the intrinsic meaning of the Sabbath is to be fired and replaced by Christ by drinking Him!

What is the Sabbath and what is the real significance, the intrinsic meaning, of the Sabbath? In the Old Testament, God commanded His people to “take one day off”, the Sabbath day, when they would just worship God and spend time with God to “do His business”. But what about us, in the New Testament? What is the principle of the Sabbath? The real meaning of keeping the Sabbath is that we cease from our doing, stop our work, get ourselves FIRED and we enjoy what the Lord has done for us by drinking of Him – the consummated Spirit – as the waters! In the entire Bible we see that God wants to come into us, fill us, replace us, and live in us! As believers in Christ, we need to take Christ as our replacement every day. I particularly enjoyed three illustrations given in the Bible regarding us being replaced by Christ:

1. Christ is the Universal Replacement – in Mark 9:7-8, on the mount of transfiguration, where the disciples saw Jesus being in glory with Moses and Elijah, and Peter said, Lord – let’s build three tents, one for each one of you… – God acknowledged from the heavens, This is My Son, the Beloved – Hear HIM! God wants only Christ and He wants His Beloved to replace everything and everyone else! We don’t want to hear anyone or anything else – we want to hear Him! After the voice from heaven spoke, the disciples didn’t see anyone else there but Jesus Only! This is what the Lord desires to recover today – Jesus Only as our all-inclusive universal replacement! Christ replaces Moses, Elijah, the prophets, the law, our soul, our mind, everything and everyone – and in the whole universe there will be Jesus Only to the praise of God! Lord, we want to give You all the ground in our living and our being!
2. The principle of grafting, seen in Rom. 11:17, 24 – we were branches of the uncultivated olive tree, the wild olive tree, but on the cross we were cut off from this wild olive tree(we were cut off from Adam), and we were grafted into Christ – the cultivated rich olive tree! Now we are living in Him and He is living in us! We live in Him, by Him, with Him, and because of Him, and He lives in us, by us, and through us! We have one life and one living with this wonderful Person! We are still a branch – we are not “exchanged to a better branch” – no, we are grafted in Christ and His life sap, His life juice, is swallowing up all the shortages in our being! In this way, we’re being transformed with the very element of Christ being imparted and dispensed into us! Christ is now living in us, by us, through us, and even as us!
3. The principle of the petrified wood – as seen in nature, in the old times when there were great volcanic eruptions, the trees were swept down the hills, stripped of their leaves/branches/bark, etc – and were buried under the volcanic ash, in the volcanic mud. This is just like in the church life today – here we’re stripped of our “bark, leaves, and branches”, and we’re “buried under the volcanic ash”. As the tree trunks were there under the volcanic ash, water somehow managed to seep in through the ash and bring in the minerals – as time went by, the wooden element was being replaced with the new minerals brought in by water. The result was something that looked exactly like the wood, but was STONE – the tree trunks were ston-ified, petrified! The water slowly permeated the wood spaces until the tree was slowly replaced by the minerals! It looks very much like the wood, but it is completely replaced by stone! This is called “the petrification of the wood” and it is a good example of our being “Christified“! As we stay in the church life, the divine Spirit is “seeping in” through our exercise of our spirit – and we’re being slowly replaced by Christ as the living water with the rich divine “minerals”…

This principle of being replaced we can also see with the apostle Paul – in Gal. 2:20 he says,

I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

So on the one hand, Paul was crucified – and he didn’t live anymore; but on the other hand he still lived – not an “exchanged life”, but a life in which he was replaced with the Christ who lives in him! We have Christ now, living in us – He’s our Person, He’s our life, and He’s our living! The old “I” was crucified with Christ and has no divinity in it; the new “I” which now lives is the I with Christ as its life and person! The old “I” was crucified and resurrected, and God was added to it; now we’re “the new I”, a man + God, a God-man! Amen, on the one hand we’re terminated, and on the other the regenerated one still lives! It is Christ who lives, but He lives in us! This is the real Sabbath – no longer I but Christ living in me! We just need to cease from our doing, deny ourselves – we need to exercise our spirit to deny ourselves and live by Christ as our life! This is to be replaced by Christ! The most simple and practical way to deny ourselves simply to PRAY! When we pray, we are realising that we are nothing and we can do nothing! This means that we deny ourselves, we live by Christ as our life so that we may be replaced by Christ as our life! And the most simple way to pray is to call on the name of the Lord – O Lord Jesus! Whenever we call on the name of the Lord, we pray and we deny ourselves – we are being replaced with Christ! This is the real rest, the real satisfaction, and the real meaning of Sabbath today! [enjyoment from message 9 of the Crystallization-study of Isaiah(2)]

Lord, replace us today! Keep us calling on Your name, Lord, until we arrive into the kingdom! Keep us calling until we become the manifestation of Your kingdom! Lord, thank You for the Sabbath in its intrinsic significance! Thank You for this grafted life and this organic union! O Lord, without You we can do and we are nothing! May it be No Longer I But Christ today! Live in us, Lord, as we deny ourselves to take You as our life!

we need to be born of God with the divine life in order for us to be part of the kingdom of God

It is not by our doing, our striving, or our behavior that we become part of the kingdom of God, and neither is it by our being affiliated to any of the “churches” that are out there. The only way we can become part of the kingdom of God or even see the kingdom of God is by being born into the kingdom of God! Unless we are born again, born of the Spirit, we cannot see or enter into the kingdom of God! It is only the life of God, the divine life, that qualifies us to be in the kingdom of God. Not even knowing a lot about the kingdom of God or knowing about God – no Bible knowledge apart from being regenerated can transfer us and place us into the kingdom of God! Just as you become a human being part of the mankind by being born as a man and thus are part of the kingdom of man, so you become a God-man by being begotten of God and thus being a part of the kingdom of God! Hallelujah, it is only the divine life that can qualify us to enter into the divine realm! Here’s what John 3:3 and 5 say,

v. 3 … Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God…
v. 5 … Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God…

Actually, even if we were not sinful – even if Adam would have NOT partaken of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – we still need the divine life to come into us in order for us to be part of the kingdom of God! The human life – as high and perfect and clean as it would be – is not adequate for us to be in the kingdom of God! This is why we need to treasure our regeneration: when we believe into the Lord Jesus(John 3:16) we receive the divine life of God and enter into the kingdom of God! Just as a MAN begets a MAN, a cat begets a cat, etc – so God begets someone His own kind: God begets “gods”! When we are born of God, we become a God-man! We as believers are no longer ONLY human, but also divine; we no longer belong only to the human species, but we are also part of the divine species – we are God-kind! Now we have the divine life within growing, developing, and transforming us until we become the same as our Prototype / our Forerunner Jesus Christ. We have the reality of the divine life within us and at the same time this divine life transforms us and conforms us to the Lord’s image in our entire being.

As the ones living in the kingdom of God, we are now learning to live no longer by the human life / our self, but we deny ourselves, our natural man, our natural life, and live by another life – the divine life within! The more we live by the divine life in us by allowing this divine life to live in us freely, the more we are living in reality in the kingdom of God! The reality of the kingdom of God as a realm of life is our living by the divine life today! This living of the divine life and by the divine life is the expression and the practicality of the divine life – this is the kingdom of God in reality! It is here, in this kingdom, in our living by the divine life, that God can be freely expressed, He can reign, and He can accomplish His will and His purpose. Today in the church life we are those who enjoy the divine life and live by the divine life more and more, until we are “swallowed up in life” and we become persons of life! We are children of God in the divine and mystical realm of the divine species, living and moving – doing everything and having our being – by the divine life, in our mingled spirit! [inspired by the morning revival on the Crystallization-study of Isaiah(1)]

O, Lord, Amen, we want to be in the reality of the kingdom today! Save us from being just men – we want to be God-men living by the divine life within! Thank You Lord for showing us the kingdom of God and for making us part of Your kingdom! Lord, we need You to grow in us more today and even be expressed in us and through us!

we are daily learning to stop ourselves by waiting on the Lord and taking Him as our life and person

In the Old Testament there was a good king among the kings of Judah – king Hezekiah. When he started reigning, he put away all the idols, broke down their altars, purified the people, re-instituted the Passover, and brought the people of Judah and of Israel back to God, back to the worship of God. Even more, when the king of Assyria came with his armies to fight Judah, Hezekiah prayed to Jehovah and trusted in Him, and he also encouraged the people of Judah to do the same – therefore, God gave them the victory in a miraculous way. Still, even though Hezekiah was such a godly man, he was not a God-man, a man of God. His heart was not fully for God, rather, he had some interest and love for himself. Towards the end of his life he became sick and when Isaiah the prophet told him that he has only a few more days to live, Hezekiah went before the Lord and wept and begged Him to extend his days. God, for David’s sake(his forefather) extended Hezekiah’s days with 15 more years! Amazing! So then when the Babylonian king send some envoys to congratulate him about his healing from his deadly disease, Hezekiah showed these messengers ALL that he had. He bragged about his riches, his palace, his army, etc – everything! When then Isaiah the prophet came to ask him what did the Babylonian messengers see when they came to visit, Hezekiah was not ashamed to say that they saw everything he had, all his glory. And then it happened: Isaiah spoke God’s judgement on Hezekiah – all that the Babylonians saw, will be taken into captivity, and even some of Hezekiah’s household will also be taken captive by the Babylonians(and all these things will happen after Hezekiah’s death). Hezekiah’s response to this was, The word of the Lord is good, for it will not happen during my lifetime!

Wow! Instead of being desperate before the Lord for His people and even his own house, since they were to be taken into captivity, Hezekiah was OK with God’s judgement over him and his people, since it will not happen during his lifetime! Here we see a selfish king, who didn’t care for anyone or anything else but himself: he didn’t care for his people, for God’s people, or even for his own family – all he loved was himself! He was so self-centered and so self-loving!

Coming back to ourselves, in regards to this matter, it is possible that even us – who seek the Lord with all our heart – to be like Hezekiah, that is, to seek the Lord for His interest only 20% and underneath, hiddenly, to seek our own interest / comfort for 80% of the time. We may seek the Lord and His economy for part of the time, at least during the meetings, or conferences, but then for 80% of the time our seeking is for ourselves, for what benefits us personally…. This matter of loving our self is so intrinsic and so close to us that none of us can escape it if it were not for the Lord’s mercy! We need to come to Him and ask Him to have mercy on us, to deliver us from self-seeking and from loving ourselves, so that we may seek the Lord for His economy and His interest, for His good pleasure!

What is the solution to this? We see in Isaiah 40:31 that those who wait on Jehovah will renew their strength, they will mount up wings like eagles, they will run and will not faint…. – in ourselves, we can’t do it. That’s why we need to wait on the Lord – stop ourselves with our living, our doing, and our activities! We need to stop ourselves and receive God in Christ as our life, our person, and our replacement! Hezekiah was a godly man who was discharged by God but not yet replaced with Christ – we need to stop ourselves with all our doings and let Christ live in us! We need to daily learn to take Christ as our life, our person, and our replacement. This will make us be like the eagles, always soaring above the environment. This stopping ourselves by calling on the name of the Lord and waiting on Him will cut the expression and seeking of our self – we exercise our spirit to deny our self and live by another life, the life in our spirit! When unbelievers try to “stop themselves”, they have nothing else there; but we the believers in Christ have the Lord living in us! Whenever we stop and wait on the Lord, enjoy Him, call on Him, He has a way to live in us! There’s another life in our spirit waiting for us to stop ourselves, deny ourselves, and let it live in us! [enjoyment from the Crystallization-study of Isaiah(1), message 8]

Lord, have mercy on us that we may no longer live in ourselves and by ourselves! Save us for any more seeking our own interest and having our own personal hidden desires even while seeking You! Lord, do remind us to stop ourselves and take You as our life and our person! Replace us more, Lord, in our daily practical things / activities. We want to be those who stop and wait on You!

Christ is the Fruit of the Earth for the multiplication and reproduction of the divine life in humanity

On the one hand, in His divinity, Christ is the Shoot of Jehovah, the sprouting of God into man – a new development of the Triune God into humanity. On the other hand, in His humanity, Christ is the fruit of the earth: He was born of a human virgin, lived a human life on earth, and died an all-inclusive death as the one grain of wheat(John 4:24). Jesus is the branching out of the Lord into us as the earth – divinity branches out into our humanity. And through our humanity, this branch bears fruit for man’s enjoyment and builds God’s temple. In Isaiah and in the Bible in general, the Fruit of the Earth refers to Christ’s humanity with His human nature(Isaiah 4:2b; Luke 1:42). I really enjoyed these main points related to the Fruit of the Earth:

• As the Fruit of the earth, Christ was born a man of human blood and flesh from the earth; the earth was the source of Christ’s humanity, just as eternity was the source of His divinity(Heb. 2:14). Christ was born with human flesh and human blood.
• Christ as the Fruit of the earth is for the multiplication and reproduction of the divine life in humanity – John 12:24. In Himself, that is, in His divinity, God has not way to be multiplied, so He needs humanity for His multiplication and reproduction. Humanity is like the “soil”, the earth, for the Triune God as the seed to be multiplied and reproduced(the seed in John 12:24 dies in the earth and bears much fruit). Christ is sown in our human heart: we need to let Him grow in our humanity so that He may be brought forth as the fruit of the earth in us!
• As the Fruit of the earth, Christ, in His humanity which expresses His divine beauty and glory, will be the excellence and splendor of God’s chosen people in the day of restoration(Isaiah 4:2b). A proper Christian today is one who expresses Christ’s beauty and glory in a divine way and also expresses Christ’s excellence and splendor in a human way(1 Cor. 10:31; Phil. 1:11, 20). When we were regenerated, our vessel was filled with Christ, the divine content: our human virtues are now an expression of His divine attributes, and His attributes fill our virtues! This is the life we should live today: being both divine and human, we live the life of the divine beauty and glory of Jesus(in His divinity) and the human excellence and splendor of Jesus(in His humanity).

Amen, Lord, even today, we as God-men – Your reproduction and duplication – want to live such a life! Come in and fill our virtues with Your divine attributes, Lord! Be expressed in us in full! Even bear fruit in us – the fruit of the earth! [this is some sharing from message 3 entitled The Age of Restoration and Christ as the Shoot of Jehovah and the Fruit of the Earth – from the crystallization-study of Isaiah(1)]

Christ is the Shoot of Jehovah, a new development of Jehovah God into humanity: God became a man!

This morning I really enjoyed the verse in Isaiah 4:2 which says

In that day the Shoot of Jehovah will be beauty and glory, and the fruit of the earth, excellence and splendor, to those of Israel who have escaped.

Christ is the Shoot of Jehovah(in His divinity) and the fruit of the earth(in His humanity). I was especially impressed as we got into some more details on what it means that Christ is the shoot of Jehovah. It’s like: Jehovah is a large universal tree, a big plant, and at one point there is a new development, a shoot, that is, Christ! This shoot is a new development for Jehovah to be increased and to spread through His incarnation into humanity! Here are some more about this:

• The Shoot of Jehovah typifies not only Christ’s divinity but also the sprouting and development of Christ’s divinity through the incarnation of God(John 1:1, 14; Heb. 1:1-3, 2:14) – in John 1:1 we see that Christ is God, and in v. 14 we see that He became flesh/man. Our God is full of vigor, full of growing and productive power, very potent! He is shooting forth in the incarnation of Christ.
• The Shoot of Jehovah is a new development of Jehovah God for the Triune God to branch Himself out for His increase and spreading through His incarnation(Isaiah 7:14; Matt. 1:22-23) – He joined Himself with humanity for His increase and His spread.
• In His incarnation, Christ as the Shoot of Jehovah branched Himself out in His divinity from the territory of divinity into the territory of humanity(John 1:1, 14) – He used to be just God, just divine, but at one point He stepped into the territory of humanity and became a man. Now our God is a God in two territories: the territory of God and the territory of man!
• In His incarnation Christ came from eternity into time; from ancient times, from the days of eternity, the Triune God was preparing to come forth out of eternity into time, to come with His divinity into humanity(Micah 5:2) – His goings forth are from the ancient times! He is continually going forth, from eternity into time, and still going on…
• The sprouting and development of God in Christ as the shoot of Jehovah are for the expression of all the riches of divinity in Christ’s humanity, that is, for the rich attributes of divinity to be developed into the virtues of Christ, the God-man, in His humanity(Eph. 3:8) – The source of His virtues is His divinity; the riches of His divinity were being expressed through His high humanity.
• The incarnated God, in His divinity, will be the beauty and glory of God’s chosen people in the day of restoration(Isaiah 4:2a) – The shoot of Jehovah is to be our beauty and glory! We are becoming more and more beautiful every day because we have the divine life and nature in us! When you enjoy Christ, you are the most beautiful person! And this is our genealogy: we are God-men, born of God in His life and nature! This development of God into humanity is ultimately consummating in our beautification and glory!

Wow… what a rich explanation of the Shoot of Jehovah – from the crystallization-study of Isaiah(1), message 3. What a rich Christ as the shooting forth of Jehovah in His divinity into humanity!