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In the foregoing message we saw that the recovery of the church is typified by the return of the children of Israel from their captivity. In this message we shall see that the recovery of the church is indicated in the New Testament.
The recovery of the church is fully revealed in the New Testament even though the word “recovery” is not used. This recovery is revealed mainly in the later Epistles of the New Testament. We do not find the recovery of the church in such Epistles as Romans or 1 Corinthians, but we do find it in Titus, 2 Timothy, 2 John, and Revelation. In these later writings of the New Testament the recovery is fully unveiled.
For the recovery of the church, we need to be separated from the factious — the sects and denominations. This is indicated by Paul’s word in Titus 3:10. “A factious man after a first and second admonition refuse.” A factious man is a sectarian man who causes divisions by forming parties in the church according to his own opinions. A factious, divisive person, after a first and second admonition, should be refused, rejected. This is to stop intercourse with a contagiously divisive person for the church’s benefit.
Nearly all believers today are factious. They honor, respect, and uplift their denominations. Furthermore, they nourish and build their denominations. Hence, they are builders of sects and denominations. Millions of Christians today are members of these sects. Because they are members of sects, we cannot join them, even though they may be genuine brothers in Christ. We surely love our brothers in Christ, but they are in the denominations and the sects, where we cannot be. It is not that we separate ourselves from other believers; it is that the sects and denominations separate us from the church life. If we are to share in the recovery of the church, we need to be separated from all the sects and denominations. Like Ezra, Nehemiah, and other faithful ones in the Old Testament, we need to leave Babylon and come back to Jerusalem.
The recovery of the church also requires that we cleanse ourselves from the vessels unto dishonor in the great house — the apostate Christendom. “In a great house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also wooden and earthen, and some unto honor, and some unto dishonor; if therefore anyone cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared unto every good work” (2 Tim. 2:20-21). Here Paul uses the expression “a great house.” The house of God defined in 1 Timothy 3:15 and 16 is the genuine church in its divine nature and essential character as the foundation of the truth, whereas the great house here refers to the deteriorated church in its mixed character, as illustrated by the abnormally big tree in Matthew 13:31-32. In this great house there are not only precious vessels but also base ones. For this reason, we cannot believe that the great house in 2 Timothy 2:20 refers to the church as the house of the living God in 1 Timothy 3:15. The great house is certainly not the house of the living God, which is the great mystery of godliness and also God manifest in the flesh. Such a house cannot contain vessels unto dishonor. Hence, the great house must refer to Christendom. Furthermore, this great house is equal to the big tree in Matthew 13. The genuine church today is the house of the living God, whereas the apostate Christendom is the great house. Just as many unclean birds lodge in the big tree, so in the great house there are vessels unto dishonor, wooden and earthen vessels. In the genuine church, however, there are only gold and silver vessels.
Honorable vessels are of both the divine nature (gold) and the redeemed and regenerated human nature (silver). These are the genuine believers. Dishonorable vessels are of the fallen human nature (wooden and earthen) and signify the false believers. The word “these” in verse 21 indicates that the genuine believers need to cleanse themselves from the dishonorable vessels. This means that we must stay away from them. If we cleanse ourselves from negative things and negative persons, we shall be vessels unto honor, sanctified, useful to the master and prepared unto every good work.
“Everyone who goes beyond and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; he who abides in the teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not say to him, Rejoice! For he who says to him, Rejoice, shares in his evil works” (2 John 9-11). These verses reveal that we should not contact those who do not abide in the teaching of Christ — the teaching concerning Christ’s deity and incarnation by divine conception. Literally, the Greek word translated “goes beyond” in verse 9 means to lead forward (in a negative sense), that is, to go further than what is right, to advance beyond the limit of orthodox teaching concerning Christ. Those who go beyond in this way go beyond the teaching of the divine conception of Christ and thus deny the deity of Christ. Consequently they do not have God in salvation and in life.
In verse 9 John speaks of not abiding in the teaching of Christ. This is not the teaching by Christ but the teaching concerning Christ, that is, the truth concerning the deity of Christ, especially regarding His incarnation by divine conception.
Today’s modernists go beyond and do not abide in the teaching of Christ. They also claim to be advanced in their thinking. According to them, it is out-of-date to say that Christ is God, that He was born of a virgin through divine conception, that He died on the cross for our sins, and that He was resurrected both physically and spiritually. Denying this truth concerning Christ, the modernists claim to be advanced in their philosophical thought.
According to verse 9, the one who goes beyond and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. But he who abides in the teaching of Christ has both the Father and the Son. To “have God” is to have both the Father and the Son.
According to verse 10, we should not receive the one who does not bring the teaching concerning Christ. The pronoun “him” in this verse refers to a heretic, an antichrist, a false prophet, who denies the divine conception and deity of Christ. Furthermore, we should not tell such a one to rejoice, to be happy. We should not have any contact with those who do not abide in the teaching of Christ; that is, we should have a severe and clear separation from those who do not have the teaching concerning Christ’s deity and incarnation by divine conception.
At this point I would like to say a word concerning the conception and birth of the Lord Jesus, the God-man. Matthew 1:20 says, “While he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, fear not to take Mary your wife, for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.” In this verse the King James Version uses “conceived” instead of “begotten.” The word “conceived” is a proper, normal, ordinary description of conception within a woman. The word “begotten” is a particular expression used to describe the conception that had taken place in Mary’s womb. Within Mary something was not merely conceived but was begotten.
The Greek word for begotten in Matthew 1:20 is gennao. In Matthew 1:2-16 the Greek word is used thirty-eight times and is translated as “begot.” Verse 16 says, “And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” The Greek word translated “born” here is also a form of the word gennao. In English the past participle of beget is begotten, and the past participle of bear is born. Furthermore, in English we can differentiate the words beget and bear, using beget to refer to the male and bear to the female. The male generates the conception, and the female completes the conception by her delivery of the child. Then we have the birth.
Although we can differentiate in English the words beget and bear, in Greek gennao is used both for the male’s begetting and the female’s bearing. In the first sixteen verses of Matthew 1, gennao, translated “begot,” is used thirty-eight times with respect to males. In verse 16 this word is used in relation to the female and is translated “born.” Jesus was not begotten of Mary — He was born of her. The point we would emphasize here is that in Matthew 1 the same Greek word is used both for a male’s generating and for a female’s giving birth. Verse 20 speaks of “that which is begotten in her.” It would also be correct to translate this verse, “That which is born in her.”
The word “begetting” may also be used to include the whole process of conception and birth. When the Bible says, “Abraham begot Isaac,” the word “begot” includes both the father’s generating and also the mother’s delivery. The word begot used thirty-eight times in Matthew 1:2-16 comprises both the generating of the conception and the completing of the birth.
Thus far, we have two important facts. First, the word “begotten” in 1:20 is a particular expression describing Mary’s conception. Because this expression is particular, extraordinary, we should not understand it in an ordinary way. This was not a usual, common, normal conception, and we cannot understand it according to the knowledge in our natural mind. On the contrary, we should understand it according to the facts revealed in the Bible. The second fact is that the words begot and begotten in Matthew 1 comprise the delivery as well as the conception.
With these facts as the basis, we may say that in the divine conception God was born into Mary. This is not a matter of biology but a matter of the divine incarnation. In this incarnation God was born, begotten, into Mary. The Lord Jesus was God born into a human virgin. Because He was born into a virgin, He took on humanity and was delivered out of that virgin to become the God-man. This is Jesus, Jehovah the Savior and Emmanuel, God with us (Matt. 1:21, 23).
“Jesus” is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Joshua (Num. 13:16), which means Jehovah the Savior, or, the salvation of Jehovah. Hence, Jesus is not only a man but Jehovah, and not only Jehovah but Jehovah becoming our salvation. Whereas Jesus was the name given by God, “Emmanuel,” meaning “God with us,” was the name called by man. Jesus the Savior is God with us. He is God incarnated to dwell among us (John 1:14). He is not only God but God with us.
Revelation 17 presents a vision of Babylon the Great. According to verse 5, Babylon the Great is called “The Mother of the Prostitutes and the Abominations of the Earth.” Verse 4 exposes the fact that although this woman has a pleasant appearance, evil is concealed within her. “The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication.” Outwardly Babylon the Great is clothed in purple and scarlet and is gilded with gold, precious stone, and pearls. Furthermore, she has a golden cup in her hand. But this cup is full of abominations and unclean things of her fornication. This is a picture of Christendom today. Christendom may have the golden cup, but the contents of the cup are idolatry, fornication, and every kind of evil.
We surely cannot remain in Babylon the Great. Rather, we need to obey the Lord’s word in Revelation 18:4. Here He tells us, “Come out of her, My people, that you may not participate in her sins, and that you may not receive other plagues.” Since Babylon the Great is twofold, to come out of her means to come out of both religious Babylon and material Babylon. This coming out is for the coming back to the proper church life, and this coming back is the recovery. Although we love all the brothers in Christ in the Catholic Church and in the denominations, we must leave the Babylonian system and come back to Jerusalem, that is, come back to the proper church life. This is the recovery of the church.
