As believers in Christ pursuing Him and seeking Him we need to see, live, and practice the present truth, the up-to-date truth, in order to change the age and bring Christ back; we need to be brought into a new revival to turn the age by choosing to take the way of Philadelphia. Amen, Lord Jesus!
This week in our morning revival we come to the last week on the topic of, Loving the Lord and loving the brothers, and the main subject for this week is, Taking the God-ordained Pathway for the Church – the Way of Philadelphia – according to the Lord’s Up-to-date and Ultimate Recovery to Bring us into a new Revival to Turn the Age. Wow!
We need to allow the Lord to unveil us and speak to us something fresh concerning the way we need to take in the church life today, the way that will bring the Lord back and end this age.
In the book of Revelation we see many signs, and the first one is the sign of the local churches, the seven golden lampstands among whom the Son of Man was walking as the High Priest.
On one hand, the seven local churches mentioned in Rev. 2-3 were physical, outward local churches that existed in history and had the problems that the Lord pointed out in the epistles He sent them through John.
On the other hand, they represent stages of church history, aspects of church history, having a prophetical aspect.
The book of Revelation is a book of signs, which are symbols with spiritual significance.
On one hand, the seven churches in Revelation were actual local churches; on the other hand, they signify something prophetically.
Ephesus signified the initial church; Smyrna signifies the suffering church; Pergamos signifies the worldly church.
Thyatira signifies the apostate church; Sardis signifies the Protestant church or the church and the Reformation. Philadelphia is the recovery of the proper church life of brotherly love.
Then we have Laodicea, which is the degraded Philadelphia, having all things but being lukewarm toward the Lord.
If we look at the history of the church, Laodicea is the degraded and distorted Philadelphia.
Philadelphia is what the Lord desires, but when Philadelphia degrades, it becomes Laodicea.
We may believe that we are Philadelphia today, the church of brotherly love, but if we are not on guard and are lukewarm, we may degrade to be Laodicea.
May the Lord save us from being Christless, from having Christ outside the door of the church knocking on the door to get in!
Four out of the seven churches will continue until the Lord’s coming: Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
All these were told by the Lord concerning His coming, and they represent aspects of the church or portions of the members of the Body of Christ that will remain until the Lord returns.
We want to be in Philadelphia today; we want to be the church of brotherly love who has little power but holds the Lord’s up-to-date truth, the present truth, and practices loving one another in the Lord and with the Lord as our love until He returns.
We need to See, Live, and Practice the Present Truth to Change the Age and bring Christ back
1 Pet. 1:12 speaks of the present truth; Peter said that the believers knew these things and have been established in the present truth, but he was ready always to remind them of these things.
What is this “present truth” and what does it refer to?
The entire truth of God is in the Bible, and there’s nothing besides the Bible that God revealed or wants to reveal; every truth of God is in the Bible.
However, throughout the ages, the truths in God’s word have been lost and hidden from man.
Due to man’s foolishness and negligence, the truth has been lost and hidden.
Because the believers in Christ have been disobedient to the heavenly vision, many of the truths in God’s word have been lost and hidden; they are still there in the Bible, but they are not practiced.
But praise the Lord, in the fullness of the time, God released certain truths during a particular period of time, and He caused them to be revealed once more.
For example, during the time of Martin Luther, the truth concerning justification by faith was recovered and revealed once more.
This freshly recovered truth was not “God’s new invention”; rather, this truth was and always is in the Bible, but it became man’s new discovery.
When God gains a vessel that is open to Him and fully unveiled to His word, He can reveal the truths in His word to cause him to see, live, and practice the present truth.
If we study church history we will see that throughout the ages different men have uncovered, discovered, and revealed many truths, and these truths became “the present truth” in that age.
Again, we need to reiterate: all the truths are in God’s word, and He doesn’t reveal new truths that differ from what the Bible reveals.
But our negligence, disobedience, and foolishness as believers in Christ lead to us losing the truth and having it hidden from our view and absent from our experience.
As those who love the Lord and pursue Him, seeking to gain Him and be one with Him for His eternal purpose to be accomplished, we need to see, live, and practice the present truth, the up-to-date truth so that we may bring the Lord back soon.
We need to inquire of the Lord as to what the present truth is, and we need to live and practice the present truth in our daily Christian life.
We all realize that, though the truths are in the Bible, many of them have been hidden and lost when it comes to our experience, enjoyment, and living (see 2 Kings 2:8-11; 23:24-25).
May we be like Jeremiah in Jer. 15:16, Your words were found and I ate them.
May we come to the Lord’s word every morning and even throughout the day to take the word of God not merely as knowledge but as our food.
May we come to the Lord and take His word, eat it, and allow it to become our nourishment and supply.
When we turn our heart to the Lord and allow Him to remove any veils from our eyes, He will infuse us with His word and the present truth will be clear to us.
We will then not only see but also live and practice the present truth so that we may bring the Lord back.
May we be those who see the freshly revealed truths – man’s new discoveries in the word of God under the Lord’s shining, and may we practice the present truth today (Eph. 1:17; Ezek. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:10; 21:10).
We may open to Him concerning this and ask Him,
Lord Jesus, unveil us to see what is the present truth, the up-to-date truth in this age. We want to see the present truth, live the present truth, and practice the present truth so that we may end this age and bring the Lord back. Amen, Lord, we come to Your word with a turned heart and we just want to eat Your word. Your word is not only a lamp to our feet and a light to our path but also our food. We take Your word into us by saying Amen, and we want to masticate Your words, muse on Your word, and internalize Your word. May we have fresh new discoveries in the word of God and be clear concerning the present truth in this age. May our living and practice of the Christian life and church life be according to the Lord’s present truth.
The Present Truth of the Lord’s up-to-date and Ultimate Recovery is to bring us into a New Revival to turn the age by our Choosing to Take the way of Philadelphia
Throughout the ages the Lord has raised people who were open to Him and recovered truths in the word of God.
They did not see “new inventions” from God but rather, they made fresh discoveries in the word of God and saw the present truth, which became the up-to-date truth in that age.
We need to inquire before God as to what is the present truth, for we need to see, live, and practice the present truth in this age today.
God’s truths are cumulative; what He reveals today is not apart or aside from what He has previously revealed but rather, it builds on what He has revealed.
The later truths do not negate the former truths but rather, what we see today are the cumulative revelations of God.
Just as the development in transportation, technology, and communication, builds up what was done before and advances, so the truths of God are building upon and drawing from the previously revealed truths (1 Cor. 9:27; cf. 2 Cor. 3:3, 6, 8-9; 5:18-21).
Today we are living in the tide of God’s will, which is a continuation of all the past works of God in the previous ages. Hallelujah!
We live in the most privileged times, for we inherit so much from the previous ages and generations, having a cumulative truth and even having the ultimate truth!
May God be gracious to us, however, that we do not become castaways of the present truth; may we see, live, and practice the present truth, the up-to-date truth revealed by God.
He has already revealed the matter of justification by faith, the recovery of the church life of brotherly love, and taking Christ as our life and everything.
The Lord has recovered the matters of being saved by faith, the church as the Body of Christ, and the experience of Christ for the church.
We have seen that the Lord wants us to take Christ as our everything and focus on nothing else but Christ, who is everything to God and to man, so that we may live a life for the building up of the church.
We have enjoyed and experienced something of the cross of Christ operating in us and the resurrection of Christ, which is not merely an event but a reality for our experience daily.
All these are not mere doctrines to us: they are spiritual facts, truths, that the Lord has recovered and unveiled throughout the ages.
He used men to reveal these truths, but we receive them not from man (Gal. 1:12) but from the Lord, by revelation under His light.
We received much help from so many brothers who went before us and laboured before the Lord to dig and uncover the truth, but we need to bring this truth to God and allow Him to shine on and through the truth so that it becomes the present truth to us.
Thank the Lord for His grand purpose.
May we humble ourselves before Him, deny ourselves, and allow Him to shine on us and bring us up-to-date with Him concerning the present truth so that we may see, live, and practice the present truth.
The present truth of the Lord’s up-to-date and ultimate recovery is to bring us into a new revival to turn the age by our choosing to take the way of Philadelphia (Rev. 1:1-3; 3:7-13).
We need to be brought into a new revival that will turn this age and bring the Lord’s back; for this, we need to choose to take the way of Philadelphia.
It is only the recovered church, the church of brotherly love signified by the church in Philadelphia, that can fulfil God’s eternal purpose and satisfy His heart’s desire.
May we bring this matter to the Lord and may we open to Him concerning the present truth so that we may be those who choose to take the way of Philadelphia and bring the Lord back.
Lord Jesus, thank You for recovering and uncovering the truth in God’s word until the present age. Cause us to see, live, and practice the present truth in this age so that we may end this age and bring the Lord back. Amen, Lord, bring us into a new revival to turn this age! We choose to take the way of Philadelphia, for only the church of brotherly love can fulfil God’s eternal purpose and satisfy His heart’s desire. Cause the light of Your truth to shine on us. Unveil us, dear Lord, to see the present truth. Infuse us with Yourself and be the One in us who lives a life that matches the up-to-date truth in this age. May our church life be an expression and living out of Philadelphia, the church of brotherly love. Lord, we desire to bring You back. We are one with You for Your heart’s desire!
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 Watchman Nee, vol. 11, “What are We?” as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Loving the Lord and loving one another for the organic building up of the church as the Body of Christ (2022 fall ITERO), week 8, entitled, Taking the God-ordained Pathway for the Church—the Way of Philadelphia—according to the Lord’s Up-to-date and Ultimate Recovery to Bring Us into a New Revival to Turn the Age.
- Hymns on this topic:
– We limit not the truth of God / To our poor reach of mind, / By notions of our day and sect, / Crude, partial and confined. / Now let a new and better hope / Within our hearts be stirred: / The Lord hath yet more light and truth / To break forth from His Word. (Hymns #817 stanza 1)
– Hallelujah, Philadelphia, / Thine are works that please the Lord. / Strength thou hast, though just a little / And hast kept His living Word. (Hymns #1275 stanza 3)
– To the foe my word is always, “No,” / To the Father it is, “Yes”; / ’Tis my attitude eternal; / May the Lord protect and bless, / Lest while walking in obedience / Satan undermine the way; / When I’m list’ning to Thine orders, / Grant me mercy, Lord, I pray. (Hymns #880 stanza 2)
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Take, for example, the raising up of Martin Luther in the sixteenth century. God opened his eyes to see the matter of justification by faith…The fact already existed before Luther’s time. Luther was merely the one who realized this truth in a stronger way; he was particularly outstanding in this truth. For this reason, this truth became the “present truth” in that age. Every worker of the Lord should inquire before God as to what the present truth is… Although there are many major and crucial truths in the Bible, what we need to know is God’s present truth. We know that God’s truths are cumulative; later truths do not negate earlier ones. All the past truths of God form the foundation of the truths today. What we see today are the cumulative revelations of God. When God opens our eyes to see this fact, we begin to realize that we are living in the tide of God’s will. This tide is a continuation of all the past works of God in previous ages. Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 11, “What Are We?” p. 844
We need to see, live, and practice the present truth so that we may end this age and bring the Lord back.
May the Lord have mercy on us and may we humble ourselves so that we may make new, fresh discoveries in the word of God, eat the word daily, and live and practice the present truth one with the Lord.
Although God’s word, His intention is the same as it is has been from the beginning and we know these things, and have been established in the present truth, we need to go on and be reminded to make fresh discoveries concerning these things.
We need to hear what the Spirit is speaking to the churches concerning Christ in this present age, that we would be in the present truth, the Lord’s up to date speaking.
Lord, we are here to be your instruments. Lord Jesus open our eyes to understand you fully so that we can reflect your light to outsiders.
There are no new things in you. Everything is known by you, but because of our limitations, we know what you revealed to us through our experience of you. Help us to seek you all the time so that we can grow fully as a body.
Jesus, you are everything to us! Help us to kill our natural man so that the new man can shine fully. Amen.
Amen brother. Thank God that we can know God’s present truth.
The “present truths” are the cumulative truths that God has revealed to His people through many individuals.
The purpose of the truths is to see Christ have the first place in all things, and the basis of everything is the death, resurrection & ascension of Christ.
May the Lord have mercy on us that we do not become castaways of the present truth. Let’s hold fast to what we have.
I.e., the truth that is present with the believers, which they have already received and now possess. In the first section of this chapter, vv. 3-11, Peter used the provision of the divine life for the proper Christian life to inoculate against the apostasy. In the second section, vv. 12-21, he used the revelation of the divine truth, as the second antidote, to inoculate against the heresy in the apostasy, a heresy similar to today’s modernism. The provision of life and the revelation of truth are the antidotes used by Peter in dealing with the apostasy.
Footnote on, “present truth”, 2 Pet. 1:12, Recovery Version Bible
amen brother we are so privileged to be in the Lord’s recovery that so many truths have been revealed to us in the word and in the ministry but this needs to be warning to us that we won’t prostrate the truth we need to be before the Lord unveil these truths to us as revelation and vision which will cause us to live according to the truth .
Amen brother!
O Lord forgive us that we haven’t been faithful to search the scriptures daily (like the Bereans) for your light to shine and bring us fresh revelations of your truth and economy.
Amen to the new and fresh discoveries in the word of God.
The way that God ordained for the church if the way of Philadelphia.
We want to be in Philadelphia today; we want to be the church of brotherly love who has little power but holds the Lord’s up-to-date truth, the present truth, and practices loving one another in the Lord and with the Lord as our love until He returns.
May we rnjoy and seek God’s speaking everyday in all things!!
Amen. Thank you Lord that You are our real food.
Oh yes amen! May we not be like Apollos who was great in expounding the scriptures but only knowing the baptism of John
2 Pet. 1:12
12 Therefore I will be ready always to remind you concerning these things, even though you know them and have been established in the present truth.
Rev. 2:7
7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.
Matt. 16:18
18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Eph. 5:25-27
25 Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her
26 That He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word,
27 That He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she would be holy and without blemish.
Eph. 1:17
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him,
Rev. 21:10
10 And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
This is the Word of God. Amen!
“In 2 Peter 1:12] the “present truth” can also be rendered the “up-to-date truth.”…Actually, all the truths are in the Bible…
“These freshly revealed truths are not God’s new inventions. Rather, they are man’s new discoveries…We can see this clearly from the history of the church.”
(CWWN, vol. 11, “What Are We?” pp. 843-844)
“… the raising up of Martin Luther in the sixteenth century. God opened his eyes to see the matter of justification by faith…The fact already existed before Luther’s time. Luther was merely the one who realized this truth in a stronger way;…”
“Every worker of the Lord should inquire before God as to what the present truth is…what we need to know is God’s present truth.”
“We know that God’s truths are cumulative; later truths do not negate earlier ones. All the past truths of God form the foundation of the truths today… we are living in the tide of God’s will. This tide is a continuation of all the past works of God in previous ages.”
“… these revelations were not received from man. We received help from Luther, Zinzendorf, the Moravian Brethren, and the Keswick messages. Today we believe that God’s ultimate goal is to have Christ as everything…It is the message of Colossians 1:18 which says that God desires to see Christ have the first place in all things. The basis of everything is the death, the resurrection, and the ascension of Christ. Other than Christ, there is NO spiritual reality. This is God’s “present truth.”
“… Thank God that we can know God’s “present truth.” May God be gracious to us so that we do not become the castaways of the “present truth.”
(CWWN, vol. 11, “What Are We?” pp. 844, 856-858)
The truth revealed in every era was to those that humble themselves before the Almighty. He hide all His revelations, His truth from those with prideful heart. No matter how much you read His Word, if there is pride in your , you will be far from receiving revelation directly and always borrowing from others.
Again, we need to understand that we are not here to carry on a leadership position, a one in charge of things, demanding from others, or to shine our own self among the congregation, or to be popular, or competing about how many souls we save. It is not our work. Is the work of the Holy Spirit, of Christ, as the ONLY ONE leader, in charge, and recruting and saving members for the Building Up of His Body, and the formation of His Army.
1 Pet. 5:5-6
“5…and all of you gird yourselves with humility toward one another, because God RESISTS the proud but gives grace to the humble.
6 Therefore be humbled under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time,
I was a very proud person. Considered by others as a smart women in certain areas of life and in my profession. Holding several certifications, 3 titles, YES! I considered myself that I accomplish a lot in education. However, that didn’t give me happiness, I was empty inside. It gave me outward pleasures but not in my inner condition. I was a wreck inside, full of anxieties, low self esteem, bitterness, etc. but I was good at masquerade all of that for long time. It was exhausted
When Christ founded me, He saved my life. It was very difficult to break my pride, after all, it was the only thing that allowed me to deal with the world. But, He was very patient and start working in me day after day.
Being alone in this country, I realized I had to depend on Him, but it took me a while to learn how to humble my heart before Him. I realized my heart was full of many, many things I did not want to let it go. Sound familiar?
I started to pray this way:
“Lord my heart is full of things I don’t want to let it go, but, I authorize You to come and break the doors You are knocking. Please, enter and take control of my heart, make Your home there”.
My heart was full, because I was a hoarder of so much negative emotional things about myself and others.
It’s easy for all of us to accumulate things but hard to get rid of them, right?
When we get to the point that we apprehend what is the ultimate goal of God’s Economy, we realized that our function within the Body of Christ is crucial for the Building Up of His Body. But to function appropriately, we need to deal with our self first.
We need to submerge our self
in His Word on a daily basis hence our feet are washed, our sins are forgiven, and we can revive our spirit in His Spirit, by His Spirit, for His Spirit, and with the Spirit. What a wonderful enjoyment when we touch Him!
But, if we still the same person as yesterday, we have accomplished nothing, we have failed to Him, and we will pay for it. As our dear brother Lee shared, “We need to humble and prostrate ourselves and to DENY ourselves. We need to be clear that our work today is NOT JUST to save some souls OR to help others become spiritual…” as gifted as we can be, we MUST humble ourselves on behalf of the rest of the saints, so altogether, in oneness, and in one accord, we will be cooperating with God’s Economy for the final consummation of the New Jerusalem. Amen!
Thank you God for allowing us to know and touch Your grand purpose. Keep our hearts in meekness and humbleness. Amen!