The Faithful God is Working Himself into us to make us Faithful to God in our Stewardship

The history of the people of Israel is a type of the New Testament believers and the church, and just as those who returned from the captivity in Babylon were faithful to God, so we as believers are becoming faithful, and trustworthy, by having God wrought into us as our faithfulness in the stewardship appointed to us by God.

In our crystallization study of the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles this week we come to the second main crystal with the title, Crucial Aspects of Living in the Good Land after Returning from Captivity in Babylon.

We need to know two basic matters related to the books of first and second Chronicles in order to have a proper frame of mind when we come to these books.

First, these books were written after a number of people from the tribe of Judah had returned to the good land from Babylon.

Therefore, these books are not like First and Second Kings, looking forward to the future and certain aspects of the past, along with other principles.

Rather, the people returned to the good land, which signifies the all-inclusive Christ.

This signifies our history as believers in Christ who have been shown mercy by the Lord to come into the church life in the Lord’s recovery.

We have left any division, denomination, sect, and aspect of Babylon and have returned, by the Lord’s mercy and through His grace, to the genuine ground of oneness.

Now that we have been brought back from division to the ground of oneness, how do we live?

We may have left organised and fallen Christianity many years ago, but we still need to be educated and reminded of what kind of life and living we should have in the proper church life to enjoy all the riches of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land.

Most probably the author of 1 and 2 Corinthians was Ezra; if you look at the very end of 2 Chronicles, the last two verses and then the first four verses of Ezra, they are almost identical.

So we have Ezra, who returned on a second or third wave from the captivity, writing these books to those who have returned to the good land from captivity in Babylon.

We need to see what are the crucial aspects of living in the good land after returning from captivity in Babylon.

We need to open to the Lord in our prayerful consideration of 1 and 2 Chronicles and ask Him to shine on us and show us how to live in the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land.

We need His shining. We need His leading.

And we need to see the principles and aspects of living in the good land, now that we have been delivered from any kind of division, confusion, and mixture.

The History of Israel Typifies the New Testament Believers and the Church – We who returned from Captivity need to be Faithful to God

1 Cor. 10:6 and 11 show us that the history of the people of Israel in the Old Testament is a type; it typifies the New Testament believers and therefore the church.

God is the best writer; if there were any writers that are good, God is the best writer.

He used the thirty-nine books in the Old Testament to paint a picture with many types, figures, and shadows, and then He wrote the twenty-seven books in the New Testament to bring in the reality of these types.

What is seen in type, figure, and picture in the Old Testament is seen in reality and fulfilment in the New Testament.

For example, Adam was a type of Him who was to come, Christ (Rom. 5:14).

The prophets prophesied concerning the coming of Christ, and when Christ came, He fulfilled the prophecies that referred to His first coming.

The greatest type in the Old Testament is the history of the people of Israel, who typify the people of God on earth today.

Israel is a type of the church, and the history of Israel is a type of the spiritual history of the church.

What we see in 1 and 2 Chronicles is not just history or historical events but a type of the experience that the church goes through in order to fulfil God’s eternal economy.

We need to be clear concerning this. We need to see a vision of the Lord is speaking in many words, types, figures, and shadows in the Old Testament concerning the church.

The history of Israel in the Old Testament is a big type signifying the things to come related to the church.

Judah was taken away captive to Babylon because of unfaithfulness; thus, those who returned from captivity were to be faithful to God (1 Chron. 9:1; 1 Cor. 4:1-2; 7:25; 2 Tim. 2:13; Rev. 17:14).

Why was Judah taken into captivity? It is not merely because they were defeated by a vastly superior army or because they committed sins; it was because they were unfaithful to God.

They left God, the fountain of living waters, and they went after many other things, many idols, to hew for themselves cisterns to hold water, but these cisterns were broken (Jer. 2:13).

Therefore, when they returned from their captivity, they were to be faithful to God. This is a type of the church.

The church was taken into captivity by the enemy, and so many of the dear believers in Christ are in captivity in Babylon, in confusion, mixture, and worldliness.

But praise the Lord, some have been shown mercy by the Lord to return from captivity and come to the genuine ground of oneness.

One of the first things we need to do is to be faithful to God. We want nothing else but God.

We don’t want a religion, a form, or some doctrines – we only want God in Christ as our everything.

We leave any other name or denomination and cling to Christ, for we only want Him. Christ is the Head of the Body and He is also our life.

He is our center and our everything. And He as the faithful One lives in us to make us faithful to God.

In ourselves we’re faithless, but because He is in us, we can be faithful to God.

May we look to the Lord for His mercy and grace to be faithful to God from now until the end of our journey with Him.

Thank You, dear Lord Jesus, for bringing us out of any captivity and back to the genuine ground of oneness to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ with the saints for the building up of the church. Hallelujah, we have been delivered from division and mixture and we have been brought back to Christ as our everything! Amen! Lord, we want to be faithful to God to the end. We want nothing else but God. We forsake any other name that rises above the name of Jesus. We hold to the word of God and take Christ as our Head. We do not want to overemphasize any doctrine, practice, or thing above Christ. Christ is everything to us. Amen, Lord, grant us Your mercy and grace that we will be faithful to God from now until the end of our journey!

The Faithful God is Working Himself into us to make us Faithful to God in our Stewardship

How can we be faithful? If what is required of us is to be faithful to God, we cannot be faithful.

We are faithless, but He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim. 2:13).

God is faithful, through whom we were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 1:9).

Many Christians think that God is faithful to provide them with material prosperity, happiness, a good family life, and many things outwardly.

God does care for our welfare and He is faithful to care for us, but He is faithfulness is not according to our natural understanding.

He allows us to have troubles and trials, but He still is faithful.

In allowing us to have troubles, God is faithful in His purpose to turn us from idols and bring us back to Himself.

He is faithful to bring us back to Himself and keep us in the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as our portion.

We may say that we don’t have idols, but even such things as our peace, safety, health, and possessions may become idols to us.

So God is faithful to take these things away or touch them with the result that we drink of Him as the fountain of living waters.

Our house, our car, our possessions, or our health and peace may become idols to us, replacing God as the source of living water.

We may drink of them and be satisfied instead of drinking of God and being satisfied only with Him.

Praise the Lord, God is faithful to deal with all the idols in our life and to cause us to drink of Him!

God is faithful. He is faithful in leading us into His economy so that we may drink Christ, eat Christ, enjoy Christ, absorb Christ, and assimilate Christ so that He may obtain the church as the Body of Christ.

God is faithful to lead us and keep us in the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ so that He becomes our constituent and our living for the building up of the church as His increase for the fulfilment of His economy.

This is what He desires. However, Israel left God as the fountain of living waters and went after idols, seeking to drink a different water than the one God provided.

So God used the Babylonians to deal with these idols and even to destroy Jerusalem and the temple, which had become an idol to them.

This is a type of what is happening in our Christian life.

We should not think we’re better than Israel but rather, we should realize that God is faithful to deal with and remove our idols so that we would return to Him and drink of Him.

In His faithfulness, God deals with our idols so that we come back to Him, enjoy Him, and partake of Him.

As we eat and drink Christ as our life and life supply, we digest and assimilate Him so that He may increase for the fulfilment of God’s economy for Him to have His expression through His counterpart.

God is faithful; we are faithless, we are not faithful to Him, but He is faithful.

God is faithful in fulfilling His economy and in leading us into His economy (Lam. 3:23).

As the faithful God, He cannot deny Himself, because He cannot go against His own being.

Such a One lives in us. He is the faithful One in us and He makes us faithful to God.

When He, with His attribute of faithfulness, is wrought into us, He becomes us, and we become Him in His attribute of faithfulness (1 Cor. 7:25; 2 Tim. 2:13).

As we drink of Him in His faithfulness, He works His faithfulness into us and makes us faithful to God.

Just as God cannot deny His own being, so we, having been constituted with Him, cannot deny our own being.

Christ makes His home in our hearts and we become the same as He is for His corporate expression to the extent that we are faithful to God.

In this way, we can and will become faithful as stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Cor. 4:1-2). Amen!

Because we’re constituted with the faithful God, we must be faithful to Him.

As we are constituted with God in His faithfulness, our very being does not allow us to be unfaithful or faithless. Wow!

We will become the same as God is in His faithfulness. He became man to make us the same as He is in His faithfulness; this is how we can become faithful to God.

For us to be faithful means that we fulfil the stewardship that the Lord has apportioned to us (1 Cor. 4:1-2; 7:25; 1 Tim. 1:12).

We have a stewardship, a dispensing ministry; in this dispensing ministry, it is most important that we are found faithful.

Christ in us is the faithful One, and He is making us faithful to Himself.

When the Lord comes for the battle at Armageddon, He will be the Lord of lords and the King of kings, and the overcomers who are with Him will be “the called and chosen and faithful” (see Rev. 17:14; 19:11-12). Hallelujah!

What we are becoming is not gifted ones, brilliant ones, energetic ones, etc but the called and chosen and faithful!

Thank You, Lord, for Your faithfulness. Hallelujah, God is faithful to lead us in His economy to drink Christ, eat Christ, and enjoy Christ. God is faithful to cause us to absorb Christ and assimilate Christ so that God may have His increase with us to fulfil His economy. Amen, Lord, bring us back to Yourself. Infuse us with Yourself. Work Yourself with Your faithfulness into us to make us faithful to God. Constitute us with Yourself as our faithfulness so that we become the same as You are in Your faithfulness. We want to be faithful stewards of God who dispense God into others. Grant us to be faithful stewards of the mysteries of God, dispensing God in Christ into others for their enjoyment. Oh Lord, we want to be those who are called and chosen and faithful, those who return with You to defeat the enemy!

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 brother Ron Kangas in the message, and portions from, Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 28-29 (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 2, entitled, Crucial Aspects of Living in the Good Land after Returning from Captivity in Babylon.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – How faithful and trustworthy too, / My Father God, art Thou; / The universe and all therein / Thy faithfulness avow….If, due to self, I trust Thee not, / Yet Thou art faithful still; / Thou never canst deny Thyself, / Thy word Thou shalt fulfill. / As Thou art faithful to perform / Thy promise and Thy call; / So, feeding on Thy faithfulness, / I take Thyself withal. (Hymns #18 stanzas 1, 6, 7)
  – Feed on His faithfulness, my soul; / So shalt thou see His face, / Transforming thee till all shall see / The glory of His grace; / Closer to His great heart / In glad abandon press; / Fling thy soul down upon His own— / Feed on His faithfulness. (Hymns #655 stanza 4)
  – Conquering now and still to conquer, / Jesus, Thou Ruler of all, / Thrones and their scepters all shall perish, / Crowns and their splendor shall fall, / Yet shall the armies Thou leadest / Faithful and true to the last, / Find in Thy kingdom eternal / Rest, when their warfare is past. (Hymns #878 stanza 3)