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In the last three messages we have seen the meaning of the Sabbath rest according to the full revelation of the Holy Word. In brief, the Sabbath rest is simply God’s satisfaction in His heart’s desire. Whenever and wherever God is expressed and represented by man on earth, He is satisfied and at rest. As we have pointed out, the first Sabbath was after the creation of man, and the second Sabbath was after the completion of the building of the temple. Both of these Sabbaths were figures of God’s Sabbath, not the real Sabbath. After the Lord Jesus came to declare God, expressing and representing Him as an example and model, the church was produced by His death and resurrection and became the corporate expression and representation of God. When God has the church, He is truly expressed and represented. Undoubtedly, the church life is a real Sabbath to God. The church as the Sabbath rest is not a figure but a fulfillment of what was prefigured in the Old Testament. When God gained the church, He obtained a real Sabbath.
As we saw in the last message, the age of the church is just the sowing and growing stage. Regardless how long this stage may be according to our feeling, it is still one stage, the stage of sowing and growing. In this stage, God’s major task is to sow Himself into mankind and to make this part of mankind the church, the Body of Christ, the house of God. This part of mankind which has been injected with God Himself as life must grow in Christ and reach maturity. We must be very clear about this point. Why is God able to be satisfied in this age? Because in this age He is expressed and represented through the church.
In the New Testament we are clearly told that the church as the expression and representation of God is the kingdom of God on earth today (Rom. 14:17). Whoever receives Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is born into the kingdom of God (John 3:5). Praise the Lord that the church is the kingdom of God today! Hebrews 12:28 says that we are receiving an unshakable kingdom. This verse does not say that we have received the kingdom or that we shall receive it; it says that we are in the process of receiving the kingdom. We cannot say that we have not received an amount of the kingdom, but our receiving of the kingdom has not yet been fully accomplished. The kingdom has already started and it is continuing.
In the church age we are in the growing Sabbath, in the Sabbath where Christ as life is growing. God’s heart is at least somewhat satisfied with this growing Sabbath, but it is not satisfied in full because it is just the growing stage, not the final stage, the stage of harvest. The book of Hebrews was written to encourage the wandering, hesitating, and staggering Hebrews to come into the proper church life, today’s Sabbath rest. But following this Sabbath, there is something still better — the harvest Sabbath. Both of these are real Sabbaths to God. Today God does have a true Sabbath in the church life. We never realized that there could be such a wonderful thing as the church life. But by His mercy, the Lord has opened our eyes, showing us the church life, which is something holy, heavenly, and spiritual that we can touch in our spirit and enjoy with the Lord as our Sabbath rest. Hallelujah, there is such a church life on earth today!
If we know the Bible and God’s economy, we shall realize that everyone who has been regenerated and has received salvation needs to come into the church life. This is God’s economy. If you do not come into the church life, you will miss the mark. God’s economy is not only that you be saved and regenerated; His economy is that you come into the proper church life, which is today’s Sabbath. God’s economy is to have a corporate expression and representation of Himself. God is very patient; He is fulfilling His economy progressively. Firstly, He has sown Himself into His chosen people and now He is giving them time to grow.
We are now in the church life, the growing Sabbath that is leading us into the harvest Sabbath of the millennial kingdom. But not even the harvest Sabbath will be the ultimate Sabbath. The ultimate Sabbath rest will be the New Jerusalem. At the time of the New Jerusalem, there will be no more sea, satanic work, or corrupted and polluted world. All of that will be in the lake of fire. There will be a new earth, and upon that new earth there will be a city built up with transformed people as the living materials. That living composition, the New Jerusalem, will be God’s complete expression in eternity future. There, in the New Jerusalem, we shall see God’s expression and dominion. In the New Jerusalem will be God’s throne and authority for His kingdom. The New Jerusalem will be the ultimate and eternal Sabbath because there God will be fully expressed and represented. That will be the ultimate consummation of God’s work of grace, and we all shall be there.
Whether we are diligent or sloppy, our wise Father has a way to perfect us and make us mature. If we do not cooperate with Him, He is patient and will wait for tomorrow, next month, next year, or even for the next age. Before the age of the New Jerusalem, there are two ages, this age and the coming age. During both of these ages our patient Father will deal with His naughty children. If we are naughty and do not participate in the growing Sabbath today, we may miss the harvest Sabbath in the coming age. To miss the coming harvest Sabbath does not mean that we shall be lost. Since we are children of the Father, we can never be lost. But if we do not behave ourselves in His grace today, making it difficult for our Father to deal with us, we may miss the coming harvest Sabbath. However, our Father is much wiser than we are and has a way to bring us to maturity. Eventually we all shall be in the New Jerusalem, the ultimate Sabbath.
There will be a total of three real Sabbaths: the church, the millennial kingdom, and the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth. Although all these are Sabbaths to God, the second will be better than the first, and third will be fuller than the second. I have the complete assurance that we all shall share in the third and fullest Sabbath, for that Sabbath is wholly a matter of grace, not of reward. It is not a prize but our Father’s eternal portion for all of His children. As long as you are a child of the Father, He has a way to make you mature so that eventually you will participate in that third Sabbath.
When you hear that we all shall be in the New Jerusalem, you may say, “Hallelujah, now I am at peace. I’ll be there in the New Jerusalem.” But before we come to the New Jerusalem, we first must pass through the church and then through the millennium. Our wise Father uses the church age and the coming age of the millennial kingdom to cause us to mature. Although He has been sown into us, what about the maturity? His intention is to have all of us matured, and He will accomplish this. Nothing can stop Him. Our sloppiness and failures do not mean anything. Nothing, including Satan, can stop our Father from accomplishing His desire. When He chose us, He was not foolish in doing so, but was very careful. God will never repent of His choice; it is irrevocable and it will stand for eternity. He has saved us, and we shall be there in the New Jerusalem. All of this is a work of grace. God has brought us into His salvation, put Himself into us, and is now charging us to grow. But the way we grow is up to us. If we are obedient, we shall save Him a little time. If we are disobedient, we shall cause Him some difficulty. But He still has a way to cause us to grow. However, if we do not cooperate with Him, we shall suffer the loss of the enjoyment of the church life in this age and the prize in the coming age. Our wise Father deals with us so that we may mature. Do not think that you can escape His dealing. God even has a way to deal with all the Christians who have been saved but are now wandering. We cannot see this today, but one day we shall see it.
How merciful it is that our Father has brought us from wandering in the streets into His church life. Now we are no longer wandering; we are enjoying the church life which helps us to mature. I have the full assurance that the church people will mature earlier and become the firstfruits. How good it is to enjoy the present church and the coming kingdom! The present church is the Sabbath of enjoyment, and the coming kingdom is the Sabbath of prize. If we enjoy the church well today, we shall receive the kingdom as a prize in the coming age. If we do not enjoy the church well today, we shall suffer the loss of the kingdom as a prize in the coming age. It is very foolish not to enjoy Christ well in the church today. We do not have to pay anything for this enjoyment; it is free. Our Father even encourages us to enjoy Christ well. The more we enjoy Christ, the more the Father is happy and satisfied. If we continue to enjoy Christ, one day the Father will say, “Child, since you have enjoyed My Son so much, I shall give you a prize in the harvest Sabbath. You will be one of My Son’s co-kings.” At that time, we shall be Christ’s real partners sharing in His kingship in the harvest Sabbath.
Some say that as long as we have been regenerated and are children of God, we shall be in the millennial kingdom. But the Bible does not say this. Rather, it tells us that we must enjoy Christ, grow, mature, suffer, and overcome for Christ. Then in the coming age we shall receive the prize. This prize is not the eternal portion of the saints but a reward to the overcomers during the millennium. If you behave yourself in the Father’s house, the church, the Father will say, “Since you have satisfied Me in My house, I will give you a prize in My kingdom.” But if we do not satisfy Him today in His house, we shall miss the prize and suffer loss during the next age in His kingdom. The choice is up to us. How gracious, righteous, and wise our Father is! He has prepared a feast and He encourages us all to eat well. The better we eat, the happier He will be. It is foolish not to eat well in the feast. Oh, how we all need to enjoy the church life!
At this point we need to consider the two major schools of doctrine — the Calvinist school and the Arminian school. The Calvinist school says that everything is a matter of God’s grace, selection, and predestination. According to this school, once God has selected and predestinated us and we have been saved, there are no problems; once we have been saved, our salvation is secure for eternity. The Calvinist claim that we shall never perish has a strong basis in the Lord’s word in John 10:28-29. According to these verses, a saved person cannot perish. Calvinism undoubtedly has a ground in the Bible for saying that once we are saved we are saved for eternity. But when Calvinism says that since we are saved for eternity there can be no problems, it goes too far. Although it is good to know that we have been redeemed and reborn, we should not say that since we have been redeemed and reborn we can have no problems. It would be foolish for a child to say that since he has been born, there are no problems. Any child who says this is a most foolish child. Yes, we have been reborn, but there may be many problems.
The Arminians believe that a saved person can be lost again. Using portions of the word such as Hebrews chapter six, the Arminians insist that people who have tasted the heavenly gift and who have been partakers of the Holy Spirit may fall away, may have no opportunity to repent, and may be like the land that is burned, meaning that they are lost. The book of Hebrews contains five warnings such as this. The Arminians misuse these portions of the Word concerning God’s punishment or chastisement of His children, considering it as perdition, as being lost once again. They use these portions to support their teaching that a saved person can perish again.
The Calvinists, unable to reconcile these portions of the Word with their teaching, say that the persons mentioned there as being tasters of the heavenly gift and partakers of the Holy Spirit are false Christians. But it is ridiculous to say this. They say this because it is their only way of escape. Neither they nor the Arminians have been able to reconcile the portions in the Bible regarding God’s punishment of His children, because they have not seen the matter of prize and punishment in the kingdom. This matter of prize or punishment in the kingdom is the bridge between Calvinism and Arminianism.
Let us now look at this from a biblical point of view. Since we have been chosen forever, once we have been saved, regenerated, and have received eternal life, we can never perish. The eternal life will keep us. Two mighty hands, the hands of the Lord and of the Father, will uphold us, and we shall never perish (John 10:28-29). But this does not mean that we should be loose about committing sins, for we shall be chastised, punished either today or in the coming age, for whatever sins we commit. God is righteous. If His children commit sin and do not care for His will, they must suffer chastisement, punishment. If you do not care for His will in this age, you will miss the kingship as the reward in the coming kingdom. We must give heed to this warning.
What an enjoyment will be there in the coming kingdom! The harvest Sabbath! It will be better than the present growing Sabbath. The growing Sabbath of the church life today is the means by which we may be ushered into the harvest Sabbath in the coming kingdom. If we neglect today’s Sabbath in the church life, we shall miss the next Sabbath in the coming kingdom. If we are careless and commit sins, we shall suffer God’s punishment. But this does not mean that we shall be lost again.
Hebrews 6 proves this. Verses 7 and 8 say, “For the earth which drinks the rain which often comes upon it and brings forth vegetation suitable to those for whose sake also it is tilled, partakes of blessing from God; but bringing forth thorns and thistles, it is disapproved and near a curse, whose end is to be burned.” The earth may produce vegetation or thorns. The thorns may be burned, but the land will still remain, having suffered a loss. Likewise, the believers can never be lost, but all that they bring forth which is not according to God’s economy will be burned. Whatever we do that is against the will of God will be burned, but this does not mean that we shall be lost.
At this juncture let us consider 1 Corinthians 3:12-14. “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.” The believers are God’s farm (1 Cor. 3:9). Whatever we grow that is wood, hay, and stubble will be burned. But if our work abides as gold, silver, and precious stones, we shall receive a reward, a prize. However, if a man’s work is burned, he shall suffer loss, but this does not mean that he will lose his salvation. The following verse says, “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire” (Gk). This verse is very clear. A saved person may suffer loss, but he will not lose his salvation; he will be “saved as through fire.” Do you want to be “saved through fire”? If you ask me what the fire is here, I would say that I do not know. More than thirty-five years ago, an older Christian friend was arguing with me saying, “How could a saved person still be saved through fire?” I answered, “I don’t know, but the Bible tells us so.” Then he said, “Here it does not really say ‘by fire’ but ‘as by fire’ or ‘as through fire.’” At this point another elderly brother injected, “Even if it is ‘as by fire,’ it can still cause you to suffer.” Whatever this fire is, I know that it is not good and that I do not want to experience it. Since we have this word in 1 Corinthians 3, we should not say that as long as we are saved everything is all right. Everything may not be all right. Our work may be burned and we may be “saved as through fire.”
When some heard me preaching along this line, they condemned me, saying that I was teaching the Catholic doctrine of purgatory. The Catholic teaching of purgatory, which uses 1 Corinthians 3 as the basis, is much different from the pure Word of God. According to the Catholic concept of purgatory, if you commit sins and die, a relative may shorten the time you spend in purgatory by paying a certain amount of money to the Catholic Church. This teaching is devilish. What I am teaching is the pure truth from the pure Word.
First Corinthians 3 says that we need to build properly: according to God’s divine nature — the gold; according to Christ’s redemption — the silver; and according to the work of the Holy Spirit — the precious stones. We need to build according to the Father’s nature, the Son’s redemption, and the Holy Spirit’s transforming work. But if we build according to the flesh, the self, and the worldly way, that will be wood, hay, and stubble. There is a great difference between building with gold, silver, and precious stones and building with wood, hay, and stubble. If you build with gold, silver, and precious stones, you will receive a reward. But if you build with wood, hay, and stubble, you will suffer a loss, yet still be saved. This is neither Calvinism nor Arminianism but the pure Word of the Bible.
In addition to God’s gracious salvation, there is the matter of receiving a prize or suffering a loss. Only those who receive the prize will participate in the coming Sabbath, the harvest Sabbath. Those who gain the prize will enjoy the better Sabbath in the millennial kingdom, and those who suffer loss but who are saved as through fire will miss that Sabbath. How we need to press on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and go on positively. In addition to salvation, there will be the prize of this high calling, which will be the harvest Sabbath in the coming kingdom. This is our mark, our goal. If we would reach this goal, we must pass through the church life. The church life is the way for us to reach the goal.
