The living of Noah and his family after they came out of the ark was a seed of the church life. The first thing that Noah did was to set up an altar and to offer sacrifices to God (see Gen. 8:20). The first thing we do when we come into the church life is not to do a lot of things for God but to allow Christ to cross us out – we take the cross and we offer Christ to God as the reality of all the offerings.
The church life is not a broad way but a narrow way, and the entrance into the church life is very narrow. In everything we do in the church life we need to first go through the altar, allowing the cross of Christ to deal with us, enter into resurrection, and then offer Christ to God as the sacrifices for His satisfaction.
There’s nothing from us that can “help God in the church” or that can build up the Body. Only what goes through the cross and comes out in resurrection, that is, our God-constituted being, the Christ in us, is what builds up the church. We daily live in the reality of our baptism, living by dying with Christ and being raised with Him!
Also, in the church life we are being brought back to God’s original purpose, that is, to express God and represent Him as the proper God-men He intended to have when He created man. We do this by living in resurrection; resurrection is not merely a future event but a process in the present, a process of being put to death and being resurrected, living in and by the resurrection life of Christ.
This is the church life, which can be seen in a seed form in Genesis 8 with the living of Noah and his family after they got out of the ark.
The Church Life is the New Living of the Resurrected People
The ark rested on the mountains of Ararat on the eighth day, and Christ resurrected on the eighth day (the first day of the week) – the eighth day signifies resurrection. Also, eight people came out of the ark!
This really shows that the church life, as seen in a seed form in Gen. 8, is composed of people in resurrection who have a new living, a living in resurrection! We are resurrected people, those who were baptized (put to death) and raised with Christ (resurrected) to live the church life, a new living in resurrection.
We see the same principle in Acts 2, when Peter stood with the eleven and proclaimed the gospel, focusing on Christ’s resurrection and God’s exaltation of Christ. Three thousand people were convicted, repented, and were baptized to be saved from that crooked and perverted generation. They were all put into the waters of death and were raised up in resurrection, thereafter becoming part of the ark (the church) which was being built.
They had a new living as resurrected people: they lived in resurrection, meeting day by day and from house to house, breaking the bread with singleness of heart, and enjoying the Lord daily (see Acts 2:40-42).
We also are a resurrected people, those who passed through the death of Christ (baptism) and entered into His resurrection. We believed into Christ, we were baptized into Him, and now we have the church life. We as believers in Christ are in Christ (1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 1:4) and were crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6; 2 Cor. 5:14; Gal. 2:20a) and resurrected with Him (Eph. 2:6; Col. 2:12; 3:1).
Hallelujah, now we are in Christ’s resurrection, living as resurrected people in the church life!
We Live the Church Life by Passing Through Death and Resurrection
Christianity today in general is a broad way, where everyone does what he wants, speaks what he thinks it’s best, people make compromises, etc. But the way of the church life in the Lord’s recovery (where the Lord is recovering us back to the beginning) is narrow.
As Noah did when he got out of the ark, we firstly set up an altar. If you want to get into the tent of meeting in the Old Testament, you first had to go to the altar. At the entrance of the church life there is the cross of Christ. This way is a constricted way, and the entrance is narrow.
The majority of the believers, sadly to say, are on the broad way – but we want to take the narrow way and no other! Daily we need to come to the altar and apply Christ as the reality of all the offerings.
Lord, You are my sin offering, dying for my sins. You are the burnt offering, so absolute for God. Lord, You are the meal offering, so nourishing and satisfying. You are the trespass offering. Lord, You are the peace offering, making peace between God and us and between us and others. You are the heave offering, and You are the drink offering. You are the reality of all the offerings. We take You right now as all the offerings. By these offerings, You have solved all our problems!
In the genuine church life in the Lord’s recovery, we are being terminated in our natural man and then resurrected with Christ to live a life in resurrection for the building up of the church. We may even help one another – mostly unconsciously – to come to the cross and enter into resurrection.
The saints in the church life are a new breed of people – there’s something uncommon about them. They are terminated people, those who take Christ as the altar, applying Him as the offerings, and offering Christ to God for God’s satisfaction. We are here in the church life NOT to have our need met, but to meet God’s need, for His satisfaction!
Where on earth does God have a group of people who live for His good pleasure and for His satisfaction? Where is there an ascending aroma of the experienced and enjoyed Christ being offered to God as offering to satisfy His longing deep within? Lord, make us those who satisfy Your heart’s desire!
In the Church Life We See God’s Purpose and We Walk in Newness of Life
What is God’s purpose in creating man? Did He make man just to “be glorified in man”? Did He make man merely to “fellowship with Him”? What is the eternal purpose of the almighty Creator for His creation of man? Who speaks about this and where can we hear this?
Before coming into the church life, most people don’t know God’s purpose. As the psalmist said, it is all very blurry and confusing until you enter into the sanctuary of God. Here, in the church life in resurrection, we are being recovered back to God’s original purpose.
God created man in His image and with His likeness so that man would express Him and represent Him (see Gen. 1:26). Adam failed God, Israel failed God, and Christianity as a whole failed God in this.
But today God desires to recover the proper church life on the ground of oneness, a group of people who don’t care for a name or a doctrine but only for God’s original intention. This group of people are willing to go through death and into resurrection, living in the reality of their baptism every day, so that they may walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4-5).
For such people resurrection is not just a future event but a daily process, a reality. They grow together with Christ in His death and they grow with Him in the reality of His resurrection. It is through such a group of people that live in the newness of life that God’s purpose is accomplished!
Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You for Your purpose. Shine on us, enlighten us, and deliver us from any religious and pious opinions and veils. Lord, make us the people You need today, those who enter through the narrow door and walk on the narrow way of the church life in resurrection. Have mercy on us, Lord, and don’t let us get out of the church life. Accomplish Your ultimate recovery of a people coming back to Your original intention and purpose. Make us those who bring You back. Make the church people those who live in newness of life for God’s expression and representation!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration (besides the Word of God and my Christian experience): bro. Ron Kangas’ speaking in this message and portions from, Life-study of Genesis (msg. 32), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization Study of Genesis (1), week / msg 12, A Seed of the Church Life and a Shadow of the Kingdom.
- Further reading:
# msg. 11 from, The Life-Study of Romans (by Witness Lee);
# Gen. 8:18-21 with footnotes in the Recovery Version Bible. - Hymns on this topic:
# All the meetings Christ appointed / And attended here on earth / Were apart from all religion, / All its rituals, forms, and dearth. / Resurrection, not religion, / Must be our reality; / Let us meet in resurrection, / From all dead religion free.
# Glorious vision, I have seen it: My life is meant for God’s economy! / Earthly bondage, I have left it: My heart outpours for the Lord’s recovery! / Divine Trinity, Divine dispensing: Christ to be life as Spirit real is He; / Churches of God, Body of Christ, New Jerusalem—how I long to see.
# Living out His resurrection, / Dying to the flesh and soul-life. / Living by the mingled spirit, / Natural man we will deny. / Now we’re living in the Body, / Every day we’re overcoming, / Striving for the peak of Zion, / Watching for our Lord’s appearing.
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Amen. Praise the Lord!