The Ministry of the Word, Vol. 21, No. 5

The Failures in the Churches, the Degradation of the Church, the Overcomers in the Church, the Recovery of the Church, and the Stages of the Church (2)

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains the final eight messages given during the fall 2016 term of the full-time training in Anaheim, California. The general subject of this series of messages is "The Failures in the Churches, the Degradation of the Church, the Overcomers in the Church, the Recovery of the Church, and the Stages of the Church." This issue comprises the final two components of this fivefold subject. Messages 9 through 11 speak concerning the recovery of the church. The word recovery means a restoration, or a return, to a normal condition after damage or loss has been incurred. Throughout the centuries of church history, there has been much damage to and loss of the truth and of the experience of Christ; hence, the Lord needs a recovery. We must come back to God's original intention. The recovery of the church in its local dimension is practical, outward, and physical; it is in space and in time. In addition to being in the Lord's recovery practically and outwardly, we also need to know the Lord's recovery in its intrinsic significance. If we really touch the Lord's recovery, even by coming into a local church on the ground of oneness, we should immediately touch the essence, which is light and life. If we are to be unshakably and intrinsically in the Lord's recovery, we need to know the most important person in the universe—the Triune God in Christ as the Spirit; we also need to know the central matter in the Bible, which is God's ultimate intention to work Himself in Christ into His chosen and redeemed people to make them His corporate expression. Messages 12 through 15, a group of messages on the stages of the church, do not emphasize the historic or the prophetic aspect of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 regarding their actual condition. Rather, the burden in these messages is on the present experiential application of the Spirit's speaking to the churches. The seven epistles in chapters 2 and 3 are a record of the actual situations existing in the seven churches at the time these epistles were written. However, since Revelation is a book of signs with a prophetic nature, the situations of the seven churches are also signs, signifying prophetically the progress of the church in seven stages. The conditions of the seven churches exist simultaneously in the church's sevenfold history. At the time when these epistles were written, each church had to hear what the Spirit said to the other churches. Likewise, we also need an ear to hear what the Spirit has said to these seven churches. All the epistles in Revelation 2 and 3 were written to the seven churches as a collective entity, as one book. We may also consider that each epistle was written to us, since we are the local churches. We will not know how to be a Christian and how to live the church life intrinsically unless we enter into the intrinsic significance of the sevenfold letter to the seven churches in Asia. Message 16 concludes by relating the overcomers, especially those in Philadelphia, to the consummation of the New Jerusalem. We should be clear that the local churches are the procedure, not the goal. The goal is the building up of the church, the building up of the Body (Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 14:4, 12; Eph. 4:12, 16); this requires the reality of the Body of Christ. The building up of the Body is the preparation of the bride. The local churches are the procedure, not the goal. The goal is the New Jerusalem. The overcomers in Philadelphia actually become the New Jerusalem by becoming God in life and nature and by becoming the reproduction of Christ (Rev. 3:12). Because they are in this reality, they will be the New Jerusalem in the millennium, which will be the initial stage of the manifestation of the New Jerusalem. In order to be that visible, initial manifestation, the overcomers must first become that in reality. The full manifestation of the New Jerusalem will not come until the eternal age of the new heaven and new earth, which follows the thousand-year kingdom. The Reports and Announcements section of this issue contains reports from the January and February 2017 gospel trips to North America and South America. There is also a list of upcoming conferences and trainings hosted by Living Stream Ministry and a website link for information related to similar events in Europe.