The Completing Ministry of Paul, Message 2

My Great Delight in God's Word

The Completing Ministry of Paul, Message 2

The Central Vision

Completing ministry of Paul

In the last message, we learned about who Jesus is and what He would have us do from the story of the apostle Paul's calling. Now we are going to see what exactly the main ministry of the apostle Paul is. As the name of the name of this book may have already implied, the ministry to which God called him to minister is the "completing ministry." But what would God like him to complete? The answer appears in Colossians 1:24-26. God called him to complete the word of God!

²⁴ I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,
²⁵ of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill [complete] the word of God,
²⁶ the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. (Colossians 1:24-26 NKJV)

Most translations render the word "complete" as "fulfill." Only few translations, such as the literally-translated Recovery Version, New English Translation, Darby Bible Translation, render this phrase as "complete the word of God." This word comes from the original Greek word "pleroo." According to Mickelson's Enhanced Strong's Greek and Hebrew Dictionaries, it means "to fully, completely fill; to fully supply, finish (a period or task)." As also suggested by Pulpit Commentary, "to fulfill the word of God" is likely to be "to complete, to give full development and extension to the gospel message," because it suits best to the context, and it is also used elsewhere in this sense by the apostle Paul.

Why did the word of God need to be finished by the apostle Paul? Were the Old Testament, the Gospel, the book of Acts, the other epistles and Revelation not adequate? Of course, the way to salvation was already revealed in these books. One definitely could be saved by God's inspired words in them. Nevertheless, there were some mysteries that had not been unravelled yet, and the apostle Paul was commissioned to complete it, in order to give full development and extension to the Gospel message!

Praise the Lord that the apostle Paul faithfully completed the word of God by unveiling many mysteries that had been hidden from the ages and the generations, but had been revealed to us through his writings. God has extensively worked through His inspired words written by him throughout the church history. Because of his completing ministry, we can grasp spiritual meanings of the Old Testament, and we can understand the Gospel message in depth. God's word can never be completed without Paul's ministry.

I really like one of St Augustine well-known quotes referring to the bible, saying that "The New [Testament] is in the Old [Testament] concealed. The Old [Testament] is in the New [Testament] revealed." This is so true. The mysteries in the New Testament, particularly concerning Christ and the Church, appear everywhere in the Old Testament, but they are concealed and we can never understand them unless we have the revelation in the New Testament. The book of Genesis may only be a collection of stories without any meaning to us, unless we have the divine revelation in the New Testament linking the history to its actual spiritual implications. In the light of the New Testament, we can see Christ everywhere in the Old Testament, as He is the centre of God's economy.

And how can this completing ministry be associated with us today? Of course, the word of God has already been completed by the prophets and the apostles. It does not need to be added anymore. Actually we are not allowed to add anything to or subtract anything from the word of God (Deuteronomy 12:32; Proverbs 30:6, Galatians 3:15, and Rev. 22:18-19). So how can we join this ministry then?

Everyone can join this ministry of completing the word of God. Paul's completing ministry is to reveal the mysteries concerning Christ and His Body through his writings. Our completing ministry simply is to reveal the same mysteries by using our lives as open books where others can see those mysteries. To complete the word of God, we need to experience Christ subjectively in our daily lives, and gain more life from the life-giving Spirit. Consequently, we together as His Church will be the living expression of the Triune God. May this be our burden, our ministry and our warfare!

Central vision of Paul's completing ministry

The word "mystery" or "mysteries" appears in the New Testament for 28 times,  20 of which are in Paul's writings. Obviously, the completing ministry of Paul aims to reveal the mysteries.

Generally, the word "mystery" refers to something difficult to understand or to explain. However, according to Scofield Reference Note, a "mystery" in the Scripture is "a previously hidden truth, now divinely revealed; but in which a supernatural element still remains despite the revelation." It is a truth that we can never understand without divine revelation. It is beyond our brain capability to grasp the truth. And despite the divine revelation, we still cannot fully and comprehensively understand it, but we will see it clearly when the Lord comes back again.

What are the main points of Paul's completing ministry? There are 3 main points emphasised in his writings: God as our content, Christ as the mystery of God, and the Church as the mystery of Christ. May I briefly explain each point here.

1. God as our content

Having been prepared beforehand for God's glory, we all are created to be the vessels of mercy. What are these vessels designed to contain? They are created to contain the Triune God!

²³ and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,
²⁴ even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? (Romans 9:23-24)

This truly is mystery. We often hear the people say that we are in God. That is not quite complicated, is it? God is great, and we are small. It is not difficult to understand. At other times, we learn that God is with us. This is more difficult. How can the holy God come to associate with sinful man? However, in the light of God's grace, we can understand it. But what about God in us? How can that be? Our God is so big. How can the uncontainable God be contained in our spirit? This is mystery. This is God's economy that His Spirit and our spirit become one, so that we will be His living expression. I admit that I cannot fully understand it. But because the word of God says so, I choose to embrace that truth as it is.

The bible clearly says that all the 3 Persons within the Godhead - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - dwell within us. Do you believe me? Let's see together.

... one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Ephesians 4:6 NKJV)
²⁶ the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.
²⁷ To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:24-27 NKJV)
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:11 NKJV)

Praise the Lord that this mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations have already been revealed to us, the Gentiles. The mystery is that "Christ is us, the hope of glory." May we realise all the time that Christ is always in us. May Christ be the ground of our hope, and may we experience the true fellowship with Him as a foretaste of our future heavenly glory!

2. Christ as the mystery of God

that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself, (Colossians 2:2 NASB)

This is Paul's desire to see us have the true knowledge of God's mystery, that is Christ Himself! This is the most precious thing. It should also be the aim of our life.

Christ is so mysterious in everyway. We cannot thoroughly understand how God became a man, so that men could eventually become the sons of God. We cannot completely understand how He could be fully God and fully Man at the same time. This is mystery.

Christ is the great mystery of godliness, as explained in 1 Timothy 3:16.

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory. (1 Timothy 3:16 NKJV)

Paul quotes a hymn that was widely known at that time. Christ was God manifested in the flesh through His incarnation and His living. He was justified, or vindicated, in the Spirit, both at His transfiguration and His resurrection. The bible tells us that the angels saw Him at His incarnation, living and ascension. We can see that the Gospel of Christ has been widely preached among the Gentiles, and many have received Him. Ultimately, when He will come back again, both Christ, the Head, and His Church, the Body will be taken up in glory together. What a wonderful mystery it is!

May we know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that we may be filled with all the fullness of God! (Ephesians 3:19)

3. Church as the mystery of Christ

... by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel (Ephesians 3:4-6 NKJV)

The Church is also mysterious in many ways. It is the mystery of Christ.

May I list some of them here, by quoting the outlines of this week's messages.

1. The church was mysteriously chosen and predestinated in Christ by God the Father before the foundation of the world. (Ephesians 1:3-5)
2. The church was mysteriously redeemed in the Beloved after the foundation of the world. (Ephesians 1:6-12)
3. The church was mysteriously sealed with the Holy Spirit and received the Holy Spirit as the pledge at thetime of its redemption. (Ephesians 1:13-14)
4. The church mysteriously participates in the resurrection power of Christ and in everything that He has attained and obtained in ascension, thereby becoming the Body of Christ. (Ephesians 1:19-23)
5. The church mysteriously becomes the universal new man, as God’s kingdom and God’s house, and is being built up as the habitation of God. (Ephesians 2:15,19-22)
6. The church is mysteriously enjoying the unsearchable riches of Christ. (Ephesians 3:2, 7-11)
7. The church is strengthened into the inner man with power by God through His Spirit, that Christ may mysteriously make home in the believers’ hearts, that the church may be filled with the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth of what Christ is, to become all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:15-19)
8. The mysterious life union of Christ and the church is the great mystery in the universe. (Ephesians 5:32)
9. The church, which is joined to and mingled mysteriously with the Triune God today, is a miniature of the New Jerusalem and needs to take the holy city as its highest standard and matchless hope in everything. (Revelation 21:2)

Further reading

• The Holy Word for Morning Revival: The Completing Ministry of Paul, week 2.

• Pulpit Commentary, Colossians 1:25 (http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-25.htm).

• Scofield Reference Note, Matthew 13:11 (Mystery).

Thirayost Nimmanon (Tony)

The Completing Ministry of Paul, Message 1

My Great Delight in God's Word

The Completing Ministry of Paul, Message 1

The Vision and the Commission

I think there is no any Christian who does not know the man called Paul. He is one of the greatest missionaries in the world history, and the author of the most epistles in the New Testament, providing us a great insight of the mysteries concerning Christ and the Church. Without his writings, we may not have had such a clear understanding regarding God's economy as we now have. From this book, "The Completing Ministry of Paul," I believe that we will learn a lot about the ministry of this faithful servant.

As an introduction, we are going to learn from the story when Paul first encountered our Lord Jesus on the way to Damascus. From this short conversation, we can see 2 interesting points: the vision and the commission. In this message, we are going to learn about the true vision and the true commission that are given by the Lord to the apostle Paul, which are also applied to us.

Before we start, let's review the story first. Here is the story recorded by doctor Luke in Acts 9:1-6.

¹ Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
² and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
³ As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.
⁴ Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"
⁵ And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads."
⁶ So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" Then the Lord said to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." (Acts 9:1-6 NKJV)

Who are You, Lord?

Paul, whose former name was Saul, was really zealous for the Lord. He was ready to do anything and go anywhere to put those who were of the Way into jail, in order to stop them from persuading more people into the Way. He thought what he had been doing must be very pleasing to the God, because he then believed that these people were heretics. And now he was heading to Damascus with the letters from the high priest that gave him authority to persecute Christians. By the mercy of the Lord, Jesus Himself revealed Himself to Paul. And his life would never be same since then.

The Lord appeared to him in the form of a light shone from heaven. Saul then fell to the ground, and heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And Saul asked Him, "Who are You, Lord?" The Lord then answered, "I'm Jesus, whom you are persecuting."

Saul was so trembling and astonished. He must be extremely shocked. He thought all the time that he was serving God, but the Lord came and told that he was persecuting Him. Saul was serving the Lord without a right vision. He served Him out of his own vision, not the Lord's. And He was walking in a wrong direction. Actually, what he was doing was in the totally opposite direction. We was fighting against the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, before we start serving the Lord, we need to check first if we have had a right vision. The vision is all about Christ. He is our only vision. He is all we need. And since the encounter with Him, our lives will never be the same.

Another shocking truth is in the saying of the Lord to Saul, "Why are you persecuting Me?"

Wait a minute! Saul was persecuting those of the Way, was he not? He was persecuting those people who claimed to be Jesus' disciples. But why did the Lord reproach him for persecuting "Me"?

Brothers and sisters, this marvellous truth is also revealed in this vision. The Way and those of the Way are one. Christ, the Head, and His people, the Body, are one. If one hurts the Body, he also hurts the Head. Obviously, Saul was persecuting the corporate "Me" - Christ with His redeemed people. Within few seconds, Paul had learned 2 of the greatest mysteries in the universe, Christ as the mystery of God, and the Church as the mystery of Christ. And may these 2 mysteries also be our vision of the services for the Lord.

Lord, what do You want me to do?

While Saul was trembling and astonished, he continued the conversation with the question, "Lord, what do You want me to do?"

And there came the Lord's commission to him.

¹⁶ But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you.
¹⁷ I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you,
¹⁸ to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me. (Acts 26:16-18 NKJV)

The Lord did not only ordain him to be a minister, but also a witness. Paul was called to be both.

What is the difference between these 2 jobs? A minister is for a ministry, which is mainly related to work. But a witness is for a testimony related to the Person.

Like the apostle Paul, we all are called to be both ministers and witnesses. We are to be the ministers life to others, as we are for the ministry of life. And at the same time, we are to be the witnesses of Christ. Not all of us are called to be preachers, whose job is to teach the doctrines to the people. And we are not just called to say a testimony about Him. But all of us, with no exceptions, are called to be witnesses who bear a living testimony of the resurrected Christ. We need to do this so that the eyes of the people to whom we are sent will be opened, so that they will be turned "from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me." (Acts 26:18 NKJV)

Brothers and sisters, the tasks that we are assigned to are by no means small things. They can have an eternal impact on the people that we are ministering and witnessing to. We are called to be the vessels through which the Lord may deliver them from the darkness under the authority of Satan, to the light and the power of God. As a result, they will receive the greatest gifts they can ever have - the forgiveness of their sins, and the inheritance. Not only will they be set free from the slavery of sin, leading to the blessings of the New Testament jubilee, but they will also experience the divine inheritance, which is the "Triune God with all that He has, all that He has done, and all that He will do for His redeemed people." (Outline III B 3)



Lord Jesus, may You open our eyes so that we may see the vision regarding You and Your Church. May we be faithful ministers and witnesses who serve You with a great devotion to You. May You use us as the vessels of mercy through which You graciously give them the true forgiveness of their sins, which brings them great joy of the New Testament Jubilee, and the divine inheritance, that is You Yourself.

Further reading

• The Holy Word for Morning Revival: The Completing Ministry of Paul, week 1.

Thirayost Nimmanon (Tony)

The Ministry of Life for the Body, Message 8

My Great Delight in God's Word

The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body, Message 8

Living a Sacrificing Life in the Body and Ministering Life to the Body for the Growth and the Body

Hallelujah! We are at the last lesson of this series now. I'm so thankful to the Lord for His ever-sufficient grace that is always provided to me when I do the services for Him. I have been really enjoying sharing the truth from the bible, even though there may be only few people who would come to read my extraordinarily long posts. I hope that you will enjoy this season finale, which is about sacrificing life and ministering life.

Our God is truly amazing. He never calls us to do what He has not first done for us. And He never asks us to give up anything, without promising to replace it with a far greater and better one.

For instance, given that the Lord asks us to give up our lives to His wonderful purpose, He has already shown it by giving up His own life, being a substitutionary atonement (or dying as a substitute for us) on the cross for the redemption of our sins. Moreover, He also promises to give us the eternal life, which we can be received only from Him, as the life-giving Spirit.

I'm going to start the message with our calling from God to offer ourselves as a drink offering to Him, and end it with some additional ideas regarding the ministry of life.

Living a sacrificing life

In the Old Testament, there are 5 types of offerings that had to be done by the priest. They consist of burnt offering, grain offering, peace offering, sin offering and trespass offering. All of them are just the shadow to the true sacrifice, Jesus Christ, and thereby need not to be done today.

Here, we are going to have a look at the "drink offering," which is not listed in these 5 offerings. It appears only few times in the bible, one of which is Numbers 15:4-5, and may be considered a part of grain offering. Nevertheless, it teaches us something about Christ's offering, which we should hold up as an example and imitate Him.

⁴ then he who presents his offering to the LORD shall bring a grain offering of one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of oil;
⁵ and one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering you shall prepare with the burnt offering or the sacrifice, for each lamb. (Numbers 15:4-5 NKJV)

Actually, this is not the first time the drink offering has been mentioned in the Old Testament. The first person who gave this offering to God is Jacob.

So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it. (Genesis 35:14 NKJV)

As indicated in Numbers 15, the drink offering is not just water or any other kind of drink. It specifically is "wine." And what is the effect of the wine offering? The bible says that the wine cheers both God and men!

But the vine said to them, ' Should I cease my new wine, Which cheers both God and men, And go to sway over trees?' (Judge 9:13 NKJV)

Brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ as the true vine sacrificed everything of Himself in order to produce wine and thereby cheer God and men. Christ suffered even unto death, so that the wine was produced, and both God and men would be made happy. O how great is His sacrificial love!

Nevertheless, this cheering effect cannot happen in us, unless we come to experience Christ as the wine-producing vine. Surely, if I have got a glass of wine and just look at it, I will never enjoy its wonderful taste along with its health-promoting effects. I need to drink it. Likewise, we need to come to the Lord and experience Him by drinking Him, not just learning about Him. Would you like to come to drink this wine and be made happy today?

This really is our privilege to have the Lord as the wine that cheers us. Despite the circumstances, we can still have joy, because He is always here with us and within us, ready to comfort us and cheer us. On the contrary, the joy of those who do not know Christ totally depends upon the circumstances. Unfortunately, it is more likely to be in adverse situations than favourable ones in this dark world, is it not?

One beloved colleague of mine is an atheist. Whenever I met him, he seldom looked happy and almost always complained about many things. And his complaints seemed to be exactly the same every time I met him, like replaying an audio record, with addition of more things to complain about. This was because he did not have the Lord as the wine-producing vine. May God have mercy on him that he may come to know Him one day, so that he will be delivered from this loop of unhappiness.

Praise the Lord that we can come to drink this wine anytime we need and as frequently as we would like to. And the more we experience Christ as wine-producing vine which cheers both God and men, the more we will be like Him. We will be energised to live a sacrificing life, willing to give up our lives to produce something that cheers both God and others. The happiness of God and others, instead of our own happiness, will be our priority. We will be transformed from being self-centred to being God-centred and others-centred.

The apostle Paul is a good example. He experienced Christ as wine-producing vine, and became more like Him. Eventually, having adopted the mind and the heart of Christ, he was willing to give up his own life to be a drink offering. He wrote in his epistles that:

¹⁷ Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
¹⁸ For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me. (Philippians 2:17-18 NKJV)
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. (2 Timothy 4:6 NKJV)

May God help us that we will have the mind of Christ. As we experience Christ as wine-producing vine each day, may we also become the wine-producing vine that cheers God and our brothers and sisters. May we present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service.

Living a ministering life

As the ministry of life has already been discussed in detail (massage 6 of this series), I'm not going to reiterate it. But I'm going to discuss some additional important points of it.

⁸ We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed ---
¹⁰ always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
¹¹ For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
¹² So then death is working in us, but life in you. (2 Corinthians 4:8-12 NKJV)

Brother Watchman Nee says that, "Where there is no Cross there is no life, and no ministry of life." You may have heard the concept of, "no pain, no gain." Regarding the ministry of life, we may also say that, "no death, no life." Yes, unless the death of Christ is working in us, or our natural lives are terminated on the cross with Him, His divine life can never be manifested in us.

If we read the verses 10 to 12 carefully, we will see some implications of this bible passage regarding the ministry of life. In all the 3 verses, we can see that "dying" or "death" occurs in us (us, our body). In verses 10-12, the life of Jesus is also manifested in us (our body, our mortal flesh). However, this life is manifested in "you" instead in verse 12. What does this mean?

Brother Watchman Nee clearly explains that, "When the manifestation is in me I call it life, when in others I call it ministry." Yes, the ministry of life occurs when death works in us, and life works in others. Firstly, we must allow the death of Christ to operate in us, so that His life can be manifested in our body. Then, we need to be the vessel through which His life operates in others. This simply is the definition of the "ministry of life."

Brothers and sisters, would you like to see the Church grow in life? Let's start with ourselves. We need to gain more life each day by using our spirit to contact God. As we are members of one Body, the Church will also receive what we receive. Therefore the more life we have from God, the more life the Church will have and the more life we can also minister to other members in the Body. This will create an amplifying loop of exponential growth in life of the Body.

Let me conclude this series with the thought-provoking words form brother Watchman Nee:

Do you want to build up the church? Then let it be built up in you. What you receive from the Head, the Church, His Body, spontaneously receives; and what you have not received, it can never receive through you. The question of ministry is settled when the question of receiving is settled; and the question of receiving is settled by "the dying of Jesus."

Further reading

• The Holy Word for Morning Revival: The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body, week 8.

• The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, volume 40, pp. 111, 124-127.

Thirayost Nimmanon (Tony)

The Ministry of Life for the Body, Message 7

My Great Delight in God's Word

The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body, Message 7

Growing unto Maturity to Become the New Jerusalem as the Ultimate Consummation of the Church

What would you say the Holy Bible is all about in a few words or a sentence? If you ask other believers this question, you will get a vast variety of different ideas. Some may conclude it with one verse in the bible. John 3:16, Ephesians 1:10 and Genesis 2:18 possibly are among the most commonly suggested verses. Alternatively, some others may give you a concept instead, such as the bible is about God's plan of redeeming man.
One of the concepts that I really admire is that the bible basically is God's big building project. This big project simply aims to create a corporate man to express Him in His image and to represent Him with His authority. What He is creating is not a physical thing. That must be too easy for Him, as He can create it within less than a millisecond only by saying a word of authority. But He is building up something that costs Him a lot. During the process, He had to send His only begotten Son to become a Man, die for us as our Substitute, resurrect from the dead, and become the life-giving Spirit who gives us life. Yes, the bible is all about God's building up of the Church, the ultimate consummation of which is the New Jerusalem.
If we have a look at the whole bible, we will see that the first 2 chapters (Genesis 1-2; the Garden of Eden) and the last 2 chapters (Revelation 21-22; the New Jerusalem) mirror each other. There are crucial organic items in common, including the tree of life, river (s), precious materials and man as God's counterpart or complement. Therefore, according to this concept, the holy bible may be broadly divided into 3 main parts: Genesis 1-2 as the blueprint of His architectural plan, Genesis 3 to Revelation 20 as the building process, and Revelation 21-22 as the photograph of the finished building.
Therefore the Church, the Body of Christ, now is under construction. And if we would like to see the direction to which the Church is heading, we need to see the New Jerusalem as her archetype.
Firstly, I'm going to talk about what the New Jerusalem is. Then, I will explain some characteristics of His completely built Church with some implications.

The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the Church.

To my knowledge, the New Jerusalem is not frequently taught in the churches nowadays. It is also mentioned only a few times in the bible, thereby being easily overlooked. However, it is by no means a small thing. So may I mention a little as to what the New Jerusalem is.

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. (Revelation 3:12 NKJV)
¹ Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
² Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
³ And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God." (Revelation 21:1-3 NKJV)

1. The New Jerusalem is a holy city. (Revelations 21:2)

The word "holy" means to be set apart, separated, or sanctified. Therefore this city will by used only for fulfilling God's purpose. Brother Witness Lee further explains that, "(The New Jerusalem) is both sanctified and separated unto God positionally and sanctified and saturated with God dispositionally. It is holy both extrinsically and intrinsically. It is an entity, entirely and thoroughly holy, that fits in with God’s holy nature for God’s expression to fulfill His heart’s desire." (Conclusion of the New Testament, The (Msgs. 001-020), Chapter 13)
According to Revelation 21:1-2, the old earth and heaven will pass away. God will create new ones. And as the old Jerusalem was selected as the centre and capital of His kingdom in Israel, the New Jerusalem, the holy city, will come down from heaven and will be the administrative centre of His eternal kingdom for His manifestation forever.

2. The New Jerusalem is the Bride of the Lamb and the Tabernacle of God (Revelations 2-3)

The same as the Church, the holy city is called "a bride adorned for her husband." Even though it is a city, it is not a physical thing. It obviously is an organic body, the Bride of Christ. As Eve came out of Adam and became his counterpart, the New Jerusalem comes out of his husband, Christ, and becomes His counterpart.
Moreover, it is also called the "tabernacle of God." The New Jerusalem is going to be a mutual habitation for both God and us for eternity.
Brother Witness Lee summarises this part like this: "The spouse is for His satisfaction in love, and the dwelling place is for His rest in expression. Both aspects will be ultimately consummated in the New Jerusalem. In her, God will have the fullest satisfaction in love and the uttermost rest in expression for eternity." (Conclusion of the New Testament, The (Msgs. 001-020), Chapter 13)

Characteristics of the built-up Church, the New Jerusalem.

As the New Jerusalem is the photograph of God's finished work of His building project, we can consider it as the prototype of the Church today. It is a perfect version of the Church, and we need God to gradually transform the Church to be more like the New Jerusalem. We are still in the building-up process, but we will surely be there.  I'm going to select some of her characteristics to discuss about.

1. The built-up Church has God's presence.

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. (Revelation 21:3 NKJV)

The New Jerusalem is the place where God and His redeemed people dwell together forever. Likewise, the Church today must be the place where God and His redeemed people dwell together. A true church must always have God's presence. This is a crucial factor indicating that a church is a portion of His Church or His Body. Therefore God's presence can be regarded as the principle that we must always hold on and the criterion for every matter.
Everything we do as a service for our Lord, we must do it in the light of God's presence. So we need to examine ourselves regularly if we have God's presence when we are serving Him. The truth is that God is always with us, as He is in us. But the problem is whether we pay attention to His presence among us or not.
There are a few implications from this.
Firstly, when it comes to making a decision in the local church, we must realise that God is with us all the time and pay full attention to His presence. Of course, it is difficult, if possible, for all of us to agree with each other in all the issues in a particular church. We may have many different opinions about an issue. But the question we must always ask is whether there is God's presence in that decision or not. Moreover, when one stands up to express his opinion, that one must examine himself whether he is expressing his opinion in God's presence or not. God cares more about his heart and his motive when he is expressing his opinion, than whether his opinion is supported by the best reasoning or not .
Secondly, God's presence is fully experienced when we are together in unity. From Revelation 21:2, we can see that God dwells among "them." Being individualistic is not God's way to build up His Body. And the Lord Jesus teaches us in Matthew 18:20 that when we are gathered together in His name, He will be there in our midst. Therefore we must serve together in harmony and unity with love. We must learn the idea of "unity in diversity." And we must remember that reasoning, arguing, judging and criticizing are causing us to lose this unity, and, as a consequence, God's presence.
Thirdly, one of the outcomes of God's presence is the fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11). The services for the Lord may not be easy. We may have to sacrifice many things in order to serve Him. But serving without grudging is a hallmark of a true Christian who has a right devotion to Him. May God help us that we will serve Him wholeheartedly with His presence as the source of our full joy.

You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11 NKJV)

2. The built-up Church has God's ruling.

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (Revelation 22:1 NKJV)

In the New Jerusalem, the throne belongs to God and the Lamb. Likewise, we must allow God to reign over our lives and our church. He must have the dominion over all things. God has all authority, and He has given us His authority to do his Great commission. All of us has this authority. Therefore no one is to claim his own authority in his services for Him.
We have to be careful, particularly when we have got an important role in a church, such as deacon, elder or pastor. We must realise that only God sits on the throne. We must not do or act as if we are sitting on the throne. We must serve one another with the true humility, following the Lord's perfect example. We must respect others as God's beloved children and chosen people, and allow God to be on the throne with full dominion over our church.

3. The built-up Church has the flow and the supply of life.

¹ And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
² In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:1-2 NKJV)

After the Fall, man cannot access to the Garden of Eden anymore. Therefore the tree of life and the river of water in the Garden of Eden have not been available to us since then. But praise to the Lord, in the New Jerusalem, we will enjoy the supply and the flow of life forever. Actually we now already have the Lord as our tree of life and river of water of life, and we can enjoy them anywhere anytime by using our spirit to contact the life-giving Spirit. And when this life is supplied and flowed into us, we are also to minister this life to others, and bring others to the flow and the supply of life.
Sometimes we need not to do many things to minister this life to others. We first need to come to the source of life. And when our lives are filled with His life, the life will flow out from us and others will experience it even before we do anything for them. In contrast, one may have much of natural constitution. He may be so eloquent, and can give a very impressive sermon. But if he does not have much of life, this life can never flow out from him.

4. The built-up Church has the light.

The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. (Revelation 21:23 NKJV)

In the New Jerusalem, there will be no night, as the glory of God will be the light, and the lamb will be the lamp. Likewise, the church has the Lord as our light.
Before we received the Lord as our Saviour, we did not know the Light. But we now see the true Light that enlightens us, and leads us to walk in the light. We are not to walk in the darkness anymore.

There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. (John 1:9 NASB)
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." (John 8:12 NKJV)

Moreover, God also calls us to be the light of the world. We are to express God, our true Light, to this dark world. We are to be the corporate expression of our God, through which Christ is clearly manifested.

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. (Matthew 5:14 NKJV)

May the Lord have mercy on us that we may always have His presence and His ruling, with God Himself as our source of life, and our true light. May these conditions be built up in us, so that God's name will be glorified.

Further reading

• The Holy Word for Morning Revival: The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body, week 7.

• Conclusion of the New Testament, The (Msgs. 001-020), Chapter 13, by Witness Lee (http://www.ministrysamples.org/excerpts/IN-THE-NEW-JERUSALEM-AS-THE-CONSUMMATE-CORPORATE-EXPRESSION-IN-THE-NEW-CREATION.HTML)

Thirayost Nimmanon (Tony)

The Ministry of Life for the Body, Message 6

My Great Delight in God's Word

The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body, Message 6

The Ministry of Life

In the previous chapters, we have learned how to prepare our lives, by cleaning the vessels of honour through which the Lord can dispense His life to other members of the Body. We have also seen His revelation about us, Himself and our enemies. We are now going to learn what the bible says about "ministry." Even though this word is commonly used, as we can see numerous ministries in this world, it is crucially important to discern if a ministry is considered as "true ministry" according to God's holy word. The Church, the body, urgently needs this kind of ministry, which will surely promote her growth in life up to Christ, the head of the Body.

There is only one ministry - ministry of life.

There are so many ministries in this world today. They are too numerous to count. A church may even have so many ministries. But what the bible says about this commonly-used word?

⁵ Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,
⁶ who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:5-6 NKJV)

According to 2 Corinthians 3:6, we all are ordained as ministers of the new covenant. And the apostle Paul further explains that the ministers of new covenant really are the ministers of the life-giving Spirit! Therefore it can be said that we all are the ministers who serve God in the ministry of life. All the ministries are but under a big umbrella called "ministry of life." In God's eyes, there is only one ministry in this world, as we can see that the apostle Paul uses the word "ministry" in singular form in 2 Corinthians 4:1. All the ministries are one!

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. (2 Corinthians 4:1 NKJV)

Because all the ministries are involved in the ministry of life, they should work together to nourish the body of Christ so that she will grow in life. All the ministers are to be the ones who receive more life from the Spirit, enjoy the abundant life they have, and share this life to others.
Therefore if we are going to be involved in a ministry, we need to ask whether it aims to promote the growth in life of the body or not. Many ministries are all about entertaining people or providing for their physical needs. They are not bad in themselves, because they may basically aim to outreach the lost and eventually bring them to the source of life, or supply more life to brothers and sisters. However, if the intention of those activities is not that the people would gain more life from the true source of life, those activities are not a part of the ministry of life.

God is the only true source of life.

What is the first thing we need to do in the ministry of life? The answer is simple. We need to come to the true source of life. We cannot minister life if we are deficient in life. And we cannot have enough life unless we regularly come to God, the true source of life, and be filled with His life. We need to come to the fountain of living waters, and drink it.

For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns --- broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13 NKJV)

One may think that it is a small thing to trust in something else beside God. However, God's word may not agree with him. Shockingly, Jeremiah 2:13 tells us that there are 2 serious crimes that God hates. Both of them were committed by the people of Israel, resulting in destruction of the nation and desolation of the land. Firstly, even though they had obviously seen God's grace and mercy throughout the history, they eventually forsook God. That is a sad story, is it not? They were about to be God's chosen people who would bring God's blessings to all the nations by being His representatives and ambassadors. But they decisively forsook God, who is the only true fountain of living waters. Moreover, they also did another severe crime. Instead of turning to God in times of trouble, they turned to something else for help. However, all they could find were nothing but the broken cisterns that could not hold water. All their attempts appeared to be in vain, because there was no any other fountain that can give them life.
Therefore let's learn from their mistakes. Don't forget that there is only one source that provides us life. The rate-limiting step of the growth in life of the Church is the connection to the source. The success of the ministry of life does not substantially depend upon good planning or excellent administration or involvement of the capable ones. It mainly depends upon the seamless connection with God, by using our spirit to contact Him.
We may think that the most dangerous things to the ministry are the obviously bad things, such as secular thoughts, corruptions, false teachings or any forms of sin. Yes, we need to avoid those things. However, Satan sometimes uses the things that seem to be good to distract us from the connection with the source. They include the services themselves. Some people are serving the services, instead of serving God. A right service should promote the intimate relationship between the servant and the Master. It may not be an easy job, but the servant will gain much more experience with God, and personal and relational knowledge of Him.
Oswald Chambers says in the book, "My Utmost for His Highest," that "The greatest competitor of true devotion to Jesus is the service we do for Him." Therefore let's examine ourselves regularly if we are serving God with the true devotion to Jesus and the good connection with Him. The most important thing is not about what we do or how much we succeed, but about what the source of our service for Him is and how healthy our relationship with Him is.

We are to minister life to others.

When we receive more life by using our spirit to contact God, we then come to the next step of the ministering.

For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
So then death is working in us, but life in you. (2 Corinthians 4:11-12 NKJV)

The ministry of life comes out in no other way but by the working of the cross. We need to be delivered to death at the cross, so that the life of the Lord will be manifested in our lives. By this means, others will gain more life through us.
Our God is gracious. He never asks us to give up anything without promising us to replace it with a far greater thing. He requires us to give up our lives. But He promises that as His Spirit dwells in our spirit, we will live His life instead. Therefore to lose our lives means to gain the abundant life of Him. This life is so abundant that our lives will be filled to overflowing with His life. We will always have a surplus of life so as to minister this life to others.
In the Church, ministering life is the means by which all the members grow in life. All of us are to be the receivers of life, the enjoyers of life, and the dispensers of life. Interestingly, the more we minister life to others, the more we will also gain life from God. Moreover, while others will gain more life from us, we will also gain more life from others through the horizontal fellowship when our spirits contact each other. Consequently, the Church will be rich in life.
Let's now learn about life ministering from one scenario mentioned in 1 John.

If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. .... (1 John 5:16 KJV)

When we see one brother committing a sin, what should we do? Should we gossip about it? Or should we ignore him or try not to associate with him? God forbid! The apostle John suggests us to do 3 things in 1 John 5:16: to see, to ask, and to give life!
Firstly, we need to take care of each other, as all of us are responsible for shepherding His people. We therefore are to see if our brothers and sisters are well, or if they are falling into temptation.
Secondly, when we see any of them committing a sin and that one does not realise that or does not repent, the first reaction is to come to God. We need to be prepared by receiving more life from Him.
And thirdly, we will then have to give him life that we have received from the source. In other words, we will have to function as the vessel through which God dispenses His life to that brother.
You may see many modern translations rendering the second "he" in the verse as "He," or "God." For example, the NKJV translates this verse like this: If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and "He" will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death." However, according to the grammar of the original language, the second "he" should be the same person as the first "he." In other words, the asker is to be the life-giver. Therefore, brothers and sisters, it is our responsibility to minister life to the ones who are falling into the temptation.
May God help us that we will fully participate in the ministry of life, by receiving more life from Him, enjoying the abundant life we have in Him, and dispensing this life to others.

Further reading

• The Holy Word for Morning Revival: The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body, week 6.

Thirayost Nimmanon (Tony)

The Ministry of Life for the Body, Message 5

My Great Delight in God's Word

The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body, Week 5

Being a Qualified Servant of God by Having the Complete Experience of a Called One

In the last 3 messages, we have learned a lot about how to deal with ourselves, starting from our natural constitution, our heart and our spirit. These are the crucial steps for the preparation of our life to be usable to God. However, before we start serving Him, we need another important step. We need to see God's revelation first.

Please note that this revelation does not refer to God's appearance in visions or dreams with clear instructions of what to do. It is great if you have that kind of experience, but that is not necessary for the start of your services for Him. In order to serve God effectively, we must first see His clear revelation in the bible regarding what we are to God, who He is, and who/what our enemies are.

Sun Tzu writes in his recipe of how to win a battle that, "one who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be in danger in a hundred battles." Likewise, as a soldier in the spiritual warfare, if we have a right understanding about ourselves, our God and our enemies, we will never lose any battle.

Parenthetically, if we observe the pattern of the apostle Paul's writing, particularly the books of Romans and Ephesians, we will see that he also realises this. He usually teaches about our "position" first, and then our "practice." Our "being" must precede our "doing." Our "condition" must come before our "conduct." He dedicates the first 11 chapters in the book of Romans, and the first 3 chapters in the book of Ephesians to affirm the truth about who and whose we are in Christ. Only when he finishes this, he then starts writing many practical instructions in Romans 12-16 and Ephesians 4-6. This is because our "doing" must be shaped and energised by our "being," not the other way round.

Are you ready to see the revelation now? We are going to learn something about the calling of Moses in Exodus 3-4, which is perhaps the longest calling in the bible. And in these 2 chapters, God reveals some important things that we need to know before serving Him.

I'm sure you have heard this story for many times, as I have. And I learned new things almost every time I read or listened to the teachings from this story. In this message, I'm going to pick up only 3 points from the story. I hope that you will get some new practical points from this message.

A revelation of what we are to God.

And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. (Exodus 3:2 NKJV)

At the age of 80 years old, Moses encounters Christ (the Angel of the LORD) as the flame of fire in a bush, while he was tending his flock. The bush was burning with fire, but not consumed by it. It is a great revelation of God to Moses.

What does this revelation mean to Moses and to us? I have never thought about this before. I thought it was just a revelation of God in an attractive way to draw Moses' attention. However, it is not just a different way of God's revelation. It teaches us some lessons about what we are to Him.

The word "bush" here is likely to be a "thorn-bush," as rendered by the Recovery Version. It represents the fallen "man."

If you remember, thorns and thistles are the curse from God, resulting from the fall of man (Genesis 3:17-18). On the third day of creation, God created grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit (Genesis 1:11). God intended the fruit tree to be fruitful. But instead of bearing fruit, it now also bears thorns and thistles.

Since the fall, we have also been cursed because of sin. We are like a thorn-bush, which can bear no fruit. Without God, we are nothing. We can do nothing to please God. Even the best deed we can do, it is no better than just a filthy rags in His eyes (Isaiah 64:6).

I think Moses knows this very well. He used to try saving his people by killing an Egyptian. He might have done a right thing, as God wanted to deliver His people from the oppression in the Egypt. But he obviously did it in a wrong way. He relied on his own strength to serve God in his own way. He looked to the right, to the left, to the front, and to the back. But he missed one thing, which is the most important. He did not look up to the heaven where God is. He trusted in his own natural constitution without asking God what to do and how to do. Consequently, he had to spend the following 40 years in the wilderness, working as a lowly shepherd. And he now is about 80 years old when he encounters God. He is at the age of a grandpa or great grandpa, and it may not be a good idea to start a big project in his life. He now has no enough strength to fight anyone. He thinks he has only a few years left in his life, as he perceives that it is not easy to live up to the age of 80 years (Psalm 90:10). It should not be difficult for him to realise that he is just a thorn-bush.

Given that we are just a thorn-bush, does it mean that we are worthless? By no means. We are not worthy for His love and favour at all. But the vision that Moses sees has something in the midst of the thorn-bush. It is "a flame of fire," which represents the holy God Himself, as fire signifies the holiness of God. God is the One who dwells in the bush (Deuteronomy 33:16). The holy and great God is in the midst of the fallen, sinful and lowly man!  We, the thorn-bush, have God, the fire, burning within us. God and us become one. This can happen because of God's grace, which is defined as "undeserved love," "unmerited favour," or "God's Riches At Christ's Expenses." The Son of God became the Son of Man, so that the sons of man can now become the sons of God. God and man can now become one through the redemptive work of Christ at the cross! What a wonderful truth it is! What a gracious God we have!

Yes, Moses has nothing to boast about at that time. His natural constitution has been broken down during the 40 years in the desert. However, he is still usable to God, and, as the bible tells us, he is going to be one of God's greatest servants throughout history. This can happen because he, a thorn-bush, has the holy God burning within him. And so have we! We have God burning within us. If only we let God terminate our natural constitution and bring it to the resurrection, God can do great things through us as the corporate thorn-bush. This is our privilege to co-operate and co-ordinate with Him in His move on earth. Even though God does not need our ability or capability to accomplish His work, He chooses to work through us! Would you like God to do great things through you today?

Moreover, we can see that even though the fire is burning in the midst of the bush, the bush is not consumed. This fact teaches us that the fire is not using the thorn-bush as fuel. God Himself is the fuel of the fire. Our job is just to be what God created us to be - a vessel of honour through which God manifests Himself to others for His glory.

I have heard some real stories about the enthusiastic ones who had actively served the Lord until they eventually became burned-out. They then stopped all the services for Him. Some of them even stopped following the Lord. This may be implied that they used their own natural constitution as fuel in the services for the Lord. That is not a right way to serve the Lord. We need to rely on God Himself as the source of energy, and we will thereby never be burned-out.

A revelation of who God is.

¹⁴ And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.' "
¹⁵ Moreover God said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: 'The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.' (Exodus 3:14-15 NKJV)

Praise the Lord that He reveals Himself to man. We can never know anything about God unless He graciously tells us who He is. And here He tells Moses that He is "I AM WHO I AM," in verse 14, which also is the meaning of His name "YHWH" (the written name of Israel's God), "Yahweh" (the likely pronunciation of YHWH), or "Jahovah" (the consonants YHWH plus the vowels of adonai, which means "lord" or "master" and is used instead of "YHWH" when the Jews read the Scripture) in verse 15. Most modern bible translations use the word the "LORD" in capital letters instead. This is the first time that God made Himself known by name. In relationship to the creation, He is called "Elohim." But here, His name in relationship with man is revealed.

"I AM WHO I AM" may be translated as "I will be who I will be" or "I will become who I will become." He is the great "I AM," who is self-existing, and ever-existing. He was in the past, He is in the present, and He will always be in the future. He is the uncaused cause, depending on nothing apart from Himself. He is the all-inclusive One. He is the reality of all positive things on this earth. If only we have Him, we will need nothing else. As the psalmist says in one of my favourite psalms that, "Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You; My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (Psalm 73:25-26 NKJV)

Moreover, He further explains that He is "The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."  He is God of the living, or God of resurrection (Matthew 22:29-33). And praise the Lord that all of us who are in Christ has already been crucified, buried, and resurrected with Christ. Therefore we must be and do everything in resurrection for the building up of the body.

A revelation of what our enemies are.

He have already learned about our side, God and us. Now we are going to learn about what or who our enemies are.

In Exodus chapter 4, God reveals 3 miraculous signs for Pharaoh to Moses. These are not just 3 miracles. They also teach us about the 3 battlefronts of Christian life: Satan, the flesh, and the world.

1. The rod becoming serpent

² So the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod."
³ And He said, "Cast it on the ground." So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it.
⁴ Then the LORD said to Moses, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail" (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand),
⁵ "that they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you." (Exodus 4:2-5 NKJV)

What does Moses use the rod for? As a shepherd, he uses it for his work. He needs the rod and staff for the guidance and the protection of the flock. But when he casts it on the ground, it be comes a serpent, which represents Satan.

This miracle teaches us that Satan is one of the battlefronts of Christian life. He rarely appears in a scary form as some may think. He usually uses something good or persuasive to draw our attention from God. Our work or business may replace God in our priority. God uncovers that Satan is behind this scheme.

What should we do then? We need not to quit the job, or throw away all the instruments we have. But we need to keep in mind that  we need to handle it carefully. As God shows that the serpent becomes a rod again when Moses takes it by the tail, all things can be used for God's glory if we deal with it properly.

2. The hand becoming leprous

⁶ Furthermore the LORD said to him, "Now put your hand in your bosom." And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow.
⁷ And He said, "Put your hand in your bosom again." So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh. (Exodus 4:6-7 NKJV)

This miracle reveals the nature of our flesh, the second battlefront of our life. When Moses takes his hand out from his bosom, it becomes leprous. This signifies that the essence of our flesh is sin. It is the constitution of sin, rottenness, and corruption.

That is why the bible strongly warns us that we are not to walk in the flesh. On the contrary, we are to walk in Spirit. And God has made this possible to us by the finished work of Christ and by the power of the indwelling Spirit within us. We are now free from the law of sin and death, as we are walking according to the Spirit. Let's be spiritually-minded so that we may obtain life and peace! (cf. Romans 8:1-6)

3. The water becoming blood

⁸ "Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign.
⁹ And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land." (Exodus 4:8-9 NKJV)

Nile is the river that waters Egypt, providing the richness to the land. It signifies this world that entertains us and becomes the enjoyment to many people. But what is its real nature? In it nature, the world, our third battlefront, is just like the blood of death, which poisons us or even kills us. We must not be distracted by the persuasiveness of this world, "for all that is in the world --- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life --- is not of the Father but is of the world." (1 John 2:16 KJV) But let's find true enjoyment only in the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, we are to be aware of the 3 battlefronts, but we need not to fear them. Christ has already had victory over all of them. Christ has already had absolute victory over Satan, world and flesh. All we need to do is just to trust in Him, rely on His strength and power, and defeat the enemies! This may be a lifelong process. But believe me that we will ultimately have the absolute victory over them when we will reign with Christ forever!

Further reading

• The Holy Word for Morning Revival: The Experience, Growth, and Ministry of Life for the Body, week 5.

• The Holy Bible Recovery Version, Footnotes of Exodus 3:14-15 and Genesis 2:4.

• Bridgeway Bible Commentary on Exodus 3:13-22.

Thirayost Nimmanon (Tony)