搜尋此網誌

2013/10/22

Morning Nourishment-The Experience, Growth, And Ministry Of Life For The Body(W3-3)

WEEK 3 — DAY 3

Morning Nourishment

Eph. 1:19-20 "And what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe,...which He caused to operate in Christ in raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies."

              22 "And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church."

   Christ in His ascension transcended Hades,...the earth,... the air,...and all the heavens....Christ transcended these four layers (Eph. 1:20-21; 4:8-10; Heb. 4:14; 7:26). Hades is the first layer, below the earth where the dead people are held. The earth is where the fallen men are moving against God.The air is where Satan and his power of darkness are struggling against God.The third heaven is a good place, but Satan even has a way to go to that good place (Job 1:6-12a; 2:1-6). In Christ's ascension He transcended these four layers. Today He is not only above Hades, the earth, and the air, but also above the third heaven. He is higher than all the heavens. (The Practical Way to Live a Life according to the High Peak of the Divine Revelation, p. 18)

Today's Reading

   In His ascension Christ was crowned with glory and honor and enthroned for God's administration. This means that He shares God's throne to be the unique Administrator in the universe. Through His ascension Christ was also inaugurated to be the Lord to possess all and to be the Christ to carry out God's commission....All these matters are objective....Christ's ascension is related to us in a subjective way...[in that] there is a transmission from the ascended Christ to us....Ephesians 1:22 says that God gave Christ "to be Head over all things to the church." The phrase to the church indicates a transmission from the ascended Christ to the church, His Body.

   God gave Christ to be something to the church. [Verse 22] does not mean that God gave Christ to the church as a gift; it means that God gave Christ a gift—the headship over all things. According to this understanding, a great gift was given to Christ by God, and this great gift was the headship over all things.

   God's giving Christ to be the Head over all things is to the church. To the church...implies a transmission. What God gave Christ to be is to the church;it is transmitted to the church. The church shares it. This corresponds to the word His power toward us in verse 19. The phrase toward us is a key, for it also indicates a transmission. God's power in the heavens is toward us; that is, His power is transmitted to us.

   [Which in verse 20] refers to power in verse 19. In verse 20 Paul speaks of the power which God caused to operate in Christ. From this verse through verse 22 we see that God caused to operate this power in Christ by four steps: first, raising Him from among the dead; second, seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies; third, subjecting all things under His feet; and fourth, giving Him to be Head over all things to the church. The final step of God's working in Christ with His great power was to give Him to be the Head over all things, and what God gave Christ to be was to the church.

   If Paul had concluded Ephesians 1 by saying that God gave Christ to be Head over all things, Christ's ascension would not have anything to do with the church. Paul, however, added the important phrase "to the church."...This phrase implies a transmission. Whatever Christ, the Head, has attained and obtained is transmitted to the church, His Body.

   All that Christ is in His ascension is being transmitted to the church.Because the divine transmission is not once for all, the church should continually receive this transmission....God raised up Christ, seated Him in the heavens, put everything under His feet, and gave Him the great gift of being the Head over all things. Now whatever Christ is in His ascension is being transmitted into the church. This is the continual transmission into the church of the ascended Christ with the full significance of His ascension.(Life-study of Luke, pp. 655-660)

   Further Reading: Life-study of Luke, msg. 78; The Practical Way to Live a Life according to the High Peak of the Divine Revelation, ch. 1

沒有留言: