The word recovery means that something was there originally, and then was lost. So there is the need to bring that thing back to its original state. The word recovery is somewhat simple and not too profound, but when we speak of the Lord's recovery we need to apply it to the revelation of the whole Bible. From this point of view the Lord's recovery is a profound and crucial thing. In a sense the revelation of the entire Bible is a revelation of recovery.
First of all the Bible unveils to us clearly concerning God's intention, God's purpose, and God's aim. The Bible shows us that God had an intention, a purpose, with a goal as His aim. If we don't have a clear vision of what God wants, what God desires to have, what God's intention is. we cannot know what the Lord's recovery is. So we need to see God's intention, God's purpose, God's eternal plan.
The Bible gives a clear picture not only of God's intention, but also of God's accomplishment according to His intention. First, God purposed, and then God came in to accomplish His purpose. Apparently, the Old Testament is simply a history of a number of great men plus a people, the nation of Israel. But actually the history of those great individuals and the nation of Israel is just the history of God's accomplishment.
Even the New Testament has a history. First, there is a history of a man by the name of Jesus Christ. He is a wonderful Person whose history needs four books. The four Gospels are the history of Christ. Then from Acts to the end of the New Testament there is the history of the church. So the whole Bible, including the Old Testament and the New Testament is a history book concerning God's accomplishment, God's move.
Third, the Bible also gives us a clear record of how God's enemy came in to destroy what God had accomplished. The Satanic way to destroy God's accomplishment has two aspects: the inward and the outward. The inward aspect is to ruin God's people, to make God's chosen people rotten and corrupt. In the Old Testament after God had accomplished His purpose, Satan came in to ruin the children of Israel so that they became corrupt and rotten within. Then Satan came in to destroy God's accomplishment outwardly. The temple, which was the expression of God, was destroyed, and God's chosen people were carried into captivity. This means that whatever God had accomplished was gone.