In the Old Testament history books we can see many different pictures, but we may not have an accurate interpretation of these pictures. The correct interpretation of the pictures in the history of the kings of Judah recorded in the books of Chronicles is that these kings are examples showing us that it is not sufficient for us who love God and seek Christ only to stand on the right ground and keep the fundamental truth. We also need to take care of who we are, how we behave, and how we conduct ourselves. We must also pay attention to our interest, our intention, our purpose, our goal, our attitude, and our way of speaking. For example, we should pay attention to the tone of our voice. Sometimes our tone of voice may be like that of a roaring lion, not like that of a God-man.
The books of 1 and 2 Chronicles give us many examples of how the kings of Judah conducted themselves in the good land. These examples show how they were, how they behaved themselves, how they did things, how they faced different situations, what their intentions were, what their interests were, and what their goals were as kings in the good land. These examples refer to the way we conduct ourselves in the details of our daily living.
Consider the daily situation in your married life. You are on the proper ground of the church and you keep the fundamental faith, but how do you speak to your spouse? How do you treat your spouse? What is your attitude toward your wife or husband? In your married life do you walk according to the spirit or according to something else? Do you live the life of a God-man with your husband or wife?
In order to live the life of a God-man, we must be crucified. We must be dying to live. If we live a crucified life in our married life, then in our married life we will have the living of a God-man.
Many saints are very good in the church meetings and in the church service, but at home they may live the life not of a God-man but of a “scorpion-man,” exchanging words or quarreling. A certain couple may love the Lord and His recovery. However, at dinner the husband may criticize his wife for her attitude, and she may condemn him for his way of speaking. Then after dinner they attend the meeting of their vital group. But how can these two “scorpions” be vital? Because of such a daily situation, in this country it is very difficult to find a genuine vital group. According to my observation, in the vital groups I have seen only deadness, not vitality. All the vital members should be God-men, crucified in their natural life to live a God-man life by the divine life within them.
My burden in these messages is not to teach biblical history. Rather, my burden is to minister what the Lord wants today. The Lord desires that many of His believers would gradually be transformed into God-men. Second Corinthians 3:17 says that the Lord is the Spirit. Verse 18 goes on to say, “We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” This means that we should keep our face unveiled and look at the Lord that we may be transformed into His image. Transformation requires a process; it cannot take place overnight. Furthermore, Romans 8:29 says God has predestinated us not just to be transformed but also to be conformed to the image of His Son, that this Son might be the Firstborn among many brothers. My burden is that we, the believers in Christ, would gradually be transformed and conformed to be God-men.
In the first message we pointed out that our enjoyment of Christ differs in degrees according to our pursuing of Christ and our faithfulness to Him. The highest attainment of pursuing Christ is to reign with Christ in His divine life through His abounding grace (Phil. 3:13-14; Rom. 5:17b, 21b). Our pursuing of Christ and our faithfulness to Him determine how much we enjoy Him. To have the highest attainment in pursuing Christ is to reign with Him as kings in His divine life.
The kings of Judah attained to a position where they could enjoy the good land of Canaan in their kingship. They were kings to enjoy the good land. The extent of their enjoyment depended on what they were, on how they behaved themselves, and on what their goals, interests, and intentions were. We need to learn from their examples how to have a God-man living in all the details of our daily life.