Crystallization-Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations
Message Ten
The Promise, the Prophecy,
the Remnant, and the Recovery
OPENING WORD
OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Jer. 25:11-12 And this whole land will become a desolation and a waste, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
23:3-4 Then I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their pasture; and they will be fruitful and multiply.
30:17 For I will bring you recovery and will heal you of your wounds, declares Jehovah; because they have called you an outcast, saying, She is Zion, whom no one searches after.
Word of Appetizer
Why do we say that if there is no recovery of God’s people from Babylon the Great to the church life, there will be no way for Christ to carry out His second coming?
The return of the children of Israel from their captivity typifies the recovery of the church. The recovery of the church is typified in the Old Testament by the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. The recovery of the church involves a return from the capturing and divisive ground signified by Babylon. This is the reason that the Lord, at the end time, is working to have a recovery of the church. This recovery will be a preparation and a base for Christ’s coming again.
Spiritual Burden
In the Lord’s recovery today we are a remnant of God’s people who have come back to His original intention. We are members of the Body of Christ who have come back to the original ground of oneness and are standing here as God’s remnant. Christ’s second coming depends on the return of a remnant of His New Testament believers from their captivity in Babylon, degraded Christianity, to the unique ground of oneness for the building of the church, God’s spiritual house.
CONCLUDING WORD
OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
The Revelation of the Truth
God chose the children of Israel and made them His people as a type of the church.
Jehovah promised to turn the captivity of Israel and bring them back to their land.
Jeremiah prophesied that the captivity of Israel in Babylon would be for seventy years.
Jehovah said that He would bring recovery to the children of Israel.
The return of the children of Israel from their captivity typifies the recovery of the church.
The Experience of Life
Jer. 23:3-4 Then I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their pasture; and they will be fruitful and multiply. And I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they will no longer fear or be dismayed, nor will any be missing, declares Jehovah.
In the Lord’s recovery today we are a remnant of God’s people who have come back to His original intention while so many genuine believers are scattered and remain in captivity.
Practice and Application
We need to be recovered. We need not only revival but also recovery.
Now the Lord wants to recover the experience of the riches of Christ. He wants not only to call His faithful people out of Babylon and back to the proper church life, but also to recover and bring back all the different aspects of Christ which have been lost.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—
TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1: The children of Israel, as the chosen people of God, are the greatest, collective type of the church (1 Cor. 10: 11).
(Please explain what we can see in this type.)
T2: Jehovah promised to bring the captivity of Israel back to their land (Jer. 30:1-3,10-11,16-19).
(According to the verses, please illustrate Jehovah’s promise concerning the restoration of Israel.)
Day 2
T1: “I will turn their mourning to gladness…cause them to rejoice after their sorrow” (Jer. 31:13).
(According to Jeremiah 31:11 through 14, please illustrate that Jehovah will redeem Israel from the hand of one stronger than them.)
T2: Jeremiah 30:5-8 reveals that there will be a great day, a time of distress, for Israel (Jer. 30:5-8).
((According to the verses, please illustrate that Jeremiah 30 refers to the great tribulation during the last three and a half years of this age.)
Day 3
T1: Just as God gave the people up to captivity, He would bring them back (Jer. 25:11).
(Please illustrate the fact that God assured Jeremiah that the miserable situation of his country and his people, of the temple and the city, would last only seventy years.)
T2: Daniel was God’s co-worker on earth (Dan. 9:2-4).
(Please explain how Daniel prayed after he understood Jeremiah’s prophecies concerning the seventy years of Israel’s captivity.)
Day 4
T1: The Lord’s first coming depended on the return of God’s people from their captivity in Babylon to the Holy Land (Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:4-6).
(Please explain how the return of the remnant of Israel from Babylon prepared the way for the first coming of Christ.)
T2: Christ’s second coming depends on the return of a remnant of His New Testament believers (1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Pet. 2:5).
(Please explain how the return of a remnant of His New Testament believers from their captivity in degraded Christianity prepared the way for the second coming of Christ.)
Day 5
T1: The return of the children of Israel from their captivity typifies the recovery of the church (Ezra 1:3-11; Neh. 2:11, 17).
(What is the recovery of the church?)
T2: Jehovah said that He would bring recovery to the children of Israel (Jer. 30:17).
(Please illustrate that the believers today are more scattered than the children of Israel were; therefore, we need to be recovered.)
Day 6
T1: The children of Israel went back with all the vessels of the temple of God, which had been brought to Babylon (2 Chron. 36:18).
(What do these vessels signify?)
T2: The recovery of the church is typified by the rebuilding of the temple of God, and the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem (Ezra 1:3; Neh. 2:11, 17).
(Please illustrate that the building of the house and the city is the center of God’s eternal purpose; this building is actually the mingling of God with man.)
