As believers in Christ we are those who serve God first by knowing the age, then by realizing the way Christ fulfills His economy, by seeing the world situation as the indicator of the Lord’s move, and by spreading the truths of the Lord’s recovery for His coming back.
We need to serve God in an up-to-date way, that is, serve God by first knowing the age we are in: we are in the age of the degradation of the church, and we need to know the Spirit – even the sevenfold intensified Spirit – and exercise our spirit so that we may be renewed, transformed, and produced as the overcomers God needs in this age.
Secondly, we need to realize the way that Christ fulfills His economy, which is not by being in the flesh among us but by being the sevenfold intensified Spirit to produce the overcomers, build up the Body, and be the topstone of grace on the building of the church. Within the outward human history there’s the divine history in which God in Christ as the Spirit is working Himself into man, and today in the last days the Spirit has been intensified sevenfold to counteract the degradation of the church and produce the overcomers in the churches.
We need to serve God in an up-to-date way by seeing the world situation as the indicator of God’s move on earth; we are now at the feet of the great human image revealed in Daniel 2, and soon Christ and His overcomers will descend to deal with Antichrist, defeat his armies, execute God’s judgement on him, and bring in the kingdom of God on earth.
For this, before Antichrist is raised up in Europe, we need to give ourselves to the Lord to be produced as His overcomers here, in the land of Antichrist, so that the Lord would increase the manifestation of the mystery of godliness – even as the mystery of lawlessness is operating among people today.
The Lord’s recovery needs to be rooted and established in Europe, so that the Lord may gain shining golden lampstands all across Europe in the major cities, and then the Antichrist will be manifested and the Lord will gain His overcomers.
Today we want to see the last item in serving the Lord in an up-to-date way, which is by spreading the truths of the Lord’s recovery to prepare for the Lord’s return.
The Spreading, Running, and Racing of the Gospel of the Kingdom is the Kernel of the Divine History
In Rev. 6:1-8 we see four horses running – a white, red, black, and pale horse, which signify not particular people but four main things that have been happening in parallel since the Lord’s ascension: the gospel, war, famine, and death.
The first horse is the white horse who doesn’t refer to Christ or to Antichrist but to the gospel: the rider of this horse has a bow but with no arrow, signifying that the arrow has been shot in the heart of the enemy, and the gospel goes from victory to victory.
The second horse is a red horse, signifying war; the third horse is black, signifying famine, and the last horse is pale, signifying death. War, famine, and death always go together: where there’s war, people lack food, and death is present.
But alongside the wars, famines, and deaths that took place all throughout the years there’s a white horse, the gospel, which is triumphant and rides victoriously! The gospel takes the lead – a crown was given to the rider of the white horse, showing that the gospel is conquering and is victorious!
Immediately after Christ’s ascension, these four things – the gospel, was, famine, and death – began to run like riders on four horses, and they will continue until Christ comes back. Actually, everything that happens throughout the years, whether good or bad, is for the furtherance of the gospel.
We are saved so that we may preach the gospel for the carrying out of God’s economy, so that the Body of Christ may be produced and built up and the New Jerusalem may come into being. God’s wisdom is to make this age – from Christ’s ascension to His return – the age of gospel preaching.
Everything is for the preaching of the gospel, including the modern developments in technology (smartphones, internet, intercommunication, photo and video cameras, cheap flights, modern planes and cars and trains, etc) and even the more unpleasant things that result from man’s discoveries and labor (the wars, the guns, the nuclear weapons, etc) – everything is for the preaching of the gospel.
Actually, the spreading, running, and racing of the gospel of the kingdom throughout the inhabited earth is the kernel of the divine history within human history (Matt. 24:14). In other words, if we want to see what is the essence and kernel of the divine history, it is the preaching of the gospel even as all the other things take place outwardly, so that God would increase His kingdom among men.
The gospel of the kingdom, signified by the white horse of the first seal in Rev. 6:1-2, will be preached in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations before the end of this age, the time of the great tribulation. Amen!
Lord Jesus, may we see that the kernel of the divine history within human history is the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom throughout the inhabited earth. Lord, we praise You that Your gospel has reached us, and we have believed into You to become believers in Christ and citizens of the kingdom of God. Oh Lord, we want to be one with You as the One riding on the white horse to preach the gospel of the kingdom throughout the earth for a testimony, before the end would come!
The Spreading of the Truths of the Lord’s Recovery are for the Lord’s Return and Restoration
Seeing that we are in the last days and the gospel is running, reaching, spreading, and increasing, we need to be those who know the highest gospel and preach the complete gospel to others.
The full gospel that we have in the church life in the Lord’s recovery includes not only the forgiveness of sins for salvation from eternal perdition but God’s redemption, His organic salvation, the church life, the Body of Christ, the kingdom of God, and the New Jerusalem.
We need to be one with the Lord to preach the high gospel of the kingdom to all men, realizing that everything that happens today – including the opposition and criticism and persecution – is to help us to preach the gospel.
The spreading of the truths of the Lord’s recovery will truly be a preparation for the Lord’s coming back to bring the recovery and restoration not only to Israel but also the entire creation (see Matt. 24:14; 28:19; 19:28; Isa 11:9).
In the church life we shouldn’t preach a partial or low gospel but the full gospel that encompasses everything from Matthew through Revelation – the gospel of God’s eternal economy to dispense Himself in Christ as the Spirit into His chosen ones through His judicial redemption and by His organic salvation for the building up of His Body in the local churches to consummated the New Jerusalem as His bride, His wife, for His eternal expression (see 1 Tim. 1:3-4; Rom. 1:1; 5:10; Rev. 1:10-11; 21:2-3, 9-11; 22:1-2). Amen!
God’s unique purpose in this age is to have the gospel preached so that the church as the Body of Christ might be built up to consummate the New Jerusalem (Eph. 3:8-11). The Lord desires to gain the overcomers who preach the gospel of the glory of Christ, the ones who become the riders of the white horse (see Rev. 19:11, 13-14; cf. Rom. 10:15).
May the Lord burden us to learn the divine truths of the gospel and to spread them everywhere for His recovery to bring in His restoration (Isa. 11:9). When the knowledge of God fills the earth just as water covers the sea, restoration will be brought in and the Lord will return. Amen!
We need to spend much time diving into the ministry books, the life-studies, and the footnotes in the Recovery Version so that we may be filled with the Lord’s up-to-date truth and speak it to others as we preach the gospel. We shouldn’t go and preach the gospel in a traditional way but talk to people about all the divine truths, opening up the word of God for their enlightenment and enjoyment. Amen!
Oh, may the Lord show us a vision of the age we are in: today the Lord is moving, He’s building up His people into the Body of Christ for God’s corporate expression!
May we see where we are: we are in the Body of Christ, members of the organism of the Triune God, and we should aspire to be the overcomers, the mighty ones who will return with Christ to deal with Antichrist at Armageddon and be His co-kings in the millennium!
May it be clear to us that our goal is to enlarge the manifestation of Christ intrinsically by preaching the gospel of the kingdom, the high gospel, so that the manifestation of Christ in the Spirit would be enlarged! Amen!
And may we take the overcoming way – cooperating with the Lord to the uttermost to be produced by Him as the mighty ones, the reproduction of Christ as the unique mighty One, so that He may return and end this age to bring in the age of the kingdom!
Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You to learn the divine truths of the gospel and to spread them everywhere so that Your recovery would bring in Your restoration! Save us from preaching a partial or low gospel. We want to be filled with the divine truths so that we may spread the truths of Your recovery for the preparation for Your coming back to bring the recovery and restoration not only to Israel but also to the entire creation! Lord Jesus, make us Your overcomers who preach the gospel of glory of Christ to be the riders of the white horse!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother Ed Marks for this week, and Life-study of Revelation, msg. 19 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Service for the Building up of the Church (2016 Spring ITERO), week 1 / msg. 1, Serving God by Knowing the Age, by Realizing the Way Christ Fulfills His Economy, by Seeing the World Situation as the Indicator of His Move, and by Spreading the Truths of the Lord’s Recovery for His Coming Back.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Glorious vision, I have seen it: My life is meant for God’s economy! / Earthly bondage, I have left it: My heart outpours for the Lord’s recovery! / Divine Trinity, Divine dispensing: Christ to be life as Spirit real is He; / Churches of God, Body of Christ, New Jerusalem—how I long to see. (Song on the Lord’s recovery)
# To the lost world minister Christ, / Who is your life and your all, / Imparting Christ to all you meet, / All fallen ones, great or small. (Hymns #922)
# O I’m a man— / I’m the meaning of the universe… / Christ lives in me— / He’s the meaning of my human life… / The church is Christ— / His expression on the earth today … / The local church— / It’s the new and real family life… / What shall we do? / We should go and tell the world of this. (Hymns #1293)
About aGodMan
Today there is the need of the spreading of the understood divine truths for the Lord’s recovery and restoration. We can borrow Romans 10:14-15 and say, “How shall people hear without one who spreads? How beautiful are the feet of those who spread the interpreted and understood divine truths!” If we have a burden to go to Europe, we must spend day and night to study the truths we have published. Then we will know what the Lord’s recovery is, and we will have a real burden to go to Europe to teach people. The Lord charges us in Matthew 28:19 to go and disciple the nations. The Lord’s word here shows us that we should be burdened to go and teach all the nations.
We are not going there to preach to people in the traditional way but to talk to them about all the divine truths. Through our speaking, some will be solidly saved. If we speak the deeper truths in John 3:16 [e.g., on God, love, the world, how God gave His Son, the only begotten Son, what it means to perish and what it is to have eternal life] to them, they will never forget this verse. May the Lord burden us to learn the divine truths and to spread them everywhere for His recovery and restoration. (Witness Lee, The World Situation and the Direction of the Lord’s Move, pp. 31-32)