The Present Truth is the Central Revelation of God and the Lord’s Present Recovery

It is good to be reminded concerning the present truth, even though we may know it and may be established in it, for the present truth is both the central revelation of God and the Lord’s present recovery.

The apostle Peter mentions this expression, “the present truth” in 2 Pet. 1:12, and we do well to prayerfully consider and ask the Lord what is the present truth.

All the truths are in the Bible, and the entire divine revelation of God has been completed in the sixty-six books of the Bible. So then, what is the present truth? Even though all the truths are in the Bible, throughout the ages many truths have been lost and hidden from man because of man’s unfaithfulness, negligence, disobedience, and even foolishness.

Because the Catholic church locked the Bible for almost a millennium, the whole earth was in the Dark Ages. But the Lord was faithful to raise up many of His loving seekers to not “invent new things” besides the Bible but do fresh new discoveries in the word of God; these new discoveries are the present truth in that age.

If we were living in the age of Martin Luther, the present truth in that age was that God justifies man only through faith, and salvation is freely of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Age after age the Lord has revealed more and more of the truth in the Bible in a fresh way to those who sought Him, and today we stand on the shoulders of many who went before us. Today we don’t have “new inventions” – we have a lot of new discoveries, and the entire divine revelation in the Bible is opened up; we have reached the high peak of the divine revelation!

We need to be clear, however, what is the present truth; we need to ask the Lord and be crystal clear concerning what is the present truth in this age. God’s truths are cumulative; the truths we see, enjoy, and hold dear today do not negate any former truths, but rather build upon them.

When the Lord opens our eyes to see that the truths throughout the ages are cumulative revelations of God, we will realize that we live in the tide of God’s will.

Wave after wave in age after age, God has released fresh new revelations to those who sought after Him with a pure heart, and today we can know and stand firm in the present truth.

The Present Truth is the Central Revelation of God and the Lord’s Present Recovery

What is the present truth? Is the present truth anything different from the central revelation of God? Is the present truth part of the Lord’s recovery? In a very simple way, the present truth is nothing else but the central revelation of God and at the same time it is the Lord’s present recovery.

The central revelation of God and the Lord’s recovery is God becoming the flesh, the flesh becoming the life-giving Spirit, and the life-giving Spirit becoming the sevenfold intensified Spirit to build up the church that becomes the Body of Christ and that consummates in the New Jerusalem.

The Bible reveals that God became flesh, then the flesh became the life-giving Spirit, and the life-giving Spirit has been intensified sevenfold to be the seven Spirits of God to build up the church that becomes the Body of Christ and consummates the New Jerusalem.

This is the central revelation of God and the Lord’s present recovery. We need to not be held back by any old theology or by our old understanding of the recovery, but be up-to-date with the Lord and know what the Lord’s present recovery and the central revelation of God is.

Lord Jesus, unveil us and remove any old concepts and old theology from our being that we may clearly see what is the central revelation of God and what is the Lord’s present recovery. May we realize that the Lord’s recovery is God becoming the flesh, the flesh becoming the life-giving Spirit, and the life-giving Spirit becoming the sevenfold intensified Spirit to build up the church that becomes the Body of Christ and that consummates the New Jerusalem! Amen, Hallelujah!

The Full Ministry of Christ in three Stages is the Central Revelation of God and the Present Truth

At the end of this age, our responsibility as those who have been shown mercy from the Lord to be in His recovery and see the present truth is that we preach the central revelation of God, stand in the present truth, and uplift Christ.

The central revelation of God and the present truth is the full ministry of Christ in three stages: incarnation, inclusion, and intensification.

In the first stage, the stage of His incarnation – from His human birth to His death – Christ did four main things: He brought the infinite God into the finite man, He united and mingled the Triune God with the tripartite man, He expressed in His humanity the bountiful God in His rich attributes through His aromatic virtues, and He accomplished His all-inclusive judicial redemption (see John 1:1, 14; Matt. 1:18, 20; John 5:19; 4:34; 17:4; 14:10, 24; 5:30; 7:18; 1:29; Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19).

In His incarnation, Christ was God becoming a man, He lived a perfect human life, and He died an all-inclusive, all-terminating, life-germinating death on the cross.

Then, after His death, Christ entered into another stage, for 1 Cor. 15:45 clearly says that, The last Adam (that is, Christ in the flesh) became a life-giving Spirit.

In the second stage, the stage of His inclusion – from His resurrection to the degradation of the church – Christ was begotten by God to be God’s firstborn Son, He became the life-giving Spirit, and He regenerated the believers for His Body (see Acts 13:33; 1 Cor. 15:45; 1 Pet. 1:3).

After He resurrected, Christ entered into the stage of His “inclusion” – everything that He went through before was “included” in the Spirit, and as the Spirit Christ did many wonderful things.

First, in His resurrection Christ was begotten by God in His humanity to be the firstborn Son of God, bringing His humanity into His divinity and divinizing His humanity, thus bringing a man into God; now a Man is on the throne, and Jesus Christ the Man is the Lord over all in the universe! Wow!

Furthermore, in His resurrection, Christ became the life-giving Spirit so that He may impart the divine life in a communicable form into all those who believe into Him.

Also, in His resurrection Christ regenerated all His believers – all those who believe into Him, all throughout time and space – for His Body; His resurrection was one massive birth: the Head of the Body was born to be the Firstborn Son of God, and the millions of believers were also born to be the many sons of God and the many brothers of Christ. Wow, Hallelujah!

However, the Lord’s second stage didn’t last for long, for the charge began to be degraded; shortly after the church was produced in Acts 1, it began to be degraded, and it degraded throughout the age to such an extent that the Lord could no longer tolerate it.

Therefore, in Revelation we don’t merely see Christ in the flesh or the life-giving Spirit; in Revelation, we see the seven Spirits of God, which are not seven different spirits but the one Spirit of God who is intensified sevenfold to deal with the degradation of the church (Rev. 1:4; 5:6).

In the third stage, the stage of His intensification – from the degradation of the church to the consummation of the New Jerusalem – Christ intensifies His organic salvation, He produces the overcomers, and He consummates the New Jerusalem (see Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6; 2:1-7; 19:7-9; 21:2).

Even though Paul spoke of the Body of Christ, there was not much reality of the Body of Christ in the local churches at his time, or at any time throughout the ages.

This is why the Lord was intensified sevenfold so that, especially now in the last days, He would intensify His organic salvation and produce His believers to be His overcomers to build up the church as the Body of Christ and consummate the New Jerusalem.

Wow, praise the Lord! What a glorious and high view of Christ’s full ministry in three stages – incarnation, inclusion, and intensification, which is also the central revelation of God, the Lord’s present recovery, and the present truth!

Thank You Lord for becoming a man to bring God into man, unite and mingle God with man, express God in humanity, and accomplish Your all-inclusive redemption. Thank You, Lord, for passing through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit and regenerate us to be the many sons of God and the brothers of Christ, members of the organic universal Body of Christ. Amen! Thank You, Lord, for being intensified sevenfold as the Spirit to intensify Your organic salvation, produce us as Your overcomers, and consummate the New Jerusalem! Hallelujah for Christ’s full ministry in three stages, which is the present truth, the central revelation of God, and the Lord’s present recovery!

Doing a Work of Three Sections to Fulfill God’s Eternal Purpose

As we see and realize that the present truth is the full ministry of Christ in three stages – incarnation, inclusion, and intensification – we need to do a work of three sections to fulfill God’s eternal purpose.

First, we need to do a work in the sage of incarnation to produce redeemed people, that is, preach the gospel to get people saved and come into the kingdom of God, the church life today.

Then, we need to do a work in the stage of inclusion to produce the churches; we need not only to preach the gospel to save sinners but bring these ones into the church life and raise up churches to be the Lord’s testimony on earth.

In the stage of inclusion we enjoy the life-giving Spirit and minister life to others so that they would see the church and come into the church life for God’s purpose.

Furthermore, we need to do a work in the stage of intensification to produce the overcomers to build up the Body, which consummates in the New Jerusalem as the unique goal of God’s economy.

We are not here merely to produce redeemed people or raise up churches; we are here to be produced as overcomers and cooperate with the Lord as the sevenfold intensified Spirit to produce the overcomers to build up the Body of Christ which consummates in the New Jerusalem.

This is the present truth, the central revelation in the Bible, and the Lord’s present recovery which He has entrusted us in the twenty-first century with; we don’t know how long until the history turns, but we know that the time is short.

May we be faithful to what the Lord has given us, and may we know Him, experience Him, enjoy Him, and fulfill our responsibility to preach this Christ, who is God’s centrality and universality!

Thank You Lord for entrusting us with the present truth – the full ministry of Christ in three stages, the central revelation in the Bible. Lord, we want to be faithful to Your revelation and know Christ, experience Christ, and fulfill our responsibility to uplift and preach this all-inclusive Christ, doing a work in three sections for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose. May our living and work produce believers, churches, and even more overcomers for the building up of the church and the consummation of the New Jerusalem!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother James L. for this week, and portions from, How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, chs. 1-2 (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. 1 (week 1), Cooperating with God to Carry Out His Move in His Economy by Knowing This Age and by Knowing the Present Truth.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # The full ministry of Christ / Is carried out in three stages / For the fulfillment of God’s eternal economy. / In the first stage of incarnation: / To bring God into man, / To express God in humanity, / And to accomplish His judicial redemption. / In the second stage of inclusion: / To be begotten as God’s firstborn Son, / To become the life-giving Spirit, and / To regenerate the believers for His Body. / In the third stage of intensification: / To intensify His organic salvation, / To produce the overcomers, and / To consummate the New Jerusalem. (Song on the full ministry of Christ)
  # God of glory, we bow the knee, / Grant us today / Spir’t of wisdom, revelation, / The mystery to see, / I’d outpour all my life for Thine economy, / Just for Thine eternal pleasure, / The Body of Christ, / In my mingled spirit lead me / To the Body’s reality, / In Thine intensification / Make us the testimony of Jesus / O Lord! For this we yearn! / Quickly come, as once Thou promised! / Lord, our deepest longing / Is Thy return! (Song on consecrating for the Lord’s testimony)