The following chapters are translations of a series of messages spoken in Chinese by Brother Watchman Nee to the church in Shanghai and the co-workers who were under his training for a longer period, from the fall of 1939 to the fall of 1942. These were times of spiritual revelations and heavenly visions concerning "the deep things of God." The stress was primarily on the triumphant church, the glorious Body of Christ, the full expression of Him who fills all in all. In these messages tremendous light was poured upon the four significant women in the Scriptures: Eve in Genesis 2, the wife in Ephesians 5, the woman in Revelation 12, and the Bride in Revelation 21 and 22. Their record gives us a full scope of the glorious church in God's eternal plan, the church that satisfies His desire. The span of the picture they present is so broad that it spans from eternity past through eternity future. The contents of the messages are so revealing and enlightening, so deep and profound, that they need much prayerful reading with a thorough realization and digestion in the spirit. May the Lord, the glorious Head of the Body, grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation that we may see and apprehend the visions of the reality of the church that He has shown to the author. Our prayer goes with this book, trusting that God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, "who is able to do superabundantly above all that we ask or think," would work out what is revealed in these messages, "according to the power which operates in us." "To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all the generations forever and ever. Amen."
Witness Lee
Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
June 8, 1968
