The issue of life is the church life as a house of feasting; the issue of our experience of Christ as life who meets all our needs is that we become the church life, we open our home for Him and the saints, and we feast together with the Lord.
In John 12, after we see how Christ as life meets the needs of every man’s case in nine specific cases, we see the Lord Jesus with His disciples being in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, feasting together.
Here we have the Lord Jesus, Simon the leper (who was most likely healed by the Lord and now shows his gratitude to Him by opening his home), Lazarus (who was the testimony of resurrection, for he was just raised from the dead by the Lord), Martha (who was serving), and Mary (who loved the Lord and poured out what she has the best for Him).
This is the church life, where we all are sinners who are cleansed and enlivened by the Lord, we all serve Him in our spirit and in many practical things, and we give our love to Him, pouring our what we have the best for Him.
The church life as a house of feasting is the issue of life, the issue of our experience of Christ as life who meets every man’s need.
Whether we are immoral sinners, hungry people, thirsty people, moral and refined men, dying people, impotent to do the will of God, sick with fever, or dead in sins and offenses, the Lord Jesus as life comes to us to meet our need, enliven us, quench our thirst, heal us, resurrect us, and give us life for the building of His house.
We are sinners, full of problems, sicknesses, and death, but the Lord Jesus comes to us as life to meet our need in every case, and the issue of life is the church life as a house of feasting.
He comes to us with His living word, speaking to us, causing us to be strengthened from within to rise up and come out of anything of sickness and death, and be satisfied with Him as our living food and drink.
The issue of life is the church life as a house of feasting. The issue of our enjoyment of Christ as the divine, uncreated, eternal life of God flowing into us to meet all our needs is a vital group meeting.
The vital groups are the main part of the life and service of the church. The small group gatherings, which are vital, in the homes of the saints, with the Lord’s presence, are the main part of the life and service of the church. Here we are all testifying of the Lord’s work in us and the power of resurrection, we love the Lord, and we all serve Him.
The Issue of Life is the Church Life as a House of Feasting in Resurrection Outside Religion
We all need the Lord to come in as life and meet our need to build the house of God.
Whether we are moral men needing life’s regenerating (as Nicodemus was in John 3), immoral men needing life’s satisfying (as the Samaritan woman was in John 4), dying men needing life’s healing (as the son of the royal official was in John 4:46-53), impotent men needing life’s enlivening (as the impotent man was in John 5), hungry men needing life’s feeding (as the 5000 were in John 6), thirsty men needing life’s quenching (as the men were in John 7), men under the bondage of sin needing life’s setting free (as the woman caught in adultery was in John 8), blind in religion needing life’s sight and life’s shepherding (as the blind man was in John 9), or dead men needing life’s resurrection (as Lazarus was in John 11), Christ as life meets all our needs.
The issue of life is the church life – the issue of our experience of Christ as life meeting our needs is the church life as a house of feasting, as seen in John 12:1-11.
This house of feasting is produced by the resurrection life, and the church is the produce of the resurrection life (see John 11:43-44; Col. 2:13; Eph. 1:19-23).
Christ is the Head over all things to the church; we are the ones who believe into Him, the church, and we enjoy His constant transmission of His fourfold power – His resurrecting power, ascending power, subjecting power, and heading up power (Eph. 1:19-23).
The church life is a house of feasting outside of religion; the Lord Jesus did not feast in Jerusalem with the Jews or the Pharisees, but in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper (see John 12:; Mar. 14:3; John 11:53, 57; 12:10-11).
Bethany means house of affliction, and Simon the leper signifies us sinners who have been cleansed and healed. Outwardly the church is a house of affliction, but inwardly the church has the beauty and presence of the Lord Jesus, the One we can feast together with the saints.
If the Lord has mercy on us, and if His Spirit opens our eyes, we will realize that in this universe God is not only looking for people who would worship and serve Him, but He wants to come into man in the Son, by His Spirit, and through His word to be man’s life so that man might live because of Him.
The work that God is doing in this universe – His desire and intention – is to dispense Himself as life through His word in our being, so that we may take Him as our life and everything to live because of Him. He wants to be the source, element, and basic factor of our living.
This is absolutely different from religion and from any religious concept. Religion with its doctrines, forms, rituals, and regulations doesn’t have the presence of Christ and is the enemy of life, but in the church life today we have the Lord’s presence and His smile!
As His life heals us, enlivens us, resurrects us, and satisfies us, we enjoy the Lord with the saints and with one another, and the issue of life is the church life as a house of feasting! And the more we grow in life and let this life flow in us, the more the church grows, is built up, multiplies, and increases in life and number!
Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into us as life and bringing us into the church life as a house of feasting. Open our eyes, Lord, to realize that Your desire and intention are to come into us in the Son, by the Spirit, and through Your word to be our life so that we may live because of You. Grow in us more today. May Your life within us issue in the church life as the house of feasting. Deliver us from any religion and bring us fully into Your presence where we can feast with You and on You with all the saints!
Being those Enlivened and Healed by the Lord, we Open our Home for Him to Rest and Feast
After the nine cases in John 3-11 in which the Lord imparted Himself as life into man to meet their every need, the Lord left Jerusalem and Judaism, and did not remain in the city; rather, He stayed in Bethany.
In Bethany there was a home where the Lord could stay, rest, feast, and be satisfied; after the Jewish religion had rejected Him, He always left Jerusalem to stay in Bethany (see John 12:1-2; Matt. 21:17-18).
In religion with its center in Jerusalem there was only persecution and rejection for the Lord, but outside of religion, in a village, there was a home open to the Lord for His rest, feasting, and satisfaction.
May our home be like this. May every city and village on earth have many open homes to the Lord, where He and His seekers can stay and feast together.
The issue of our experience of Christ as life is the church life as a house of feasting; every church meeting should be a house of feasting, and the church life should be a house of feasting for God’s building.
Here we can see the principle of a vital group – in a home, enjoying the Lord, and testifying for Him.
Who was in this home in Bethany, as a type of the church life? Here we see Simon the leper – who must have been healed by the Lord, Lazarus – who was raised by the Lord from the dead, Mary – who poured out her love and what she had the best on the Lord, Martha – who was serving the Lord, and the disciples.
The church is composed of cleansed sinners as represented by Simon the leper; he must have been healed by the Lord (Mark 14:3; Matt. 26:6), and so, being grateful to Him and loving Him, he opened his home.
Simon was grateful to the Lord and he spread a feast in his house for the Lord and His disciples in order to enjoy His presence; a saved sinner would always do this.
What are we? We are sinners cleansed by the Lord and healed by Him, and out of our love for Him we open our home to Him and the saints to enjoy the Lord together and have His presence.
In the church life we have many small group meetings where we care not for gourmet food but for Christ, eating Christ with the saints, enjoying Him together.
A saved sinner would always open his home to the saints; he’s so filled with the presence of Christ that he opens his home to have people over, and he wants to be in their home. Matthew the tax collector did this; as soon as the Lord called him and saved him, he brought all his tax collectors together and made a feast for the Lord (see Matt. 9:9-10).
And to the Pharisees’ scorn and criticizing of Him saying, “This Man welcomes sinners and eats with them”, the Lord said, I didn’t come to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance.
The Lord has raised us from the dead, He cleansed us from our sins, and He is healing our sick condition; now where we are becomes the meeting place of the church.
We live in our homes: so our homes are the meeting place of the church, and we endeavor to have vital group meetings with the saints, inviting our friends, and enjoying the Lord in His presence together.
Thank You Lord for raising us from the dead and cleansing us from our sick condition. We love You, Lord, and we are full of gratefulness toward You. We open our home and all we have to You, Lord, that You may come in with all Your saints and feast together. May the place where we are become the meeting place of the church. May our home and the homes of the saints be the meeting places for the saints, and may the church life be a house of feasting! Oh Lord, we love to be with You in Your presence together with all the saints, feasting on You and with You!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of John, msg. 25 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Genuine Church Life (2017 Thanksgiving Conference), week 3, The Issue of Life — the Church Life as a House of Feasting for God’s Building.
- Hymns on this topic:
# When Jesus comes, new wine is made from water, / When Jesus comes, the darkness turns to light. / He touches death—it’s turned to life eternal, / Weakness to strength and blindness into sight. (Hymns #1329)
# Here we come Thy name to praise, / Let us feel Thy presence near; / May Thy glory meet our eyes, / While we in Thy house appear: / Here afford us, Lord, a taste / Of our everlasting feast. (Hymns #940)
# Aren’t you satisfied and thankful / That our Lord has brought you in / Where His pleasures and His riches flow so free? / So be happy and be joyful, / In the spirit feast on Him, / So God’s garden can bear fruit abundantly. (Hymns #1237)
About aGodMan
Lazarus was present as a sign that the church is produced by resurrection life. The church does not come into being by man’s organization, man’s wisdom, man’s work, or man’s teaching. It comes into being by resurrection life.
Bethany was the place where the Lord accomplished His last sign—the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Therefore, Bethany is the place where the Lord raised up the dead.
The church is composed of cleansed sinners as represented by Simon the leper (Mark 14:3)….According to Mark 14:3 the feast mentioned in John 12:2 was prepared for the Lord in the house of a leper named Simon. The house of…a cleansed leper became the meeting place of the church. This is very meaningful. On the one hand, we all were dead; on the other hand, we all were lepers. Originally, the members of the church were both dead and leprous (sinful) people. In a sense we, like Lazarus, were dead and have been resurrected. In another sense we, like Simon, were contaminated lepers and have been cleansed. Hallelujah, the Lord has raised us from the dead and cleansed us from our leprosy, our sins! Now where we are becomes the meeting place of the church. (Life-study of John, pp. 298-301, by Witness Lee)
Amen thank you Lord Jesus for your resurrection POWER!!! Amen…
Amen….thank you Lord your a victorious God
アーメン主に感謝します。
[amen, Lord!]
Praise the Lord brother! The issue of our being resurrected and being cleansed by the Lord resurrection life is the church. Lazarus was the sign of resurrection (John 12:1), and Simon was a sign of cleansing (Mark 14:3). We were both dead (Lazarus) and leprosy (Simon). Now the Lord visit us in resurrection and cleanse us to feast together with Him as the church.
Wonderful. A house of feasting is the issue and goal of life! Life meets our every need, all the needs of the saints. O Lord meet all our needs today, gain Your house of feasting!
In this age God’s desire and intention is to come into man in the Son, by His Spirit, and through His Word to be man’s life that man might live by Him.
AMEN LORD, may our homes become the meeting place of the church