MORNING REVIVAL. WEEK 28 — DAY 2 ›› Morning Nourishment Gen. 35:6-7 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. And he built an altar there and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother. We have seen that many crucial seeds of the truth are sown in the book of Genesis. The house of God, Bethel, is one of these seeds. However, not many Christians know what the experience of the house of God is. Undoubtedly, many know that, according to the New Testament, the house of God denotes the church (1 Tim. 3:15). But where is the practical and proper church life? Although there are millions of Christians on earth, very few of them have the genuine church life. Many merely sit in the congregation for the Sunday morning service and listen to a minister or pastor. But this is not the practical and proper church life revealed in the Bible. According to the Bible, in the genuine church life every saved one must be a living, functioning member. Every member of the Body of Christ must function. Not only do the members function, but they also live together to express God in Christ in a living, daily way. This is the practical church life revealed in the Bible. The truths regarding this practical church life are sown as seeds in Genesis. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 1025) Today’s Reading Prior to Genesis 35, God was called the God of a certain person, for example, the God of Abraham or the God of Isaac. He was the God of individual persons. But in 35:7 we have “El-bethel,” the God of the house of God. He is no longer simply the God of individuals; He is now the God of a corporate body, the house of God. Many Christians only experience God as their individual God. Not many have the experience of God as the God of the house of God. How much experience do you have of God as the God of a corporate body? We all must experience God in such a way that He is not only God to us individually but also the God of the house of God. There is a great difference between the two. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 1025-1026) Bethel was a place that particularly touched Jacob’s heart because he dreamed and God appeared to him there. We have mentioned earlier that Bethel means the house of God; it signifies the authority of Christ, that Christ is ruling over His house. It also signifies the corporate life, which is the Body of Christ. In this house there should not be any defilement, sin, or anything that is contrary to God’s will. This is why Jacob told his household and those who were with him to “put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments” when they went up to Bethel (Gen. 35:2). In other words, they had to leave behind everything that was related to the idols before they could go up to Bethel....Bethel is the house of God. There should only be clean conduct and clean living in the house of God, and all the unclean things should be dealt with before one can go up to Bethel. God demands not only that we have a clean living individually but that we also have a clean living corporately. Bethel cannot tolerate any unclean things. The Body of Christ is Christ, and only Christ can remain in His Body; everything else must be left behind in Shechem. In Shechem Jacob called God the God of Israel, while here he called God the God of Bethel. He advanced from the individual experience to the corporate experience. In Shechem he knew God as the God of Israel. When he reached Bethel, he knew God as the God of His house. When he reached Bethel, he realized that the vessel God is after is a house, a corporate vessel. God was not only his God but the God of His house. He was brought to a broadened place. Thank and praise the Lord that God is not heaping up piles of isolated stones; He is building a house that expresses Him. There must be the corporate testimony before God’s goal can be reached. (CWWN, vol. 35, pp. 148-149) Further Reading: Life-study of Genesis, msg. 80; CWWN, vol. 35, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” ch. 10
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 08:37:38 +0000
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