Prayer: Lord, how we thank You for all that You are. We thank You that You are the Lord. You are the sovereign One. Lord, we thank You for the cleansing of Your precious blood, and we thank You that we are gathered into Your name again. We believe that You are with us. Your word is here. Your Spirit is here. Thank You for all the provisions You have given us. We humble ourselves before You. Lord, we admit that we are nothing and can do nothing. We trust in Your blessing under the cleansing of Your precious blood. Lord, cleanse us again and anoint us. We desire to enjoy You as the anointing ointment. Lord, be with us in our speaking. We desire to be one spirit with You for Your speaking. Be in our speaking, speaking what You want to speak. Lord, defeat the enemy. Rescue us. We hide ourselves in You, taking You as our refuge. Lord, we hide ourselves under the cleansing, prevailing blood from all the enemy’s attacks. Lord, hide us, cover us, bless us, visit us, and give a word to each one of us. Thank You, Lord. Amen.
In earlier messages on the apostles’ teaching, we have covered four main points concerning God’s New Testament economy: the incarnation of the Triune God; the all-inclusive death of the incarnated Triune God, Jesus Christ; the resurrection of Christ; and the ascension of Christ. After the ascension of Christ, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place for the baptizing of all the believers into one Body, which is composed of many wonderful items. First, this wonderful Body is the Body of Christ. Second, it is the bride of Christ. Third, it is the universal new man. All three of these items relate to Christ. Now we will consider the church as it relates to God.
The fourth item related to the Body is that it is the household of God, the family of God (Eph. 2:19; 1 Tim. 3:15; Heb. 3:6; 1 Pet. 4:17). The household of God is the family of God. We are the household of God, God’s family. We believers are now a divine family. Before we were saved, we were a human family, born of Adam, but now we are members of the divine family. We have a great Father, and we are His children. He considers all His children His household, His folks. We, as God’s children, constitute His family.
In Greek, the same word is used to denote both house and household. In the English language also, the two words are treated as nearly the same. The Chinese language is similar in that the word for home also refers to a family. God’s house and God’s household are one entity, not two separate entities. We may think of a home as being a house with a family living in it. With God, the family is the home and the home is the family.
God’s dwelling place is His children, and His children not only have been born by a natural birth, but also have been reborn by the divine birth. We are born of God; we are not adopted by God. We are children born directly of God into His family. This family is a living entity and is God’s home. God does not live in a home that is separate from His family. He lives in His children, taking them as His home yet still considering them His children. Therefore, we are both God’s family and God’s home. This is the one Body.
We were constituted to be God’s home two thousand years ago, either at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, or at the house of Cornelius in Acts 10. This was accomplished under the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for the baptizing of all the believers into one Body, which is the household of God. We are now such a household. Though we are of different colors and races, we are folks of the same family. If this were not true, we could not call each other brother and sister. We all have been born of the one Father in a great delivery (John 16:19-22; 20:17; 1 Pet. 1:3). Paul was born in the same delivery as you and I; thus, we all are of the same family.
A household refers to life. Without life there could be no family. In the book of Numbers, the numbering of the children of Israel was by their families, according to their fathers’ houses (1:2; 26:2), indicating that it was according to life. In the church life our first concern is with life. The life we are concerned with is not our forefather Adam’s life, but God’s life, the divine life. We have been born of the divine life and are today in a divine family.