Living in the Divine History by Living in the Church for the Manifestation of Christ

Behind the outward and seen human history there’s a divine history, the history of God in man; as believers in Christ we were born in the human history and we were reborn in the divine history, and we need to be those living in the divine history for the manifestation of Christ.

The divine history started with God’s economy: in eternity past, God had a heart’s desire and a purpose, and to accomplish it, He made a plan, which is the economy of God. In His economy God desires to have many sons that have His life and nature to be built up together into a corporate expression of God.

For this, God created man and put him in front of the tree of life so that man would take God in as life; however, man followed Satan in rebelling against God, and now all men are born in sin, not being able to be God’s expression.

Therefore, the divine history – the history of God in man – had a beginning with Christ’s incarnation; when God became man, God was mingled with man and He obtained an individual expression through Jesus Christ.

The history of God in man continued through the Lord’s human living, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension; in His resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit and was reproduced in millions of believers, making them the many members of the Body of Christ to be part of God’s corporate expression.

In a very mysterious yet organic way, God is working Himself into man by first regenerating man, then transforming man, and finally glorifying man, so that man would live a life in the divine history within the human history for the manifestation of Christ, the corporate expression of God.

All believers in Christ have Christ dwelling in them, and they are in the process of God’s organic salvation to become the full expression of God. All believers in Christ should be those living in the divine history by living in the church life for the manifestation of Christ.

The church today is part of the divine history in the human history, which is something inward. When the church will be fully built up in reality, the Lord will return, and He will come with His overcomers as His army (Joel 3:11) to defeat Antichrist and his army.

The human history consummates in the Antichrist with his armies, and the divine history consummates in Christ with His overcomers as His armies. May we be those who are daily living in the divine history within the human history by living in the church life for the manifestation of Christ!

Living in the Divine History within the Human History by Living in the Church Life

As believers in Christ, we are no longer soulish or fleshly men, but spiritual men; we need to have a clear view in spirit of the two histories – the physical human history and the mysterious divine history.

We all were born in the human history of our human parents, and we live outwardly in this human history; through regeneration, we were reborn in the divine history, and we entered into the history of God with man (John 1:12-13; 3:6).

However, do we live daily in the divine history, or do we live merely in the human history? Do we merely live in the world, just like everyone else, participating at worldly events, making more money, enjoying worldly entertainment, and being anxious like the others in the world, or do we live in the church life today?

If we merely want to make more money, take care of business, and live in the world, we only live in the human history. But if we are living in the church, we are living in the divine history.

We all are in the divine history because we live in the church; because we are in the church enjoying God’s economy, we have a part in the divine history, and we are moving together with God in the divine history.

In the church life God’s history becomes our history; God and we – we have one history, the divine history, which today is in the church life, in the next age is the kingdom, and for eternity is the New Jerusalem.

God’s history today is not merely with man, that is, by God being outside of man – as it was in the Old Testament; today God’s history is in man, because God is mingled with man and is within man, living in man to be expressed and manifested through man.

In Acts 4 we see a good example of the disciples and the saints living not merely in the human history but in the divine history; the apostles were just arrested, beaten, and threatened to no longer speak the gospel, and they met with the church to pray.

In their prayer they didn’t beg God to protect them or to remove the persecution (which we may tend to pray in such situations); rather, they started by saying, Sovereign Master… – they realized that God is sovereign, and He is their Master.

They acknowledged that God made the heavens and earth and all the things in them, and all things are under His control.

Everything is in God’s sovereignty, even persecution and sufferings; we all need to know that, even though outwardly the situation may not be that positive or welcoming, it is all under God’s sovereignty, and we need to live in the divine history.

Instead of asking the Lord to remove the persecution and suffering, we should ask Him to give us boldness to speak the word and express Christ in front of others.

There may be persecution, troubles, problems, sufferings, and sickness, but we know that all these are under God’s sovereignty, and we can rise up to pray,

Lord Jesus, in all our circumstances under Your sovereignty, release Your economy and fulfill Your purpose! We want to be those living in the divine history within the human history by living in the church life today. Save us from merely paying attention to the outward human history. We set our eyes on You, we acknowledge Your sovereignty over everything, and we want to be one spirit with You to live in the divine history today. Hallelujah, in the church life God’s history is our history – we and God have one history, the divine history!

Living in the Divine History for the Manifestation of Christ and the Full Restoration

In the Minor Prophets we see a lot of speaking concerning God chastising Israel and punishing the nations – this is the human history – for the purpose of the manifestation of Christ – this is the divine history.

Why do all the things happen in the world? It is for the divine history – for Christ to be manifested in man. God wants to have a corporate manifestation in the flesh; He gained Christ as an individual manifestation of God, and He obtained the church to be His corporate manifestation.

Because the entire universe is fallen, in rebellion, God needs to have a restoration of all things, bringing all things under Christ as the Head (Eph. 1:10).

Through regeneration we, the believers in Christ, have been saved out of the universal rebellion, the heap of collapse, and have been made members of the Body of Christ under Christ as the Head.

As we live in the divine history daily by living in the church life, we become part of the corporate manifestation of Christ for the restoration of all things.

The restoration of all things can be brought in only through the manifestation of Christ. Christ was manifested in the flesh individually when He was incarnated two thousand years ago, and throughout the ages since then He has been manifested in the flesh through the church.

The manifestation of Christ has been going on for a long time, and it will continue until the fallen universe has been fully restored; this will happen when the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center are brought in.

In the New Jerusalem we will fully enjoy Christ and express Him corporately for eternity, living an eternal life in the divine history, thus accomplishing God’s eternal purpose.

Today we need to live in God’s history by living one spirit with the Lord, who is our Husband (Eph. 5:25-32; 2 Cor. 11:2). Christ as the embodiment of God is our Husband, and we as the church are His wife; our living today should be in oneness with the Lord, living in the divine history by living in the divine romance with the Lord.

As we live one spirit with the Lord, we are restored back to God’s original intention, we eat Christ as the tree of life and live because of Him, we become part of God’s corporate expression, and God is manifested in the flesh.

For eternity we will live a marriage life between God and His chosen and redeemed people in the New Jerusalem. Today we simply need to practice living in the divine history by living the life of one who is married to the Triune God, a life in the history of God with man.

Lord Jesus, we want to live in the divine history today by living in the divine romance of God with man. We love You, Lord, and we want to live one spirit with You, allowing You to restore us fully and make us Your corporate expression. Lord, gain what You are after; gain the corporate expression of God in man. May there be a solid manifestation of Christ as a result of our living in the divine history, the history of God with man. Keep us in the divine romance, living a life of a wife who is married to the Triune God, until we will live for eternity a marriage life with You in the New Jerusalem!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by the brothers for this week, and portions from, The History of God in His Union with Man, ch. 1 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Special Fellowship concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Move, msg. 2 (week 2), God’s Sovereignty, the Divine History within the Human History, and the World Situation and God’s Move to Spread His Recovery.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # I was in a world of misery / In this crooked and perverted generation; / But the Lord has call me there one day / And now I’m living in this new generation. / Oh, what a wonderful story / Of me and my glorious Lord. / Together we make our history; / A mingling of God and of man— / Becoming the New Jerusalem, / Full of God’s glory. Hallelujah! (Song on our history with God)
  # Christ is the hope of glory, He is my history: / His life is my experience, for He is one with me; / He comes to bring me into His glorious liberty, / That one with Him completely I’ll ever be. (Hymns #949)
  # Thru the Church which is His Body / Christ as Head will sum up all; / All will fitly join together, / All things either great or small. / Under Christ, by His full headship, / All in union will subsist; / In the light the Church expresses / All in oneness will exist. (Hymns #981)