Knowing Life and the Church
Message One
The Triune God Being Life to the Tripartite Man for the Fulfillment of God’s Eternal Purpose
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
In order that now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the church, According to the eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord—Eph. 3:10-11.
He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life—1 John 5:12.
Word of Appetizer
How can God’s eternal purpose be accomplished?
God’s purpose is to have the church, the Body of Christ, through which He can express Himself. The purpose of God in the universe is to produce a group of people who will be exactly the same as He. God’s eternal purpose is accomplished by the divine life dispensed into His chosen and redeemed tripartite people; as God’s life is wrought into His people, a metabolic reaction takes place within them that causes them to be transformed and to become the same as God in life, nature, and expression.
Spiritual Burden
God’s eternal purpose to make His chosen and redeemed people the same as He is in life and nature for His corporate expression is fulfilled by the Triune God being life to the tripartite man.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The eternal purpose—the purpose of the ages—is the eternal plan that God made in eternity past for eternity future.
The thought of the Triune God being life to the tripartite man runs through the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.
The Experience of Life
Nothing apart from God as the fountain of living waters can satisfy us; when we take Him as the fountain of life, He becomes to us the fatness of God’s house, the river of satisfaction, and the light of life.
Practice and Application
The only way to take God as the fountain of living waters is to drink of Him day by day.
We must learn to drink of the river of God’s pleasures. God is for us to enjoy. But in order to enjoy Him, we must take Him as life and live by Him.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
In order that now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the church, according to the eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord—Eph. 3:10-11.
…for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son…—Rom. 8:28-29.
The eternal purpose—the purpose of the ages—is the eternal plan that God made in eternity past for eternity future
A. God Himself is the initiation, the origination, and the sphere of His eternal purpose.
B. God’s purpose is to have the church, the Body of Christ, through which He can express Himself.
C. The purpose of God in the universe is to produce a group of people who will be exactly the same as He; this is the unique subject of the
D. God saved us and called us according to His own purpose, and now His purpose should become our purpose.
E. God’s eternal purpose is accomplished by the divine life dispensed into His chosen and redeemed tripartite
Key Verses (2)
And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth—Gen. 1:26.
He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life—1 John 5:12.
II. The thought of the Triune God being life to the tripartite man runs through the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation
A. God’s intention in creating man in His own image was that man would receive Him as life.
B. God wants to be our life so that we may express Him; this is the desire of God’s
D. The divine life may be considered the first and the basic attribute of God:
• According to the divine and eternal nature of the life of God, God’s life is the unique life; only the life of God can be counted as life.
• Life is the content of God and the flowing out of God; God’s content is God’s being, and God’s flowing out is the impartation of Himself as life to us.
Key Verses (3)
For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which hold no water—Jer. 2:13.
They are saturated with the fatness of Your house, and You cause them to drink of the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light—Psa. 36:8-9.
II. The thought of the Triune God being life to the tripartite man runs through the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation
C. For the fulfillment of His purpose God wants to be the fountain, the source, of living waters to satisfy His chosen people for their enjoyment.
E. God wants to be the fountain, the unique source, of our life and our being; when we take Him as the fountain of life, He becomes to us the fatness of God’s house, the river of satisfaction, and the light of life.
F. The Triune God has been processed and consummated in order to dispense Himself into our being as life.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 God’s eternal purpose is to have the church (Eph. 1:5, 9, 11, 22-23)
(Please explain that God’s purpose is to have the church, the Body of Christ, through which He can express Himself.)
T2 Man is the center of God’s creation (Gen. 1:26)
(Please explain that God’s purpose in creating man was that man would express Him and represent Him.)
D2
T1 The purpose of God in the universe is to produce a group of people who will be exactly the same as He (1 John 3:2; Rev. 21:18)
(Please explain what the unique subject of the Bible is.)
T2 “If He is manifested, we will be like Him” (1 John 3:2)
(What is His purpose that God gave us His eternal life?)
D3
T1 God saved us and called us according to His own purpose (Rom. 8:28-29; 1 John 5:11-12)
(Please explain what the purpose of God’s salvation is.) (Refer to Outlines I. D. 1-2)
T2 God’s glory is God expressed (Rom. 9:23)
(Please explain that to be glorified is the ultimate consummation of God’s full salvation.)
D4
T1 God’s economy is to produce a counterpart for Himself (Gen. 2:21-23; John 3:30)
(Please explain that the purpose of God’s economy is that God would no longer be alone but would have a wife to be His increase, His enlargement.)
T2 “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18a)
(Please explain that in typology this signifies that it is not good for God to be alone.)
D5
T1 Only God Himself is the real life (1 John 5:12)
(Why is the human life not life?)
T2 Life is God’s content and God’s flowing out (Rev. 22:1)
(Please explain that God’s flowing out is the impartation of Himself as life to us.)
D6
T1 God is for us to enjoy (Psa. 36:8-9)
(What are the four main points that Psalm 36:8-9 mentions concerning our enjoyment of God as life?)
T2 God wants us to take Him as the fountain of living waters (Jer. 2:13)
(Please use experience to explain how we can take Him as our source?)
