We are in the process of growing in life and being transformed by our old man dying out and our new man being being renewed day by day.
Praise the Lord, our old man is being consumed, is dying out, and is put away, and our new man is growing up, is renewed, and is being manifested, just as the old generation of the children of Israel were strewn in the wilderness while the new generation entered into the good land!
There are two generations that are seen in the books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy: the old generation which got out of Egypt and the new generation which entered the good land.
On one hand the old generation typifies the older ones who experienced so much of the Lord and pass on their experience and history to the younger ones so that they may go on and enter into the good land, being perfected.
On the other hand, the old generation typifies our old man while the new generation typifies our new man; the old man is being consumed and put away, while the new man is being renewed day by day. Praise the Lord!
May we read, listen, and learn from the history of the children of Israel, for their history is a type of our Christian history, and their failures are a type of how we can fail spiritually.
For example, we need to be warned concerning having an evil heart of unbelief, concerning murmuring, and concerning languishing in the land.
God is willing to give us the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land, and we are well-able to overcome any problems and difficulties to possess Him, for God is with us, and He in us can make us able to take the land.
But if we look at the problems, difficulties, and trials and think they are “giants” which we cannot overcome, and thus have a heart of unbelief, we may fail just like the children of Israel.
May we remain under the hearing of the faith to be infused with Christ as our believing ability, and may we enjoy and experience Christ day by day as our good land!
For us to fully possess Christ as the good land, we must beware of murmurings; we must beware of discontented and secret mutterings, grumblings, and complaining. Murmurings are a serious matter in God’s eyes; we should do all things without murmurings and reasonings.
We may not murmur outwardly but inwardly we may grumble and complain, just as the children of Israel murmured in their tents. Oh Lord, save us from murmurings, grumblings, and complaining!
To possess Christ as the good land we must beware of languishing in the land; may we ask for seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and may we keep our spiritual freshness with the Lord day by day.
We are in the Process of Transformation: the Old Man is Dying out and the New Man is Renewed
It is quite interesting to realize that the older generation of the children of Israel typifies the old man, and the new generation typifies the new man.
We believers have two generations: the first generation is our old man and the second generation is our new man.
Joshua and Caleb were of the old generation but also belonged to the new generation, because they had another spirit. The old generation died out while the new generation entered into the good land.
The old generation was baptized by passing through the Red Sea, but it was the new generation who entered into the good land through their baptism in Jordan.
Between these two baptisms, the children of Israel were experiencing transformation; if we look at their history as recorded in the Bible, they were fighting, murmuring, and criticizing, but all this time there were a lot of dealings related to transformation.
There were many dealings related to transformation with the children of Israel, in which the old generation was dying out while the new generation was being prepared to enter into the good land.
Yes, the old generation was strewn in the wilderness, and this is a warning to us, but a new generation was coming forth through transformation, and when they crossed the Jordan river, they became a mighty army.
If we look at the history of Israel we will not be disappointed with ourselves but rather, we shall realize that we are like a caterpillar in a cocoon undergoing the process of transformation.
We are going through the process of transformation, in which the old man is consumed and the new man is renewed. We believers in Christ are like caterpillars, being transformed from an ugly cocoon into a beautiful butterfly.
Soon, all the caterpillars are being transformed and the cocoons are disappearing as we put off the old man and put on the new man!
We do enjoy the Lord today as the all-inclusive One, but we have not yet possessed Him as the all-inclusive land in full; for us to possess Christ in this way, our old man must die out, and the new man must come forth.
We can all testify that, since we came into the church life in the Lord’s recovery, an inward metabolic change has been taking place within us, for the old man is dying out while the new man is growing up. This is transformation, the growth in life.
May we cooperate with the Lord in the process of transformation by allowing Him to put our old man to death through all that He arranges in our environment, and may we learn to exercise our spirit over the Lord’s word day by day to be renewed in our inner man.
For us to grow in life is to “eliminate the old generation” and to be renewed in our mind, emotion, and will, thus being transformed.
Lord Jesus, we praise You for bringing us through the process of transformation until we are made into the same image as You! We want to cooperate with You, Lord, so that our old man may be consumed and die out, while our new man would be renewed and manifested more and more! Amen, Lord, we want to possess You as the all-inclusive land: transform us into Your image more and more each day! May the old man be eliminated and may we be renewed in our mind, emotion, and will, until we are fully transformed into Your image!
Growing in Life and being Transformed to Fully Possess Christ as our Good Land
Our outer man consists of the body as its organ with the soul as its life and person; before we were regenerated, our soul was our life and person, and our body was the organ of our soul, while the spirit was deadened, without a function.
But praise the Lord, we were regenerated, and now we have an inner man – our mingled spirit is our inner man, our new person!
We need to be strengthened into our inner man (Eph. 3:16), renewed in our inner man day by day (2 Cor. 4:16), realizing that our inner man is concealed in our heart as the hidden man of the heart (1 Pet. 3:4).
In 1 Corinthians Paul had the intention of helping the saints experience the dying out of the old man and the growing up of the new man (1 Cor. 3:1, 6-9; 5:7; 10:1-3).
We need to aspire to grow in life and be spiritual men; we should no longer be fleshly men or fleshy men (those dominated and led by our flesh), neither should we be soulish men (those who live in the soul) but spiritual men!
Amen, we aspire to be those who are dominated, governed, directed, led, and moved by the mingled spirit, the divine Spirit living in our human spirit.
The good land is seen in 2 Corinthians, and it typifies Christ Himself as the embodiment of the processed Triune God given to us as the divine grace for our enjoyment (see 2 Cor. 1:12; 4:15; 6:1; 8:1, 9; 9:8, 14; 12:9; 13:14).
In 1 Corinthians we see the history of the children of Israel mainly in their exodus from Egypt and their travelling through the wilderness, but in 2 Corinthians we see Christ as the good land being our enjoyment as grace.
We need to be those who grow in life into the full possession and enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ, God’s promised land! Amen!
For us to grow in life is to “eliminate the old generation” by allowing our outer man to be consumed, and to be renewed in our mind, emotion, and will for our transformation.
God’s economy is to have our old man (the outer man) consumed and our new man (the inner man) renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16); this takes place through transformation.
Transformation is not something outward; it is an inward metabolic process in which God works to spread His divine life and nature throughout every part of our being, particularly our soul (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2).
As we are being transformed, Christ and His riches are brought in to be our new element, and our old and natural element is gradually discharged.
As we turn our heart to the Lord, the veil is taken away, and we have an unveiled face to behold Him and reflect Him; in this way, we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another degree of glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.
When we are beholding the Lord in our spirit, we spontaneously reflect Him into others. When we present our body for the practice of the Body life, that is, when we present ourselves as a living sacrifice for the church life, we are transformed by the renewing of the mind (Rom. 12:2).
Praise the Lord that, by His mercy and grace, since we have come into the Lord’s recovery there has been a metabolic change taking place within us!
This is the experience of being renewed for our growth in life and transformation in life to usher us into the enjoyment of Christ as our good land for God’s building and kingdom!
What a mercy it is for us to be in a place where we can enjoy the Lord with the saints for us to be transformed by the dying out of the old man and the renewing of the new man!
Lord Jesus, we turn our heart to You to behold You with an unveiled face and be transformed into the same image even as from the Lord Spirit! Amen, Lord, we allow You to work Yourself into us with all Your riches so that our inner man may be renewed as our outer man is being consumed and is dying out. Dear Lord Jesus, we present ourselves to You and to the Body life so that we may be transformed by the renewing of the mind. Keep us in this metabolic process of being renewed for our growth in life and transformation in life so that we may be ushered into the enjoyment of Christ as our good land for God’s building and kingdom!
Read this article in the Romanian language / citiți acest articol și în limba română la următorul link, Creștem în viață și suntem transformați pe măsură ce omul nostru vechi moare și omul nou e reînnoit.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Corinthians, msgs. 47-48 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 1, on the topic of, The Intrinsic Significance of Deuteronomy — a Book concerning Christ.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Transformation is my need, / To be broken more indeed, / That the clay may change in form, / To the treasure to conform. (Hymns #548)
– So we do not lose heart though our outer man is decaying; / We do not lose heart for our inner man is being renewed day by day; / And we do not regard the temporary things which are seen / But the things which are not seen which are eternal. (Song on, We Do Not Lose Heart)
– Hallelujah! In the body we / Bear the death of Christ continually: / Thus His life comes forth for all to see as / The outer man is broken down, / The inner man is shining so that— / In these earthen vessels men can see / There’s the treasure of reality! / Thus the gospel’s glorious light will be / Shining out from us. (Hymns #1178)
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