THE
FULL MINISTRY OF CHRIST IN THREE STAGES PART III
A. The first thing that Christ is doing in the third stage of His ministry is to intensify His organic salvation:
1. On the way of Christ’s ministry in the stage of His inclusion, which is to carry out His organic salvation for the producing of the church and the building up of His Body to consummate the New Jerusalem, the church became degraded, frustrating the accomplishment of God’s eternal economy.
a. Paul said that all who were in Asia turned away from him (II Tim. 1:15). The first thing that happened in the degradation of the church was the turning away from the apostles’ teaching.
b. Paul also charged Timothy to cut straight the word of the truth (II Tim. 2:15), which means to unfold the word of God in its various parts rightly and straightly without any crookedness. Today some Bible interpreters cut the word of the Scripture crookedly. This is also an indication of the degradation of the church. For example, the Bible speaks of the spirit and soul of man as two distinct parts (I Thes. 5:23; Heb. 4:12), yet some people distortedly say that the spirit and soul are identical. Another example is that the Bible says that Christ became the Spirit in resurrection (I Cor. 15:45b), yet some insist to say that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are separate persons and therefore Christ is not the Spirit. This is not to cut straight the word of the truth.
c. Paul also said, "to pursue… with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart"’, (II Tim. 2:22). Not having a pure heart and not calling on the Lord also indicate degradation.
d. Finally, Paul said, "The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you" (II Tim. 4:22). If we do not experience the Lord’s being with our spirit and therefore lose the presence of grace, that is the degradation of the church.
2. Hence, Christ became the sevenfold intensified Spirit (Rev. 1:4; 4:5; 5:6; 3:1) to intensify His organic salvation sevenfold for the building up of His Body to consummate God’s eternal goal - the New Jerusalem.
B. The second thing which Christ is doing in the third stage of His ministry is to produce the overcomers:
1. Through the degradation of the church nearly all the believers in Christ became defeated in their old man by Satan, sin, world, and their flesh.
2. In His seven epistles to the degraded churches, Christ is calling the defeated believers to be His overcomers to Himself as the sevenfold intensified Spirit for the experience of His organic salvation in His sevenfold intensification.
a. Christians read the Bible, but they altogether overlook the fact that, in its last book, the Bible uses two long chapters to call for the overcomers seven times, saying that he who overcomes will be rewarded (Rev. 2:7, 11, , 17, 26-28; 3:5, 12, 21). Revelation even warns us that if we do not overcome, we will be hurt by the second death (Rev. 2:11). To be cast into the lake of fire to suffer eternal torment, is the second death (Rev. 20:11-15). Anyone who is genuinely saved will not suffer the second death; they will not be cast into the lake of fire to suffer eternal torment. However, if the believers are defeated in this age they will be hurt by the lake of fire in the coming age (kingdom age). This is to be hurt by the second death.
b. The overcoming ones will enter into the kingdom with Him to reign as kings; the defeated ones will go to the outer darkness to be chastened for one thousand years (Matt. 25:21, 23, 30). Sooner or later we all have to mature. If we do not mature in this age, we will be put into the outer darkness in the coming age to be chastised so that we may become mature. After one thousand years, all the believers will have become mature to be the overcomers (Rev. 2:17), who will be qualified to participate in the New Jerusalem.
C. The third thing which Christ is doing in the third stage of His ministry is to consummate the New Jerusalem:
1. According to the entire revelation of the New Testament, the unique goal of the Christian work should be the New Jerusalem, which is the ultimate goal of God’s eternal economy.
a. Today among Christians, nearly no one has a proper goal. They pursue being spiritual, being holy, preaching the gospel to win souls, and establishing seminaries to teach theology and the Bible, yet hardly anyone can say that they are doing these things with the goal of consummating the New Jerusalem.
b. In the degradation of the church, on the negative side, there is the frustration from Satan, sin, the world, and the flesh. On the other hand, many positive, proper things have become replacements of God’s eternal goal. God has only one ultimate goal, that is, the New Jerusalem.
2. The degradation of the church is mainly due to the fact that nearly all the Christian workers are distracted to take many things other than the New Jerusalem as their goal.
a. We do not want a kind of gospel preaching that is merely for soul winning. The goal of our gospel preaching must be the New Jerusalem.
3. Hence, to be overcomers answering the Lord’s call under the degradation of the church, we need to overcome all things, which replace the New Jerusalem as the goal and take the goal of God’s eternal economy, that is, the New Jerusalem, as our unique and the ultimate goal.