Crystallization-Study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth
Message Six
The Intrinsic Significance of the Book of Judges
and the Apostasy of Israel in the Worshipping 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:
Judg. 2:1 Then the Angel of Jehovah…said, I caused you to go up out from Egypt, and I brought you into the land that I swore to your fathers. And I said, I will never break My covenant with you.
Deut. 12:5 But to the place which Jehovah your God will choose out of all your tribes to put His name, to His habitation, shall you seek, and there shall you go.
Word of Appetizer
Judges 17 and 18 reveal the apostasy of Israel in the worshipping of God; what is the apostasy?
Apostasy means to leave the way of God and to take another way to follow things other than God, and it is to do things for the self under the name of Jesus Christ and under the cloak of worshipping God; “The children of Dan erected for themselves the sculptured idol,” and they “set up the sculptured idol that Micah had made the whole time that the house of God was in Shiloh”; the apostasy with Dan was the setting up of a divisive center of worship; nothing throughout the history of Israel was more sinful or more damaging to God’s people than Dan’s apostasy in setting up a divisive center of worship.
Spiritual Burden
In His concept and desire, God wanted to be a Husband to Israel, and He wanted Israel to be a wife to Him, living in the most intimate contact with Him in this marvelous marriage union; God is the unique man; we all are females because we, the church, are the corporate wife to Christ. Since God is our Creator and our Lord, He should also be our King.
Today, in a time of apostasy, we need to testify the full revelation of the pure Word of God and to fight for the deeper truths revealed in the Word of God.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
We need to know the intrinsic significance of the book of Judges; Judges, on the contrary, is the book of Israel’s history full of miserable defeats under their enemies in the forsaking of Jehovah.
Judges 2:1 speaks of the Angel of Jehovah; the Angel of Jehovah is God Himself in His Divine Trinity serving His elect as a Servant.
Judges 17 and 18 reveal the apostasy of Israel in the worshipping of God; apostasy means to leave the way of God and to take another way to follow things other than God.
The Experience of Life
2 Pet. 1:3 Seeing that His divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the full knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and virtue.
This provides the believers with all things related to the generating and supplying divine life (not the killing knowledge) and the God expressing godliness (not the show of human wisdom). This rich divine provision, which is covered in detail in the following verses, is more than sufficient for the believers to live a proper Christian life and overcome the satanic apostasy.
Practice and Application
1 Cor. 12:12 For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.
The best way to be safeguarded from falling into apostasy is to care for the entire Body and the Lord’s unique testimony in the Lord’s one work.
Today, in a time of apostasy, we need to testify the full revelation of the pure Word of God and to fight for the deeper truths revealed in the Word of God.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1: God wanted to be a Husband to Israel, and He wanted Israel to be a wife to Him (Isa. 54:5; Hosea 2:19).
(Please explain that in the book of Judges there is a terrible picture of a wife forsaking her Husband and not even acknowledging His existence.)
T2: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 17:6).
(What is the intrinsic significance of the book of Judges?)
Day 2
T1: The Angel of Jehovah is just God Himself (Exo. 3:2; Judg. 2:1).
(Please explain with examples that Christ is the Angel of Jehovah, who took care of Israel as the acting Jehovah in the Old Testament.)
T2: Because our situation was so poor, the King had to become a Servant to serve us (Judg. 2:1-2).
(Why did the King have to become a Servant and a Slave in order to save us in the gospel?)
Day 3
T1: The chaos of the children of Israel in their worship (Judg. 10:5).
(Please explain that in their degradation Israel became chaotic in government, worship, and morality.)
T2: Houses of Micah (Judg. 17:5).
(How can we apply the picture of “houses of Micah” to the present situation of Christianity?)
Day 4
T1: After his success in his victory Dan became a serpent, a viper, acting individualistically and independently in his pride (Judg. 18:30-31).
(Please explain that the apostasy with Dan was the setting up of a divisive center of worship.)
T2: God was concerned about maintaining the unity of His people (Deut. 12:5).
(Why is that nothing was more sinful or more damaging to God’s people than Dan’s apostasy?)
Day 5
T1: Apostasy is doing something for the self under the cloak of worshipping God (Judg. 18:30).
(Please explain that every divisive center is set up for someone’s self-interest.)
T2: The source of Dan’s apostasy was in not caring for the other tribes (Judg. 18:30-31).
(Please explain that the best way to be safeguarded from falling into apostasy is to care for the entire Body.)
Day 6
T1: The provision of life and the revelation of truth (2 Pet. 1:3, 19).
(Please explain that the antidotes used by Peter in dealing with apostasy are the provision of life and the revelation of truth.)
T2: In a time of apostasy, we need to testify the full revelation of the pure Word of God (2 Pet. 1:19).
(What items are included in the revelation of truth?)
