Scripture Reading: Matt. 15:22-28; 16:16-19; 17:3-8, 24-27; 18:20
Ⅰ
The Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God—Matt. 16:16-19; 17:24-27:
A
The Christ is a title of the Lord Jesus according to His office—16:16, 20:
１
This title refers to the Lord's commission for the accomplishment of God's purpose to have the church; for the carrying out of God's administration, the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the anointed One—v. 18.
２
Christ's commission is to accomplish God's eternal purpose through His crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and second advent—vv. 21, 27; Eph. 1:22-23.
B
The Son of the living God is a title of the Lord Jesus according to His person— Matt. 16:16; John 20:31:
１
His commission is a matter of God's work, and His person is a matter of God's life—3:15-16; 1 John 5:11-12.
２
The Lord's person embodies the Father and issues in the Spirit for a full expression of the Triune God—John 14:10-12, 16-18.
３
The Lord's person as the Son of God is for the producing of many sons of God to be the many members formed into the church as the one Body— 3:15-16; 20:17; Heb. 2:10-12; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:16.
C
The church is built upon the revelation of the Christ and the Son of the living God; when we see this revelation, it becomes the rock upon which the church is built—Matt. 16:16-18.
D
The church built upon the revelation of the Christ and the Son of the living God deals with the gates of Hades and establishes the kingdom of the heavens— vv. 18-19:
１
Because Satan's power of darkness attacks the church, there is spiritual warfare between Satan's power, which is his kingdom, and the church, which is God's kingdom—12:26.
２
God wants to have the church with the intention, the goal of dealing with His enemy Satan and his power—16:18-19.
３
On the negative side, the church deals with the power of Satan; on the positive side, the church establishes the kingdom of the heavens.
Ⅱ
In Matthew 17:3-8 Christ is revealed as the only One whom we should hear:
A
In God's economy, after Christ came, we should hear Him; we should no longer hear the law or the prophets, since the law and the prophets were fulfilled in and by Christ—vv. 3-5.
B
No one except Jesus Himself should remain in the New Testament—v. 8:
１
Jesus is today's Moses; as such, He imparts the law of life into His believers— Heb. 8:10.
２
Jesus is today's Elijah; as such, He speaks for God and speaks forth God within His believers—1:1.
C
We need to apply the revelation and vision concerning Christ as the Son of God—Matt. 17:24-27.
Ⅲ
The Lord Jesus Christ is the One into whose name the believers are gathered together—18:20:
A
The Lord Jesus gathers us into His name—v. 20:
１
Since the name is the person, to be gathered into the Lord's name is to be gathered into the Lord Himself.
２
The Lord's name denotes His person, and the reality of the Lord's person is the Spirit; to be gathered into the Lord's name—that is, into the Lord Himself—is to be gathered into the Spirit—John 14:26; 15:26.
B
Our being gathered together by the Lord into His name is for the purpose of meeting—Matt. 18:20:
１
The basic principle of the meetings of the church is that the meetings are a gathering of the believers into His name; this is the most crucial thing in the meetings of the believers.
２
For every church meeting we need the Lord to bring us out of everything other than Himself and to gather us into His name—v. 20.
C
The Lord Jesus gathers us into His name so that we may enjoy His presence in our midst; His presence brings us enlightenment, grace, supply, and all kinds of blessing—28:20; Psa. 133:3.
Ⅳ
We may experience and enjoy Christ as the crumbs, the fragments of bread, under the table—Matt. 15:22-28:
A
The Lord Jesus unveiled Himself to the Canaanite woman as crumbs, small fragments of bread, good for food—vv. 26-27:
１
As our King, Christ rules over us by feeding us with Himself.
２
To eat Christ as our life supply is the way for us to be the kingdom people in the reality of the kingdom—5:3, 8, 20.
B
To receive and enjoy Christ as the crumbs under the table, we need to have faith in Him, realizing that the children's bread has become our portion; like the Canaanite woman, we need to exercise faith to take in Christ as the crumbs to be our life supply—15:27-28.