Message Ten

The Church as Revealed in Hebrews

Scripture Reading: Heb. 2:10-12; 3:14; 1:9;
3:6; 4:9; 12:22-24, 28; 13:20

1. The church is a living composition of the many sons of God, who are the many brothers of Christ brought forth in His resurrection— Heb. 2:10-12; Rom. 8:29; John 20:17; Heb. 1:5; 5:5; Acts 13:33; 1 Pet. 1:3:
   1. God is our divine Father, and we are His divine sons born of His divine life with His divine nature—John 20:17; Eph. 1:5; Gal. 3:26; John 1:12-13; 2 Pet. 1:4:
   2. As the many brothers of Christ, we are the same as the firstborn Son; He is divine and human, and we are human and divine—Heb. 2:11; 1:6; Rom. 8:29.
   3. The church is an organism with two lives and two natures combined and mingled together— Lev. 2:1-16:
      1. The church is altogether a matter of life— the divine life and the uplifted, resurrected human life—Rom. 1:3-4.
      2. The church has two natures—the human nature and the divine nature; therefore, the church is both human and divine—Heb. 2:14, 11.
   4. In the church the firstborn Son of God declares the Father’s name to His brothers, and in the midst of the church the firstborn Son of God sings hymns of praise unto the Father—Heb. 2:12; Psa. 22:22; cf. Matt. 26:30.
2. The church is a corporate partnership with Christ—Heb. 3:14; 1:9:
   1. The goal of God’s operation in the universe is to accomplish a glorious expression of Himself— Heb. 2:10; John 17:1, 5, 22, 24; Rev. 21:10-11.
   2. In His exaltation the Lord Jesus was inaugurated as Lord and Christ to administrate God’s operation, and He was also designated as the legal Heir to inherit all things in God’s economy—Acts 2:36; Heb. 1:2.
   3. The firstborn Son is God’s appointed Heir, and we, the many sons, have been saved to be His joint-heirs, inheriting not only salvation but all things with Him—Heb. 1:14; Rom. 8:17; Gal. 4:7; Eph. 3:6; Titus 3:7.
   4. Since Christ as the firstborn Son of God is God’s appointed Heir and we as the many sons of God are His joint-heirs, we are Christ’s partners— Heb. 1:9; 3:14:
      1. Christ and we are in one partnership, sharing the same interests in the divine corporation—“Christ and the church”—Eph. 5:32.
      2. As Christ’s partners we share in His anointing and cooperate with Him in His operation to reach the goal of God’s economy—the glorious expression of the Divine Being— Heb. 1:9; 2 Cor. 1:21; Rev. 21:10-11.
3. The church is the house of God—Heb. 3:4-6; 1 Tim. 3:15-16:
   1. The house of God is the family of God, a living composition of the children of God in the Father’s life and reality—John 1:12-13; 1 John 3:1; Rom. 8:16.
   2. As the house of God, the church is the real Bethel, the gate of heaven, where the firstborn Son of God is the heavenly ladder—Gen. 28:10-22; John 1:51.
   3. The Father’s house is a divine and human incorporation of the processed and consummated Triune God with His redeemed, regenerated, and transformed elect—John 14:2, 20.
   4. The indwelling Christ is building Himself into us and building us into Him to produce a mutual abode—Eph. 3:17; John 14:2-3, 23; 2 Sam. 7:12-14a.
4. The church, the enlargement of Christ, is the Sabbath rest—John 2:19, 21; 3:29a, 30; 1 Cor. 12:12; Heb. 3:6; 4:9:
   1. The individual Christ is God’s Sabbath (Matt. 11:28-29), and the church is the enlargement of Christ; therefore, the church is also God’s Sabbath rest.
   2. The church is God’s satisfaction and rest because in the church God has His habitation for His expression and representation—Eph. 2:22.
   3. There is only one situation that can satisfy God—a situation in which God has gained a group of people to be His expression and representation—Heb. 2:12; 3:6, 14.
5. To come to the church is to come to the new covenant and to the heavenly New Jerusalem—Heb. 12:22-24; 8:7-13; 11:10, 16; Gal. 4:24-26:
   1. The new covenant, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the church are one.
   2. To receive the new covenant is to enter the New Jerusalem and come to the church:
      1. Hebrews 8 indicates that the old covenant of law has been replaced by the new covenant.
      2. Hebrews 12 says that we have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the church, and to the Mediator of a new covenant—vv. 22-24.
6. The church is the unshakable kingdom of God—Heb. 12:28:
   1. The unshakable kingdom which we are receiving is Christ with His enlargement:
      1. The kingdom is actually the Lord Himself as the kingdom within us—Luke 17:20-21; Mark 4:3, 26.
      2. Whereas the church is Christ’s increase in life, the kingdom is Christ’s increase in administration.
      3. In the coming age the corporate Christ, Christ with His overcomers, will become a great mountain to fill the earth, making the whole earth God’s kingdom—Dan. 2:35, 44.
   2. In the church we are living in the kingdom of God today—John 3:3, 5; Rom. 14:17; Rev. 1:9.
   3. The kingdom of God as the church life in this age is for our exercise and equipping in the divine authority through the endurance of sufferings and for our learning how to reign in life—Rev. 1:9; Acts 14:22; Matt. 18:18; Rom. 5:17.
7. The church is God’s flock under the all-inclusive, tender care of Christ as the great Shepherd of the sheep—Heb. 13:20-21; 1 Pet. 2:25; 5:2:
   1. God raised up the Lord Jesus from the dead to be the great Shepherd to consummate the New Jerusalem according to God’s eternal covenant—Heb. 13:20.
   2. Christ’s heavenly ministry is mainly to shepherd the church of God as His flock, which issues in His Body, and the apostolic ministry cooperates with Christ’s heavenly ministry to shepherd God’s flock—John 21:15-17.
   3. “If all the churches receive this teaching to participate in Christ’s wonderful shepherding, there will be a big revival in the recovery” (The Vital Groups, p. 40).