saints as one flock—Ezek. 34:17-22; Col. 3:15.
G
Christ as the real David is set up as the Shepherd to feed us and cause us to be filled and satisfied; He takes care of us, including all our problems and respon-sibilities and every aspect of our living; the issue of the Lord's caring for us as our Shepherd is that we obey Him as our King and come under His kingship— Ezek. 34:23; Psa. 23; Rev. 7:17; 22:1-2a.
H
As we experience the Lord's shepherding and remain under His kingship, we enjoy His covenant of peace, which is secure and unchanging, and are no longer subject to spiritual troubles and disturbances—Ezek. 37:24-28:
１
Under His shepherding, all the evil beasts, evil persons, are kept away from the Lord's recovered people—34:25a; cf. Acts 20:28-29; Phil. 3:2-3.
２
The Lord breaks our yoke, delivers us from slavery, and promises that we will not be a prey to the enemy but will dwell in peace and safety—Ezek. 34:25b, 27b-28.
I
Through the experience of the Lord's shepherding, God's recovered people have God's presence, God is among them, and they are before God; this portrays the perfect fellowship with God—the fellowship in oneness—in the mingling of God and man, in which we are one with God and He is one with us—vv. 30-31.
J
Through His shepherding, the Lord brings us into the enjoyment of His blessing and causes us to become a source of blessing under the showers of blessing— vv. 26-27a, 29; Gen. 12:2-3; Rom. 15:29; 2 Cor. 1:12, 15; Zech. 10:1:
１
The blessing in Numbers 6:23-27, like that in 2 Corinthians 13:14, is the eternal blessing of the Triune God, which is the Triune God dispensing Himself in His Divine Trinity into us for our enjoyment.
２
In order to receive the Lord's blessing, we must practice the oneness, and the practice of the oneness is the one accord—Psa. 133; Eph. 4:3-4a; Acts 1:14; 2:46; Rom. 15:5-6.