Scripture Reading: John 4:24; 2 Pet. 1:1, 4-11; 1 John 1:5; 4:8, 16; Luke 18:1-18
Ⅰ
The divine life may be considered as the first and the basic attribute of God:
A
God’s life is the unique life.
B
Ephesians 4:18 is the unique verse that speaks of the life of God: “Being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance which is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.”
C
In the whole universe only the life of God can be counted as life—1 John 5:12.
D
In the sight of God only His life is life; therefore, when the life of God is mentioned in the New Testament, it is treated as if it is the unique life—John 1:4; 10:10; 11:25; 14:6.
E
The life of God is uncreated, without beginning or ending, existing by itself, and ever, unchangeably existing.
F
From the standpoint of eternity, only the life of God is life.
Ⅱ
The eternal life is the life of God with the divine nature:
A
The eternal life, the life of God:
１
Obtaining eternal life in this age:
ａ
Eternal life being the life of God—1 John 1:1-2.
ｂ
Eternal life being in the Lord Jesus—5:11-12; John 1:4.
ｃ
Eternal life being given freely by God—Rom. 6:23; 1 John 5:11.
ｄ
Eternal life being obtained at the time of believing—John 3:16, 36; 5:24.
ｅ
Eternal life being known in the present age—1 John 5:13.
ｆ
Having eternal life and never perishing—John 10:28-29.
２
Obtaining eternal life in the coming age:
ａ
“No one who has left…for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he shall receive a hundred times as much now at this time…and in the coming age, eternal life”—Mark 10:29-30.
ｂ
“Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life”—Rev. 2:10.
ｃ
“To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God”—v. 7.
３
Enjoying eternal life in eternity:
ａ
“The water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life”—John 4:14.
ｂ
“I will give to him who thirsts from the spring of the water of life freely”—Rev. 21:6.
ｃ
“They may have right to the tree of life”—22:14.
B
The life of God with the divine nature:
１
As those who have received equally precious faith, we, the believers in Christ, should be partakers of the divine nature—2 Pet. 1:4:
ａ
The divine nature refers to what God is, that is, the riches, the elements, and the constituents of God’s being—John 4:24; 1 John 1:5; 4:8, 16.
ｂ
The divine life and the divine nature are inseparable; the divine nature is the substance of the divine life and is within the divine life—1:1-2; 5:11-13.
２
We need to experience the development of the divine life and the divine nature contained in the divine seed that has been sown into us that we may have a rich entrance into the eternal kingdom—2 Pet. 1:1, 4-11.
３
As children of God, we are God-men, born of God, possessing the life and nature of God, and belonging to the species of God—John 1:12-13.
４
At our regeneration, another nature was imparted into us; this is the nature of God, the divine nature—2 Pet. 1:4.
５
A partaker of the divine nature is one who enjoys the divine nature and participates in the divine nature—v. 4.
６
If we enjoy God and partake of the riches of His being, we will be constituted with the divine nature, becoming the same as God in life and nature but not in the Godhead and expressing Him in all that we are and do—v. 3.
Ⅲ
The Triune God is the structure of the New Testament:
A
“If I, by the Spirit of God, cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you”—Matt. 12:28.
B
“Disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”—28:19.
C
“The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and remind you of all the things which I have said to you”—John 14:26.
D
“When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of reality, who proceeds from the Father, He will testify concerning Me”—15:26.
E
“Having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father”—Acts 2:33a.
F
“If the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you”—Rom. 8:11.
G
“Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father!”—Gal. 4:6.
H
“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith”—Eph. 3:16-17a.
I
“One Spirit…one Lord…one God and Father”—4:4-6.
J
“How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”—Heb. 9:14.
K
“Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in the sanctification of the Spirit unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ”—1 Pet. 1:2a.
L
“Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth”—Rev. 1:4b-5a.
Ⅳ
God is a God who hides Himself—the hidden God:
A
“Surely You are a God who hides Himself, / O God of Israel, the Savior”—Isa. 45:15:
１
Although our God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and full of forgiveness, He is also the hiding God, as the book of Esther indicates—4:14.
２
God created the universe and then hid Himself in it, until we do not know where to find Him—Job 23:3.
３
God did countless things in the midst of the children of Israel and countless things in their personal lives, yet He concealed Himself; He was ceaselessly working, yet He was always hidden—Isa. 45:15.
４
We need to realize that the omnipotent God whom we are serving is still hiding Himself, especially when He is helping us—John 14:26; Rom. 8:28.
５
The God who hides Himself is operating within us silently yet mightily—Phil. 2:13.
B
The significance of the parable in Luke 18:1-8 is profound, and we need to know God as He is revealed, as the hidden God:
１
The widow in verse 3 signifies the believers; in a sense, the believers in Christ are a widow in the present age because their Husband, Christ, is apparently absent from them—2 Cor. 11:2.
２
The widow in the parable kept coming to the unrighteous judge and asking him to avenge her of her opponent; we ought to pray persistently for this avenging and should not lose heart—Luke 18:1, 3:
ａ
When our Husband is apparently absent and we are left on earth as a widow, temporarily our God seems to be an unrighteous judge—v. 6.
ｂ
Although He appears to be unrighteous, we still must appeal to Him, pray persistently, and bother Him again and again, for He will carry out quickly the avenging of His chosen ones, who “cry to Him day and night”—vv. 7-8a.
３
“When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”—v. 8b:
ａ
Literally, the Greek words rendered “faith” mean “the faith”; this denotes the persistent faith for our persistent prayer, like that of the widow.
ｂ
The faith through which we were saved is the initial stage of faith; the faith that brought us into a life union with Christ is the linking faith—the faith that comes into us through our contacting the Triune God continually so that we may live by the Son of God—Rom. 1:17; Gal. 2:20; John 14:19.
ｃ
The linking faith is the divine requirement for the overcomers to meet Christ in His triumphant return—Luke 18:8b:
⑴
Linking faith is the Triune God moving in us to link us to His unsearchable riches—Eph. 3:8.
⑵
Linking faith is the faith of the believers who have no trust in themselves; rather, their trust is in God—2 Cor. 1:9.
⑶
When the Lord Jesus returns, He will find a number of overcomers who are living by the linking faith and will regard them as treasures for His kingdom in the thousand years of His reign—Luke 18:8b; Rev. 20:4, 6.