The one divine fellowship is an interwoven fellowship – the horizontal fellowship with the saints is interwoven with the vertical fellowship with God; this fellowship is everything in our Christian life.
In the one Body of Christ, there is only one fellowship, one circulation of blood, which is the fellowship of the divine life, the fellowship of the churches.
Just as there is the circulation of blood in the human body, and this circulation is unique, bringing all the members of our body into oneness, so there is a circulation in the Body of Christ which keeps all the members in oneness, and this is fellowship.
We can testify that many times when we met another believer in Christ, even though we may have never seen him before that time, simply by talking to him and having fellowship, we are one.
When we meet a genuine believer, no matter the nationality or race, age, social status, or background, something within us makes us one with that one.
We may even say that something within us “jumps for joy” when we meet a genuine believer in Christ, just as the baby in Elizabeth’s womb jumped when she met Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Today we are like “mothers” who have Jesus within us, and when we enter into the fellowship with the other members of the Body, there’s a “jumping for joy” inwardly, for we cannot but be one in the flow of the divine life.
This fellowship of life, this flow of the divine life, is from God Himself; He flows out, and we as believers receive the flow of life, we enjoy the growth and flowing of the divine life, and we minister life to one another to bring others into the flow of life.
An illustration of this is the river of water of life which proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the New Jerusalem.
This flow of life is unique, it is in the middle of the street (so you can’t miss it), it brings life wherever it goes, and it reaches everyone in the city, even everyone who comes into the city by the twelve gates.
Hallelujah for the flow of the divine life in all the believers in Christ!
As we remain in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles, we are kept in the fellowship of the Body of Christ, the fellowship of the divine life, and we grow in a normal way, we build up the Body, and we function in our measure.
May we remain in the healthy words of the Lord Jesus, in the teaching of the apostles, so that we may be kept in the fellowship of life, enjoying the divine supply and being brought under the throne of God for the carrying out of His administration and purpose.
We Enter into the Vertical and Horizontal Aspects of the Divine Spirit by the Divine Spirit and the Human Spirit
1 John 1:2-3 is a mysterious yet simple and wonderful portion speaking of the fellowship of the divine life.
That which was from the beginning, which the apostles have heard, seen with their eyes, and their hands handled concerning the word of life; this is the eternal life, which is God Himself manifested in Christ the Son.
The apostles have seen Him, and they testified and reported to us the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to them.
This fellowship was first the fellowship with the Father and with Christ, the vertical fellowship, but then in v. 3, it became the fellowship with the fellow believers, with those who received the report of the apostles.
The apostles report to us what they have seen and heard, and this causes us to have fellowship with the apostles – this is the horizontal fellowship.
And when we enter into this horizontal fellowship, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
The vertical fellowship with God brings us into the horizontal fellowship with the believers, and the horizontal fellowship with the believers brings us back to the vertical fellowship with God.
We enter into the vertical aspect of the divine fellowship by the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit; this aspect of fellowship refers to our fellowship with the Triune God in our loving Him (2 Cor. 13:14; 1 John 1:3, 6; Mark 12:30).
The key for our entering into the vertical fellowship with God is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, and also our loving the Triune God.
Because we love God, we enjoy Him, and we enter into fellowship with Him. The love with which we love God is the Triune God Himself as the divine love.
We see both the Spirit and love in 2 Cor. 13:14, where we are told that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ comes from the love of God and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
We enter into the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship by the human spirit; this aspect of fellowship refers to our fellowship with one another by the exercise of our spirit in our loving one another (Phil. 2:1; Rev. 1:10; 1 John 1:2-3, 7; 1 Cor. 16:18; Mark 12:31; Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:13-15).
Vertically, we love God and we have the Spirit in our spirit to contact Him and receive Him.
Horizontally, we love the saints and we fellowship by the exercise of our human spirit, which is mingled with the divine Spirit.
In Phil. 2:1 Paul says that, if there is any consolation of love, any fellowship of spirit, etc; this spirit particularly refers to our human regenerated spirit.
For us to have horizontal fellowship with the saints we need to exercise our regenerated spirit so that we may love one another in the divine love, and thus to fellowship with one another.
In 1 Cor. 16:18 some people who came to Paul refreshed his spirit; they came to minister to his needs, meeting a part of the needs that other saints could not, and his spirit and the spirit of all the saints was refreshed.
As believers in Christ, we need to have vertical fellowship with God by the divine Spirit and by loving God, and we need to have horizontal fellowship with the saints by exercising our human spirit and by loving the saints.
We need to daily spend time with the Lord to contact Him as the Spirit, and we need to seek to fellowship with the saints by exercising our spirit; all this is in love, for we love God and we love the saints, and our love is the Triune God as love in us.
Lord Jesus, we love You and we exercise our spirit to contact You as the Spirit to fellowship with You. Keep us in the vertical fellowship with You by the Spirit and by our loving You. Amen, Lord, infuse us with Yourself; infuse us with all that You are. We want to fellowship with the saints horizontally by exercising our spirit and by loving the saints. Thank You for the love which You poured out into our heart for us to love You and to love the saints. We exercise our spirit to contact You as the Spirit and to fellowship with the saints. Amen, Lord, keep us in the vertical fellowship with You and in the horizontal fellowship with the saints. Keep us in the fellowship of the divine life, the flow of life in the Body of Christ!
Having Interwoven Fellowship with God Vertically and with the Saints Horizontally for the Mingling of God with Man
The one divine fellowship in the Body of Christ is an interwoven fellowship – it is not merely the vertical fellowship with God or just the horizontal fellowship with the saints, but an interwoven fellowship.
The horizontal fellowship with the saints and the vertical fellowship with the Lord are interwoven – they can’t exist by themselves, they are not something for or in themselves, but they lead to one another.
The apostles had fellowship with the Triune God and saw, touched, and handled something of the divine life; this vertical fellowship led them to fellowship horizontally with the believers as they reported the divine life to them.
In turn, the horizontal fellowship with the saints was the fellowship with the Father and with the Son.
The horizontal fellowship issues us in the vertical fellowship; when we exercise our spirit to fellowship with the saints, the result is that we are ushered into the vertical fellowship with the Lord.
Then, the vertical fellowship will issue in the horizontal fellowship, for when we have genuine fellowship with the Lord in the morning, we want to fellowship with the members of His Body also.
Our horizontal fellowship with the saints brings us into the vertical fellowship with the Lord, and our vertical fellowship with the Lord issues in our having horizontal fellowship with the saints.
This is an interwoven fellowship – the divine fellowship is an interwoven fellowship, the interweaving of the vertical and horizontal fellowship.
If we have a good time with the Lord in our fellowship with Him, we will be eager to see the other saints to fellowship with them.
Once we have fellowship with the saints through prayer and the exercise of our spirit, we are brought into fellowship with the Lord again.
These two aspects of the divine fellowship – the vertical and the horizontal fellowship – are always interwoven, they are always crisscrossing each other.
In this interwoven fellowship, God is interwoven with us, that is, God is mingled with us; this interweaving is the mingling of God and man to bring the divine constituent into our spiritual being for our growth and transformation in life (Lev. 2:4-5).
It is by means of this interwoven fellowship, the fellowship with God interweaved and crisscrossing with the fellowship with the saints, that the purpose of God is accomplished, for God is being mingled with us.
This fellowship is nothing but the flowing of the Triune God as the Spirit into us, among us, and through us for the fulfilment of God’s purpose to gain the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem.
The divine fellowship – this interwoven fellowship – is everything in the Christian life, for we receive God by means of this fellowship, and God is made real to us in fellowship.
Just as the current of electricity is the electricity itself, so the flow of the divine life is the divine life itself flowing.
When this fellowship disappears, God also disappears; if we are not in the interwoven fellowship of God and man, God is not real to us, for God comes as the fellowship (2 Cor. 13:14; Rev. 22:1).
We need to have more fellowship among the local churches, more traffic of the divine life, more interwoven fellowship so that God would be made more real to us and through us, and so that He may be expressed in us and through us.
We treasure the flow of the divine life; we treasure the interwoven fellowship of God and man in the Body of Christ.
May we all be in the divine stream which flows from God, through the apostles, and in and through and among all the believers in Christ!
It is in this interwoven fellowship that we can have honest and sincere intercession, and in our intercession, we express God’s intention to carry out His economy.
God is real to us in the divine fellowship, in the interweaving of the vertical and horizontal fellowship.
Lord Jesus, cause us to realize that the divine fellowship is everything to us in our Christian life. Keep us in the flow of the divine life from the Triune God and through us, among us, and in us. We want to have fellowship with God vertically by the divine Spirit and with the saints horizontally by exercising our spirit. Amen, Lord, may there be much interwoven fellowship – the interweaving of the fellowship with God and the fellowship with man – so that we may gain more of God! Mingle Yourself with us, dear Lord, and add more of the divine constituent to our being as we fellowship with God vertically and fellowship with the saints horizontally. Amen, Lord, may more of the divine element and constituent be wrought into our being for our growth and transformation in life for the building up of the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by the brothers for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1990, vol. 1, “The Triune God to be Life to the Tripartite Man“, chs. 16-19, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Intrinsic and Organic Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ (2021 International Chinese-Speaking Conference), week 4, The Intrinsic Fellowship of the Churches for Their Organic Relationship.
- Further reading: we recommend, Fellowshipping with the Lord for the Mingling of God with Man, by Witness Lee.
- Hymns on this topic:
– It is life in Spirit / Brings this fellowship; / Fellowship in Spirit / Doth with grace equip. / We, by life’s enabling, / Fellowship aright; / Fellowship in Spirit / Brings us into light. (Hymns #737)
– I long for fellowship in spirit, / That mingled with the saints I’ll be, / Long to be saved from independence / And to be built with saints in Thee. (Hymns #847)
– When we serve together, / We thru prayer would move, / Fellowship in spirit, / Not in word to prove. / Never pray together, / Shouting, crying much, / Yet the fellowship in / Spirit never touch. (Hymns #781)
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