Being the Overcomers who Gain Christ for Christ and bring Christ forth to Write God’s History

We may have read the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth many times, but we may have never realized what is the hidden, intrinsic significance of these books; we may have never thought that we need to enjoy and gain Christ for Christ, and we need to take the good land and be the proper persons for Christ to be brought forth.

This week in our morning revival we come to a new book, a new topic: the Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, and this first week we focus on, God’s Charge, Promise, and Encouragement to Joshua.

It is easy to read the Bible, in particular the Old Testament, and not see what it speaks about; it is easy to see the outward, human history but not realize that there’s something behind the scenes that God is after and that He is gaining.

May the Lord open our eyes and bring us into His divine view of the Bible, and in particular of these three books.

In Joshua, we see a wonderful history with the children of Israel entering into and possessing the good land – but there is much more to see here.

In Judges, we see the pitiful and low situation and condition among the children of Israel when each did what was right in their own eyes and rejected God as their Husband – but there’s much more we can learn from this, and there’s something God is gaining in this.

In Ruth, we have a lovely and aromatic history between someone who is not originally from God’s people but who chose God’s people and was associated with them, and she became part of the lineage of Christ – and there’s so much more to be seen here concerning Christ and the church.

This crystallization study was given during the 2021 summer training, it was done online, and it was so rich and aromatic, so fresh and up-to-date, and so enlightening and exposing.

May the Lord continue to shine on us and bring us into His up-to-date speaking, even to make us one with Him in what He is doing and speaking today, so that He may gain us as the proper persons through whom Christ is brought forth, and so that we may take the land for Christ for Him to be exalted, expressed, and manifested among us.

The Scope, Center, and Intrinsic Significance of the Histories and Prophecies in the Old Testament is Christ and His Body

When we come to study the histories and the prophecies of the Old Testament, we shouldn’t do it in a natural way, according to our own understanding and preference.

Rather, we need to have the full scope of the entire Scriptures concerning God’s eternal economy for Christ and the church, which consummates in the New Jerusalem.

When we study the histories and prophecies contained in the Old Testament, we must do so with the glasses of God’s economy on; we need to see everything through the prism, the lens, of God’s economy.

When we do this, we will have not only a broader view but also the deeper and most intrinsic significance of God’s purpose in presenting to us the histories and giving us the prophecies of the Old Testament.

Many believers, seeking ones, Bible teachers, and theologians have come to the Word of God and have read the Old Testament, and many studies have been made and published on the histories and the prophecies of the Old Testament.

However, who has really studied these things with God’s economy in view? Who has opened up the Word of God, in particular the histories in the Old Testament and the prophecies contained there, and has considered all these prayerfully with the view of God’s economy?

If we look at the histories and the prophecies of the Old Testament through the glasses of God’s economy, which is the central vision in the entire Bible, we will see more than just spiritual principles, histories, prophecies, and good teachings and morals.

We will realize that the scope, the center, and the intrinsic significance of all the histories and the prophecies of the Old Testament must be Christ and His Body, the center of God’s economy, which will ultimately consummate in the New Jerusalem for God’s eternal economy. Amen!

Apart from Christ and the church, everything else doesn’t make sense; apart from the central view of God’s economy, His eternal purpose being carried out, everything is secondary.

May we approach these books not through our own understanding, our culture, our preferences, or our mentality, but through the view of God’s economy so that we may be brought into the fulfillment of God’s economy with Christ and the church.

Responding to God’s Call for Overcomers by being those who Gain Christ for Christ and those through whom Christ can come Forth

If we read the histories and prophecies in the Old Testament with the view of God’s economy, we will realize that, in order for God to accomplish His economy, He needed to create the heavens for the earth and the earth for man (Zech. 12:1), and He needs to gain man for His purpose.

God created man in His own image and according to His own likeness with a spirit so that man would contact God, receive God, keep God, and take God as his life and content.

However, as history shows, it is very sad that the man created by God has become fallen from God and from God’s purpose for His economy.

So God came in to choose a man named Abraham out from the fallen humankind, and He made this one and his descendants a particular people as His dear elect among all the nations (the Gentiles).

It took God over four hundred years to produce and constitute and form such an elect to replace the Adamic race for the fulfilment of His eternal economy.

Though they were in slavery in Egypt, God came and brought them out with a mighty hand, He took them through the wilderness so that they may be trained, disciplined, and qualified to coordinate with Him in taking the promised land.

God wanted His people to take His promised land for Christ on this earth and to provide the proper persons to bring forth Christ into the human race.

God’s people need to take possession of God’s promised land for Christ and to provide the proper persons to bring forth Christ into the human race; these are the two major points of the section of the history in the Old Testament in the three books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth.

The spirit of the history from Joshua to Ruth is to take the land for Christ and to provide the bonafide ancestors for Christ.

These are the hidden, intrinsic significance of this section of the Old Testament history.

We need to have a clear vision concerning this, otherwise, our crystallization-study on these three books will be in vain, just like the studies of so many historians, Bible students, and Scripture teachers, either Jewish or Christian.

When we read any book in the Bible and even every chapter and verse, we need to see how does it relate to God’s heart’s desire and how it is for the fulfilment of God’s eternal economy.

God desires that we would gain Christ for Christ and be the proper persons to bring forth Christ in the human race.

What does it mean for us to take the land for Christ, that is, to gain Christ for Christ?

The good land is Christ, and God’s desire is that we gain the good land; when we gain Christ, He becomes our experience and enjoyment, and He becomes in us what He should be.

He should be our first, our best, our everything, our experience, and our enjoyment; when we gain Christ for Christ, we fulfill God’s heart’s desire.

When we are weak, He is powerful; we might be down, but He’s always buoyant, so He wants to become in us what He should be. For us to gain Christ for Christ means that we gain Christ so that He can become in us what He should be.

Christ can be in us what He should be only by our gaining Him; we have to gain Him so that He can be what He should be in us.

If we gain Christ, experience Christ, and enjoy Christ, He will become real to us; this is what God desires – He wants His Christ to be real and experiential to us.

This is to gain Christ for Christ; if He is not real to us, that’s not good for Him. God wants us, His people, to do Him a favor: he wants us to enjoy Christ, gain Christ, and experience Christ, and as we do this, He becomes real to us.

He wants to become our reality – He wants to be real to us. Christ wants to be what He should be to us so that He becomes our reality for the church as the corporate expression of Christ.

This is to make the good land the land of Immanuel (Isa. 8:8).

In the Old Testament, God gave the good land to His people, Israel, and He wanted them to possess it; when they went into the good land under the leading of Joshua, they did God a favor, and God was happy when they took the land so that they may become His kingdom and His house on earth.

Similarly today, God has given Christ to us for our enjoyment and experience, and when we enjoy Christ we do God a favor, which makes Him happy.

When we possess Christ as the good land, we’re actually doing a favor to the One who gave us the land, and we do what He wants us to do; God wants us to possess and gain Christ as the land.

Unfortunately, many among God’s people today do not enjoy Christ nor do they experience Christ, and they do not enter into the enjoyment of their allotted portion of Christ.

So God is calling for overcomers, those who pursue Christ to gain Christ for Christ.

When we respond to God’s call for the overcomers by pursuing Christ in order to gain Christ, we do Christ a favor; God is satisfied, and we are also satisfied.

May we be such ones: may we respond to God’s call for overcomers by being those who enjoy Christ for Christ, gain Christ for Christ, and experience Christ for Christ, so that He may be in us what He wants to be, and so that He may gain us to be the proper persons for the bringing forth of Christ.

Lord Jesus, we respond to God’s call for overcomers today – we want to be those who enjoy Christ, gain Christ, and experience Christ for Him to be in us what He wants to be. Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to You to gain Christ for Christ. We exercise our spirit to enjoy You as our God-allotted portion; we want to enter into the enjoyment and experience of Christ as the good land! Thank You Father for allotting to us a portion of the all-inclusive Christ for us to enjoy, experience, and possess. We want to do You a favor by gaining Christ for Christ, enjoying Christ, partaking of Christ, and experiencing Christ so that He may be in us what He desires to be. Amen, Lord, make us the proper persons for Christ to be brought forth!

Being One with God in his History, Moving and Energizing in His Loving Overcomers in Life, in Living, and in our Doing today!

May the Lord have mercy on us to grant us a vision of what the intrinsic significance of Joshua, Judges and Ruth really means.

If we have such a vision, this section of the Old Testament will benefit us the same as the New Testament does, for we will see that it’s not merely the actions of God’s people, the history of taking the land, the failures of God’s people, and the marriage of Ruth with Boaz that this section talks about.

Rather, these three books show us that the history of God’s people on earth is actually the history of the working God energizing among His chosen people in the Old Testament.

Even more, this history shows us the operating God energizing in His redeemed people and having them energize together with Him for the accomplishment of His eternal economy concerning Christ and His increase, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem. Hallelujah!

Reading these books with our natural understanding will lead us to know some facts, know the history, and beware some of the negative things while appreciating some of the positive things.

However, as we are in this training on the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, may the Lord cause us to realize that our living, our daily walk, our schooling, our job, and our business must be a part of God’s history in His marvelous and excellent move on the earth today!

Our God is still moving, and His history is still going on!

We simply need to be the normal Christians, one of today’s overcomers, to answer the Lord’s present calling, and to meet the Lord’s present need in His recovery.

To be such ones, it’s not sufficient just to be a so-called good brother or good sister, attending the church meetings regularly, behaving rightly, and living a life that is somewhat perfect in the eyes of men.

Such things are very good indeed, but it is not enough; we need to be one with God in His history today.

We need to be one with His move in His history, moving and energizing in His loving overcomers, in life, in living, and in our entire doing today on this earth.

God is still writing His history, and we need to be one with Him to write God’s today’s history. He is the inner moving, living, and energizing God, and we need to march on as one with this energizing God.

As we live our Christian life responding to the Lord’s call for overcomers, we need to be in Him, with Him, by Him, and for Him; we need to be those living and active, the vital ones today.

We need to be today’s Joshuas and Calebs to take possession of the God-promised land for Christ so that we may become His possession.

We need to be today’s Ruths to turn to God’s economy, to enter into the land of Immanuel, and to marry ourselves to Christ so that we may bring forth Christ to meet men’s need today.

The issue of our getting into Joshua, Judges, and Ruth should be the gaining of the God-promised land for Christ and the bringing forth of the excellent Christ to meet today’s need of both God and man.

We are part of the continuation of the history of God in man, and we are writing God’s history of today; the energizing God is in us, and we respond to His call for overcomers to gain Christ for Christ and be the proper persons who bring forth Christ.

As He moves in us, we move in Him. As He energizes within us, we are with Him, by Him, and for Him, to be the living and active ones, the vital ones. Amen!

Lord Jesus, we want to be a normal Christian, one of today’s overcomer sho answer You represent calling by being one with God in His history! Amen, Lord, move in us and energize us in our life, in our living, and in our entire doing today on this earth! We want to be one with You in writing God’s today’s history! We march on as one with the energizing God – in Him, with Him, by Him, and for Him! Amen, Lord, make us those living and active. We want to be those who take possession of the God-promised land for Christ so that we may become His possession! Gain in us what You are after. Gain us as those through whom Christ can come forth. Amen, Lord, we open to You for You to be in us what You want to be and to do in us what You want to do!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of 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 Joshua, msg. 6, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 1, God’s Charge, Promise, and Encouragement to Joshua.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Will you be an overcomer? / Christ is calling now! / Will you then be such a follower, / Though you know not how? (Hymns #894)
  – Pursue Him and know Him; be found in Him. / Count all things loss for Him. / Just gain Him, obtain Him; lay hold of Him. / It’s Christ the central vision. / Forgetting the things which are behind, / Press on, pursue with this mind. / By any means each hour now redeem; / Stretch forth, lay hold of Him. (Song on, Pursue Him and know Him)
  – God has set the land before us, / And the land we will possess. / God has finally found a people / Tired of the wilderness. / Down with every weight and sin; / Let’s go up and enter in. / Hallelujah, Hallelujah, / Hallelujah, Amen. (Hymns #1166)