Elijah was a minister of the age with the vision for his age, doing the particular recoveries and works of the Lord that He instructed him to do; he was an anti-testimony to that age, being faithful to God and not caring even for his own life as he obeyed God.
He truly was a pattern to us of how an overcomer should be.
This week we come to the second main crystal in the books of 1 and 2 Kings, Four Crucial Journeys to Enter into the Ministry of the Age by Closely Following the Minister of the Age with the Vision of the Age.
We may read this title and think, how did we get this from 1 and 2 Kings? What strikes us the most when we read these two books is this king was good, the other king was not so good, this king did this and that king did that.
But if we have the view of God’s eternal economy as we come to the Bible, we will see things from God’s perspective, and Elijah the prophet will definitely stand out.
In particular, we see how God was about to take Elijah up, and he told his servant Elisha, his co-prophet in training, to remain in a particular place; Elisha, however, did not stay but rather, followed Elijah until he saw him raptured.
The stations or places they went through on the way to Elijah being raptured are very significant, for they represent crucial journeys for us to enter into the ministry of the age as we are closely following the minister of the age with the vision of the age.
Elijah was the minister of that age, he had the ministry of the age, and he had the vision of that age; Elisha may not have seen much nor did he have the ministry of that age, but he closely followed Elijah, and he became the minister of the age.
Actually, on the way, there were fifty prophets who knew that Elijah would be taken, and they told Elisha; however, instead of them remaining with Elijah to the end, they did not closely follow, so they never entered into the ministry of that age.
This is amazing and very significant. We could be those who have the Lord’s speaking, and the word of the Lord is living and operative in us; however, because we do not follow the minister of the age with the ministry of the age, we may not have the vision of that age. Wow!
We don’t want to merely be among those who can prophesy and speak the word of God; we want to closely follow the minister of the age with the vision of the age so that we may enter into the ministry of the age ourselves.
We thank the Lord for showing us the centre of the Lord’s move in His economy, and we can cooperate with Him for the fulfilment of His economy. May we be faithful to what the Lord shows us in the ministry and may we closely follow!
The Minister of the Age, the Vision of the Age, and the Ministry of the Age
In his age, Elijah was a minister of the age with the vision for his age (cf. Mal. 4:5-6; Luke 1:13-17, 76-80; Matt. 17:1-13; Rev. 11:3-12).
In every age, the Lord has special things that He wants to accomplish; He has His own recoveries and His own works to do. The particular recovery and work that God does in one age is the ministry of that age.
In Elijah’s time, his ministry was for him to be an anti-testimony to that age, telling the children of Israel that idolatry is a sin that offends God.
All the people of Israel around him worshipped idols, but Elijah was an anti-testimony and told them that the idols they worshipped were false gods, and only Jehovah was the true God. This was his ministry – the ministry of the age with the vision of the age.
What do we mean by these terms, the minister of the age, the vision of the age, and the ministry of the age?
We would recommend the book, The Vision of the Age, by Witness Lee, for your prayerful reading; in it we see that in every age the Lord has some special things He wants to accomplish in every age, so He has a minister of the age with the ministry of the age and the vision of the age.
In Genesis, for example, we see nine major figures, each of them having a particular vision and a particular ministry.
Adam, for example, saw the fact that man needs redemption for the forgiveness of sins, based on the coats of skins that God made for them and on the fact that Abel raised sheep to offer them to God.
The skins of these lambs signified being clothed with Christ as God’s righteousness; this was the vision for that age.
Abel saw God’s way of redemption and he even died while keeping God’s way of redemption.
Enosh saw the vision of the age he was in, and he called on the name of the Lord; the vision of that age is to call on the name of the Lord, for man is mortal and frail.
If we were in the time of Enosh, we had to call on the name of the Lord like him. Today we are still enjoying this ministry, for we as believers in Christ are those who call on the name of the Lord in every place (2 Tim. 2:22).
After Enosh we have Enoch; he walked with God for three hundred years, and he was not, for God took him.
In Heb. 11:5-6 we see that Enoch obtained the testimony that he was well-pleasing to God, for he walked by faith; therefore, God translated him.
On one hand, we need to walk by faith in God, and on the other hand, we realize that we are not but God is, so we let Him live and do everything in us.
We need to take God as our centre and our everything, doing everything according to God’s revelation and leading.
This was the vision for the age of Enoch, and Enoch was the minister of that age.
Noah saw the vision of his age and built the ark; he was a herald of righteousness who not only walked with God but also worked with God, being God’s co-worker to build the ark.
To be a co-worker with God we need to be a co-walker with God.
The ministry of the age that Noah did was not unique and apart; it built upon and included all the past ministries of the age, including God’s way of redemption, calling in the name of the Lord, and walking with God.
Noah inherited all the past ministries and visions of the age and went on with the Lord to work with God.
After Noah we see Abraham; with him, we have both justification by faith and walking by faith.
Then, with Isaac, we see inheriting grace for our rest and enjoyment; all Isaac did is to enjoy the riches of his father, and everything was coming to him and being done for him for his rest and enjoyment.
With Jacob, we see the transformation in life and the maturity in life. Later, with Joseph, we see the reigning aspect of maturity in life.
Each of these nine major figures in Genesis had the vision of that age, the ministry of the age, and the minister of that age.
As the age progresses, the ministry of the age progresses and includes all the foregoing ministries that went before it.
In Elijah’s time, the people were so degraded and fallen that Elijah had to do one main thing: stand for God, be an anti-testimony to that age, and be strong even to death for the Lord.
Throughout the ages, the testimony of the Lord has been lost, and even the so-called Roman Catholic “Church” locked the Bible to the extent that only those who read Latin and Greek could read it. This is why there were the Dark Ages – the Bible was lost.
But praise the Lord, He raised up Martin Luther with the vision of that age to be the minister of that age; he recovered the justification by faith, and he helped translate the word of God into the language of the people.
He did not fully see the matter of justification by faith, but he did recover this matter initially.
Later we see many others such as the inner life brothers, Count Zinzendorf in the 18th century, the British Brethren in the 19th century, and in the 20th century, we see brother Nee and brother Lee.
Now we are in the twenty-first century, we have an all-inheriting vision of the age which includes all the preceding visions of the age.
We have a panoramic view of God’s eternal economy and we see the vision of the age from the garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem.
We now live and work out the New Jerusalem, and we aspire to be the Lord’s overcomers in this age.
And we do this by closely following the vision of this age and the minister of the age to be in the ministry of this age. Our prayer to the Lord is,
Lord Jesus, thank You for bringing us under the ministry of this age to see the vision of the age and be one with the minister of the age to follow You and live the Christian life in the church life for the building up of the Body of Christ. We want to remain here, Lord, under a clear sky seeing the vision of God’s eternal economy from the garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem. Hallelujah, today we enjoy God’s way of redemption, we call on the name of the Lord, we walk with God, we work with God, and we go on with the Lord according to the vision of this age. We are one with You, Lord, and we are one with the saints as we stand on the ground of oneness in the Body of Christ to live out and work out the New Jerusalem. Make us Your overcomers today, those who stand for Your testimony in this age and cooperate with You to bring in Your kingdom!
Being the Overcomers of Today Standing for the Lord as an Anti-Testimony to this Generation
The ministry of Elijah was an anti-testimony; all of Israel was worshipping Idols, but Elijah told them that the idols they worshipped were false gods, and only Jehovah was the true God (1 Kings 18:19, 21, 36; 2 Kings 1:16).
He told them that idolatry is a sin that offends God. He was the most prominent and the most representative of the prophets before the captivity.
Elijah was an overcomer and a pattern to us to be those standing for the Lord as an anti-testimony to this generation.
At his time, under the leadership of the king of Israel, Ahab, the people of Israel forsook God, went far away from Him, and worshipped idols.
At such a time, Elijah came to be an anti-testimony, telling them to not worship Baal but to worship Jehovah.
People said that everything was peaceful and well, but Elijah told them that there would be no rain for three and a half years (1 Kings 17:1).
He was a living testimony before the king and the people; his conduct was contrary to that of the people, for he was an anti-testimony to that generation.
There were other prophets in that time, the prophets of Baal, and they called themselves prophets of God, but they were false prophets.
And there were seven thousand hidden prophets who did not worship Baal at that time, but they were in hiding.
Only Elijah stood alone to openly bear an anti-testimony, not fearing death.
At one point Elijah even challenged four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal with no fear (18:17-40), and the Lord was with him.
He was a prophet raised by God at one of the darkest hours of Israel’s sad history, and their desolation and darkness were most severe, for the entire kingdom of Israel was following a pattern of idolatry (1 Kings 18:19) He represents the principle of not caring for one’s own life but caring for God’s testimony.
The whole earth was against Elijah, but he stood for the Lord to be an anti-testimony to that generation. This kind of overcomer the Lord is looking after today.
The attitude he had and the life he lived is a type of what the overcomers should do today.
We need to be the overcomers of today who stand for the Lord as an anti-testimony to this generation.
We may not be that outspoken to tell others to return to worshipping God, but our living and testimony need to show that we worship and serve the living and true God.
Today the church is desolate and the majority of believers forsake God’s testimony, so God wants to raise up His overcomers to be an anti-testimony.
May we be those who cooperate with Him to be His overcomers according to this principle, not caring for our own life but standing for the Lord’s testimony.
Every overcomer and witness for God has the feeling that he alone is standing; the Lord has many thousands of hidden believers who are openly declaring what they are, but we want to be an anti-testimony today.
May we learn from Elijah to not care for the attitude of others, not hold on to the past, and not fear the consequences but be the overcomers who care only for God’s will.
May we care for God’s will more than we care for our life; may we stand as an anti-testimony to this generation, and may we cooperate with God to maintain God’s testimony.
This is not something we do in and of ourselves, in our own zeal and desire to please God; we do this by being one with the Lord and under the ministry of the age, having the vision of the age and being one with the minister of the age.
Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You to be Your overcomers today, those who are an anti-testimony to this godless generation today. By Your mercy and grace, we stand one with You for Your testimony on earth. We do not hold on to the past and we do not care for the attitude of others: we simply stand for the truth and we declare Your truth. Oh Lord, grant us to remain one spirit with You under the ministry of the age, having the vision of the age, and being one with the minister of the age. Save us from being swept away by the tide of lawlessness and immorality in the world, and keep us from the tide of degradation in Christianity. We stand one with You as an anti-testimony today, keeping Your testimony and seeking Your kingdom!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1954, vol. 2, pp. 429-430, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Kings (2022 summer training), week 2, entitled, Four Crucial Journeys to Enter into the Ministry of the Age by Closely Following the Minister of the Age with the Vision of the Age.
- Hymns on this topic:
– When Noah worked upon the ark as God to him decreed. / So many others watched, yet to his words they gave no heed. / But Noah heard the voice of God and did His word obey; / His business was to build the ark; he couldn’t waste a day. / Now Jesus’ testimony, we in the churches see / The ark of testimony built in each locality. (Hymns #1268, stanza 1 and chorus)
– Lord, we would be as Abel, fully contacting You; / Not by knowledge or concept, but by life fresh and new. / Just as Enosh began to call upon Your name, / And as Enoch who walked with You, we’ll do just the same. / Keep us living and walking as did old Abraham; / In Your holy appearing to be transfused like him. / As did Isaac and Jacob, Moses lived this way— / So dependent upon Your presence with him each day. (Hymns #1194, stanzas 2 and 3)
– Soon the local churches / Shall the Bride become, / Bringing in that city— / New Jerusalem. / Then the many lampstands / Shall one lampstand be; / Triune God expressing, / Universally. / Lo, from heav’n descending, / All the earth shall see / God’s complete expression, / For eternity. (Hymns #1259, last stanza)
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In every age the Lord has special things that He wants to accomplish. He has His own recoveries and His own works to do. The particular recovery and work that He does in one age is the ministry of that age. It is God’s mercy that a person can see and come into contact with the ministry of that age. Yet it is altogether a different thing for a man to take up the courage to forsake the past ministry…Yet whether or not one can set aside his past ministry is entirely up to God’s mercy. Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 57, “The Resumption of Watchman Nee’s Ministry,” pp. 260-261
There were many prophets of Baal during the time of Ahab, and they called themselves prophets of God. Although there were seven thousand hidden ones who did not worship Baal at that time, only Elijah openly bore an anti-testimony and did not fear death. Elijah alone stood before the king, the people, and the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal without any fear (18:17-40). Elijah represents the principle of not caring for one’s own life in order to maintain God’s testimony. When Elijah stood up to testify, the whole earth was against him; he alone testified for God. In this matter Elijah was special. Throughout the ages, among God’s people, some have been this kind of overcomer. These matters in the Old Testament typify matters of the church in the New Testament. When the church is desolate and the majority of the believers forsake God’s testimony, God raises up overcomers to be an antitestimony. Today the church needs overcomers according to this principle, that is, ones who do not care for their own life. Every overcomer and witness for God has the feeling that he alone is standing… Although God had hidden seven thousand who did not worship Baal, Elijah’s feeling was that he alone was standing (19:10)…To be an overcomer, one cannot fear the consequences, hold on to the past, or care for the attitudes of others; he must care only for God’s will. Elijah did not care for his life but stood as an antitestimony, maintained God’s testimony, and told the people that they should follow Jehovah instead of Baal …The principle of the overcomers that he represented in this period is that of rising up to be an anti-testimony when God’s people forsake His testimony. Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1954, vol. 1, pp. 429-430
Wow, Elijah was such a pattern to us as an overcomer who spoke for God and stood as an anti-testimony to that evil generation, not caring for his own life but for the Lord’s testimony!
Yes, the Lord has His seeking ones, but many are hidden; however, He needs some to rise up as an anti-testimony when God’s people forsake His testimony.
Brother we see that elijah in the desolation and degradation of God’s people worshipping baals God used him as the minister of the age to be anti testimony he was one who stood against the worshipping of idols and he was one who openly stood against he did not care even for his life but stood for God, he was an overcomer.
Now today we need to do the same when God’s people are forsaking we need to be an anti testimony who stand for the Lord
As an anti-testimony Elijah stood alone when the King of Israel lead the people into idolatry.
Although there were another 7,000 who were not idolaters as an overcomer he alone openly testified against the age he lived in as the minister of that age.
Similarly, as overcomers we may have the sense that we are standing alone, caring not for the past or the attititudes of others but only for God’s will, standing for God’s testimony!
Yes, Lord, make us today’s Elijahs, those who are willing to speak your economy without great or favour.
Aaaaameeen! Make us Your overcomers Lord!!!
Amen Lord! Produce us as your Antipas today! Save us from having idols In our hearts, may we heed to the ministry of the age! Thank you for having mercy upon us, thank you for this ministry!
Amen Lord Jesus! Be merciful to us to enlighten our seeing the ministry of the age and be kept in the principle of the overcomers, counting our own life as loss on account of gaining Christ for the fulfillment of God’s will in this age! May our ministry follow the pattern of the apostle Paul, to be an anti-testimony to this religion and degreded age! Gain us and produce us as Your overcomers!
Wow brother what a mercy from God the we have seen and have come into contact with the ministry of the age concerning God’s economy for Christ and the church!