Praise the Lord, through faith in Christ and by loving the brothers we have passed out of death and into life, and we enjoy the sweet flow of life to minister life for the building up of the Body of Christ. Amen!
Satan attacks the church mainly by bringing in death; however, the church is an entity of life and in life, and death cannot prevail over the resurrection life.
We need to realize that, as the Lord prophesied in Matt. 16:18, He is building up His church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
The gates of Hades, the entrance of death, will try and try and try, and it may seem that they prevail, but the reality is that death cannot hold the resurrection life!
Though all its forces it may combine, though death works with all its might, and though death is both sudden and subtle, death cannot hold or stop the resurrection life, and the church as an entity of life will prevail!
The greatest fear of the enemy with regard to the church is its resistance to his power of death.
We need to have an uplifted view of what is going on in the spiritual realm to realize that the church is not only under the attack of persecution, resistance from the world, or division, but also from the attack of death from the enemy.
Even in the genuine church life, as we gather together in the name of the Lord on the ground of the oneness, the enemy still tries to bring in death.
The enemy uses not only sin, worldliness, and the flesh to bring in death but even seemingly good and scriptural things.
Whenever we do something or say something that is not in oneness with the Lord, we can open the gates of Hades so that death would come into the church.
This is what Peter did: in one moment he had a clear revelation of Christ as the Son of God, and in the next moment he was one with Satan to utter his good opinion, thus opening the gates of Hades in that situation.
May we be those who exercise our spirit to build up the Body of Christ in the resurrection life of Christ.
May we exercise our spirit and live according to the spirit so that, no matter what we do or say, life may flow through us and the church would be built up.
The very nature of the church is heavenly and in resurrection, and the reality of resurrection is Christ as the life-giving Spirit.
We need to live by the divine life within us, for this life is in resurrection and it eliminates any death, being victorious over the attack of death.
We know that We have Passed out of Death into Life because we Love the Brothers
The first part of 1 John 3:14 says that we know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers.
He who doesn’t love abides in death; everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and we know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
This is what John wrote to his spiritual children. He wanted to help them not to sin, even to train them so that they cannot sin; at the same time, he ministered to them what to do once they have a failure.
John exhorts us not to love the world but to love the Father, and he also says that we know we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers.
In 1 John 2:9, we see that he who says he is in the light yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
We may think that we love the brothers, but as we live in the church life, as we blend with the saints, as we coordinate with others, things happen, and then things happen again, and feelings rise up in us.
It is possible that we may be “murderers” in the spiritual sense, for we hate a brother.
There are some saints who are murderers, for in their hearts they hate a particular person. Oh, Lord.
We may live in the church life, but we may live in the principle of a murderer; we may not be actual murderers, but we may live as one, for we may hate a particular person.
A brother may hate another brother, and the second brother may sense it; a sister may hate another sister, and that second sister may discern that.
How do we deal with such a situation? We need to realize that if we hate someone, we are in death, and life is not in us.
We need to realize that, when we love the brothers, we have passed out of death into life.
The whole world is very polarized; there are strong feelings being expressed today, and many people hate a particular person while the other people hate another person.
We need to realize that the nature of life divine life we have received is love; God so loved us that He gave His Son for us so that we may receive His life (John 3:16).
If we take the way of life, we take the way of love.
If we have not passed out of death into life in a particular situation, if we still have strong feelings of hate toward someone, we remain in death, and we are murderers in principle. Oh, Lord!
He who hates his brother is a murderer, but we have passed out of death into life if we love the brothers.
In 1 John 3:15, a murderer doesn’t refer to an actual murderer, but it speaks that in spiritual ethics, hating equals murder.
We should not behave as unsaved murderers by hating our brothers in the Lord; we may not be actual murderers, but we may be a murderer in principle. Oh, Lord.
When we are aware of these powerful, negative feelings, we need to acknowledge what they are and simply come to the Lord and open to Him, crying out to Him. Amen!
He knows. He is for us. We don’t want to live such feelings. We Christians, children of God, should not hate anyone; rather, we should be continually being transferred out of death into life by loving the brothers.
May the Lord search us, know our inward parts and the heart, and make all things clear in us.
May He shine on us and within us, may He expose any negative feelings we have in us, and may we pass out of death and into life by loving the brothers as we live by the divine life!
We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers; we have the inner consciousness that we are in life because we love the brothers.
Our love for the brothers, which is the love of God becoming our love, is evidence of this.
Faith in the Lord is the way for us to pass out of death into life; love toward the brothers is the evidence that we have passed out of death into life (John 5:24; 1 John 3:14).
To have faith is to receive the eternal life; to love is to live by the eternal life and express it (John 3:15, 36; 1 John 3:11, 14-18; 4:7-12, 16, 19-21).
May we live by the divine life so that we may express the divine life by loving the brothers.
Thank You, Lord, we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers! We open to You, Lord, that You would search us, enlighten us, and expose us so that any hate or animosity would be eradicated from our being. We give You the ground in our being: shine in our emotions, feelings, loves, and likes, and remove any hate from us. Thank You for bringing us out of death into life by faith in Christ, and now we can love the brothers as evidence that we have passed out of death into life! Amen, Lord, we want to receive more life and live by the divine life so that we may express the divine life as we love the brothers. May the church life be filled with brotherly love as an expression of our living by the divine life!
We Pass out of Death into Life by Faith in God and by Loving the Brothers
Death is of the devil, God’s enemy, Satan; he is signified by the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which brings in death (Gen. 2:9, 17).
Life, however, is of God, the source of life; He is signified by the tree of life, which issues in life (vv. 9, 16-17).
Death and life are not only two sources – Satan and God; they are also two essences, two elements, and two spheres (John 5:24).
To pass out of death into life is to pass out of the source, the essence, the element, and the sphere of death, and to be brought and remain into the source, the essence, the element, and the sphere of life.
This took place in us at our regeneration. When we believed in Christ, we have transferred out of death into life.
When we hear the Lord’s word and believe Him who sent Christ, we have eternal life, and we don’t come into judgment but pass out of death into life (John 5:24).
The evidence of our passing out of death into life is that we love the brothers; our love – which is the love of God filling and being expressed through our love – toward the brothers is a strong evidence of this.
Faith in the Lord is the way to pass out of death into life, and love toward the brothers is the evidence that we have indeed passed out of death into life.
To have faith is to receive the eternal life; to love the brothers is to live by the eternal life that we have received and to express it.
Praise the Lord, when we were regenerated, we have passed out of the source, essence, element, and sphere of death and into the source, essence, element, and sphere of life!
First, there is the source, then from the source comes the essence, and the essence forms an element, and eventually, this element becomes a sphere.
Life has God as the source; out of Him as the source comes the essence of life, which forms the element of life, and this element of life then becomes the sphere of life.
We can illustrate this with the river; the river itself is the sphere, the end result, but the fountain is the source where the river springs out, H20 is the essence of what comes out of the fountain, and the flowing water becomes a river.
As believers in Christ, we have received the divine life from God; God is the source of the divine life, and when we believe into Him, the essence of life is dispensed into us.
God’s being, His essence, is imparted into us; when we get His life, this life is an element by which and in which we can live, and when we live in and by this element, the divine life becomes the sphere of our living.
When we live by the divine life, we express this life in loving the brothers, and this causes us to pass out of death into life.
In our position, we were transferred out of death into life, but in our present, actual situation, in relation to the brothers and sisters, we need to love the brothers for us to pass out of death into life.
Especially as we partake of the Lord’s table, we need to have the assurance that we are at peace with all the saints.
If there is any feeling that the Lord exposes in us, we need to open to the Lord about it and allow Him to shine on it and eliminate it.
May we take the way of life. May we choose, under the Lord’s heavenly ministry, to take the way of life in every matter, in every situation, and concerning all things and all persons. In our family life, in our personal life, in our church life, and in serving the Lord, we need to take the way of life.
And this we do by loving the brothers, so that we may pass out of death into life.
Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You to love You and to love the brothers. Thank You for transferring us out of death into life by faith in Jesus Christ. We want to experience being in life, taking the way of life, and living by the divine life today so that we may spontaneously love the brothers. Shine on us, Lord, and expose any bad feeling, any animosity, and any hatred in our being toward others. Reproduce Yourself as love into us. You are the faith by which we have believed, and we have been transferred out of death into life. Amen, Lord, You are our love, and in this love we love all the brothers and sisters! Amen, Lord, we know we have passed out of death into life because we believe into You and we love the brothers!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 John, msgs. 28, 34 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 12, Taking the Way of Life in the Lord’s Recovery.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Now my love for the brothers abounds more and more / By saying Amen to God’s Word. / And I’m being related as never before / By saying Amen to His Word. (Hymns #1219)
– In the Church we are living as one / To express the love of Christ the Son! / (Brothers:) We are one! / (Sisters:) We are one! / In the Body and in spirit we are one! (Song on, In The Church)
– Now in all the churches flowing, / Brotherly love. / Light and life and love bestowing, / Brotherly love. / In the oneness all believing, / Fellowship with all receiving, / Nevermore the Spirit grieving, / Brotherly love. (Hymns #1277)
About aGodMan
