Aspects of the Christian Life and Church Life Seen in the New Jerusalem (ITERO spring 2014) WEEK 6 - The Lamb as the Lamp with God as the Light - DAY 5 Morning Nourishment Eph. 1:10 Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him. Rev. 22:1 And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street. In the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center, all things will be headed up in Christ. This will be the complete fulfillment of Ephesians 1:10....If Christ as life is not able to shine forth from the church to be the light of the nations, all the things of creation will have no way to be headed up in Him. When the nations walk by the light of the city, there will be no harm to men and no damage to things. At that time the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah (Isa. 11:9), and all things will be headed up in Christ. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4462-4463) Today’s Reading Because God is the source of life, He recovers the oneness of the universe by entering into man to be man’s life. First, He became a man, a part of “all things” which will be headed up in Christ [Eph. 1:10]. He then imparted His life into believers, making them the constituents of the church, and He works in them so that they can shine Him forth as light to all things. Through the shining, all things will walk in the light, be in one accord, and be headed up in Christ. Hence, the condition of oneness in the universe is altogether related to life and death, light and darkness. At the top of the New Jerusalem, Christ is the Head with God in Him as the content. From Him flows the river of life with the tree of life to supply all His sons, and the redeemed ones as the sons of God are filled with life (Rev. 22:1-2). The whole city shines out this life as light, and the nations, representing the whole universe, walk in the light of this city. Because Christ is at the top of the city as the Head, all things are headed up in Christ through the Body, the church, which consummates in the New Jerusalem. At that time the entire universe will be in harmony, and there will be no more death and, thus, no more darkness and no more confusion. Within, the city is full of life, and without, it is full of light. The whole environment surrounding the city will be under the regulation of this light. Then the entire universe will be headed up in Christ through the church. This will be the full manifestation of Christ being Head over all things to the church, which is His Body. Within the city there is the life, but outside the city there is only the shining. All the nations are under the shining, but they do not have the life. The life is only in the city, and this life is God Himself imparted to all of His children. By this life they are full of light, and this light will shine through them to bring all creation out of darkness, confusion, and the bondage of corruption in vanity into the order of the manifestation of the sons of God. In Revelation 21 we see the Head, the Body surrounding the Head, and all the nations walking in the light of the city (v. 24). This will cause the new heaven and the new earth to be a bright sphere. Therefore, in the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center, all things will be headed up in Christ, thereby fulfilling the heading up of all things in Christ spoken of in Ephesians 1:10. In order for this to take place, we need the dispensing of life. The life that is dispensed into us eventually becomes the light of men. In the dispensation of the fullness of the times, all the nations will walk in the light of the city. This means that there will be no death, no darkness, no corruption, and no confusion. Instead, everything will be in order, headed up under Christ, the unique Head, to express the Triune God in eternity. This heading up of all things will be an eternal expression of the Triune God. Today’s church life is a foretaste of this. It is a miniature of the new heaven, the new earth, and the New Jerusalem. As those in the miniature, we are enjoying the dispensing of life with light, and we are being headed up in Christ. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4463-4465) Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 436 © 2014 Living Stream Ministry. All rights reserved.
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 07:32:23 +0000
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