Being a Divine Nation expressing the Divine Character and Bringing others into God’s Light

As a result of being reconstituted by the word of God, we become a divine nation expressing the divine character, a holy priesthood to express God; we need to be such ones and we need to teach others in the way of bringing them out of the satanic darkness into the divine light.

Amen, Lord Jesus, make us such ones!

As believers in Christ, we need to be reconstituted with the word of God so that the element of God may be wrought into our very constitution and make us the people of God intrinsically, in the very fibre of our being.

We see this need in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, where the people of God returned to Jerusalem to rebuild God’s house and His city, but in their constitution, they were still Babylonian.

Ezra was very useful for the reconstituting of God’s people, for he bore the totality of the heavenly and divine constitution and culture.

He was a person filled with God, contacting God all the time, to be a priest; also, he was skilled in the word of God, knowing not only the letter of the law but its spirit, so that he would apply it to the people’s situation.

On one hand, the people of Israel were to build the temple of God and the city of God with its wall.

On the other hand, there needs to be an intrinsic work going on in their being; they have to be reconstituted to the extent that any element that is not of God is eliminated, and only God remains as the unique constituent of their being.

We need to aspire to be the priestly scribes, the priestly teachers, those who like Ezra contact God and are filled with God, and are skilful in the heavenly truths of God’s eternal economy.

In the church life today we need to be in the process of being reconstituted with the divine truths so that in our very being we are the people of God, not only in an outward way when we meet others.

We don’t need to speak something new or invent things to make them more interesting or palatable for people to receive them.

We don’t need to sugar-coat the truths in God’s word, nor do we need to use secular means and ways to bring the word of God to others.

Rather, we need to be the right kind of people, those who are priests to God infused with God and one with God, and we need to be saturated with the word of God so that we may speak the word of God to others in the way of life to reconstitute them with the divine truths.

This doesn’t mean that we need to learn to speak messages or sermons from a platform in front of hundreds of people; rather, in our homes, in our home meetings, in our group meetings, and in our vital group meetings, we need to exercise to enjoy Christ and speak the word of God to one another for our mutual shepherding and perfecting.

May the Lord gain such a church life among us today where all the saints are in the process of being reconstituted with the heavenly truths to be a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired for a possession!

The result of being Reconstituted is that we become a Divine Nation expressing the Divine Character

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah record the way that Ezra and Nehemiah worked together to reconstitute the people of Israel with the word of God.

The people were gathered and the book of the law was read out loud, and it was interpreted by those who were qualified to.

And day by day there was a speaking of the law, an application of the word of God to the people’s lives, so that they were reconstituted to be a holy nation sanctified and separated unto God.

Nehemiah with the help of Ezra reconstituted the whole nation with the word of God, and they became a particular nation, a nation that was sanctified and separated unto God, expressing God.

Through the speaking of the word of God and the proper interpretation and application of the word, the people of Israel were transfused with the thought of God and with His considerations.

They knew what God is, who He is, and what He desires, and in type, they became God’s reproduction on earth.

They became a people who express God. This is what God desires to gain.

He has called and chosen us, the believers in Christ, and He made us a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired for a possession, so that we may tell out the virtues of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light (1 Pet. 2:9).

We are called for this and we are being reconstituted to be a divine nation sanctified unto God and expressing God.

As we spend time with the Lord in His word, opening to Him and allowing Him to shine on us and in us, we are transfused with God’s thoughts and His considerations.

As we remain under the hearing of faith both personally and corporately, we are infused with all that God is so that we may become God’s reproduction on the earth.

By this kind of divine constitution, we can become God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead; we are inwardly reconstituted with the element of God, and our daily living will express the One wrought into our being.

As we are being reconstituted personally and corporately, we become God’s testimony on the earth.

We become a divine nation expressing the divine character.

The way we become a divine nation expressing the divine character in constitution and in reality is not by self-perfecting or self-adjusting; it is by being reconstituted with the word of God so that the element of God is wrought into our being.

May we all in the church life today give ourselves to the reading of the Bible every day so that the divine character may be wrought into us and expressed through us.

This is not a small thing.

How amazing it is that today in the church life God can get the expression He desires by reconstituting our being to make us a divine nation expressing the divine character.

How wonderful it is that we can be constituted with the heavenly truths and live out the heavenly constitution to express God corporately!

May we be those who help others read the word of God and remain in the teaching of the apostles so that any element of the mixture and confusion would be eliminated and we would become a pure, sanctified, divine nation expressing the divine character.

And may we not look at our present situation and condition as to introspect and see where we are in relation to expressing God and being His duplication.

May we trust the process of God working Himself into us to make us the same as He is as we are spending time with Him in His word and in the meetings of the church to be reconstituted with His being.

And may we even tell the Lord to do this in us; He wants to do it, and He loves to hear us saying this to Him.

Especially as we read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, may we open to the Lord and respond to Him in prayer,

Lord Jesus, reconstitute us in our inner being with Your element. Transfuse us with the thought of God as we spend time with God in His word. Amen, Lord, may God’s considerations become our considerations. May the element, life, and nature of God be infused into our being as we remain under the hearing of the faith. Reconstitute our being with Your element. May there be a process of being personally and collectively reconstituted so that together we may become God’s testimony. Amen, Lord, may there be a divine constitution going on in our being so that we may become God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead to express God! Make us a divine nation expressing the divine character on the earth. May there be a telling out of the virtues of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light day by day!

Learning from the Lord Jesus to Teach people to bring them Out of the Satanic Darkness into the Divine Light

On one hand, we need to be reconstituted with the word of God to become a divine nation expressing the divine character.

On the other hand, we need to be the Ezras of today, the priestly teachers who contact God and are saturated with God and who are skilful in the word of God to teach the truth in the church life.

We should not think that we’re not qualified to teach the truth; we simply need to remain in the reconstituting work of the Lord and cooperate day by day, and there will be something for us to speak as truth to others for their reconstitution.

The Lord Jesus preached the gospel and taught the truth, and He is our Teacher; we need to learn from Him.

The Lord Jesus taught the people in order to bring them out of the satanic darkness into the divine light, and we are called to do the same (Mark 6:6; Acts 26:18).

One of the services in His ministry was to preach the gospel and to teach the truth. he went around the villages in a circuit, teaching people.

In Mark 1 He went into the synagogue in Capernaum; a synagogue is a meeting place where the Jews read and learn the Holy Scriptures (Luke 4:16-17; Acts 13:14-15).

The Lord taught the truth with authority, not like the scribes and Pharisees who did not speak with authority, for they were self-appointed and self-seeking in their speaking.

The people marvelled at the words that came out of His mouth, for He taught with authority.

Furthermore, through His teaching He was a light shining over people to enlighten them. he released to them the Word of light to bring them out of the satanic darkness into the divine light.

And Paul was commissioned to do the same: to open the Gentiles’ eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God.

We should not merely teach doctrines or impart Biblical knowledge to others; our speaking and teaching should be to bring others out of the satanic darkness into the divine light.

Man’s fall into sin broke his fellowship with God, and all men are ignorant of the knowledge of God; such ignorance issues in darkness and death (Eph. 4:17-18).

Man today is fallen, in a deplorable situation and condition; fallen man is cut off from God, separated from God.

Fallen man is so ignorant concerning God that he even says that there is no God. Fallen man is ignorant because sin separated him from God.

Men today walk in the vanity of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, and alienated from the life of God.

God wants to impart His life into all men, but fallen men are cut off, alienated from the life of God, not being able to receive God as life because of the ignorance that is in them and the hardness of their heart.

Therefore, we need to be those reconstituted with the element of God to be a divine nation expressing the divine character so that we may tell out the virtues of Him who called us.

Our preaching of the gospel and teaching of the truth should be the shining of the light over those who sit in darkness and death, bringing them out of the satanic darkness and into the marvellous light of God.

There is a need for priestly teachers and preachers to go to the fallen man to teach and preach the gospel to him, telling them the truth and bringing them out of the satanic darkness into the light of God.

The Lord as the light of the world came as a great light to shine on the people who were sitting in the shadow of death (John 8:12; Matt. 4:12-16).

He came proclaiming the word as the divine light. his teaching released the word of light so that those in darkness and death might receive the light of life (John 1:4).

The words that issued from His mouth were enlightening words; when He spoke, the light was shining, and those sitting in darkness saw a great light.

This is what our teaching of the truth should be today: it should be the divine light shining! God’s word shines, it is a word of light, and we can exercise to be in the divine light and shine this light to others as we speak to them.

May we be those who spend time with the Lord in His word to be infused with Him as the light of life, and may we let Him shine through us as we preach the gospel and teach the truth to bring others out of the satanic darkness into the divine light.

Lord Jesus, we want to spend time with You in Your word so that we may walk in the light and be filled with the divine light. Shine in us and shine in our being; expose and eliminate any darkness in our being and fill our whole being with the divine light! Amen, Lord, we want to be those constituted with God to be a divine nation expressing the divine character in our living and speaking. May the words we speak be full of light. May we be those who preach the gospel and teach the truth so that the divine light would shine and release many from the authority of darkness and bring them into God’s light! Amen, Lord, we pray for so many who are ignorant of the knowledge of God. May there be a great light shining over them so that they may be brought into God’s light! We pray for the salvation of many who lie in darkness and death. We want to cooperate with You in this!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Mark, pp. 51-53 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (2022 winter training), week 5, entitled, Ezra, a Priestly Scribe, and the Need for Ezras – Those Skilled in the Word of God.
• Further reading on this topic:
  – Remembering what kind of people we are, a portion from, The Experience and Growth in Life, Chapter 30, by Witness Lee.
  – The continuation of the book of Acts – Living in the divine history within human history, an article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – The way to realize our need of the life of God, a portion from, Basic Lessons on Life, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee.
  – The economy of God: the Triune God in His operation, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Needing to Be Trained in order to Be Educated, Nourished, and Built up in the Truth, article via, LSM newsletters.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – But you are a chosen race, / A royal priesthood, / A holy nation, / A people acquired for a possession, / So that you may tell out the virtues of Him / Who has called you out of darkness / Into His marvelous light. (Scripture song on 1 Pet. 2:9)
  – All Scripture is the very breath of God, / And by His Spirit into words was breathed; / By godly men the words were written down, / With all God’s fulness unto man bequeathed. / It is the breath of God as light to man, / With rays divine man to illuminate; / It shines in darkness and to man reveals / What is his truest need and actual state. (Hymns #799 stanzas 1-2)
  – O make Thy Church, dear Savior, / A lampstand of pure gold, / To bear before the nations / Thy light, that all behold; / O teach Thy wandering pilgrims / By this their path to trace, / Till, clouds and darkness ended, / They see Thee face to face. (Hymns #803 stanza 4)