According to God’s view, His people are sheaves full of life and heavenly bodies full of light; if we praise the Lord for His saints being full of life and light, we will be the first to participate in life.
Praise the Lord for the saints! We need to learn that the way we look at and we speak of God’s people is a serious matter; merely uttering things about God’s people “in all honesty” may bring in a curse rather than God’s blessing.
In God’s eyes and according to the revelation of the Bible, the church is of Christ, of resurrection, and in the heavenlies. We all were seated with Christ in the heavenlies, for God put us in Christ and He raised us up together with Him; the church according to God is in the heavenlies.
The church is of resurrection, for we all were regenerated through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; therefore, the church is resurrectionly, of resurrection and in resurrection.
The church is in Christ, for the church was taken out of Christ, is built with the element of Christ, and the church is nothing else but Christ being increased in man; therefore, the church is Christly.
Through His all-inclusive death on the cross, Christ terminated all the negative thing and the entire old creation; then, in His resurrection He produced the church to be a new creation created in Christ’s resurrection and by the resurrected Christ.
Praise the Lord for the church according to God’s view – an entity in Christ, in resurrection, and in the heavenlies!
If we have such a vision of the church, anything that is not of Christ, of resurrection, or of the heavens will be ruled out; such a vision will govern us to the uttermost, and we will see the people of God the way that God sees them.
Joseph was one of the eleven sons of Jacob, and his father loved him very much; he saw the evil that his brothers did, and he brought his father the evil report of their doings, therefore his brothers hated him and wanted to do away with Him.
So God gave him two dreams, the first of sheaves and the second of heavenly bodies; through these dreams God wanted to show Joseph that both and his brothers are full of life and light, so he is no different than them in God’s eyes.
May the Lord shine on us to see that His people are like sheaves full of life to satisfy God and man, and they are like the heavenly bodies shining light on those on the earth; the saints are full of life and light!
In God’s Eternal View, His People are Heavenly Bodies full of Light
In his second dream, Joseph saw the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowing down to him; in God’s eternal view, His people are heavenly bodies full of light (see Gen. 37:9).
This second dream was a confirmation of the first dream, in which God showed Joseph that both he and his brothers are sheaves full of life. Both us and the saints are the same in God’s eyes – we are full of life and light, sheaves of life and heavenly bodies full of light.
If the Lord chooses one of us to do a certain work or have a certain position of authority, this is all of His mercy and His choosing, but in the eyes of God all His people are heavenly bodies full of light.
All those in the church life which we may accuse as being not good but full of iniquities, all of them are stars, and together we are the moon.
If we have the reigning aspect of the maturity in life, we will never condemn others; rather, we will shepherd them and appreciate them, and we will help them realize their real nature, function, and goal as God’s people on the earth.
We need to have the heavenly dream, the vision from God, so that we may realize what and who the people of God are.
We may have been in the church life for a long time, and even though at the beginning we thought that the saints are perfect and wonderful, we have seen faults and problems for almost every saint, and we may have even criticized them at home to our wife or husband.
According to our initial natural view, we though that the saints are wonderful and the church life is glorious, but now we may see things differently; what we need is the divine view, the heavenly dream, so that we may see the saints the way that God sees them.
When we have the heavenly view of God’s people, we will be encouraged; we will realize that the saints are not “scorpions” or “snakes” or “turtles” but rather, they are the heavenly bodies full of light, and they reflect the light from Christ Himself, the sun.
When we have the heavenly dream, we realize that we are among sheaves of life, we are under the sun and the moon, and we are walking among the stars in the church life.
This is similar to the vision in Rev. 12:1, where God’s people are signified by the woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and with the crown of twelve stars upon her head. This is how the church is in God’s eyes, and we need to have such a view of God’s people.
When we meet with the saints, we need to realise that they are shining and living stars, and together we are the moon, reflecting the light of Christ, who is the sun.
In Joseph’s case, we can say that he was different from his brothers, but it is not because he was better in himself, but because of God’s mercy, His choice, and His sovereignty.
We may be chosen by God to do a certain thing for Him or we have a certain function, but this is not of ourselves but because of God’s work of grace; it is a testimony not of us but of His tremendous grace, for we are really the same as all the saints, heavenly bodies full of light.
Thank You Lord for making us children of light, even heavenly bodies full of light. Hallelujah, all the saints are like the stars in the heaven, and the church is like the moon, reflecting the light of Christ, the sun! Amen, Lord, grant us to see such an eternal view of the people of God, realizing that all of God’s people are heavenly bodies full of light. Give us Your view of Your people and make our estimation of the saints be the same as Yours. Praise You Lord for all the saints, the living stars, and praise You for the church, the shining moon!
We Praise the Lord for the Saints being Full of Life and Light and Participate in Life
If we praise the Lord for His saints being full of life and light, we will be the first to participate in life (see Gen. 12:2-3; Num. 24:9).
However, if we speak evil of the saints, if we criticize or condemn the saints, we put ourselves under a curse, and death will be our portion.
The psalmist said concerning the saints that all the saints who are on the earth are the excellent, and all his delight was in them (Psa. 16:3); this should also be our realization.
It is a certain thing that if we condemn the church or blame the saints we will suffer the loss of life; no matter how right we may be and wrong the church may be, if we condemn the church and blame the saints, our portion will be death.
The condition of the saints may not be that good and the situation in the church may not be that positive, but if we condemn them, we will suffer the loss of life.
But if we exercise our spirit of faith and said, Lord, I praise You because Your people are full of life and light! then we will be the first to participate in life.
We should not speak that the brothers and the sisters are not good but rather praise the Lord for the saints and the church; in this way we put ourselves under God’s blessing and we enjoy His life.
No one who speaks negatively concerning the church or the saints enjoys life; he may think he enjoys life, but actually he is in death, and he is under a curse.
This doesn’t mean that we ignore the faults and even the sins of the saints, and we declare that everything is fine; rather, this means that we have God’s view of His people, and in His view the church is glorious and the saints are full of life and light!
And we praise the Lord that our brothers and sisters will become heavenly stars full of light – even though they may not be so today, they will be in the future!
We praise the Lord that our brothers and sisters will be sheaves full of life for the satisfaction of God and man – even though this may not be the case right now, God will do it soon!
With God there’s no time element; there’s no clock in heaven, only eternity, and God sees His people from the standpoint of eternity.
When we speak evil of the saints, we are the ones suffering death. If we dare to say something bad of one of the members of the Body, one of God’s people, how would God feel about it? We think we express our feeling, but did we think of God’s feeling toward the same person?
God is not pleased when we criticize the saints; but the more we speak well of the saints, having God’s heart and His feeling for them, the more we will participate in life, and we will be persons full of life.
The more we grow in life and are mature in the divine life, the more we are in the reigning part of the mature one, and we will not slander others but rather, instead of speaking poorly of the saints, we will realize that they are full of life and light, and the church is glorious.
When Balaam came to curse the people of Israel, their condition was not that great; however, God’s view was that He had not beheld evil in Israel and He didn’t see perverseness in Israel (Num. 23:21).
Hallelujah, in God’s eyes all His chosen people are sheaves of life – full of the life supply – and shining stars – full of light!
Lord, we praise You for the saints, Your dear people, for they are becoming persons full of life and light! Hallelujah, though today we may not be like this, God is working on us to make us persons full of life, life supply, light, and shining! Amen, Lord Jesus, may we put aside any evil speaking, condemning, and criticizing, and may we have the heavenly dream to see that the church with all of God’s people is full of life and light! Praise the Lord for the church! Hallelujah for all the saints!
Read this article in the Romanian language / citiți acest articol și în limba română la următorul link, Îl lăudăm pe Domnul că sfinții sunt plini de viață și lumină și participăm în viață.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis, pp. 1417-1424 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Numbers (2), week 11, The Vision of the All-Sufficient One – the Divine View of God’s People.
- Hymns on this topic:
# “As for all the saints who are dwelling on earth,” / To Him they’re the people of excellent worth. / Of them He has said He has all His delight— / In proving this all the four Gospels unite. (Hymns #1082)
# Lastly, precious stars He placed, / Strong in spirit, full of grace; / Shining when the moon seems faint, / These are overcoming saints. / What a glorious picture here: / Sun and moon and stars appear! / Lord, our prayer is that we’d be / Full of light and life in Thee. (Hymns #1192)
# The Church is Thy beloved Bride, / Thou in Thy Body seen; / She is my joy and heart’s desire, / The one on whom I lean. / In her, Thy full supply, O Lord, / Thou dost to me impart; / In her am I possessed by Thee / To satisfy Thy heart. (Hymns #852)
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