In the Lord’s recovery today we are “churching,” we are practicing the proper church life, in order to build today’s ark. To many in degraded Christianity, their Christ is like a canoe, a single piece of carved wood. However, in the Lord’s recovery our Christ is the ark, something corporate that is built up not by God but by God’s seekers. Today we are churching in order to build the ark, in which we are saved not only from eternal perdition but also from this crooked and perverted generation. The ark saved Noah and his family not only from perdition under God’s judgment but also from the evil generation of his day. Furthermore, the ark brought Noah and his family through the flood waters, the waters of death, into “resurrection,” typified by the ark coming to rest on the mountains of Ararat (Gen. 8:4), in which they lived as God’s kingdom on earth. Likewise, as the real ark, our Christ saves us not only from eternal perdition but also from the present evil age and into resurrection for the kingdom life in the coming age. This is the kind of Christ we have in the church life today.
Christian fundamentalists strongly oppose the idea of salvation by works. I was once influenced by such fundamentalism. In a sense, this concept is right, but not in every sense. Philippians 2:12b says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” There is no need for us to work out our salvation from eternal perdition—Christ accomplished this salvation once for all on the cross. Nevertheless, there is another kind of salvation, one that saves us from this crooked and perverted generation and causes us to shine as luminaries, holding forth the word of life (vv. 15-16). This subjective salvation needs our work by our cooperating with God. Actually, none of us can do this work in ourselves, but because God is operating in us, we are able to work out our own salvation. Thus, verse 13 says, “It is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.” God is operating in us today. Our working is our cooperation with His operation.
We are in the Lord’s recovery today to build up the church according to God’s revelation in this age. God’s present revelation is for us to build up the church as the ark, not to be saved from eternal perdition but to be saved from the present evil age and into the coming kingdom age to fulfill God’s eternal purpose. The United States is a country with a long history of traditional Christianity. There is no need for anyone from the Far East to come to tell Americans anything concerning Christianity. It would be better for the Americans to send a missionary to the Far East to tell the heathen Chinese about Christianity. Nevertheless, the fact is that God had a need for one who saw His revelation to be sent to the United States to tell the people what God’s intention is today.
We thank God for all the godly forefathers who have gone before us and for all the godly ways we have inherited from them. However, God has no intention to stop with what we have inherited. Every time I pick up my pen to write the footnotes for the life-studies of the books of the Bible, the Lord firmly charges me not to begin by reading any other biblical expositions. If I begin by going to other books, I will be influenced by the old, traditional view. There is no doubt that many good things have been revealed to those who have gone before us, but God has something further to reveal to us today. The Lord has charged me to keep myself vacant, to keep myself like a virgin land, in order to allow Him to come in to show me something new. I can testify that in writing the footnotes for the life-studies of Genesis, Romans, John, and Hebrews, I have seen a number of new points. New light has come in.
In writing the footnotes for the life-study of Hebrews, I saw that today we are the partners of Christ (3:14). Most Christians probably have never heard that we are the partners of Christ. However, we need to see that Christ is the Operator of God’s economy in the universe and that we are His partners in this operation. The Greek text of Hebrews reveals that we are not only Christ’s companions but also His partners. When I saw this, I was greatly encouraged. Now I know the value, the worth, the preciousness, of the book of Hebrews. This book reveals something unique—that we are the partners of Christ, sharing with Him God’s interests in God’s economy. Although I have a number of older books that expound Hebrews, I was charged by the Lord not to look into them before writing my footnotes. After I wrote the footnotes, I opened the older books to compare what I had seen with what had already been revealed to the writers of these books. I found that there was much new light and many new points that the Lord had revealed to me.
God is moving on today; He is still working. What the Lord is doing on earth is not merely to save people or even to help people to be spiritual. The Lord has not come back yet because He is still waiting for today’s ark to be built. When the ark is prepared, the Lord will come. When the church life is proper, when the testimony of the church in the Lord’s recovery is matured, the Lord will say, “Now is the time for Me to return.” The proper church life will be the steppingstone, the beachhead, for the Lord’s coming back. We are here with a purpose for our God of purpose. This purpose is carried out in the church life.