Scripture Reading: 2 Chron. 3:1; 11:5, 13-16; 15:9-10; 2 Cor. 3:17-18; Rom. 8:29; Phil. 3:13-14; Rom. 5:17, 21b
Prayer: Lord, how we thank You for a time to be with You and with saints from around the globe. What a chance, Lord, to have a blending not only among ourselves but also a blending with You. Hallelujah, what a blending that we, the tripartite man, can be blended with the Triune God! Lord, give us a heart to treasure this time. We would not let You go and we would not let ourselves go until we have some blending with You. We believe that we are under Your anointing, the anointing of the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit, who is the consummation of the Triune God dwelling within us. Lord, we praise You that we are living in this most blessed day, the day that will close this age and bring You back. Lord, thank You for Your presence. Thank You for opening up Your Word. Thank You that we have not only the printed Word but also the opened and interpreted Word. Your Word has been opened up to us, and You are waiting for us to take it. Help us, Lord. We are weak, we are nothing, and we need You. Amen.
The supplement to the history of the kings of Judah recorded in 2 Chronicles shows us that the kings in Judah stood on the proper ground — Jerusalem — the ground chosen, ordained, and established by God (Deut. 12:5-18). God’s choosing of this ground according to His ordination is clearly seen in Deuteronomy 12, a chapter that we need to study carefully.
Jerusalem is the place chosen by God to be His worship center for the whole earth. Today statesmen and world leaders are debating about who the rightful owner of Jerusalem is. This debate is foolish, and those who are debating do not know what they are talking about, for they do not know that God is the owner of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the center of God’s worship, belongs to the Triune God.
We may say that God’s choice of Jerusalem as the worship center began with His word to Abraham in Genesis 22:2. God told Abraham to go to the land of Moriah and to offer Isaac (a type of Christ) upon one of the mountains of which God would tell him. The place — Mount Moriah — where Abraham offered Isaac was also the site — Mount Zion — selected by God for the temple (2 Chron. 3:1; 2 Sam. 24:25). Zion is actually a peak of Mount Moriah. When Solomon was about to build the temple, there was no need for him to select a place because the place had already been selected by God and made known to David. I believe that this site was the very spot where Isaac was offered to God by his father. The choice of this place was God’s ordination.
The kings of Judah remained on the proper ground, Jerusalem, chosen by God, but the kings of Israel abandoned the God-ordained ground. Jeroboam even set up other worship centers in Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12:29-30). This action was an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. The kings of Judah were right with respect to the ground. The proper ground, the unique ground, the ground chosen, ordained, and established by God, signifies the ground on which we should practice the church life today.
The kings of Judah also kept their belief in the Word of God given by Moses. Therefore, regarding their faith they were fundamental. Thus the kings of Judah were right in two things: remaining on the proper ground and keeping the fundamental faith in God’s Word.
The proper ground and the fundamental faith were attractions for a good number of God’s people, especially the priests and the Levites. During the reign of Rehoboam, the Levites abandoned their pasture lands and their property and went to Jerusalem (2 Chron. 11:13-14). Moreover, “those from all the tribes of Israel who set their hearts to seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, came after them to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Jehovah, the God of their fathers” (v. 16). Not only the priests and Levites but all those who sought Jehovah in other tribes gave up their property and came to the worship center in Jerusalem. Later, during the reign of Asa, “many from Israel threw in their lot with him when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him” (15:9). They were attracted to Jerusalem because the kings of Judah stood on the proper ground and kept the fundamental faith.
However, this is not all that we should have. We have seen that the kings of Judah were on the proper ground of Jerusalem and that they kept the fundamental faith, but now we need to consider how they behaved themselves.
In the Old Testament history books we can see many different pictures, but we may not have an accurate interpretation of these pictures. The correct interpretation of the pictures in the history of the kings of Judah recorded in the books of Chronicles is that these kings are examples showing us that it is not sufficient for us who love God and seek Christ only to stand on the right ground and keep the fundamental truth. We also need to take care of who we are, how we behave, and how we conduct ourselves. We must also pay attention to our interest, our intention, our purpose, our goal, our attitude, and our way of speaking. For example, we should pay attention to the tone of our voice. Sometimes our tone of voice may be like that of a roaring lion, not like that of a God-man.
The books of 1 and 2 Chronicles give us many examples of how the kings of Judah conducted themselves in the good land. These examples show how they were, how they behaved themselves, how they did things, how they faced different situations, what their intentions were, what their interests were, and what their goals were as kings in the good land. These examples refer to the way we conduct ourselves in the details of our daily living.
Consider the daily situation in your married life. You are on the proper ground of the church and you keep the fundamental faith, but how do you speak to your spouse? How do you treat your spouse? What is your attitude toward your wife or husband? In your married life do you walk according to the spirit or according to something else? Do you live the life of a God-man with your husband or wife?
In order to live the life of a God-man, we must be crucified. We must be dying to live. If we live a crucified life in our married life, then in our married life we will have the living of a God-man.
Many saints are very good in the church meetings and in the church service, but at home they may live the life not of a God-man but of a “scorpion-man,” exchanging words or quarreling. A certain couple may love the Lord and His recovery. However, at dinner the husband may criticize his wife for her attitude, and she may condemn him for his way of speaking. Then after dinner they attend the meeting of their vital group. But how can these two “scorpions” be vital? Because of such a daily situation, in this country it is very difficult to find a genuine vital group. According to my observation, in the vital groups I have seen only deadness, not vitality. All the vital members should be God-men, crucified in their natural life to live a God-man life by the divine life within them.
My burden in these messages is not to teach biblical history. Rather, my burden is to minister what the Lord wants today. The Lord desires that many of His believers would gradually be transformed into God-men. Second Corinthians 3:17 says that the Lord is the Spirit. Verse 18 goes on to say, “We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” This means that we should keep our face unveiled and look at the Lord that we may be transformed into His image. Transformation requires a process; it cannot take place overnight. Furthermore, Romans 8:29 says God has predestinated us not just to be transformed but also to be conformed to the image of His Son, that this Son might be the Firstborn among many brothers. My burden is that we, the believers in Christ, would gradually be transformed and conformed to be God-men.
In the first message we pointed out that our enjoyment of Christ differs in degrees according to our pursuing of Christ and our faithfulness to Him. The highest attainment of pursuing Christ is to reign with Christ in His divine life through His abounding grace (Phil. 3:13-14; Rom. 5:17b, 21b). Our pursuing of Christ and our faithfulness to Him determine how much we enjoy Him. To have the highest attainment in pursuing Christ is to reign with Him as kings in His divine life.
The kings of Judah attained to a position where they could enjoy the good land of Canaan in their kingship. They were kings to enjoy the good land. The extent of their enjoyment depended on what they were, on how they behaved themselves, and on what their goals, interests, and intentions were. We need to learn from their examples how to have a God-man living in all the details of our daily life.
