The One New Man Fulfilling God’s Purpose in Creating Man
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Message One
God’s Eternal Purpose and the One New Man
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Gen. 1:26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.
Eph. 2:16 And might reconcile both in one Body to God through the cross, having slain the enmity by it.
Word of Appetizer
What is the eternal purpose of God ?
The eternal purpose of God is to have a corporate man to express Him and represent Him; this was God’s purpose in creating man.
God created man in His own image so that through His economy man may receive His life and nature and thereby become His expression.
God’s intention in giving man dominion is for him to exercise God’s authority over the earth in order that the kingdom of God may come to the earth, the will of God may be done on the earth, and the glory of God may be manifested on the earth.
Spiritual Burden
We, the believers in Christ, are all one with Christ to be the new man; The church as the one new man is the corporate man in God’s intention, and this new man will fulfill the twofold purpose of bearing God’s image to express Him and of fighting against God’s enemy for God’s kingdom.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The eternal purpose—the purpose of the ages—is the eternal plan that God made in eternity past.
“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”.
“Let them have dominion…Fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion”.
The church as the one new man is the corporate man in God’s intention, and this new man will fulfill the twofold purpose of bearing God’s image to express Him and of fighting against God’s enemy for God’s kingdom.
The Experience of Life
God created man in His image and according to His likeness because His intention is to come into man and to be one with man; Because we were created according to God’s kind, our human virtues have the capacity to contain the divine attributes.
God created man with the intention that man would become a duplicate of God, the reproduction of God, for His corporate expression; this reproduction makes God happy because it looks like Him, speaks like Him, and lives like Him.
Practice and Application
We need to exercise God’s authority over all the creeping things, and we also need to subdue and conquer the rebellious earth so that God may recover the earth for His kingdom.
We, the believers in Christ, are all one with Christ to be the new man; we must fight the spiritual warfare not individually but in the Body, in the one new man.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
phe. 3:11 According to the eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Ezek. 1:26 And above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, like the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was One in appearance like a man, above it.
5 And from the midst of it there came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: They had the likeness of a man.
I. The eternal purpose—the purpose of the ages—is the eternal plan that God made in eternity past
- The purpose of God in the universe is to produce a group of people who will be exactly the same as He is—in life, nature, image, appearance, radiance, glory, and outward expression.
- Man is a great word in the Bible; it is man who fulfills God’s plan, it is man who expresses God, it is man who defeats God’s enemy, and it is man who brings the kingdom of God into the human race. Man is the means of God’s manifestation, man is the means of God’s move, and man is the means of God’s administration.
The eternal purpose of God is to have a corporate man to express Him and represent Him; this was God’s purpose in creating man.
Key Verses (2)
Gen. 1:26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.
28 And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.
II. “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”
III. “Let them have dominion…Fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion”
- In the Bible there is a mysterious thought concerning the relationship between God and man; God’s desire is to become the same as man is and to make man the same as He is.
- Let Us make man reveals that the decision to create man was made in eternity past, indicating that the creation of man was for the eternal purpose of the Triune God.
- God created man in His image and according to His likeness because His intention is to come into man and to be one with man so that man may receive His life and nature and thereby become His expression.
- God’s intention in giving man dominion is:
- to subdue God’s enemy, Satan, who rebelled against God.
- to recover the earth.
- to exercise God’s authority over the earth in order that the kingdom of God may come to the earth, the will of God may be done on the earth, and the glory of God may be manifested on the earth.
Key Verses (3)
Eph. 2:15 Abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace,
Col. 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
Eph. 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil,
IV. The church as the one new man is the corporate man in God’s intention, and this new man will fulfill the twofold purpose
The twofold purpose—bearing God’s image to express Him and of fighting against God’s enemy for God’s kingdom.
The Bible reveals that the one new man is not an individual but a corporate, universal man; The one new man is a corporate God-man; We, the believers in Christ, are all one with Christ to be the new man.
The one new man is a warrior fighting against God’s enemy; the church as the corporate new man is the warrior, and the believers together make up this new man; we must fight the spiritual warfare not individually but in the Body, in the one new man.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 The church is an expression not merely of God but also of a man. (Ezek. 1:5)
(Please illustrate the spiritual meaning of the church as the expression of Christ.)
T2(Ezek. 1:26)
(Please illustrate the vision in Ezekiel 1, what are the three crucial matters revealed concerning the four living creatures’ bearing the appearance of a man.)
D2
T1 Man was created for God’s expression. (Gen. 1:26)
(Please illustrate that human beings are pictures, figures, or photographs, of God in His attributes.)
T2 The man Jesus had to be duplicated, mass-produced. (Rom. 8:29; Gen. 1:26)
(Please illustrate that what is the first item of God’s positive intention in His economy.)
D3
T1 The first aspect of God’s intention [in giving man dominion] is to deal with His enemy. (Gen. 1:26-28)
(Please illustrate what are the three sections concerning the sphere of God’s dominion which He committed to man includes.)
T2 We all must realize that today God has this double goal to accomplish—to express Himself and to deal with His enemy. (Gen. 1:26-28)
(Please illustrate that we need to express God and to deal with Satan in our home life with experience.)
D4
T1 Man is to have dominion over the earth, to subdue it (Gen. 1:26-28)
(Please illustrate that to conquer the earth means that the enemy is there already, that a war is raging.)
T2 God desires that His kingdom come to this earth and that His will be done on earth (Matt. 6:10)
(Please illustrate that the third aspect of God’s intention in giving man dominion is to bring in God’s authority, to exercise God’s authority over the earth.)
D5
T1 To put off the old man and to put on the new man (Col. 4:22-24)
(Please illustrate the difference between the old man and the new man.)
T2 In God’s creation of man there were two intentions. (Gen. 1:26-28)
(Please illustrate that man was created to have God’s image to express Him and also to have His dominion to represent Him.)
D6
T1 The church, which is the new man, needs to fight against the enemy of God (Eph. 6:10-20)
(Please illustrate that what are the twofold obligation of the new man in the new creation also has.)
T2 The one new man is a warrior fighting against God’s enemy. (Eph. 6:10-20)
(Please illustrate that the church as the corporate new man is the warrior, and how to fight against God’s enemy.)
