Knowing the Truth, Being Absolute for the Truth, and Proclaiming the Truth in the Present Evil Age
Message Six
Knowing and Spreading the Up-to-date Truth of the Highest Gospel of God’s Eternal Economy
according to the Ministry of the Age
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
2 Pet. 1:12 …I will be ready always to remind you concerning these things, even though you know them and have been established in the present truth.
Rom. 1:3-4 Concerning His Son, who came out of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord
Word of Appetizer
In 2 Peter 1:12 the present truth can also be rendered “the up-to-date truth”: what the up-to-date truth is?
Although all the truths are in the Bible, through man’s foolishness, unfaithfulness, negligence, and disobedience many truths were lost and hidden from man; freshly revealed truths are not God’s new inventions; rather, they are man’s new discoveries; God’s truths are cumulative; later truths do not negate earlier ones; what we see today are the cumulative revelations of God.
The present truth, the highest peak of the divine revelation given to us by God through the ministry of this age, is the revelation of the eternal economy of God; the gospel of God’s eternal economy is “the gospel of the promise made to the fathers”—the promise that the seed of David would become the Son of God, that is, that a human seed would become a divine Son.
Spiritual Burden
The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the light of the truth; the most urgent need on the earth today is the truth of this age.
The increase of the church depends on the spread of the truth; therefore, we all should spend time to learn the truth of God’s eternal economy and minister Christ to others for the multiplication and spread of the church.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The particular recovery and work that God is doing in one age is the ministry of that age; the ministry of the age ministers the present truth to God’s people; in 2 Peter 1:12 the present truth can also be rendered “the up-to-date truth”.
The present truth, the highest peak of the divine revelation given to us by God through the ministry of this age, is the revelation of the eternal economy of God; the gospel of God’s eternal economy is “the gospel of the promise made to the fathers”—the promise that the seed of David would become the Son of God, that is, that a human seed would become a divine Son.
The seed of David becoming the Son of God speaks of:
The process of Christ’s being designated the firstborn Son of God by resurrection.
The process of our being designated the many sons of God by resurrection.
The Experience of Life
The life of the Son of God has been implanted into our spirit; now we, like the seed that is sown into the earth, must pass through the process of death and resurrection; this causes the outer man to be consumed, but it enables the inner life to grow, to develop, and ultimately, to blossom from within us; this is resurrection.
The more we grow in life and pass through the metabolic process of transformation, the more we are designated the sons of God.
Practice and Application
We must present the truth concerning the economy of God item by item according to the entire Bible. This is the Lord’s special commission to us.
We need to be constituted with and spread the highest truth of God’s eternal economy by using the Life-studies and the Recovery Version with the footnotes.
From now on we all should spend time to learn the truth of God’s eternal economy and minister Christ to others for the multiplication and spread of the church.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1: The present truth (2 Pet. 1:12)
(What is the present truth or the up-to-date truth?)
T2: God’s truths are cumulative; later truths do not negate earlier ones (Phil. 3:13-14)
(Please illustrate that not only do we need to know the general truths, we must also be clear about God’s present truth.)
Day 2
T1: The gospel of God is a gospel of sonship (Rom. 1:3)
(Please illustrate that the goal of this gospel is to transform sinners into sons of God for the formation of the Body of Christ.)
T2: We should not preach a gospel that has been lowered down to what we think is the level of people’s understanding (1 Thes. 1:10; 5:23)
(Please illustrate that we need to realize that within man there is a God-created talent, ability, to receive God and to receive and understand His gospel.)
Day 3
T1: The seed of David would become the Son of God (Rom. 1:3-4)
(Please illustrate that Christ’s being designated the firstborn Son of God by resurrection.)
T2: The Lord Jesus in His humanity, in that part, was not the Son of God (Rom. 1:3-4)
(Please illustrate that how The Lord Jesus was designated the Son of God.)
Day 4
T1: Like the carnation seed, we all are in the process of designation (2 Cor. 4:16; Rom. 8:29-30)
(Please illustrate that we must pass through the process of death and resurrection, this causes the outward man to be consumed, but it enables the inner life to grow, to develop, and, ultimately, to blossom.)
T2: We are under the process of designation by resurrection (Rom. 8:29-30)
(Please illustrate with experiences that we are the sons of God, yet we do not yet have the appearance we should have.)
Day 5
T1: Designation is by resurrection (Rom. 12:2; 8:29-30)
(Please illustrate that in this process of resurrection there are four aspects: sanctification, transformation, conformation, and glorification.)
T2: By means of resurrection we also are in the process of being designated sons of God (Rom. 8:11; 2 Cor. 3:18)
(Please illustrate that the more we grow in life and pass through the metabolic process of transformation, the more we are designated the sons of God.)
Day 6
T1: I have only “opened up the mine,” for you to go in and dig (Psa. 119:130)
(Please illustrate that the intention of our publishing the Life-study messages is to open up the mine for you to go in and dig.)
T2: The testimony of Jesus must be a constitution of the proper truth that produces a proper daily living (Eph. 3:9)
(Please illustrate that we should help saints to be educated and built up in the proper knowledge of the truth.)
