We need to Serve God according to the Completed Vision of the Age and Closely Follow it

In every age, there is the vision of that age and God’s people need to follow God and seek Him according to that vision; in this age, we have the all-inheriting vision, the completed vision of the age through the ministry of the age, and we need to serve God according to this vision and closely follow it. Amen!

This week we come to the second main vital factor in the recovery and practice of the church life, and the main topic for this week is, The Factor of Closely Following the Completed Vision of the Age through the Ministry of the Age.

Last week we saw how we can cooperate with the Lord to bring in a new revival that will end this age; the three main ways were arriving at the high peak of the divine revelation, living the life of a God-man, and shepherding others according to God.

If we pray, practice, and persevere in these three matters, the Lord will bring us into the new revival, the revival that will end this age.

This week we come to another factor, a vital factor, in the recovery of the church life; this factor is very important, even critical, for without this factor we cannot have a proper church life according to the divine revelation in the Bible.

We need to see that in every age there’s a vision of the age, and the Lord’s people need to follow Him and serve Him according to the vision of the age.

The expression “the vision of the age” is not in the Bible, but the principle is there.

What we have today is the completed vision, the all-inheriting vision of the age; we stand on the shoulders of all those who went before us, we inherit all that they have discovered, recovered, and seen, and we have the vision of God’s eternal economy.

Countless numbers of Christians have been serving God throughout these past two thousand years; some have served God according to what they have seen in the Gospels, while others have served Him with no vision at all.

In order for us to serve God according to the up-to-date vision, we need to come up to the level of Paul’s very last epistles, even to the level of the epistles to the seven churches in Revelation, the revelation that covers all the ages, and the ultimate consummation of the New Jerusalem.

Our living and serving should be governed by this all-inheriting vision, the completed vision of the age, which has been brought to us through the ministry of the age.

Serving God according to the Completed Vision of the Age and Closely Following it Today

In every age there’s the vision of that age; God is not doing two main things in one age but rather, in every age He is doing one main work, and there’s one main vision of that age.

Today we have the completed vision of the age through the ministry of the age, so we need to serve God according to this vision and closely follow it (Acts 26:19; Eph. 1:17; 3:9; 1 Tim. 4:6).

In every age the Lord has His own recoveries, a particular work and recover that He does in that age; this is the ministry of that age.

For example in the time of Noah, there was the building of the ark; if we were alive at Noah’s age, we should have just given ourselves to help Noah build the ark, for that was the unique thing God did in that age.

If we were to build a speedboat in our back garden to escape the flood, because we didn’t fully agree with Noah and his vision, we were not up to God’s standard, and the flood would have destroyed us.

In every age, there was one person or a group of people who had the vision of that age.

Adam received the promise of redemption, Enosh called on the name of the Lord, Enoch walked with God, Noah walked with God and worked together with God, Abraham was called by God and lived by faith, etc.

In every age, God had a person or a group of people who had the vision of that age and who served God according to the vision of that age.

When the Lord Jesus came, He was the minister of that age, but He entered into the vision of the age and under the ministry of His predecessor; He went to John the Baptist to be baptized by him.

He didn’t just tell John to step aside because He is here; He entered into the vision of that age, submitted Himself to the minister of the age before Him, and continued to serve and minister. There is a difference between the minister of the age and the local ministers.

Today we have all been given a portion to minister, but we have not been entrusted with the ministry of the age to bring in this ministry; rather, we have a portion to minister, we enjoy the ministry, and we continue to speak it and closely follow it.

The visions that God revealed to His people got richer and broader and higher, each building upon the vision given to the preceding ones and enlarging it, enriching it, and making it broader.

Today we are in the last days, at the feet of the great human image in Daniel, and we are close to the Lord’s second coming; we now have an all-inheriting vision, the completed vision of the age brought to us by the ministry of the age.

The next step is that the Lord Jesus will return with His overcomers as a corporate smiting stone to smash the great human image for Him to set up His sweet and beautiful kingdom on the earth.

In this age the Lord raised brother Watchman Nee who saw the vision of the age; he saw so much and shared it with us all.

After him, the Lord raised up brother Witness Lee, who built upon what others saw before; he was one with brother Nee and considered his work to be the work of brother Nee, and the Lord blesses His recovery because of their oneness.

Today we see an all-inclusive vision, a vision that extends all the way from the first vision of Adam in Genesis to the ultimate vision of the manifestation of the church, the New Jerusalem.

Our vision today is the vision of God’s eternal economy; we should not take it for granted but rather, we should have a renewed and refreshed vision of the age, an all-inclusive vision, even the completed vision of the age.

We need to spend time with the Lord in His word, in prayer, and in the ministry so that the vision of the age would be renewed in us.

Then, there will be something rising in us asking Him to just dispense Himself into us so that we may have something to dispense of Him into others for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem.

This is the meaning of being a Christian; the eternal economy of God is the meaning of our human life.

Most of our fellow believers don’t know the meaning of being a Christian; the meaning of being a believer in Christ is to be a vessel to contain God, be filled with God, and overflow with Him into others so that we and they would be regenerated in our spirit, transformed in our soul, and glorified in our body for the building up of the Body of Christ, the preparation of the bride of Christ, and the consummation of the New Jerusalem.

We today have the consummate vision, the completed vision of the age, and we live under the vision of God’s eternal economy; we must be infused with such a vision and closely follow it.

We need to pray that the Lord would make this vision clear to us so that we may be like Paul, not being able to be disobedient to the heavenly vision but being obedient to the completed vision of the age to closely follow it.

Our need is not only to know the vision but also to closely follow it; for this, it is good to pray short prayers over every aspect of the eternal economy of God, praying them to the Lord and opening to Him for these to become real to us and govern us in our daily living, even to become our experience.

Thank You, Lord, for bringing us under the completed vision of the age through the ministry of the age. Hallelujah, we today have the vision of the eternal economy of God, the vision that inherits all the previous revelations and visions given to God throughout the centuries. Amen, Lord, dispense Yourself into us. We want to be one with You to dispense You into others. We are just vessels to contain You. Fill us today. Fill us until we overflow with You to others so that God would be dispensed into them for their regeneration, transformation, and glorification to be members of the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem. Amen, Lord, may a clear, controlling vision of God’s economy direct our heart and set our whole being afire! May we live a Christian life full of meaning by being governed by the vision of the age, the all-inheriting vision that You have shown us today!

We can be in One Accord because we have only One Vision: the All-inheriting Vision of the Eternal Economy of God

Where there is no vision, people cast off restraint and perish; if we don’t have a clear vision of what God is doing today, it is easy to be swept away in the current of the world today and not be clear concerning what God is up to in us and in this age.

Job 10:13 tells us that Job knew there was something hidden in God’s heart but he couldn’t see what it was; what was hidden in the heart of God was the eternal economy of God.

Today we can be in one accord in the church life because we have only one vision; we have an up-to-date, all-inheriting vision, the vision of the eternal economy of God (Eph. 1:17; 3:2, 9; Rev. 21:10; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; Rom. 15:6; 1 Cor. 1:10; Acts 26:13-19; Phil. 3:13-14).

When we have this completed vision of the age and it governs us, we will open to the Lord and give Him a free and unobstructed way in our being so that He would work Himself into us for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

For example, in Paul’s time, he saw the vision of the age, which was greater than the vision that Peter saw; from the moment of his conversion, Paul saw the great corporate “Me” (Acts 9:4), Christ as the Head joined to the Body of Christ on earth.

Such a small word, “Me” had a great impact of Paul, for he saw that Christ has a Body, the church, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.

He saw that it pleased God to reveal His Son in him (Gal. 1:16) so that Christ would live in him (Gal. 2:20), be formed in him (4:19) and make home in his heart (Eph. 3:17).

God called Paul to minister in that age and release the divine revelation in the word of God; when He called him and Barnabas in Acts 13:2, he became clear concerning the vision he had received earlier and was sent to fulfil the ministry that he had received.

He wrote concerning the economy of God, of which he became a minister; on His side, God has an economy, and on our side, when we see and receive His economy, we become stewards of God’s economy, even stewards of the varied grace of God (1 Pet. 4:10).

When the economy of God is entrusted to us, we become stewards who dispense the riches of Christ as food to the members of God’s household for the building up of the church.

Christ, our Master, will come back soon, and He wants to find us giving them food at the appointed time.

God has a household, and He has a household administration, an economy; as we enjoy the Lord and remain under the ministry of the age which gives us the completed vision of the age, we enjoy this all-inheriting vision and we dispense Christ to others.

When we meet with others, we speak the same thing – we speak the one thing, the economy of God from different angles and aspects, for it is this completed vision of the age that builds up the church.

The governing vision of the Bible is the heavenly vision of God’s eternal economy; we need to see the vision of God’s economy, be governed by it, and have it become the controlling factor in our life of serving the Lord.

The eternal economy of God is God’s eternal intention with His heart’s desire to dispense Himself in His Divine Trinity as the Father in the Son by the Spirit into His chosen people to be their life and nature that they may be the same as He is as His duplication, to become an organism, the Body of Christ as the new man for God’s fullness, God’s expression, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem (Eph. 1:10; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; Rom. 8:29; 1 John 3:2; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:15-16; 3:19; Rev. 3:12, 21; 21:2, 9-10; Acts 26:19).

When we see such a vision, we will be captured for God’s heart’s desire and kept in one accord with the saints for the church as the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem!

Paul saw such a vision, and this is what kept him on the line of life; even when he was in the presence of the king and was preaching the gospel to him, he could not but say, I cannot be disobedient to the heavenly vision. Amen!

Such a vision will preserve us in the Lord’s recovery and will keep us walking the straight and narrow path that leads to glory.

Brother Nee saw such a vision, he imparted it into us through the books he wrote, and he also imparted it into brother Lee.

At one point, when brother Nee was not ministering but the saints needed his portion, brother Lee went to him and encouraged him with these words, “Even if one day you do not take this way, I will still take this way. I am not taking this way because of you, and I will not leave this way because of you. I have seen that this is the Lord’s way. I have seen the vision”.

Wow. What an encouraging word.

This should be our reality and testimony today: we have seen the all-inheriting vision, the completed vision of the age, and we cannot but follow the Lord in His recovery to enjoy Christ and minister Christ to others for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ to prepare the bride of Christ, bring in the kingdom age, and consummate the New Jerusalem.

Lord Jesus, we open our whole being to You. We open to You unconditionally and unreservedly for You to gain every part of our being and for us to gain more of You. Dispense Yourself into us as much as possible today and make us a steward of the grace of God to dispense God into others. Amen, Lord, thank You for entrusting us with the stewardship of the grace of God to minister the riches of the all-inclusive Christ to the members of the household of God. Amen, Lord, we come to You: infuse Yourself into us. Fill us to the brim with Yourself and make us those who dispense God into others for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ to prepare the bride of Christ and consummate the New Jerusalem! Amen, Lord, may we clearly see the completed vision of the age, the vision of God’s eternal economy, and may we closely follow it in our daily living and in our service to God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, The Vision of the Age, pp. 42-43, 49-50 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Vital Factors for the Lord’s Recovery of the Church Life (2021 ITERO), week 2, The Factor of Closely Following the Completed Vision of the Age through the Ministry of the Age.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – God called Saul of Tarsus, / For His own plan and purpose, / Who became Paul, the apostle; / He saw a heav’nly vision, / Where there is no division, / In the one Body of the Lord. (Song on, God Needs the Overcomers)
  – The generation at that time was evil and perverse; / The wickedness upon the earth was waxing worse and worse. / But Noah stood against the age and ne’er the vision lost. / The ark of testimony must be built at any cost. (Hymns #1268)
  – God has called us for His purpose, / His economy so glorious, / For which He was fully processed; / Consummated now is He! / As the Spirit, He indwells us; / As our God allotted portion, / Working out His full salvation, / Making us the same as He is. / Oh, may a clear, controlling vision of / The Lord’s economy direct my heart, / And burn in me until my spirit’s wholly set afire! / With spirit strong and active we’ll press on / To consummate God’s goal— / New Jerusalem, Hallelujah! (Song on, God has called us for His purpose)