In the past, once we had a certain idea or a definite opinion, no one could change us. Now it is different. When we are about to express our idea, He tugs on us from within. When we have a definite opinion, He mingles Himself with us. As we are praying, in our inner feeling we ask, “Does God want me to do this? Will He be happy if I do this?” In this way we have God’s element and God’s flavor in our ideas because God has been mingled with us. This mingling is conformation. The more mingling we have, the more we have the image of God’s Son. Many brothers and sisters among us have some amount of the flavor of God’s Son in their experience. This is because God is continually mingling Himself with them to conform them to the image of His Son.
The more God mingles Himself with us, the more we have His element. The more God mingles Himself with us, the more Christ spreads in us. Thus, Christ will gradually grow in us until He is formed and matured in us. Christ’s being formed and matured in us causes us to become full-grown (Eph. 4:13). When we reach the stage of a full-grown man, Christ will be fully expressed through us. Christ will spread from our spirit to fully occupy our soul, and then He will permeate our body, and glory will be expressed. At that time, we will be matured and ready to be raptured because Christ will have fully grown and been fully formed in us.
First John 3:2 says, “If He is manifested, we will be like Him.” Are we like Him now? How much is Christ expressed through us? Since the time we were saved, has there been more mingling of God in us? Whenever God moves in us, are we touched but not moved? Do we let Him prevail? Is God’s element in our opinions and preferences? Perhaps to this day some among us may still have the concept that it is sufficient to be saved and “go to heaven” and that it is not necessary to be concerned about the matter of overcoming. Even some have said, “We do not expect to receive a reward. We are satisfied to serve as guards at the gates of the heavenly mansions.” Furthermore, they say, “All the messages concerning the truth are very good, but we cannot measure up to them. They are too difficult, so let us forget about them. Our God is a God of compassion. He predestinated us not to be judged but to be saved. Therefore, it is all right just to be saved. We should try not to commit big sins, but if once in a while we commit small sins, we don’t have to think too much about it. We believers should not be over zealous. Why should we go to meetings and pray every day? It is enough just to be saved.” However, if one day such a one became seriously ill and was about to die, he would not say this anymore. Instead, he would regret his former attitude about grace. He would say to the Lord, “Lord, You have saved me, and I truly know that You have forgiven me of my sins and have given me the eternal life, so I do not have any worries if You would take me today to be with You. However, when I consider that in my whole life I have been walking according to the flesh and caring only for myself, when I consider that I have never thought about Your interests nor ever lived a single day for the gospel, how can I go to see You peacefully? O Lord, have pity on me! If You would give me a few more years, I would live them wholly for You.” If he would expire before finishing his words, would he then go to a “heavenly mansion”? If he were to, would he not feel ashamed when he saw the Lord at that “heavenly mansion”? A person cannot go in a casual manner even to meet the president of a nation, not to mention going to meet the Lord. At the very least, he has to comb his hair, clean his face, and change his clothes. Many people have been saved, but afterward they still live by their flesh and natural life, love the world, indulge in lusts, practice deceit, and do evil things, yet they still believe that when they die, their souls will immediately go to a heavenly mansion. If this were the case, what kind of a place would that heavenly mansion be? Would it not be a robbers’ den?
This is not God’s thought concerning salvation. God’s intention is that all the saved ones would be conformed to the image of His Son. Now consider yourself. Are your thoughts filthy? Have they been purified by the Holy Spirit? Is your natural being strong? Has it been dealt with by the Holy Spirit? It is true that the Lord has bought and redeemed you by His precious blood. Nevertheless, God will ask you how much you have been transformed in His life. Have you been conformed to the image of His Son? Do you look like Him? God’s salvation is not according to the doctrine taught in degraded Christianity but according to His purpose of grace. I am not asking whether you have been saved. I know that you already have been washed by the precious blood and that you also have received God’s life, but do you live in Him? Are you under the ruling of the Spirit? Do you subject yourself to the heavenly authority? Are you being dealt with by the heavens?
I know some will say, “I absolutely cannot make it.” However, as long as you have the heart, the strength of God will come to you. “With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). He is our strength. The question is not whether we are able but whether we are willing. Are we willing to hate the world? Are we willing to hate the flesh? Are we willing to hate our natural being? It is regrettable that there are many who are simply not willing. They still continue to walk according to their flesh and still indulge in their lusts. I hope that we all would ask ourselves according to our conscience and our feeling, “Since we walk according to the flesh, indulge in lusts, and live altogether for ourselves, if we were to die today, would our souls immediately go to a ‘heavenly mansion’?” There is no such logic even on earth, not to mention in the heavens. How can the harvest be gathered to the barn before it has ripened? The harvest must be ripened. The saved ones must grow unto maturity, and then they can be raptured and brought to God.
God has His economy, His administration, and His dispensation. God’s salvation is not what many people imagine it to be-a matter of heaven and hell, of going to either heaven or hell. God has His plan, His arrangement, and in His grace He has His economy.
May the Lord have mercy on us that we may not be those who are disapproved (2 Cor. 13:6). We all should pray for the church and for the Lord to give grace to His church so that the church may go on in the way of His recovery. It has been more than four hundred years since the Reformation at the time of Martin Luther, and God is still recovering His truths. May we who live in these last days not allow the traditional errors to hinder the way of God’s recovery. We all have the responsibility to carry out this commission.
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