In principle, the various things experienced by the race of Israel in its history are repeated in the church in the New Testament. At Pentecost, the church entered into the good land promised by God in Christ, but because of unbelief, the church later failed to enter into the blessing promised by God in Christ to enjoy His riches. After the formation of the Roman Catholic Church, the general condition of the church was one of being captured by the great Babylon of Romanism, forsaking the straight way of the truth and turning away from God to worship all kinds of idols (Rev. 17). In the centuries before the Reformation, there were some feeble revivals that could be considered as undercurrents of the Lord’s recovery. During the Reformation in Luther’s time, however, these undercurrents burst forth into a definite recovery, which was signified by the church in Sardis. Nevertheless, the recovery was still very weak in life and truth (3:1-2). It was strengthened by Zinzendorf and later by the Brethren, especially in the matter of truth, through their returning to the unique name of Christ apart from the divisive names of the denominations as signified by the church in Philadelphia. However, the church soon degraded into the lukewarm Laodicea. The Lord desires that His lovers would carry on with what was recovered through Luther, Zinzendorf, and the Brethren until His church, which has been divided, can have a full testimony of oneness for the organic building up of His Body.
The various aspects of the history of the chosen race of Israel can be divided generally into six stages: wandering, falling dead, crossing the Jordan River, entering into Canaan, being taken into captivity, and returning. The children of Israel had an evil heart of unbelief, believing neither in God nor in His promise. Hence, God swore in His wrath that none of the unbelieving generation would see the good land which He had sworn to give to their fathers. They and their children would wander in the wilderness forty years until all the fleshly Israelites were destroyed and had fallen dead in the wilderness. After a new generation of the children of Israel passed through forty years of trials and tests in the wilderness, God gave them renewed training through Moses so that they might be prepared and fit to inherit the promised good land as God’s blessing to them. Under the leadership of Joshua, they crossed the Jordan River by faith to enter into the good land of Canaan. They had to fight with the enemies who had usurped the land to take, possess, and enjoy the land of Canaan after entering into it. This fighting began with Joshua and lasted until David. During David’s reign, all the enemies in the land were fully subdued. Thus, the children of Israel were able to settle down and live in the good land, laboring on it and enjoying its rich produce for their rest and satisfaction, thereby bringing in the kingdom of God and the building up of the holy temple as God’s dwelling place.
Although the children of Israel established the kingdom of God and built the temple for God in the good land, they were unfaithful to God; the people and their kings forsook God and His word and turned to the worship of idols. Because of their lack of repentance, their nation fell, and they were taken into captivity until the days ordained by God for their punishment had been fulfilled. According to the word spoken by Jeremiah, God began to bring them back to the God-promised good land enjoyed by their fathers seventy years after their captivity. They rebuilt the temple on its original foundation, recovered their worship, service, and enjoyment of God, and rebuilt the holy city to restore the government of the kingdom. However, the kingship was never restored so that they had to govern themselves under the dominion of the nations.
In principle, the various things experienced by the race of Israel in its history are repeated in the church in the New Testament. At Pentecost, the church entered into the good land promised by God in Christ, but because of unbelief the church later failed to enter into the blessing promised by God in Christ to enjoy His riches. After the formation of the Roman Catholic Church, the general condition of the church was one of being captured by the great Babylon of Romanism, forsaking the straight way of the truth and turning away from God to worship all kinds of idols. During the Reformation in Luther’s time, a definite recovery came into existence, but intrinsically the recovery was still very weak in life and truth. It was strengthened by Zinzendorf and later by the Brethren, especially in the matter of truth, through their returning to the unique name of Christ apart from the divisive names of the denominations as signified by the church in Philadelphia. However, the church soon degraded into the lukewarm Laodicea. The Lord surely desires that His lovers would go on continually in His recovery until His church, which has been divided, can have a full testimony of oneness for the organic building up of His Body.