God, Man, and the Existence of the Universe are for God’s Purpose to have the Church

Everything and everyone in the universe, including God, man, the planets, the air, the water, the animals, and everything else is according to God’s eternal purpose to have the church. The existence of the church is for God’s purpose to have the church.

All things were and were created for God’s will, His purpose, and His will is to have the church.

Everything that God does today is for the obtaining and building up of the church. God planned to have the church composed of many regenerated and transformed human beings who are learning to be coordinated and built up together as a corporate body.

We as believers in Christ are daily in the process of transformation to be conformed to the image of Christ, and we are practicing to be built up together and coordinated as a body in Christ. What God planned in eternity past is to have the church, and He expects to have the church in eternity to come.

Yes, this is the church age and the church is in this age and throughout this age, but the church is also from eternity past and for eternity future. Therefore, our living and being should be for the church, for something eternal, and our work should be with gold, silver, and precious stones, so that we may build up the church and not mar the temple of God with wood, grass, or hay.

We need to see that the church is dear, lovable, and precious to God, because the church is God’s good pleasure, God’s hearts desire. What was, is, and will be in God’s heart is the church, the corporate expression of God in man.

He thinks about it all the time, He did everything to gain the church, and He desires to gain many who have His heart for the church.

If we care for the church as God cares for the church, we are pleasing in His eyes, we are according to His heart, and our life and work will contribute to the fulfillment of the desire of God’s heart to gain the church.

The church is the corporate Body of Christ, a corporate vessel into which He would work Himself. And the local churches are the local expression of the corporate expression of God, providing God a way to work Himself into man with no hindrance for God to gain a corporate expression.

May we be those who are purified in our heart to allow the pure river of water of life to flow throughout our being, so that we may have a simple and pure life of service for the church.

The Existence of the Universe is for God’s Purpose to have the Church, His Corporate Expression

Our God is a God of purpose, having a will of His own pleasure, He created all things for His will that He might accomplish and fulfill His purpose. All things are created because of God’s purpose and will, and they exist for the will of God.

The very existence of the universe is for God’s purpose. What is God’s purpose, God’s desire, His will, and His plan? It is for Him to have the church, His corporate expression in man. The existence of the universe is for the church, and all the things in the universe are created by God for the church.

The church is the good pleasure of God, and for this good pleasure God created all things, including the earth and man, so that He may have the church. The existence of the universe is according to God’s purpose to have the church.

The heaven, the earth, millions of items, and the human race are all according to God’s purposed desire, which is for Him to have the church. Eventually, all these things will issue in God’s desire and, because this desire has been purposed by God, no one and nothing can overthrow it.

Everything that takes place on earth is for this purpose. We, the sons of God, who enjoy the life and grace of God, are the focal point of His purpose, and everything is working for us – all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28).

God has purposed this desire in Himself. He did not take counsel with anyone else regarding it, and He didn’t ask us for our opinion and feeling.

He purposed in Himself to gain the church, and according to His good pleasure He made an economy, an administration (Eph. 1:10).

In His economy God planned that all the kingdoms in this universe – the angelic kingdom, the demonic kingdom, the human kingdom, the animal kingdom, and the plant kingdom – are for God’s economy, His administration, that He would gain the church.

The universe exists for the corporate expression of Christ. The atheist professors and the godless outspoken people today may not agree with our “view of the universe”, but it’s OK – we agree with God and His view, and God says that the universe exists for the church, for the corporate expression of Christ.

The full revelation in the Scripture unveils to us that all things in the universe are for the church. God created the heavens for the earth and the earth for man, so that man with his human spirit would receive God, contain God, be filled with God, be saturated with God, and be built up in God with other believers for God’s corporate expression in humanity.

Lord, open our eyes and enlighten our understanding to realize that the existence of the universe is according to God’s eternal purpose to have the church. Thank You Lord for creating the heavens, the earth, the animals, the plants, and man for this unique purpose that You may gain the church, Your corporate expression. Lord, we are here for this: we are here for Your corporate expression. May our life and work contribute to the fulfillment of Your purpose. May our daily living and our Christian work be for the church.

The Triune God, the Tripartite Man, and All things are for God’s Corporate Expression

The existence of the universe is for God’s purpose to have the church, and even the three persons of the Godhead are for the divine purpose of having the church!

God’s purpose is to have the church to fulfill His plan through the dispensing of God in His Divine Trinity into humanity, so that the church would come into existence and be built up (Eph. 1:3-23; Matt. 28:19; 16:18; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1:1).

God is Triune not for our mental apprehension or theological understanding; He is Triune so that He may dispense Himself into man for the producing and building up of the church.

The three persons of the Godhead do not exist so that we may have a doctrine of the Trinity, but they are for the accomplishment of God’s plan to produce the church. God the Father is the source, God the Son is the expression and flowing out of God the Father, and God the Spirit is the application of God the Father and God the Son.

By means of God being Triune He can dispense Himself into us for the producing and building up of the church. If the Triune God is for the church, should not our life, marriage, family, occupation, and profession all be for the church?

We should not depart from the simplicity of living solely for Christ and the church, but everything in our daily life, decisions, and doing should be for the church life.

May the Lord put in us a desire and aspiration that everything in our life would be for the church; everything and at every level, every decision, our family, our health, and everything should be for the church. This is what it means to participate in the Lord’s recovery of the church.

The heavens, the earth, a multitude of other things, and man – the tripartite man – are all required in order that the church man exist to express God, for without these things God cannot have the church in the universe to be His corporate expression (Zech. 12:1; Rev. 4:11).

We as tripartite men are here for God’s corporate expression, the church. All things and matters exist for the church. There have to be all these things and persons necessary for our existence, but our existence here is not the meaning of our existence.

We take care of our existence for God’s purpose to have the church.

When we are about to go to college or university, our consideration in what to study and where to study should be: What is good for the church life, and where is the best place I can be in the church life?

When we finish our studies and we consider joining the Full-time Training, it is good to ask the Lord and the saints in fellowship, Lord, what is good for the church? When we consider someone for marriage, we need to have the church in view.

Our whole being, every fiber of our being, and every aspect of our life, should be for the church.

The existence of the universe is for the church, the existence of many things around us is for the church, and our existence is for the church, because the church is what’s on God’s heart, the church is God’s corporate expression.

Lord Jesus, put in us the desire and aspiration that everything in our life would be for the church, Your corporate expression. May we realize that the existence of the universe with so many things, and our very existence here on earth is for the church. Amen, Lord, may Your heart’s desire become our heart’s desire, and may Your purpose to gain the church also be our purpose. May our family, our marriage, our job, our profession, the place where we live, our possessions, and everything related to us be for the church!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1968, vol. 1, “The Practical Expression of the Church,” pp. 341-343, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Recovery of the Church (2017 fall ITERO), week 1, Seeing God’s Eternal Purpose concerning the Church and Enlightening All concerning the Economy of the Mystery Hidden in God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # I’m thankful that God has placed me / With you to build up His Body. / Christ in you is the hope for me! / You also need Christ lived in me. (Song on living for the church)
  # For the Church should be our service, / Not our aims to satisfy; / This, the perfect will of God is, / And with it we must comply. (Hymns #914)
  # The Church the image has of Christ, / She is His increase and His spread; / Christ’s very self is found in her / The Body, she, to Christ the Head. / Thus, in the Son the Father is, / And now the Spirit is the Son; / The Spirit of the triune God / Is in the Church and with her one. (Hymns #818)