God builds up Christ into our being to Reconstitute us Metabolically for the Body

God doesn’t need us, His people, to do something or build something for Him; rather, we need God to build up Christ into our intrinsic constitution so that our entire being will be reconstituted with Christ through a metabolic process for the building up of the Body of Christ. Amen!

This week we come to the topic of, God Building Himself in Christ into our Being.

This matter is very high, and even though we may not have the complete and deepest experience of it yet, we need to open to the Lord about it, let Him build Himself into us, and speak the truth until our experience matches it.

Blessed are our eyes to see these things and our ears to hear these things, and blessed are we to put these things in our hearts and live them out.

Many prophets and righteous men have desired to perceive the things that we see but have not perceived them, and they wanted to hear the things that we hear, but have not heard them.

At the end of this age, when the Lord’s speaking is abundant and our experience is uplifted according to the high-peak truth we see and enjoy, we need to realize that we are blessed people.

Many prophets and loving seekers of the Lord wanted to know these deeper things related to God’s economy and His eternal purpose, and they knew there was something hidden in God’s heart, but they did not see these things.

We now can know what is the meaning of our life, who is God, why is there evil in the world, and what are we, in relation to what God has revealed in His word.

It took many years, hundreds of years, for the Lord to recover the deeper truths in His word.

It took at least five hundred years of the recovery of the word and the truth in order for us to see today that God’s desire, His eternal purpose, and His economy, is not for us to do many things for God or for Him to do many things for us, but that God wants to build Himself in Christ into our being to obtain a mutual dwelling place of God and man, a corporate entity called the Body of Christ, the new man, the bride of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem.

When we see this, when we see this high peak truth of the divine revelation, we will never live our life in the same way as before or as others do.

We will not just speak these high truths but even more, we will pray and be before the Lord for Him to work out His eternal economy in us.

We may be like David, having a desire to do something for God, but what God wants to do is to work Himself into us a little more day by day so that He would become our intrinsic, organic constitution for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

We need God to build up Christ into our Intrinsic Constitution so that our Being will be Reconstituted with Christ for the Body of Christ

2 Samuel 7:12-14 is quite an amazing portion in the word of God; it is the Lord’s mysterious and amazing response to David, a loving seeker of God, who wanted to build a house for God.

This portion is the unveiling of a prophecy through typology, showing us that we don’t need to build a house for God first but rather, God has to build Himself into us first.

We need God to build up Christ into our intrinsic constitution so that our entire being will be reconstituted with Christ (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 3:17).

David wanted to build God’s house, he prepared the materials, he had the plan, and he had everything ready, so he laid this matter before God.

God’s response, however, was quite interesting; instead of being happy and blessing David for such a desire, God wanted David to realize that he needed God to build Christ into him. Wow.

God told David that it was not him who would build Him a house but his seed, who would be called the Son of God, would do this.

This shows us the principle that there’s no need for us to build something for God; we are simply not able to do it.

We can’t build something for God with ourselves, our good desire and zeal, or with our knowledge of the Bible and theology.

Rather, what we need is for God to build up Christ into our intrinsic constitution so that our inner being, all the inner parts of our inner being, will be reconstituted with Christ.

Before we can do anything for God, we need Him to work Himself into us.

No natural person is acceptable to God, and no natural effort is pleasing to Him or welcomed by Him.

We need God to build up Christ into our intrinsic constitution; we need Him to build Himself into us, into our very being, for only a God-reconstituted person can build up the church as the Body of Christ.

As the Lord is working Himself into us, as we are inwardly reconstituted with the Lord in our fellowship and intimate touch with Him, we are not only changed – we are transformed from one kind of person into another.

We become different people, for we are transformed by the renewing of the mind, the subduing of our will, and the adjusting of our emotions, as God builds up Christ into our intrinsic constitution (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 3:18).

May the Lord have mercy on us and on so many believers in Christ to cause us to realize that our natural efforts to please God or our zeal to build the church do not qualify us to build up the church.

What qualifies us is our allowing God to build up Christ into our intrinsic constitution so that Christ may be formed in us, live in us, be expressed through us, be magnified through us, and build up the church in us, with us, and through us.

In ourselves, in our natural realm with our natural zeal, we have nothing, we can do nothing, and we are nothing; who do we think we are to build up a house for God?

We need something of God wrought into our being, deposited into our intrinsic constitution, before we can build up the church as the Body of Christ.

God’s economy is to work Himself into us in Christ as His embodiment so that He may obtain and build up the church as the Body of Christ.

For this, He went through incarnation to become a man, and He was crucified and resurrected to become a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).

Now He as the Spirit comes into our spirit to regenerate us, and the more we fellowship with the Lord and open to Him, He is working Himself into every part of our being.

We need to let God work Christ as the Spirit into our mind, emotion, and will with all our inward parts.

If we let God build up Christ into our intrinsic constitution, our entire inner being will be reconstituted with Christ.

The more we do this, the more God does this in us, the more we are able to say like Paul, To me, to live is Christ (Phil. 1:21), and we can declare, I am crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me (Gal. 2:20).

Lord Jesus, we open to You. We stop our being, our doing, our efforts, our struggle, and our desire to do this or that for You. We come to You as we are; build Yourself into our being. May God build up Christ into our intrinsic constitution so that our entire being will be reconstituted with Christ. Amen, Lord, work Yourself into us a little more today. We open all our inward parts to You: build Yourself into us. We don’t want to do a work for You or try to “help You” in the building work; we want to first have God in Christ as the Spirit wrought into our being. Make Your home in all our heart. Spread from our spirit into our mind, emotion, and will. Amen, Lord, we need God to build up Christ into our intrinsic constitution so that our entire being will be reconstituted with Christ for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

Build up the Church as the Body of Christ by the Process of Spiritual Metabolism as we Eat and Drink Christ to be Transformed

Jehovah’s answer to David in 2 Sam. 7:12-14a is a principle we see throughout the Bible, both in the Old and in the New Testament, and it relates both to our personal and our corporate experience of Christ.

Personally, we need to have God build up Christ into our intrinsic constitution so that our inner being will be reconstituted with Christ.

Corporately, the organic building up of the church as the Body of Christ through the process of spiritual metabolism is prophesied in this portion refers to the process of transformation.

Only through the process of transformation can human beings be transformed into sons of God, and only in this way can something human – the human seed – become something divine – the sons of God. Hallelujah!

It is through the process of God’s organic salvation that God can work Christ into us for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

We are transformed not merely to be better brothers or sisters but for the Lord to make us part of His building, the church as the Body of Christ.

In order for God’s building to take place, we need to receive, digest, and assimilate Christ (John 6:51, 57; 7:37-39; 20:22).

Today Christ is the life-giving Spirit to be our spiritual food, drink, and breath.

The unique material for God’s building is Christ Himself, for apart from Christ nothing and no one can be part of the Body of Christ.

We need to have God build Christ into our intrinsic constitution, and this takes place by our eating, drinking, and breathing Christ.

When we enjoy the “now” Christ by eating, drinking, and breathing Him, a metabolic process takes place within us, and Christ is constituted into our being (Gal. 2:20; 2 Cor. 2;15; Phil. 1:20-21).

This is a metabolic process – it is a spiritual metabolism.

Just as physically we take in food and it is being digested and assimilated into our body to become the new element constituting our being, while the old elements are being discharged, so spiritually we need to eat, drink, and breathe in Christ.

Something happens in us metabolically when we call on the name of the Lord, read and pray His word, fellowship with the Lord, and pray.

There’s a complex spiritual metabolic process that takes place in us when we eat, drink, and breathe in the Lord.

He adds the new elements of Himself to us and removes the old elements, the old I, the natural man, the flesh, and the self.

God wants to reconstitute us on a cellular level; He wants to replace our old constitution with Himself, at the finest and most thorough level, so that every part of us would have a new constitution – Christ Himself.

God’s economy is to work Himself into us so that we may experience a metabolic process of spiritual digestion and assimilation that produces a gradual and intrinsic change in life (2 Cor. 3:18).

We should not neglect our personal, private, intimate time with the Lord day by day.

In these private moments with the Lord in the inner chamber, in the sweet and personal times with the Lord in the Holiest of all when we’re alone with the Lord, He speaks to us, He shines on us, and He deals with us.

As we agree with His light, He removes the spots and wrinkles, He removes the old elements, and He adds His new element into our being.

This is a process of spiritual digestion and assimilation, for there are inward dealings with the Lord as we allow Him to reconstitute us inwardly with Himself.

This gradually produces an intrinsic change in life which results in transformation, sanctification, and renewal.

May we remain in this metabolic process of being transformed into His image.

This process leads to the building up of the church.

This metabolic process is transformation, and transformation is the building (Rev. 21:18; 4:3).

We are being transformed into precious stones for the building up of God’s dwelling place to become the New Jerusalem.

God is not after perfecting us outwardly to conform us to a certain set of rules or principles; He is after the intrinsic reconstitution of our being so that we may be metabolically transformed to be part of His building.

When there is a transformation taking place in us, we are renewed in our mind; this is the building up of the church.

May we let God build up Christ into our intrinsic constitution as we enjoy Christ, eat Christ, drink Christ, and breathe in Christ so that we may intrinsically be part of the building of God in the universe, the church as the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem.

This is what is prophesied in 2 Sam. 7:12-14, and this is what we experience today.

We believers in Christ are a very particular and peculiar people; we are a precious treasure in the eyes of God, for we are men who are becoming God in life and nature but not in the Godhead, and we’re being built up organically to be the Body of Christ for His corporate expression on the earth.

Lord Jesus, we want to eat Christ, drink Christ, and breathe in Christ day by day so that we may be transformed into His image. Amen, Lord, thank You for coming into us as the life-giving Spirit to be enjoyed, received, contacted, and experienced by us. We open to You today. Work Yourself into our being a little more today. May we remain in the process of spiritual metabolism by which our old element is removed and the divine element is added to our being. Amen, Lord, keep us in the metabolic process of having Christ constituted into our being and built up in us! We want to be transformed for Your building so that You may gain Your corporate expression, the church as the Body of Christ. Hallelujah, something human can become divine through the process of transformation! Praise the Lord, we believers in Christ are a precious treasure in the eyes of God, for He is making us the same as Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ, God’s corporate expression!

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 Minoru Chen in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1&2 Samuel, msgs. 24-27 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth of the Lord’s Recovery Before His Appearing (2023 July Semiannual Training), week 3, entitled, God Building Himself in Christ into Our Being.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Transformation being a metabolic process, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Samuel, Chapter 26, by Witness Lee.
  – The Spirit in the formation, constitution, and building up of the Body of Christ, article by David Yoon in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Our need for God to build up Christ into our intrinsic constitution so that we may be reconstituted, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Samuel, Chapter 24, by Witness Lee.
  – The Unique Goal of the Central Work of God, outline via, Church in Miami.
  – Brother Witness Lee’s Intrinsic Burden for Conducting the Semiannual Trainings, article via, Having this Ministry newsletter.
  – Living and Working according to the Vision of the Age to Change the Age, outline via, Church in London (UK).
• Hymns on this topic:
  – God’s intention is to have us / All conformed to His dear Son; / Thus a work of transformation / By the Spirit must be done. / Lord, transform us to Thine image / In emotion, mind, and will; / Saturate us with Thy Spirit, / All our being wholly fill. (Hymns #750 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – We have found that Christ the Spirit is / Who within our spirit dwells; / How available, how near He is, / And His sweetness all excels. / We have found the way to live by Christ— / Pray His Word and call His name! / This—the eating, drinking—has sufficed / And its worth we now proclaim. (Hymns #1153 stanzas 2-3)
  – All our spirit, soul and body / Unto Christ conformed must be; / This will be accomplished fully / When our glorious Lord we see. / By our body’s full redemption / Shall adoption be complete; / By the final transformation / All God’s purpose we shall meet. / By that final transformation, / We’ll be fully sanctified; / God will bring us into glory, / With His Son identified. / All creation is expecting / Sons of God revealed to be, / That they might be freed from bondage / Into glorious liberty. (Hymns #741 stanzas 3-4)