Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2)
Message One
The Seed of David Becoming the Son 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:
Acts 13:32-33 And we announce to you the gospel of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fully fulfilled this promise to us their children in raising up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, “You are My Son; today I have begotten You.”
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
Since Christ was already the Son of God, how could there have been the need for Him to be begotten as the Son of God?
Acts13:33, which quotes from Psalm 2:7, indicates that Christ was begotten as the Son of God on the day of His resurrection. But was He not the Son of God before that day? Certainly He was. Nevertheless, He still needed to be begotten by resurrection because He had put on humanity. As to His divinity, there was no need for Him to be begotten. But as to His humanity, there was the need for this. On the day of His resurrection, Christ’s flesh was uplifted and transfigured into a glorious substance. This is the begetting in power by resurrection. This begetting is also the designation.
Spiritual Burden
Through incarnation God’s only begotten Son put on humanity and became the God-man. Through His resurrection Christ was born to be the firstborn Son, and at the same time all His believers were born to be the many sons of God.
God’s intention in His economy is to make Himself man so that, in Christ, we, the believers in Christ and children of God, may become God in life, in nature, and in constitution (but not in the Godhead).
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
In Acts 13 Paul said that from David’s seed “God, according to promise, brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus” (v. 23), and that “God has fully fulfilled this promise…in raising up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son; this day have I begotten You'”.
We need to know Christ in His resurrection designated as the Son of God in power with His human nature.
The Experience of Life
Through His resurrection Christ was born to be the firstborn Son, and at the same time all His believers were born to be the many sons of God; the Firstborn has both divinity and humanity, and we, His believers as God’s many sons, also possess both the human nature and the divine nature.
Through His incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, Christ, the Son of God, became the firstborn Son, and the many sons, who are the brothers of Christ, are being conformed to His image.
Practice and Application
Rom. 8:29 Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.
Christ has already been designated the Son of God, but we are still in the process of designation. One day this process will be completed, and for eternity we shall be the same as Christ, God’s firstborn Son. Today we are sons of God, but we do not yet have the full form, the complete shape, of sons of God. Therefore, by growth and transformation we need to be conformed to the image of Christ. We have the life-essence and the life-power within us! This life-power is shaping us into the image of the Son of God. Through this shaping function of the life-power, we shall be fully conformed to the image of Christ.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 As the seed of David and the Son of God, Christ is the complete God and the perfect man, the God-man (Acts 13:32-33)
(Please illustrate that for our experience and enjoyment the Lord’s status is of two natures, human and divine.)
T2 The gospel of God is concerned with God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (Acts 13:32-33)
(Please illustrate that the gospel of God is thus God’s entire New Testament economy, and the center of this gospel of God is Jesus Christ the God-man.)
Day 2
T1 The Lord’s resurrection was His birth (Psa. 2:7-8)
(Please illustrate that Christ’s resurrection was His birth as the firstborn Son of God.)
T2 In His incarnation Christ came as the seed of David according to the flesh (Rom. 1:3; Heb. 1:6)
(Please illustrate that in Romans we see that this flesh has been designated the Son of God.)
Day 3
T1 Christ had a second birth (1 Pet. 1:3; Heb. 2:10)
(Please illustrate that in His first birth Christ was born as the Son of Man, and in His second birth He was born as the firstborn Son of God.)
T2 Christ’s resurrection was a birth, making Him not only God’s only begotten Son but also God’s firstborn Son (Acts 13:32-33)
(Please illustrate that the difference between the only begotten Son of God in eternity past and the firstborn Son of God in resurrection.)
Day 4
T1 When Christ became flesh, He was only in the likeness of the flesh of sin and did not have the sin of the flesh (2 Cor. 5:21; John 6:41-42)
(Please illustrate that regarding the Lord’s status as the Son of God, there was a great controversy among the Jews when He was on the earth.)
T2 After He became incarnate, however, His divine nature was concealed by the flesh (Rom. 1:3-4)
(Please illustrate that the resurrection of Christ unlike the resurrection of Lazarus and of others.)
Day 5
T1 As the model, Christ has two natures (Rom. 1:3-4)
(Please illustrate that because Christ is both divine and human, people wondered about His identity when He was on earth.)
T2 Crucifixion was the best way for Him to be designated, to be glorified (1 Pet. 3:18)
(Please use a carnation seed to illustrate this point.)
Day 6
T1 Being regenerated in our spirit by the Spirit of Christ (2 Pet. 1:4)
(Please illustrate that we also have two natures—the human nature and the divine nature.)
T2 By growth and transformation we need to be conformed to the image of Christ (Heb. 2:10-11)
(Please illustrate that we have the life essence and the life power within us! This life power is shaping us into the image of the Son of God.)
