the mystery of the divine fellowship of life – the divine life is flowing in us all the time!

Ever since we became a believer by receiving the Lord Jesus as our Savior and as our life, we Christians became a mysterious people. Now we’re not just human beings with all that the humanity entails, but we’re also divine beings with all that the divine life brings about! We are mysterious people – we have the mysterious divine life and the mysterious divine nature in us. Actually, if you are not a mysterious person, then there may be a problem with your contact with the Lord. We are mysterious in the sense that neither we nor others really understand this kind of life: eating, drinking, breathing in the Lord, and spontaneously living by another life, the divine life. The divine life in us is “something else”, having its own feeling and its own sense of life, growing daily and expanding in all our being….

One of the most wonderful things about this mysterious divine life in us is that the divine life is not “static” – it continually grows and it continually flows! In 1 John 1:3 we see that we don’t just have the divine life in us(which is a mystery), but we also have the fellowship of life(which is also a mystery). Within us there is a flow of the divine life that we have received by regeneration – this is the fellowship of the divine life. How can we define the “fellowship of life”? I enjoyed two very simple and also very practical illustrations that help us see what the fellowship of life is:

1. The fellowship of life is like the flowing of blood in us – the circulation of blood in our being never stops: it always flows! We do things, we walk, we sleep, we exercise – in all things, the flow of blood in our veins continually flows. If we exercise physically, the circulation is being helped; on the other hand, we also need to rest… Fellowship is the scriptural term for the circulation – in the Body of Christ there is the flow of the divine life “circulating” and “flowing” as the fellowship of life. This fellowship of the divine life reaches to every member of the Body of Christ and brings all the riches of the divine life to every member. All the members of the Body of Christ, just like the members of our body, are in the circulation of this divine life.
2. The fellowship of life is like the current of electricity – when electricity is in motion, it is called the current. When the electricity flows, all the home appliances, the lights, etc – work / function properly! We cannot see the electricity, but we can feel + see the electricity in action, being applied! If you look at the electric meter, you will see how the current flows… You just need to “switch on” and you will partake of the “flow of electricity”. In a similar way, our proper functioning is derived from our being in the flow / the current of the divine life. When we switch on this flow(and hopefully NEVER switch off) we have the supply, the power, to live our Christian life in a normal way and to function as members of the Body of Christ! The Triune God as the flow of the divine life has been installed into us as the divine electricity – we just need to switch Him on!

Hallelujah, when we were saved we received the Lord into our being + we were put into Him! This divine life in us is never at a standstill – it is always flowing, always ready to “invade” and “flood” all the parts of our being, ready to supply us with all that we need for us to live a life for God’s purpose! If we have the divine life, we will also have the divine fellowship – the flowing of the divine life in us!

And one more illustration – in the New Jerusalem, the divine life flows as the river of water of life in the middle of the street(the divine nature). This means that as we walk according to the divine nature, we have the divine life flowing in us. The divine life flows in the divine nature as the unique way for the daily life of God’s redeemed people. Where the divine life flows, there is the divine nature as the holy way by which we as God’s people walk. In our daily life as we contact the Lord and are in a close communication / direct contact with Him, we walk according to the divine nature within us, and there is a flow of the divine life in us all the time… May we take care of this flow in us by never leaving the golden street – rather, we may we keep walking according to the divine nature in us all the time, so that we may enjoy the flow of the divine life, the divine fellowship of life! [enjoyment from the portion for today – the Unique Divine Fellowship]

Lord, thank You for putting us into You and giving us to drink of this flowing river! Keep flowing in us, Lord! Keep us in this fellowship of life, in the flow of life, all our days! We treasure the sweet flow of life… we even lay down our soul-life that we may have the flow within… Thank You, Lord, for being installed into us as the divine electricity – flow in us today!

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!