Psalm 68:18 concludes with: “You have received gifts among men, / Even the rebellious ones also, / That Jehovah God may dwell among them.” The purpose for the producing of the members, the receiving of the gifts, and the giving of the gifts to the Body is the building up of the dwelling place of God on this earth among men. All this is for the building up of the Body. This completely corresponds with the thought in Ephesians 4. Verses 11 and 12 say, “And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.” The Body of Christ is the dwelling place of God on this earth among men.
In the past few years I have heard people speak of forming a “New Testament church.” I have the feeling that many of these dear brothers are speaking about something that they do not understand. The church is not formed in this way. The church is produced by the flow of the Triune God with the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. When this flow comes into us, the all-inclusive dose is applied to us. Then sin, self, death, darkness, Satan, the world, and the other negative things are all dissolved. Moreover, all that God is and all that man is are brought into us to produce us, to make us members of the Body. It is in this flow that we become proper, living members given to the Body. When we are living in this flow, we are transformed and we are built up. Then we have the reality of the church, the reality of the Body.
Consider church history and our situation today. People have written many books about the church, and they talk much about the Body life and the “New Testament church.” Please tell me, though, where is such a church? There is not such a church today because people do not experience this flow. If we brothers and sisters here do not realize this flow, then regardless of how much we talk about the church life and the Body life, we still will not have it, and we will not be able to have it. The Body does not come from talking; it comes from the flowing.
This is why in these past two and a half years my burden has been to stress this matter. We must have the flow of the Triune God with His incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to bring God into man and to bring man into God that we may be fully transformed. It is by this that we can practice the building up of the Body. The formula that I have presented here did not “come from the sky.” This formula has been proved by use for more than thirty-five years. I assure you that it is truly workable. Only the flow matters, and only this flow works.
When we had the first training in Taiwan ten years ago, I stressed the same matters. There is no need to pass something else on to you. This flow alone is good enough. The flow solves all the problems, and it meets all the needs. Moreover, this flow is for the purpose of the building, so that the Lord God may dwell among men. We have to pray for this matter that the Lord may bring more and more seeking and wandering ones into this reality. Without this understanding, there is no place for the seeking ones to go, and there is no hope for them to rest. In addition, there is no hope of a dwelling place for God, a place for the Lord to rest on the earth today. This is the only way, and this is the only hope. In John 14:2 and 4 the Lord Jesus said, “In My Father’s house are many abodes; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you....And where I am going you know the way.” The place and the way He spoke of are in the flow of the Triune God to produce His dwelling.
Until the Lord’s children, the seeking ones and wandering ones, are brought into this realization, they can never have rest. They are still in the wandering process, and God is homeless among them. Therefore, we must pray for them. This is not a movement, an organization, or something formed by man. Rather, this is a matter of the flow of life. It is by this flow that the real building up of the Body will be realized. The Lord promised that He would come quickly, but two thousand years have passed, and He is still not here. This is due to the lack of the realization of the flow.
It is by the flow that the bride will be prepared and adorned (Rev. 21:2). I do not have the assurance that the whole church will be prepared as the bride. According to the revelation of the New Testament, it will not be so. However, I do believe that at least a minority, a small number of the saints, will be brought back to the flow. This minority will be the ones who bring Christ back. This is similar to the type in the Old Testament. It was not the majority of the Jews who brought in Christ’s first coming. It was only that remnant who came back to the Holy Land. Although they may have been in a weak condition, it was still they who brought in Christ the first time. Many thousands of Jews were scattered in many places, some even in large communities, but Christ was not born among them. Rather, Christ was born among the small number who came back to the Holy Land.
The second coming of Christ will be the same in principle as His first coming. If a small remnant will come back to the original ground and standing, they will bring Christ back. This is the Lord’s recovery. This is not a movement, an organization, something formed by man, teachings, or gifts. This is simply the flow of life. We all have to be brought into this flow of life, and we have to pray about this. Whenever we go to the Lord to pray about this matter, we are alive and living within, and we sense the inner flow, the anointing. This proves that the Lord is desirous to have this recovery.
This is His move, not our movement. If we will forget about our own needs, our family problems, and even other people’s needs and simply remember the Lord’s need for this flow of life, and if we will pray for this, right away we will sense the flowing and the anointing within. We will be enlivened, because this is something that the Lord desires. He is seeking after this flow. Again I say, this is not any kind of teaching, gift, organization, or formation. This is simply the flow of life. This is what the Lord is seeking after, because it is only by this that His purpose can be fulfilled, His goal can be attained, and His bride can be prepared. The Lord has now begun this work.