God Considers His People in a Positive Way: they are Heavenly People living on Earth

In His view, God always considers His people in a positive way; He sees them chosen, redeemed, saved, enjoying Christ, being built up with the Triune God, formed into an army, and prepared by God to possess Christ as the good land. Hallelujah!

Throughout the years and centuries, God’s people have been going on with the Lord, but there have been some who did not see this but rather would criticize and condemn their fellow believers.

To God His people are like the pupil of His eyes, and whoever says something evil about them places himself under a curse; however, so many think they are free to say what they think and what they feel concerning others in God’s people and this brings in spiritual death.

There’s nothing dearer to God than His people; they are His peculiar treasure, His special possession; the only one who accuses the saints, the people of God, is Satan, and all those who condemn or criticize the people of God cooperate with Satan and stand on his side. Oh Lord Jesus!

May we have a proper view of the children of God, and may this view change us and affect our entire being.

May we have a glorious, inward seeing of the spiritual scenery, and may we see the people of God the same way that God sees them.

This vision will govern us and restrict us; it will direct us and preserve us; it will revolutionise us and keep us in the genuine oneness.

The way for us to be kept in the church life in a proper way, the way for us to go on with the Lord without any hindrance, is by having the heavenly vision concerning God and His people, and by allowing this view to govern us.

When we take out our divine telescope and look at God’s people, we see God-men! We see sheaves full of life to produce food for the meal offering to satisfy God and man, and we see them as heavenly bodies full of light.

When we exercise our spirit as we look at God’s people, we will not be quick to criticize or condemn but rather, we will find what God finds, we will see what God sees, and we will appreciate the saints as God does.

May we be brought into the vision of the All-sufficient One and have a divine view of God’s people! May we not behold iniquity in the saints but rather see Christ in them, see them in Christ, and have the divine view of God’s people so that we may be under God’s blessing.

Realising that God’s People is a Heavenly People full of Life and Light who live on Earth

When Joseph saw the evil things that his brothers did, he brought his father an evil report concerning them, and he may have not been wrong about them, for their heart was full of hatred toward him, and they were not nice people.

So God gave him two dreams – not just one, but two, to strengthen the message He wanted to communicate to him. These dreams clearly showed Joseph that he and them were sheaves full of life and heavenly bodies full of light.

In God’s eyes both Joseph and his brothers were the same – they were God’s people, and as such they were full of life and light.

It was God’s mercy that He chose Joseph to do a certain work for Him, but in His eyes both him and his brothers were part of God’s people, and as such they were full of life and light.

As believers in Christ we are people full of life and light; on one hand we have the divine life and are full of life, and on the other, we are heavenly bodies full of the divine light.

As God’s people, we are positioned in heaven as the sun, the moon, and the stars; at the same time, we live on earth as sheaves full of life. On one hand we are heavenly people, and on the other hand we are living on earth; we are heavenly people living on earth.

We need to be encouraged and strengthened by knowing this. We need to have faith in the Lord and in one another, expecting to see one another in the New Jerusalem.

Our view of God’s people should be an eternal view – not the view from the earth, not a view according to our limited sight, but the eternal view.

According to the divine view, God always considers His people in a positive way, for He sees them not merely as sinners saved by grace but as transformed and glorified people, parts of the New Jerusalem.

May we exercise our spirit and use the divine telescope when we look at the saints, not being shortsighted by seeing only their situation or condition right now but seeing through time and into eternity, even into the New Jerusalem!

May we be filled with faith in the Lord and be inwardly encouraged and strengthened concerning God’s people, for what He has begun in us all, He will also finish!

In the New Jerusalem there will be no more problems, iniquities, weaknesses, shortcomings, or anything bad but only life and light, people filled with God’s life and shining out His light!

May we grow in life unto maturity, for the more mature in life we are, the less we will speak negatively concerning the saints or the church.

The more we grow in life unto maturity, the more we will live in the heavenly dream, not daring to say anything negative concerning the church or the saints, but praising the Lord for His saints! We will happily say,

Praise You Lord for the church, for Your people! In Your eyes all Your people are heavenly people who live on earth a life full of life and light! Hallelujah, the saints are full of the divine life to be for God’s satisfaction and man’s satisfaction, and they are full of the divine light, reflecting God as the light! Amen, Lord, we have faith in You and we believe that You will take us all the way into the New Jerusalem. We are Your people, and You are working in us and with us to bring us all the way to glory! Praise the Lord!

God Always Considers His People in a Positive Way; may we also have the Same View

In Num. 33 we see the record of the forty-two stations of the journey of the people of Israel from the land of slavery to the land of rest; in this record, there is no mention of the failures of the people.

So if we were to read only the record in Num. 33, we would think that in their journey the children of Israel were altogether aggressive, positive, and successful. This record shows them going from station to station until they reach their goal – the land of rest.

After reading Numbers 1 through 32, we may have the opinion that there was nothing good with the children of Israel; again and again there were problems, rebellions, murmurings, and issues from the side of the children of Israel, and there was discipline from the Lord’s side.

However, Numbers 33 shows that in the eyes of God the record regarding them is positive.

Surprisingly, even though outwardly there may be so many problems, iniquities, murmurings, and rebellions, in God’s view, He always considers His people in a positive way. Hallelujah!

We also need to view the church in a heavenly way and realize that all the local churches are part of the coming New Jerusalem (see Rev. 1:10-12, 20; 21:2, 9-11).

God always considers His people in a positive way; He looks at His people not from the angle of bad but from the angle of good. In the same way, we need to be mindful of this whenever we are tempted to criticize a particular local church or some saints in the church.

Whether the church is wonderful or pitiful doesn’t depend on what the church is but rather, it depends on what we are and what kind of view we have.

If we have a negative attitude, and if we view the church from a negative angle, we will not see anything good in the church; but if we have a positive attitude and view the church from a positive angle, we will say that the church is marvelous.

We should not look at the church and assess it with our own viewpoint and feeling; rather, we need to have the heavenly vision, the heavenly dream, and realize that God always considers His people in a positive way; then, we should also have the same view.

When we see things or situations in the church, we should not be defeated or disappointed, neither should we lose heart; rather, we should view the churches in a heavenly way and realize that all the local churches are part of the coming New Jerusalem.

We may see problems today, but God views the church as having no problem, for in His eyes the church is wonderful, lovely, perfect, holy, and built up; He sees the church as being consummated as the New Jerusalem.

In our deeper study of the book of Numbers we need to learn that the way we look at God’s people is a serious matter; we may have all the reasons to see the faults and problems in and among the people of God, and we may be quite right humanly speaking when we say that they are not very good.

But the way God sees His people is as the chosen ones, the redeemed ones, the ones saved from the bondage of the fall, those who are enjoying and experiencing Christ, those being built up in God’s army to fight for God’s interest, and those prepared by God to possess the good land. Hallelujah!

God always considers His people in a positive way, for He sees us as being those prepared by God to possess the all-inclusive Christ as the good land! Amen, may we also see God’s people in this way!

This will save us from being discouraged or losing heart concerning the church life.

Thank You Lord for always regarding us, Your people, in a positive way. May we also view the church in a heavenly way and realize that all the local churches are part of the coming New Jerusalem! Hallelujah for the church and praise the Lord for all the saints! Grant us to have an eternal view of the church and of all of God’s people. May we see the saints the same way that God sees them – chosen, redeemed, saved from the bondage of the fall, enjoying Christ, being built up with the Triune God, being formed into an army to fight for God, and being prepared by God to possess the all-inclusive Christ as the good land!

Read this article in the Romanian language / citiți acest articol și în limba română la următorul link, Dumnezeu îi consideră pe poporul Săi într-un mod pozitiv: ei sunt oameni cerești care trăiesc pe Pământ.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Numbers, msg. 31 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Numbers (2), week 11, The Vision of the All-Sufficient One – the Divine View of God’s People.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Oh, the church of Christ is glorious, and we are part of it— / We’re so happy that the Lord has made us one! / There’s a Body in the universe and we belong to it— / Hallelujah, for the Lord has made us one! (Hymns #1226)
  # Her local gatherings model / The New Jerusalem; / Its aspects and its details / Must show in all of them. / Christ is the Lamp that shineth, / With God within, the Light; / They are the lampstands bearing / His glorious Image bright. (Hymns #824)
  # In each member we can see / Our God in humanity; / As each functions in life, / Christ is then manifest / Through His Body practic’ly. (Song on, In the church life we can see)