Search
Eph. 2:8; Rev. 5:9; Eph. 1:22-23; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rev. 12:5; 14:4; Matt. 25:21; Heb. 12:6; Rev. 21:14
I. All the members of the church are produced in the church age
II. The New Testament overcomers are also perfected in the church age
А. The perfection of the New Testament overcomers in the church age
B. The reward of the New Testament overcomers
1. At the end of the church age
2. In the age of the millennium
III. The immature believers will be perfected in the age of the millennium
А. Through the Lord’s dispensational and governmental discipline
B. As illustrated by the case of the unfaithful slave
C. As illustrated by the case of the slothful slave
IV. All the regenerated and perfected believers of the New Testament will be the components of the New Jerusalem, which is the church’s ultimate consummation
А. Consummated in enjoying the eternal and divine life of the processed and consummated Triune God
B. Consummated in experiencing the mingling of humanity with divinity
C. Consummated in expressing the Triune God in His ultimate manifestation for eternity
This is the last lesson on the vision concerning the church. The last twelve lessons will cover how to build up the church. The topic of this lesson is concerning the consummation of the church. Everything has a beginning and a consummation. Without a good consummation, nothing is properly concluded. Such a wonderful and marvelous church must have a matching consummation.
[The consummation of the church will be the New Jerusalem. Today the church is a miniature of the New Jerusalem. The proper church life in its genuineness is a small model of the New Jerusalem. The crucial matter here, however, is that the New Jerusalem will be the consummation of all of God’s chosen, redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, transformed, perfected, and glorified people.
The New Jerusalem will be the totality of God’s work in both the old creation and in the new creation. First, God created the old creation. Although the old creation became fallen, God was prepared to deal with that situation. He came to be a man, a God-man, a man with divinity mingled with humanity, to accomplish redemption. This God-man could redeem sinners, dying for them, because He had the blood to shed for them. This blood is called “His own blood’’ (Acts 20:28) and “the blood of Jesus His Son’’ (1 John 1:7). Through His all-inclusive death, the Lord released His resurrection life, and with this life He produced, sanctified, transformed, built, and glorified the people whom He had predestinated. The totality of this work, its ultimate consummation, will be the New Jerusalem. Instead of being a material city, the New Jerusalem is a symbol of the totality of God’s work.]
[All the members of the church are produced in the church age, that is, in the age between Christ’s first coming and His coming back. The members of the church are those who were fallen sinners and who have been saved by the grace of God (Eph. 2:8) through their God-given and God-allotted faith (2 Pet. 1:1), which has brought them into an organic union with the Triune God in Christ (1 Cor. 6:17). These members of the church have been forgiven of their sins (Acts 10:43). They have been justified by God in Christ (Acts 13:39; 1 Cor. 6:11), and they have been reconciled to God (Rom. 5:10), so they have been redeemed back to God (Rev. 5:9). Based upon this, the members of the church have been regenerated in their spirit by the Spirit of God (John 3:6) to be the children of God unto the divine sonship (John 1:12-13; Rom. 8:16) and to be the members of Christ (Eph. 5:30) unto His stature (Eph. 4:13) to be His fullness (Eph. 1:23).]
[The New Testament overcomers are not only produced in the church age but are also perfected in the church age. The perfecting of the New Testament overcomers is a matter of transformation through the subjective experience and enjoyment of Christ. Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.’’ To be transformed is to have Christ added into our being to replace what we are so that Christ may increase and our natural life may decrease. As the process of transformation takes place within us, the old element of our natural being is carried away, and the glory, the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit, is added into us to replace the natural element. It is through such a process that the New Testament overcomers are perfected in this age.]
The believers may be overcomers either as the man-child (the dead overcomers — Rev. 12:5) or as the firstfruits (the living overcomers — Rev. 14:4). The dead overcomers of both the Old Testament and the New Testament will resurrect and be raptured to God and to His throne to fight and defeat Satan before the period of the great tribulation. The living overcomers, comprised only of the New Testament overcomers, will be the firstfruit of God’s harvest on the earth. They will be raptured to Mount Zion in the heavens for God and Christ’s satisfaction before the great tribulation.
All the overcomers, both the dead and the living, will be the bride at the marriage feast of Christ and in the millennium (Rev. 19:7-9; 21:2). The overcomers will also be the armies in heaven fighting with the coming Christ against the Antichrist and his armies (Rev. 17:12-14; 19:11-21).
In the coming kingdom the overcoming believers will reign with Christ as co-kings (Rev. 20:4). This includes being crowned with many crowns such as the crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8), the unfading crown of glory (1 Pet. 5:4), the crown of life (Rev. 2:10), and an incorruptible crown (1 Cor. 9:25). This also means that they will sit with Christ on His throne (Rev. 3:21) having authority over the nations to shepherd them (Rev. 2:26-27; 12:5), and to participate in the joy of the Lord (Matt. 25:21, 23).
They also will inherit the kingdom of Christ and of God to enter the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens (Eph. 5:5), to be glorified with Christ (Rom. 8:17), to inherit eternal life in the Millennium (Matt. 19:29), to have their names remain in the book of life (Rev. 3:5), to not be hurt of the second death (Rev. 2:11), to have the right to the tree of life (Rev. 2:7), to shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matt. 13:43), to participate in the feast of the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 8:11), and to enjoy the reward (Matt. 5:11). Finally, they will become the New Jerusalem — the paradise of God — in the millennium (Rev. 3:12; 2:7). This list of rewards should give all of us much aspiration and encouragement to be overcomers in the age of the church.
[The need for transformation is neglected by many Christians today. As a result, many have been kept from being transformed and perfected by the genuine experience and enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ with His unsearchable riches. As a result, there is no way for God to perfect these immature believers in the church age. However, because they are God’s chosen, redeemed, called, and regenerated people, God will not let them go. Rather, He will perfect them in the coming age of the millennium.]
[The perfecting of the immature believers in the age of the millennium will be through the Lord’s dispensational and governmental discipline. Hebrews 12:6 tells us, “Whom the Lord loves He disciplines and scourges every son whom He receives.’’ The Lord’s discipline of the believers is not only in this age but also in the coming age. Because the age of the millennium will still belong to the old heaven and the old earth, the coming age will still be a time for the Father to deal with His children so that they may be perfected. Those believers who are not perfected in the church age will be perfected in the age of the millennium. The means of their perfection will be the Lord’s dispensational and governmental discipline. This discipline will be for those who were slothful in the church age, in the dispensation of grace, and did not apply the Lord’s sufficient grace and enjoy it, taking this grace as their portion. Such believers will need the Lord’s loving discipline in the coming age for their perfection.]
[The Lord’s dispensational and governmental discipline of the immature believers in the age of the millennium is illustrated by the cases of the unfaithful slave and the slothful slave in Matthew 24:48-51 and 25:24-30. Matthew 24:48 and 49 speak of an evil slave who says in his heart, “My master is delaying his coming,’’ and who begins to “beat his fellow slaves, and eat and drink with the drunken.’’ Verses 50 and 51 say, “The master of that slave shall come on a day when he does not expect him, and in an hour which he does not know, and shall cut him asunder and appoint his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.’’ The problem with the evil slave is not that he does not know that the Lord is coming but that he does not expect Him. He does not like to live the kind of life that is prepared for the Lord’s coming. Moreover, the evil slave beats his fellow slaves, that is, mistreats the fellow believers, and eats and drinks with the drunken, that is, keeps company with worldly people, who are drunk with worldly things. Therefore, when the Lord comes back, He will cut asunder the evil slave and appoint his portion with the hypocrites.
To “cut him asunder’’ means to cut him off, not to cut him to pieces. This signifies a separation from the Lord in His coming glory. The Lord will not cut the evil slave in pieces; rather, He will cast him off from the glory in which He Himself will be. The issue here is not salvation but the discipline of an immature believer in the coming age. Such a believer will miss the enjoyment of the kingdom and instead suffer punishment and discipline where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
For a believer to be cut asunder is for him to be cut asunder from the organic union with the Lord. Whenever a person believes in the Lord, he is put into an organic union with the Triune God so that he may enjoy Him. According to Matthew 28:19, the believers are to be baptized into the name of the Triune God, that is, into an organic union with the Triune God, so that they may participate in Him, partake of Him, and enjoy Him. By enjoying the Triune God in the organic union we are transformed and perfected, made ready for the Lord to come back to take us into His enjoyment in the millennium. However, Matthew 24 tells us clearly that in the coming age certain ones will be cut asunder from the organic union. This means that they will be cut off from the enjoyment of the Lord. This cutting off from the organic union corresponds to the taking away of the branches in John 15. For a branch to be cut off from the vine means that it is cut off from the union with the vine. Those branches that are in union with the vine enjoy and participate in all the riches of the vine, but those branches that are cut off from the vine lose this enjoyment. This is the correct understanding of the cutting asunder in Matthew 24.
After the immature believers have been cut asunder, cut off from the organic union with the Lord, they will be put into the outer darkness, the darkness outside the bright glory in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens. This is different from being cast into the lake of fire after the millennium for eternity (Rev. 20:15). The overcomers will be called into the Lord’s enjoyment, which will be in the glory, but the defeated ones will be put outside this glory. They will be outside the glory in which the Lord and His overcomers will be during the coming age. To be in the glory will be a reward, but to be put outside the glory will be a kind of punishment. Those who are put into the outer darkness will weep and gnash their teeth. The weeping will indicate regret, and the gnashing of teeth, self-blame. Both the weeping and the gnashing of teeth will be a sign of suffering the Lord’s dispensational and governmental discipline.]
[The Lord’s dispensational and governmental discipline is also illustrated by the case of the slothful slave in Matthew 25:24-30. In verses 26 through 30 we see that the one-talented one who was not faithful in using his gift is rebuked by the Lord and punished. Verse 30 says, “Cast out the useless slave into the outer darkness; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.’’ Whoever is cast into outer darkness will be cut off from the Lord, from His presence, from His fellowship, and from the glorious sphere in which the Lord will be. This is not to perish eternally but to be chastened dispensationally during the coming age of the kingdom. This chastening, this punishment, has a goal, and this goal is the believers’ perfection.
In this dispensation of grace, the Lord is supporting us and supplying us with rich grace so that we may enjoy this grace, be edified, and be transformed for our perfection. If we are faithful, we shall enter into His joy in the coming age. But if we are not faithful, we shall be disciplined by Him in the coming age so that we may be perfected. Those who are faithful in this age of grace will be rewarded by the Lord in the coming age. They will be with Him in glory and even reign with Him. But for those who are not perfected in the church age, the age of the millennium will be a time of discipline. In order to be fitting to enter into the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth, the immature believers will need to be perfected through discipline during the coming age.]
[God’s intention is that the church will consummate in the New Jerusalem. All the regenerated and perfected believers as members of the church, represented by the twelve apostles (Rev. 21:14), will be the components of the New Jerusalem. After the dispensation of grace, there will be the dispensation of the kingdom. During this dispensation, all the perfected ones, including the overcomers of the Old Testament and the overcomers of the New Testament, will be the totality of overcomers to be the New Jerusalem. They will be the New Jerusalem in its first stage, the stage of the millennium. During this stage, the New Jerusalem will be Christ’s bride. Also during the millennium, the defeated, slothful, immature believers will be perfected through their suffering of the Lord’s dispensational and governmental discipline. Therefore, after the millennium, they also will be components of the New Jerusalem in the second stage, that is, in the new heaven and the new earth. In this second stage the New Jerusalem will be enlarged to be the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21. This enlarged New Jerusalem will be the consummation of the church. From this we can see that the ultimate consummation of the church life will be the New Jerusalem, first in a smaller scale in the millennium composed only of the overcomers and then in an enlarged scale in the new heaven and the new earth composed of all the believers of the New Testament.]
[The proper church life today is the enjoyment of the eternal and divine life of the processed and consummated Triune God. This enjoyment is just a foretaste; the full taste will be in New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth, which will be the consummation of our enjoyment of our processed and consummated Triune God in its fullest without limitation for eternity.]
[Our Christian life today is the experience of the mingling of divinity with humanity in the dispensing of the unsearchable riches of the processed and consummated divine Trinity. This is also a foretaste, and its full taste as its consummation will be also in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth eternally.]
[Both our Christian life and church life are the expression of the processed and consummated Triune God in His ultimate manifestation for eternity. Today this is just in the initial stage. Its consummation will be also in the New Jerusalem as the ultimate manifestation of the processed and consummated Triune God for eternity.
The church today should grow and be built up in the three matters of enjoying the eternal and divine life of the processed and consummated Triune God, of experiencing the mingling of humanity with divinity in the dispensing of the unsearchable riches of the processed and consummated divine Trinity, and of expressing the processed and consummated Triune God in His ultimate manifestation. This means that the church must grow and be built up in the enjoyment of the eternal, divine life, the life of the processed and consummated Triune God; that the church must grow and be built up in experiencing the mingling of the believers with the Triune God in the way of His dispensing of the unsearchable riches of the processed and consummated divine Trinity; and that the church must grow and be built up in the expression of the processed and consummated Triune God in His manifestation. This is the church life.
In some of the foregoing messages we covered the various aspects of the status of the church: the assembly, the house of God, the kingdom of God, the Body of Christ, the counterpart of Christ, the new man, and the golden lampstands. Now we need to see that all these matters can be realized by us in the local churches only as we enjoy the life of the processed and consummated Triune God, experience the mingling of humanity with divinity in the dispensing of the unsearchable riches of the processed and consummated divine Trinity, and express the processed and consummated Triune God in His manifestation.]
The Lord loves us very much. His mercy upon us is immeasurable. We left God, offended God, and were under the righteous judgment of God. We were void of the life of God needed to fulfill His purpose. Rather, we were filled with Satan’s life and nature to cause us to struggle in sin all our life. Yet, God is full of love and mercy. He became a man to die for us to meet God’s righteous demand so that we do not have to die. He destroyed the devil and left our flesh of sin on the cross so that we may be free from the law of sin and of death. Then He released His life on the cross, and as the life-giving Spirit, through resurrection, He brought the life of God into us. He, as the Spirit, is now mingled with us, supplying us daily with His life to transform us. He also brought us into the church to be with all the saints that we may go on together and be built-up together to fulfill God’s purpose. This is our foretaste in this age.
If we enjoy the foretaste properly by exercising our spirit everyday all the day long, then we will receive a reward which is the enjoyment of the full-taste, the New Jerusalem, a thousand years earlier. Even if some miss this foretaste period due to sin and the world, He will be merciful to give them another opportunity to be perfected in the next age. Ultimately, those who are perfected in the next age will join those who are perfected in this age to be the New Jerusalem, enjoying the full-taste for eternity. Hallelujah! What a loving and merciful God we have. We all must give ourselves diligently to enjoy the Lord by praying in spirit and reading His Word. We must also exercise to live in the local church life by preaching the gospel and meeting with the saints to increase the church and to be built up. We should not hesitate. Now is the time. This is the age. We can be the ones to overcome and bring this age to a conclusion.
