Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy
Message Twelve
Life and Blessing under the Government of God
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Deut. 30:19-20 …I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life that you and your seed may live, in loving Jehovah your God by listening to His voice and holding fast to Him; for He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell upon the land which Jehovah swore to your fathers…
Word of Appetizer
In Deut. 30:19, Moses set before the children of Israel blessing and curse; what is this blessing?
God “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ”; God’s blessing is mainly the dispensing of the Triune God into us; the greatest blessing that we receive from the Lord is not what the Lord gives us; it is what the Lord makes us, what He enables us to become; in the church life we should not expect outward blessings; rather, it is crucial for us to realize that the Lord’s blessing is to transform us into precious material and then build us into His dwelling place.
Spiritual Burden
The believers in Christ live under God’s administration, choose life and receive blessing, live according to life’s principles, and realize that the Lord’s blessing is everything in the church life and the Christian life.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
In order to extend their days in the good land, the children of Israel were required to live under the government of God, doing all that God had commanded them through Moses.
Moses set before the children of Israel life and death and charged them to choose life.
Moses set before the children of Israel blessing and curse.
The Experience of Life
In Psalm 36:9…“For with You is the foundation of life; In Your life we see light”. Only in the temple could God’s people enjoy the fountain of life. Furthermore, it was in the temple that they could see light in God’s light. 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.
In Christ God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies; we praise the Lord that we are in Christ, who is the virtue, the instrument, the sphere, and the channel in which we have been blessed.
Practice and Application
Deut. 39:19 …. I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life that you and your seed may live. God wants us to take Him as the fountain, the source, of our life and our being. In our Christian life and church life, we should discern matters not according to right and wrong but according to life and death.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
Deut. 30:15-16 … See, I have put before you today life and good… If you obey the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I am commanding you today, to love Jehovah your God and walk in His ways and keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, then you will live and multiply…
Deut. 30:19b …I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life that you and your seed may live
Psa. 36:9a For with You is the fountain of life…
Matt. 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
I. In order to extend their days in the good land, the children of Israel were required to live under the government of God, doing all that God has commanded them though Moses.
II. Moses set before the children of Israel life and death and charged them to choose life.
- With God is the fountain of life; God wants us to take Him as the fountain, the source, of our life and our being.
- In Genesis 2:9, 176-17 we see two choices before man—the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represent two principles of living—the principle of life (dependence on God) and the principle of right and wrong (independence from God); in our Christian life and church life, we should discern matters not according to right and wrong but according to life and death.
- By the resurrection life of Christ in our spirit, we can be victorious over the attack of death upon the church; “the gates of Hades,” that is death. The church that is built upon “this rock” can discern between death and life, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against the church.
Key Verses (2)
Deut. 30:19b …I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life that you and your seed may live
Gen. 1:28a And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion…
Eph. 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.
Rom. 8:4 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.
III. Moses set before the children of Israel blessing and curse. (1)
- In Genesis 1:26-28 God blessed man to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it, because God saw on earth a living creature bearing His image and having His dominion.
- In order to be a blessing to His chosen people, God must have a kingdom, a realm, a sphere, on earth to exercise His administration under His full, divine authority.
- God “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ”; Since the nature of these blessing is spiritual, we need to exercise our spirit to realize, experience, and partake of them in our spirit.
Key Verses (3)
Psa. 133:1-3 …How good and how pleasant it is Four brothers to dwell in unity! It is like the fine oil upon the head that ran down upon the beard, Upon Aaron’s beard,…Like the dew of Hermon That came down upon the mountains of Zion. For there Jehovah commanded the blessing: Life forever.
Ezek. 34:26 And I will make them… a blessing, and I will cause the showers to come down in their season; there will be showers of blessing.
Rev. 3:12a He who overcomes, him I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall by no means go out anymore…
III. Moses set before the children of Israel blessing and curse. (2)
- Gods’ blessing is intrinsically related to oneness; the unity spoken of in verse 1 is a picture of the genuine oneness in the New testament; this oneness is the processed and consummated triune God mingled with the believers in Christ.
- Through His shepherding in His recovery by life, the Lord brings us into the enjoyment of His blessing and causes us to become a source of blessing under the showers of blessing.
- The greatest blessing that we receive from the Lord is not what the Lord gives us; it is what the Lord makes us, what He enables us to become; the Lord’s promise in revelation 3:12 is to make the overcomer a pillar in the temple of God; it is a great blessing for the Lord to transform us and build us into His temple.
- We must realize that in our work, in our Christian life, and in our church life, everything depends on the Lord’s blessing.
- We need to pray, “Lord, please give us a vision that we may see the meaning of Your blessing, and have mercy on us that, unhindered, we may be able to receive Your blessing.”
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 With God is the fountain of life (Psa. 36:9a, John 11:25)
(Please illustrate why only God’s life is life.)
T2 Life is the content of God and the flowing out of God (Eph. 4:18, Rev. 22:1)
(Please illustrate God’s content is God’s being, and God’s flowing out is the impartation of Himself as life to us)
D2
T1 The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represent two principles of living (Gen. 2:9, 16-17, John 15:5)
(Please illustrate that the tree of life represent the principle of life (dependence on God), the tree of the knowledge of good nad evil represents the principle of right and wrong (independence from God).)
T2 Discern matters not according to right and wrong but according to life and death (2 Cor. 11:3, John 4:10-14, 20-24)
(Please illustrate that the Gospel of John revealed the contrast between the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.)
D3
T1 We should not ask whether a thing is good or evil but should ask from where a thing originates. (Rom. 8:4, 13)
(Please use experience to illustrate that everything that issues from the soul, results in death; everything that originates from the spirit, results in life.)
T2 Death is the characteristic of Satan’s work (Matt. 16:18, Acts 2:24)
(Please illustrate by the resurrection life of Christ in our spirit, we can be victorious over the attack of death upon the church.)
D4
T1 God’s blessing always follows His expression and His representation. (Gen. 1:26-28)
(Please illustrate how God blessed man in Genesis 1:26-28.)
T2 Blessing requires a sphere of God’s authority, a sphere under God’s administration (Matt. 6:10, Col. 1:13)
(Please illustrate in order to be a blessing to His chosen people, God must have a kingdom.)
D5
T1 In Christ, God has blessed us (Eph. 1:3)
(Please illustrate In Christ indicates that Christ is the virtue, the instrument, and the sphere in which God has blessed us.)
T2 The nature of these blessing is spiritual (Rom. 8:4)
(Please illustrate that we need to exercise our spirit to realize, experience, and partake of them in our spirit.)
D6
T1 The Lord’s blessing is to transform us into precious material and then build us into His dwelling place (Eph. 2:21-22, Rev. 3:12)
(Please illustrate that the greatest blessing that we receive from the Lord is not what the Lord gives us; it is what the Lord makes us.)
T2 Everything depends on the Lord’s blessing (Eph. 1:3, Mal. 3:10)
(Please illustrate that the normal Christian life is a blessed life, and the normal Christian work is a blessed work.)
