Just as Christ has two aspects, His person and His ministry, the church also has two aspects, the universal aspect and the local aspect. Universally speaking, the church is the unique Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23). Christ as the Head has only one Body. It would be terrible for a person to have one head and many bodies. Universally speaking, the Body of Christ, which is the church, is one.
Just as Christ and the church are one Head and one Body, they are also one Husband and one wife. Christ does not agree with polygamy. Christ agrees with the principle of one husband and one wife. Fornication and adultery are abominable in the eyes of God because they destroy humankind and spoil the significance of marriage. Marriage signifies that Christ as the Husband has only one wife. Instead of the church being expressed as the one wife of Christ, Christianity has produced many divisions. These divisions may be considered as “concubines.” Concubines do not care for the proper wife. They may say to the wife, “Are only you the wife? Are we not also wives?” Hagar might have asked Sarah, “Is Abraham only your husband? Isn’t he my husband also?” Abraham was Hagar’s husband, but she was not his wife; she was his concubine. Just as Sarah foolishly proposed that Abraham take a concubine (Gen. 16:2), the church in the past has produced many “concubines.” Because the young people would like to be used by the Lord to turn the age, they must know that to turn the age is to turn it from the concubines to the wife. They must see that according to God’s eternal plan, the very anointed One of God should have only one Body, one wife, the church. In the entire universe the church must be one. This is the universal aspect of the church.
I like to see people get saved. However, only to be saved is not meaningful enough. The most meaningful thing is to get into the Lord’s recovery. The Lord’s recovery is the continuation of God’s eternal economy. To get into God’s economy is a great thing. I gave up everything for this recovery, and in doing so I made the best choice. I was one of only a few of my schoolmates, friends, and relatives who made this choice. Many years ago they misunderstood me, but now they appreciate my choice. Even those who have not been saved tell me that I made the proper choice. Nothing else on earth except the Lord’s eternal economy is meaningful. Even to become the President of the United States does not mean so much. To come into the Lord’s recovery as a young person and carry on the divine economy is glorious and becomes more glorious as time goes on. Let the enemy wait and see. When we are the New Jerusalem, the whole universe will declare that we made a marvelous choice.
It is not sufficient only to be saved, to preach the gospel to get others saved, and to be spiritual. We must realize that God has an eternal plan. God has an economy to accomplish in the universe, and He is accomplishing it now in this age. In the last fifty years, I have seen many things happen according to the prophecies in the Bible. In 1967 Israel took over Jerusalem against the protest of so many nations. I told the brothers at that time not to worry for Israel’s sake because the Lord would take care of them. What happened there was the Lord’s doing. Who could oppose it? All the surrounding Arab countries have not been able to do anything to that little nation of just over two million people. The prophecies of the Bible are being fulfilled now. However, the Lord is not waiting for Israel. He is waiting today for the recovered church. Israel is now a nation, but where is the church? For the accomplishment of His economy God needs both Israel and the church. In Revelation there are two groups of one hundred forty-four thousand, one from Israel (7:3-8) and one from the church (14:1-5). According to prophecy, there should be these two peoples cooperating with the Lord to fulfill His purpose. The nation of Israel is established even though they are still unbelieving, but today the Lord is waiting for the church. There is no proper church to match the Lord’s move on the earth today. The Lord does have a recovery, but it is still too small.
It is not an accident that so many young people have been brought into the Lord’s recovery. This is something sovereign of the Lord. I hope that the real situation regarding the church will be clear to all of you.
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