“If a man sells a dwelling in a walled city, he shall have the right of redemption within the year after its sale; his right of redemption shall last a full year. If it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall remain in permanent ownership to him who bought it throughout his generations; it shall not be released in the jubilee” (vv. 29-30). This signifies that if a believer has lost the enjoyment of the church life, it can be restored only within a short limit of God’s grace. If the lost enjoyment of the church life is not restored in the church age, it will still be lost in the millennium. This is according to the principle of taking away from him who has not (Matt. 25:29). Hence, the loss of the enjoyment of the church life is more serious than the loss of the enjoyment of Christ as our divine possession.
Concerning the redemption of a house in a walled city, there is a statute of limitations. After one full year, the house could not be redeemed, even in the jubilee. However, we may think that the jubilee is able to accomplish the restoration of everything, but this is not the case, for there is a time limit.
A house in a walled city is a type of the church life. We may sell anything else, but we should not sell the church life. If we do sell the church, we have only a limited time to recover it, and not even the jubilee can help us in this matter. The enjoyment of the church life can be restored only within a short time of God’s grace, as indicated by the one year.
The one full year typifies the church age. We should not think that the church age is long. Actually, the church age is short. The New Testament warns us that the church age is short. The Lord Jesus Himself has said, “I come quickly” (Rev. 3:11). Only the lazy, idle servant says, “My master is delaying his coming” (Matt. 24:48b). Rather, the Lord is hastening His coming, and it will not be long before the church age is ended. The church age will not be lengthened, prolonged. No one can tell whether the church life will be ended tomorrow by the Lord’s coming back. The church age is only for a little time, for a short time of God’s grace. Today we are in the church life, but it will be ended by the Lord’s coming back.
If you lose the church life and do not redeem it in a quick way, you will also lose the church life in the millennium. This means that the lost enjoyment of the church life will not be restored to you during the millennium. As we have pointed out, this is according to the principle of taking away from him who has not. If you do not have the church life in this age, then the church life will be taken away from you in the coming age. In Matthew 25 to lose the reward of the coming kingdom is to lose the enjoyment of the church life.
Losing the enjoyment of the church life is more serious than losing the enjoyment of Christ. The reason is that it is easy for the enjoyment of Christ to be restored. If we lose the enjoyment of Christ today, we can recover it quickly and easily. The Lord is gracious, and at any time He will restore Himself to us for our enjoyment. However, it takes a much longer time to recover the lost church life, for there is a hardship that frustrates us from coming back to the church life. We should be warned by this not to sell the church life. But if we do sell it, we should endeavor to have our lost church life restored to us as soon as possible, for the church age may be cut short at any time. If we do not recover our lost church life in this age, we shall be deprived of the enjoyment of the Body life of Christ until we have been disciplined during the millennium. Then in the New Jerusalem we shall be restored to the Body life of Christ.
Although there is in the New Testament such a teaching concerning the loss of the church life, not many Christian teachers have seen it. Having this view of the loss and recovery of the church life will help us to realize our need to live a proper church life today. Once we lose the church life, there is the danger that we shall lose it also during the coming millennium. Therefore, we need to consider losing the church life more serious than losing the enjoyment of Christ.
Home | First | Prev | Next