Crystallization-Study of Job
Message Three
Job’s Experience of God’s Consuming and Stripping in the Old Testament
Being Far Behind That of Paul in the New Testament
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
2 Cor. 4:11 For we who are alive are always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
4:16-17 Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For our momentary lightness of affliction works out for us, more and more surpassingly, an eternal weight of glory,
Word of Appetizer
why is that Job’s experience of God’s consuming and stripping in the Old Testament was far behind that of Paul in the New Testament?
Day by day and hour by hour, Job was unhappily being consumed, but in the New Testament, God’s consuming and stripping become pleasant things; Paul magnified Christ by living Him, whether through life or through death, by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ; In his experience of God’s consuming and stripping, Paul said that our momentary lightness of affliction works out for us, more and more surpassingly, an eternal weight of glory.
Spiritual Burden
Instead of caring about our affliction, we need to care for the increase of God as the weight of glory within us by our being transformed from one degree of glory to another; as long as we have more of God in us, this is what really matters. We need to exercise our spirit to rejoice in the midst of our killing environment (Phil. 4:4); the Lord’s sovereignty is operating to put us under the killing of Christ’s death so that His life may be manifested in our body in the renewing of our inner man to make us as new as the New Jerusalem.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Job was disturbed, perplexed, and entangled to the uttermost by his suffering of the disasters that befell his possessions and his children and the plague on his body, in spite of his perfection, uprightness, and integrity.
Job’s experience of God’s consuming and stripping in the Old Testament was far behind that of Paul in the New Testament.
The Experience of Life
The Christ whom we love is the Christ now, the Christ today, and the Christ on the throne in the heavens, who is our daily salvation and moment-by-moment supply, sustaining us to live a heavenly life on earth.
when we are under the killing of the Lord’s death, His resurrection life is imparted through us into others; the application of Christ’s death and its effectiveness is in the compounded Spirit, who dwells in our spirit to dispense Christ’s death and its effectiveness from our spirit to our soul and even to our mortal body. Our prayer activates the moving of the indwelling Spirit, and within this moving, there is the killing power.
Practice and Application
We need to learn to touch the divine Spirit in our spirit; this is the intrinsic significance of the Christian life and work; the first thing that we must do when we come together is to exercise our spirit to pray.
We should cooperate with the indwelling Spirit and accept the outward environment in our spirit, soul, and body, because we do not regard the things of temporary affliction which are seen but the things of the eternal glory which are not seen; we need to exercise our spirit to rejoice in the midst of our killing environment.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—
TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1: Job was a good man, expressing himself in his perfection, uprightness, and integrity (Job 1:1; 3:1).
(Why did Job curse the day of his birth?)
T2: Job’s experience of God’s consuming and stripping is far behind that of Paul (Phil. 1:20-21, 23-24).
(Please explain that Paul did not curse the day of his birth, but desired to magnify Christ whether through life or through death.)
Day 2
T1: Job exposed himself as being self-righteous (Job 6:30; 9:20).
(Please explain that through his eight times of speaking to his three friends, Job exposed…many negative things concerning himself.)
T2: Renewing can be consummated only by consuming (2 Cor. 4:16-17).
(Please explain that in his experience of God’s consuming and stripping, Paul did not lose heart.)
Day 3
T1: In Job’s debates with his three friends, they were exercising their mind instead of exercising their spirit (Job 4:1; 6:1; 8:1; 11:1; 27:1; 32:1, 5; 35:1; 36:1).
(Why does the group we see in the book of Job afford us a negative example?)
T2: The groups are vital in these two spirits: Man’s spirit and God’s spirit (Rom. 1:9; Rev. 1:10).
(Please explain according to your experiences that in the vital groups we should always learn to pray new and fresh prayers and try to exercise our spirit.)
Day 4
T1: When we were regenerated, we were crucified (John 3:5; Rom. 6:4).
(Please explain that in baptism we are buried together with Christ into His death.)
T2: After we are baptized, we are dying to live (Gal. 2:20; Col. 2:12).
(What is dying to live?)
Day 5
T1: Though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16).
(Please explain according to your own experiences that the outward environment works with the Spirit to kill our natural man.)
T2: The death of Christ is in the Spirit (Rom. 8:6, 10-11).
(Please explain according to your own experiences that we should cooperate with the operating Spirit and accept the environment in our spirit, soul, and body.)
Day 6
T1: Exercise our spirit to rejoice in the midst of our killing environment (Phil. 4:4).
(Please explain according to your own experiences how we could rejoice in the midst of our killing environment?)
T2: Doing the will of God is altogether a suffering to our natural life (2 Cor. 4:16).
(Please explain that as we pass through afflictions, there needs to be a continual renewing taking place in us day by day so that God can accomplish His heart’s desire.)
