Enjoying Christ in the Church Life

In the early days I spent more time to enjoy Christ in my private life and less time to enjoy Him in the church life. Gradually, however, I have come to enjoy Him more in the church life than in my private life. There is no comparison between the enjoyment in the church life and the enjoyment in my private life. But this does not mean that I no longer enjoy Christ in my personal life. But the taste is not as sweet as the taste in the church life. I am always eager to attend a meeting to enjoy the top portion of Christ. How about you? Often in my private life I am tired and need to rest. When I work, I work with every fiber of my being. This tires me out. Thus, my private life is a time for me to rest my whole being—my spirit, my heart, my conscience, my soul, my mind, my emotion, my will, and every part of my physical body. After a time of rest, I am ready once again to attend the meeting for the choice enjoyment of Christ. This is the reason I am so rich in the enjoyment of Christ. Many are rather poor in the enjoyment of Christ because they spend too much time trying to enjoy Him privately and little time to enjoy Him corporately. I encourage you all to spend more time in the church life.

THE ONE, COLLECTING FLOW

I really enjoyed reading this portion of the ministry this morning. I hope you can also get something out of it. My prayer is that I will always be one seeking to stay in the Lord's flow!

A GENERAL SKETCH OF THE REVELATION

OF THE BIBLE

The revelation in the Bible is a complete whole. The Bible begins with God (Gen. 1:1) and ends with a square city (Rev. 21:10, 16). God is the origination, and the square city is the consummation. Hence, considered as a whole, the revelation in the Bible is a revelation of God issuing in a city. If you do not have this bird’s-eye view of the Bible, the thousands of verses will seem like a thick forest to you, and you will get lost amidst them. You will not know what you are reading or where you are going. You will have no way of knowing what the Bible talks about. If you get into all the details of things such as frogs, locusts, and horns found in the book of Revelation, you will be lost. Reading the Bible can be compared to reading a map of a city. First, you need to have a bird’s-eye view. Then you need to consider the main streets. This will afford you a general sketch of the city, and the sketch will guide you into all the details.

I would now like to present a general sketch of the revelation of the Bible. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created.” At the end of the Bible there is a city lying foursquare. The length of this city is the same as the breadth, for “the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal” (Rev. 21:16). This city has twelve gates, three on each of the four sides. God on the throne is both on the top of the city and in the center of the city (Rev. 22:1). We have seen that God is the origin, the beginning, and that the square city is the consummation, the ending. The city of New Jerusalem is a golden mountain, and God’s throne rests at the peak of this mountain. Now we must ask how this city is related to the very God who is the center of the city, how this city as the consummation can be the issue of God as the origination. There is a flow within this city spiraling down around the golden mountain. Revelation 22:1 says, “He showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” The river of water of life proceeds out of the throne and flows in the midst of the golden street. This flow connects God and the city.

THE ONE, COLLECTING FLOW

This flow did not start in Revelation 22; it began in the second chapter of Genesis. In Genesis 1 we see God as the originator and the origination. After man was created, he was placed in front of the tree of life, whence flowed a river (Gen. 2:9-10). Genesis 2:10 says that this river “was parted, and became into four heads,” flowing toward the four directions of the earth, indicating that the flow is for the entire earth. The picture in Genesis 2 is a miniature of the portrait in Revelation 22. In Genesis 2 we have God, out from whom flows a river. Man was put by this flowing river. Although in Genesis 2 there was a garden, there was no building. The difference between the garden and the city is that the garden is something of God’s creation in its natural state, whereas the city is something built up with certain materials. At the beginning of the Bible, we have a garden with all the natural things created by God. At the end of the Bible, as the result of God’s dispensing Himself into man, we have a city which has replaced the garden. Both at the top and in the center of this city is the throne of God, and out from this throne proceeds the living flow that spirals down the mountain. The more this river flows, the more of the city it reaches. Eventually, this one flow reaches all twelve gates on the four sides of the city.

No matter from what direction we approach the city, whether north, south, east, or west, we may immediately be in the flow. Those who come in from South America come in the south gates, and those who come in from Europe come in the west gates. After we enter into the city through one of these gates, we find ourselves in the flow. Praise the Lord, we are in the flow! Eventually, this flow gathers us together as one. In this flow we are truly one. Before we came into the flow, we were scattered. The Brazilians were Brazilians, the Danes were Danes, the Americans were Americans, and the Chinese were Chinese. Hallelujah, there is a collecting flow on earth today! Wherever this collecting flow comes, people have the opportunity to be gathered in by it. Sometimes I have tried to jump out of the flow, but I have been unable to do it. I am still in the flow.