Being Saved from this evil age by Working out our Salvation and Building the Corporate Christ

For us to be saved from this crooked and perverse generation, we need to build up the corporate Christ, the church, as the ark for our salvation and the salvation of those under our care; in the church life we’re building up the church as our salvation from this evil age.

Many believers are wondering when will the Lord return and what are the signs of His coming; some go even further to study the signs and try to make predictions on the day and year of His return.

We are not here for this; only the Father knows when the Son will return, but we see the signs of His coming, and we want to be prepared for His return so that He may take us as His overcomers.

In Luke 17:26-27, the Lord tells us that, even as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man; people were eating, drinking, marrying, being given in marriage until the day in which Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.

People today do exactly what they want and violence fills the earth; some take the law into their own hands and do their own justice, others are protesting against the decisions of the government, while still others make more and more money at the cost of the ones who become poorer and poorer.

People today are eating, drinking, marrying, divorcing, remarrying, and doing all kinds of things, being fully unaware of the coming judgment.

We need to be the family of Noah today, those who are not stupefied or drugged by the condition of the living on earth today.

There’s a trend of things in the world, a fashion of the age, and people are swept away in the flood of dissoluteness that includes both good and evil things.

Many times as we walk on the street it is as if people are drugged, stupefied, for each is in his own world, his own bubble, and his own things, pursuing what he wants to gain and doing what he desires.

Even in Christianity, there are “bubbles” or “denominations” with all kinds of particular teachings, and the Body of Christ is divided and split in so many ways.

The Lord, however, has a need; His need is to end this age.

Who cares for God’s need? Who cares for the fact that God wants to end this age and bring in the age of the kingdom?

Who cooperates with the Lord today to be saved from this crooked and perverted generation by building the corporate Christ, the church, to be an anti-testimony to the world today and bring in the Lord back?

May we be such ones. May we aspire to be the overcomers today, those who are raptured when the Lord returns so that we may enjoy His presence and reign with Him for one thousand years.

We desire not only to escape the great tribulation but even more, to overcome the stupefying effect of man’s living today and end this age so that the Lord may bring in His sweet and wonderful kingdom on the earth!

Cooperating with the Lord to be Saved from this Evil Age and Work out our own Salvation in the Church Life

In the days of Noah, there must have been more than eight people who sought after God and walked with God, but only Noah and his family entered into the ark to be saved from that crooked and perverted age.

Similarly today, there are millions who are saved from eternal perdition, and they will not be in the lake of fire for eternity, but how many are working out their own salvation (Phil. 2:12)?

How many enter into the ark today so that they would be saved from this evil age, this evil generation?

We need to work out our own salvation, which is not our salvation from eternal perdition but being saved from the crooked and perverted generation among whom we live today (v. 15).

To be saved from eternal perdition by believing into the Lord Jesus is only half of our salvation; we need to be saved from this evil generation by working out our own salvation in the church life today.

All believers in Christ are saved from eternal perdition, but only a few cooperate with the Lord to be fully saved from the crooked and perverted generation in which we live.

May we be those who cooperate with the Lord today, under His shining, that we would be saved from this evil age by working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who operates in us both the willing and the working (Phil. 2:13).

God already operates in us; He does the willing and the working, we simply need to cooperate.

We need to say Amen to His inner working. When we say Amen to Him, when we open to Him and allow Him to work in us, He will save us to the uttermost.

On the negative side, we will be rescued out of this crooked generation; on the positive side, we will enter into the ark, which is the proper church life.

It is by entering into and living in the reality of the Body of Christ in the church life that we are saved from this evil age.

We work out our own salvation by entering into the genuine church life and building up the church.

We all can testify that, when we were saved, the whole world became different to us; everything was amazing, and we were so happy to have the Lord in us and for us to be in Him.

We didn’t really realize what happened, but we were so happy to have the Lord.

Also, we can testify that, when we entered into the church life and when we live in the church life, we feel as if we are saved again, this time not only from sin and the world, but from this evil age.

Our salvation is the Lord Jesus Himself and His Body, the church; if we are saved only in our spirit by the Lord as our Savior, that is half-salvation – we also need to be saved by entering into and living in the reality of the Body of Christ in the church life today.

The apostle Paul was saved in this way: he not only saw Jesus, the Savior, but the Lord Jesus revealed to him the Body of Christ when He asked Paul, Why are you persecuting Me? This wonderful, corporate Me is the Body of Christ; Paul was saved by seeing the vision of Christ and of the Body of Christ.

We are truly saved and fully saved when we see the vision and enter into the reality of Christ and the church, the Head and the Body of Christ.

We can either be in the crooked and perverted generation today or we can be in the church life; we either express Christ or we are swept away in this evil age.

May we be those who cooperate with the Lord today to work out our own salvation, allowing Him to operate in us, and may we live in the church life to be saved from this evil age!

Lord Jesus, we say Amen to Your working in us. We want to cooperate with You by working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who operates in us both the willing and the working. Amen, Lord, save us from this evil age. Operate in us and deliver us from this crooked and perverted generation. Show us a vision of the Body of Christ so that we may be fully saved in the church life! We want to live in the reality of the Body of Christ, build up the corporate Christ, the church, and be saved from this evil age! Amen, Lord, grant us to be Your overcomers in this evil age today, shining as luminaries in this dark age!

We are Building the Corporate Christ, the Church, as our Salvation from this Evil Age

The ark built by Noah is a type of Christ as the salvation of God’s elect; it is when we are in Christ that we are saved from God’s judgment on the world.

The ark we are building today is the corporate Christ, the church, as our salvation from today’s crooked, perverted, and evil generation (1 Cor. 12:12, 27). What would we do without the church life?

Just like so many other Christians, we would wander around, seeking for peace and rest in the “church of our choice”.

Praise the Lord He brought us to the place of His choice, the church life on the ground of oneness, where we can enjoy Christ, live Christ, minister Christ, and worship God in spirit and truthfulness.

The church life is today’s ark to terminate the present age and bring in the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 1:2; 12:12, 27; 1 Thes. 1:1, 9-10).

May we be the family of Noah of today, those who live in the church life and are building the corporate Christ, the church, as our salvation from this evil age, so that we may end this age and bring in the age of the kingdom!

May we be the family of Noah today who build the ark and testify against the trend of the age so that He can use us to terminate this age and bring in the kingdom age (Heb. 11:7; Rev. 11:15)!

What we are building today in the church life is not a particular ministry or work; we are building the corporate Christ as the ark for our salvation and also for the salvation of the ones under our care (1 Cor. 12:12; 14:26; Phil. 2:12-13).

God wants to save us from this crooked and perverted generation and usher us into God’s kingdom to fulfill His eternal purpose (Matt. 6:33; 13:43; Luke 12:32; Rev. 11:15).

He wants to gain the church, the corporate Christ, who is the ark today, where we can be saved from today’s evil generation (Acts 2:40-47).

God cares for whether or not we are in the ark, the proper church life; He wants us not only to be saved from judgement but also be part of the corporate Christ, the testimony of Jesus (1 Cor. 12:12; Rev. 1:2, 9, 11, 20; 22:16).

The ark today that we are building as the family of Noah in the church life is the corporate Christ; we are building the corporate Christ, the church, as our salvation from this evil age.

The apostles did this and we also do it today; they preached the individual Christ for the building up of the corporate Christ.

They didn’t only preach the gospel but also establish local churches for the saints to live the church life and build the corporate Christ, the church, to be the testimony of Jesus in that locality.

The church today is the corporate Christ, and our entrance into the church and practicing to live the church life saves us from this crooked and perverted generation.

We all can testify that, once we entered into the church life, we felt as if we were saved a second time.

Even more, as we live the church life and are building the corporate Christ with the saints, we don’t need to stay away from the things in the world or not go to movies – we simply enjoy Christ with the saints so much that we spontaneously are saved from this evil age.

As we practice churching, living the church life by coming to the meetings, again and again, to enjoy Christ and share our enjoyment of Christ, we are spontaneously saved from this evil age.

When the ark is built up, when the corporate Christ is fully built up, the Lord Jesus will return (Rev. 19:7; 22:7, 12, 20).

When a large enough number of people practice living in the reality of the Body of Christ in the church life and are building the corporate Christ, Christ will return, He will judge this crooked and perverted generation, and He will bring in His eternal kingdom.

The Lord has not come yet because He is still waiting for the ark to be built (Matt. 16:18, 27).

When the testimony of the church in the Lord’s recovery is matured, the Lord Jesus will return. Amen, Lord, have Your way to gain this!

Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to build the corporate Christ, the church, so that we may be saved from this evil age! Bring us fully into the church life to be part of the corporate Christ, the testimony of Jesus! Amen, Lord, we want to be saved much more today in Your life, saved from this evil generation by living in the church life and building the corporate Christ for You to return and bring in the kingdom! Amen, Lord, gain a group of people who cooperate with You by churching daily for the building of the corporate Christ! May the ark be built up today in the church life – may the testimony of the church in the Lord’s recovery be matured, so that the Lord may return! Come, Lord Jesus!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a message by bro. Mark Raabe on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1975-1976, vol. 1, “The Testimony of Jesus” (pp. 323-324), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Meeting God’s Need and Present needs in the Lord’s Recovery, week 1, God’s Need in the Present Age.
• Recommended further reading: see the outline on, Being Saved from the Crooked and Perverted Generation to Be the Corporate Christ as Today’s Ark, via Church in NYC; listen to the message 3 on Being Saved from the Crooked and Perverted Generation to Be the Corporate Christ… via Heavenly Foods;
• Hymns on this topic:
  – One day the ark was finished and eight souls were led aboard. / God shut the door and then the heavens opened and outpoured. / It rained, but Noah took no thought for he was safe inside. / When all the earth was flooded, he above it all did ride. / The ark was just God’s testimony on the earth that time. / For God had found a corporate man through whom His light could shine. / He needed something built through which He’d fully be expressed, / And now it is the local church where God is manifest. (Hymns #1268)
  – Praise You Lord, we’re safe in You; / Outside death-waters pour. / Many things that I once loved / Are on the ocean floor. / Keep us open to You Lord, / Don’t let us miss the mark. / Hallelujah, praise the Lord, / We’re here within the church, the Ark. (Song on, Dearest Lord, You’ve called us here)
  – Now we have a home so bright that outshines the sun, / Where the brothers all unite and truly are one. / Jesus gets us all together, Him we now display / In the local church. / Do come, oh, do come, / Says Spirit and the Bride: / Do come, oh, do come, / Let him that heareth, cry. / Do come, oh, do come, / Let him who thirsts and will / Take freely the water of life! (Hymns #1151)