The Recovery Of The Church
Message Four
The Recovery of the Church as God’s House
and God’s City as Portrayed in Ezra and Nehemiah
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which Jehovah the God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all his request according to the hand of Jehovah his God upon him. Some of the children of Israel and some of the priests, and the Levites and the singers and the gatekeepers and the temple servants also went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.—Ezra7:6~7.
……The God of heaven Himself will make us prosper; therefore we His servants will rise up and build.……—Neh.2:20.
Word of Appetizer
What is the meaning of the recovery of the God’s temple and God’s city which are portrayed in the Ezra and Nehemiah?
The recovery of a remnant of the children of Israel from Babylon to Jerusalem for the rebuilding of the temple and the city signifies the Lord’s recovery of a remnant of the church out of today’s division and confusion back to the original ground of oneness for the building up of the church as the house of God and the kingdom of God.
Spiritual Burden
Lord’s recovery of a remnant of the church out of today’s division and confusion back to the original ground of oneness for the building up of the church as the house of God and the kingdom of God.
In the Lord’s recovery we need Ezras, priestly teachers who contact God, who are saturated with God, who are one with God and filled with God, and who are skillful in the Word of God.
Nehemiah’s aggressiveness shows us the need for the proper aggressiveness in the Lord’s recovery today.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The recovery of a remnant of the children of Israel from Babylon to Jerusalem for the rebuilding of the temple and the city signifies the Lord’s recovery of a remnant of the church out of today’s division and confusion back to the original ground of oneness for the building up of the church as the house of God and the kingdom of God.
The Lord raised up Ezra to strengthen and enrich His.
Recovery The crucial point in the book of Nehemiah is that the city of Jerusalem with its wall was a safeguard and protection for the house of God within the city.
The Experience of Life
When the word of God works within us, the Spirit of God, who is God Himself, through the word spontaneously dispenses God’s nature with God’s element into our being; in this way we are reconstituted.
When we realize and enjoy Christ as our life, we have the church as the house of God; if we go further and realize His headship, the house will be enlarged to be the city, the kingdom of God.
Practice and Application
God’s people need to be recovered out of Babylon back to the unique ground of oneness；God’s people need to be recovered back to the enjoyment of the unsearchably rich Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit, typified.
by the good land the need for the proper aggressiveness in the Lord’s recovery today；It is the aggressive ones who receive help from God.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
Thus says Cyrus the king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth has Jehovah the God of heaven given to me; and He has charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him; and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and let him build the house of Jehovah the God of Israel-He is God-who is in Jerusalem. -Ezra1:2~3
I. The recovery of a remnant of the children of Israel from
Babylon to Jerusalem for the rebuilding of the temple and the City
•signifies the Lord’s recovery of a remnant of the churchout of today’s division and confusion back to the original ground of oneness for the building up of the church as the house of God and the kingdom of God.
•God’s people need to be recovered out of Babylon back to the unique ground of oneness.
• In the recovery of the church we are building up the Body of Christ, the temple of God, the house of God.
•This fulfills God’s original intention to have a corporate man to express Him in His image and to represent Him with His dominion.
Key Verses (2)
This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which Jehovah the God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all his request according to the hand of Jehovah his God upon him. -Ezra7:6
And all the people gathered as one……，And Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women……And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. -Neh.8:1~3
II. The Lord raised up Ezra to strengthen and enrich His Recovery
• Ezra was a priest and also a scribe, one who was skilled in the law of God; as such a person, Ezra had the capacity to meet the need.
•In the Lord’s recovery we need Ezras, priestly teachers who contact God, who are saturated with God, who are one with God and filled with God, and who are skillful in the Word of God.
• Ezra reconstituted the people of Israel by educating them with the heavenly truths so that Israel could become God’s Testimony.
•In the Lord’s recovery today, we need Ezras to do a purifying work and to constitute God’s people by educating them with the divine truths so that they may be God’s testimony, His corporate expression, on earth.
Key Verses (3)
……I cleansed them from everything foreign. And I appointed duties for the priests and the Levites, each in his work. -Neh.13:30
……The God of heaven Himself will make us prosper; therefore we His servants will rise up and build.……-Neh.2:20
III. The crucial point in the book of Nehemiah is that the city of Jerusalem with its wall was a safeguard and protection for the house of God within the city
• The rebuilding of the house of God typifies God’s recovery of the degraded church, and the rebuilding of the wall of the city of Jerusalem typifies God’s recovery of His kingdom; God’s building of His house and of His kingdom go together.
•Nehemiah’s aggressiveness shows us the need for the proper aggressiveness in the Lord’s recovery today；Nehemiah was very pure and aggressive, not cowardly；Nehemiah did not live in his natural man but in resurrection；he was a pattern of what a leader among God’s people should be.
•The great and high wall of the holy city is for our separation unto God, the protection of God’s interests, and the expression of God.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1Recovery means the after a damage or a loss has been incurred. (Matt.19:8)
(When we speak of the recovery of the church, what’s the meaning of this?)
T2Jerusalem, was the center for God’s people to worship Him (Deut. 12:5)
(Why Israel does not have the right to choose their own place of worship?)
D2
T1The building of the house and the city is the center of God’s
eternal purpose. (Gal. 1:3, Neh.2:11, 17)
(Please illustrate that this building is actually the mingling of God with man.)
T2the recovery of the church involves the establishing of the kingdom life.(Rom14:17)
(Please illustrate that The reality of the church life is the kingdom. )
D3
T1Ezra was a priest and also a scribe.( Ezra7:21)
(Please illustrate that as such a person, Ezra had the capacity to meet the need.)
T2he was not a letter-scribe but a priestly scribe.( 2 Cor. 3:5-6; 1 Tim. 2:7)
(Please illustrate that what kind of people are Priestly teacher)
D4
T1Need to be reconstructed (Neh.8:1-4, 8)
(Why Most of those who had returned to Jerusalem from the captivity in Babylon they need to be reconstructed?)
T2God’s word reconstitutes us. (Psa. 119:2, 9,105)
(Please illustrate that In order to reconstitute the people of God, there was the need to educate them with the word that comes out of the mouth of God and that expresses God.)
D5
T1Reeducation in the words of God (Neh.13:30, 2 Tim. 2:2,15)
(Please illustrate that As a result of being reconstituted through the ministry of Ezra, Israel become God’s testimony. )
T2The crucial point in the book of Nehemiah.( Matt. 16:18-19. Eph. 1:22-23)
(What is The crucial point in the book of Nehemiah?)
D6
T1proper aggressiveness (Neh.1:1-11,4:18, 5:19)
(Please illustrate that Nehemiah’s aggressiveness was accompanied by other characteristics)
T2The function of the wall (1 Pet. 1:15-16, 4:3, 21:18)
(Please illustrate that the wall is for our separation unto God, the protection of God’s interests, and the expression of God)
