Morning Nourishment - The Lamb-God Being on the Throne within the City
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Day 6
Verses: Isa. 32:1 Indeed a King will reign according to righteousness, and the rulers will rule according to justice. Jer. 23:5 Indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will raise and will execute justice and righteousness in the land. Rev.…He has on His garment and on His thigh a 19:16 name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. After Christ takes possession of the earth, He will reign over the earth as the King in the kingdom, ruling over the nations with His overcoming believers (Rev. 20:4, 6; 2:26-27). As the coming King He will be the Head and the center in the upcoming kingdom of God in the millennium—As Christ has redeemed the earth and all its peoples (Col. 1:20) to be the sphere and components of His kingdom, as He has sold all to buy the kingdom (Matt. 13:44), and as He has rescued the earth with all its peoples from the usurpation of Satan (Rev. 20:2-3), He will have the full right to be the King of the restored earth and the restored nations. In His upcoming reign God's authority and glory will be fully manifested (Matt. 6:13), and the whole earth with its peoples will be brought into righteousness, peace, joy, and the full blessing of God's creation (Isa. 32:1, 16-18; 35:1-2, 5-7). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 356)
Matthew 13:41 says, "The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will collect out of His kingdom all the stumbling blocks and those who practice lawlessness." After Christ comes back, He will set up the kingdom of God on earth. Then in the kingdom He will still be the Son of Man. God's enemy, Satan, rebelled against God's authority (Isa. 14:13-14). For dealing with him God created man and gave man dominion to rule over the earth (Gen. 1:26).
After man was seduced by Satan to follow him (3:1-6), God became a man by the name Jesus to undo the works of the devil (1 John 3:8) and destroy him (Heb. 2:14), that He might reclaim the earth to be His kingdom (Rev. 11:15; 12:10). In this upcoming kingdom, which Christ as the Son of Man will bring in (Dan. 7:13-14; Luke 19:12-15), He will surely be the Son of Man, not only as a sign of God's victory and glory but also as a sign of Satan's defeat and shame.
Zechariah 14:9 says, "Jehovah will be King over all the earth." This verse— prophesies that at His coming back Christ will establish His kingdom on the earth cf. Matt. 25:31-34; 1 Cor. 15:25. When the Lord comes back, He will save Israel, crush the Gentile nations, and judge the peoples on earth. Afterward, He will establish His kingdom on the earth for a thousand years; this is the millennial kingdom.
In the millennium there will be three realms: the first will be the realm of the earth, where God's creation will be blessed (Gen. 1:28-30); the second, the realm of the nation of Israel in Canaan, from the Nile to the Euphrates, where the saved Jews will rule over the earth (Isa. 60:10-12; Zech. 14:16-18); and the third, the heavenly and spiritual realm where the overcoming believers will enjoy the kingdom reward (1 Cor. 15:50-52; Matt. 5:20; 7:21).
In the millennium Christ with His overcomers as co-kings will reign over the nations (Rev. 20:4, 6; 2:26-27; 19:15b). These nations will be the last stage of human nations on the old earth, and they all will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ (11:15), being ruled by Christ and His overcomers. Such a reigning will be the unique work of Christ in the millennium to show to the entire universe His kingship with His divine and heavenly authority for the shame of Satan, the defeated enemy of God.
We are awaiting the day when Christ will come as the King to reign over the earth. Christ will reign in His kingdom, and we will be His co-kings. (Life- study of Revelation, p. 24)
Day 1
Verses: Rev. 22:1-2 And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street. And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month… The Lamb with God is on the throne within the city. On this throne God and the Lamb will not sit beside each other; instead, God in Christ will sit on the throne. We know this because God as the light will dwell in the Lamb as the lamp (Rev. 21:23)…Just as the light and the lamp are one unit, one entity, God and the Lamb are one entity. The one throne of God and of the Lamb signifies that God and the Lamb are one—the Lamb-God, the redeeming God, God the Redeemer. In eternity the God who will sit on the throne is our redeeming God, from whose throne proceeds the river of water of life for our supply and satisfaction. This depicts how the Triune God—God, the Lamb, and the Spirit (symbolized by the water of life)—dispenses Himself into His redeemed under His headship (implied by the authority of the throne) for eternity. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4411-4412)
In our Christian experience the unique item should be the throne of the One who purposed and of the One who redeemed. Such a throne must be set up in our entire being, and this should be the center of our Christian life. This means that we would accept the God who purposed and the Christ who redeemed us as our Head, Lord, and authority. We should be willing to subject ourselves to such a headship. We adore Him as the Lord, and we take Him as our authority. We enthrone Him in our being and in our Christian life. In our Christian life the center is the throne of God and of the Lamb.
We are not here living for ourselves. We are living and existing for the accomplishment of God’s purpose, to carry out what Christ has accomplished. Therefore, we experience the One on the throne in His headship and lordship, and we submit ourselves to such an authority. In our daily life, in our family life, in our marriage life, in our business life, and in our church life the center must be God’s throne. Everything should be subjected to His headship. All of us have experienced that whenever we would subject ourselves to this headship, we immediately sense something full of God's riches filowing within us.
This is the filow of the Triune God as life, the life supply, and everything to our being. According to our daily experiences, we Christians should experience the filow of the Divine Trinity every day. Every morning after rising up we need to say, “Lord, thank You for a new day for me to take You as my Lord. I subject myself under Your headship for the whole day. Lord, set up Your throne in my life. Set up Your throne in the center of my being. Lord, bring my whole day with my daily life under Your throne.” If you would offer such a prayer to the Triune God every morning, from that moment you would have the living water filowing within you. This living water filowing is the filow of the Triune God. It is not a small thing that the Triune God flows in you today.
He flows in you as the One who purposed, as the One who redeemed, and as the One who is the life-giving Spirit. This One is the very consummation of the Triune God reaching us as the living water. This very God who is in us is the source of life. The throne of God and of the Lamb should be the center of our being. In the meeting we may say that the throne is in us, but many times when the sisters go shopping, the throne is thrown away to the heavens. The brothers also need to ask themselves if they have the throne of God in them in doing business. Who is our Lord, Head, and authority in our daily life? Many times even in small things such as buying a tie or a pair of shoes, we would not let the throne be in our heart. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 3, “God’s New Testament Economy,” pp. 460-463)
Day 2
Verses: Rev. 22:3-5 …And the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His slaves will serve Him; and they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads…; and they will reign forever and ever. We must realize that whenever the throne is gone, there is no source of the filow. This is why many times we have the feeling that we are dry and even dried up. There is not the filow of the living water because we do not accept or recognize the lordship, the headship, and the authority of the Triune God in the very center of our being. This is why the throne is the last item revealed concerning the New Jerusalem. Without the throne the New Jerusalem does not have a center, and without the throne there is no filow of life. As a result, the entire New Jerusalem would be dried up and even starved to death. The water of life flows out of the throne, and the tree of life grows in the water of life and on the two sides of the river of water of life as a vine producing timely fruits for the food of God’s redeemed for eternity. Both the water of life and the tree of life are the issue of the throne. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 3, “God’s New Testament Economy,” p. 463)
Whenever you would take the Triune God as your Head, that will be the time when something begins to filow in your being. We have to apply this to our daily life in every instance and in every small thing. Even in our talk to our children and in our talk to our spouse, we have to practice submitting ourselves to the inner throne. Do not look into the heavens, but look to the center of your entire being where there should be a throne. The throne should be prevailing in the center of your being. Then the water of life will be proceeding out of the throne to supply you and to bring to you the tree of life, which nourishes you all day long. In the place where the Triune God flows, we serve Him (Rev. 22:3).
Not only do we serve Him but also we see His face (v. 4)…When you drink the water of life, you see His face. When you eat the fruit of the tree of life, you receive His face. You serve Him by drinking and eating Him. Do not do anything for Him. He can do everything, but He cannot drink Himself, nor can He eat Himself. He depends on you to eat Him and to drink Him. I say again, do not think that you can work for Him. He can do everything for Himself, and He does not need you. He needs you only to eat Him. He needs you only to drink Him. He needs you only to enjoy Him. Do not say, "I will go to the mission fiield to be a missionary." God can do everything, but He needs someone to eat Him and to drink Him.
He needs many eaters and drinkers. We all should say, “Lord, I receive You as my Head…I enthrone You in my heart. I put You on Your throne.” Once you put Him on His throne, immediately the water flows and the tree grows, and you have something to drink and to eat. It is here in this filow from the throne that we serve Him and that we see His face. Also, in this filow we reign as kings (v. 5). If you do go to the mission fiield, you must go by taking God's throne in the center of your being. Then every day out of the throne the water flows and the tree grows.
When you drink the water of life and eat the tree of life, you will serve Him, you will see His face, and you will be a king…The Lord Jesus told us that all authority had been given to Him in heaven and on earth and that now we need to go with His authority to disciple the nations (Matt. 28:18-19). We need to go with the authority of the heavenly King who is now enthroned in our being.
We all have to realize that here is the power and the impact of the preaching of the gospel—we have One who is the Lord of all, the Head of the entire universe, enthroned in the center of our being. When He is enthroned in our being, the water flows and the tree grows, and our service will be an enjoyment. When you enjoy Him, you serve Him, you see Him, and you reign with Him to be kings with Him. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 3, “God’s New Testament Economy,” pp. 463-466)
Day 3
Verses: Ezek. 1:22 And over the heads of the living creature there was the likeness of an expanse, like the sight of awesome crystal… 26 And above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, like the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was One in appearance like a man, above it. Ezekiel 1:22…reveals that after we have experienced all the things in the first twenty-one verses, the sky over our heads will be crystal clear. It will be like a great expanse of awesome crystal. We will have a wide, clear expanse above us. This means that above us is an open, clear heaven. The sky is not only clear; it is also expanding. It is not just a matter of having a clear sky vertically, from heaven to earth, but also a matter of having a clear sky horizontally. (Life-study of Ezekiel, 2nd ed., p. 104)
Before we were saved, our sky was dark and cloudy, even foggy. It was also narrow, without any expanse…But one day we repented, confessed our sins, and received the Lord Jesus as our Savior…After we made a thorough confession, we had the sense, for the first time, that the sky above us was clear. We sensed that the day was dawning, that the clouds were leaving, and that the fog was lifting. When we were saved, we received not only a clear sky but also an expanding sky. The kind of sky a Christian has depends upon his conscience…If there is no blemish on your conscience, your sky will be clear. If your sky is not clear, this means that there is some offense on your conscience. In order to have a clear sky, we need to deal with any offense and condemnation in our conscience.
The story of our sky is the story of our conscience. When we as living creatures reach the point of having a clear, open, and expanding heaven, there will be nothing between us and God and nothing between us and one another…All the clouds, coverings, separations, and fog will be gone, and we will have a sky that is thoroughly clear and continually expanding. Our expanse will be as clear as crystal. Whenever we have such a clear sky in our Christian life and in our church life, we will also have the throne, which is above the clear sky (Ezek. 1:26). The throne is the center of the universe, and it is where the Lord is…Where the Lord is, there His throne is. His presence can never be separated from His throne.
The Lord’s throne is in the third heaven, but His throne is also in our spirit. Hence, the Lord’s throne is with us all the time. As Christians and as local churches, we all should be under a crystal clear and expansive sky. Above this clear, expansive sky is the throne of the Lord. By having such a clear sky, we are spontaneously under the government of the Lord’s throne…Because we are under the throne, we do not need policemen and law courts to rule over us. If we need to be ruled by the police and by the courts, this means that we are not under the throne. We should be under the throne of the Lord all the time. Perhaps we want to say a certain thing, but the ruling of the throne does not allow us to speak a word…At other times we may become angry and may be close to losing our temper, but we realize that we are under the ruling of the throne, and we are subdued…
We are ruled not merely by the teachings of the Bible but by the throne. The highest step in the spiritual experience of a Christian is to have the throne in our expanse, in our clear sky. To have the throne, or to arrive at the throne, is to allow God to have the highest and most prominent position in our Christian life. For God to have the throne in us means that He has the position to reign in us. Therefore, to reach the throne in our spiritual experience means that in everything we are completely submissive to God’s authority and administration. Then we are no longer a person without the throne, without authority, without government. (Life-study of Ezekiel, 2nd ed., pp. 105-106, 114-116)
Day 4
Verses: Rev. 3:21 He who overcomes, to him I will give to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne. The throne is not only for God to reign over us but also for God to accomplish His eternal purpose. If we have a throne in our spiritual life, God will not only rule over us but will also fulfiill His purpose in us, with us, and through us…If you want God’s purpose and plan to be carried out in you and with you, you must be a person who submits to the throne. You must be a person under the reign of God. Only then can God carry out His purpose in relation to you. (Life-study of Ezekiel, 2nd ed., p. 117)
Ezekiel 1:26 speaks of “the likeness of a throne, like the appearance of a sapphire stone."—The sapphire stone signifies the situation or the condition of the heavens with God’s presence in it. The throne being in the likeness of a sapphire stone shows the presence of God in a heavenly situation. Verse 26b says, “Upon the likeness of the throne was One in appearance like a man, above it.”
Here we are told that the One on the throne looks like a man…However, verse 28 speaks of “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah.” The One on the throne looks like a man, yet with Him there is the appearance of the glory of the Lord. There is at least a twofold significance to the fact that the One sitting on the throne here has the appearance of a man. First, there is surely a connection between Ezekiel 1:26 and Genesis 1:26, which says that God created man in His own image and according to His likeness.
Second, in the incarnation God Himself became a man. Having the nature of man, He lived, died, resurrected, and ascended as a man, and now in heaven He is still the Son of Man (John 6:62; Acts 7:56). In the Bible there is a mysterious thought concerning the relationship between God and man. God’s desire is to become the same as man is and to make man the same as He is. This means that God’s intention is to mingle Himself with man and thereby make Himself like man and make man like Him. The Lord Jesus is the God-man; He is the complete God and the perfect man. We may also say that He is the man-God…Furthermore, to be a man of God…is to be a God-man, a man who is mingled with God. It is a delight to God that all His chosen and redeemed people would be God-men.
God’s intention is to work on man in order that man can be on the throne—We might be satisfied to go to heaven—God will not be satisfied until we are on the throne. The Lord Jesus…became a man, and as a man, He went to the throne.
God’s intention is to take us to the throne [Rev. 3:21]. His desire is to make us people of the throne. We need to consider our present condition in light of God’s intention… The Lord will bring us to the throne, but if we are still careless and loose, we are not ready to be on the throne. No one can sit on the throne in a way that is undignifiied or improper—If you mean business with the Lord as a Christian and as a disciple of the Lord Jesus, you cannot be loose, careless, and undisciplined. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was not careless in anything. Many believers today, on the contrary, do not seem to have the proper concept and feeling about how to be a proper human being.
Such a person cannot be on the throne. The Lord Jesus led the way to the throne. He was the Pioneer, the Forerunner (Heb. 6:20), cutting the path to the throne (2:10). This indicates that He is not the only man destined for the throne. He has cut the path and has taken the lead so that we may follow. He was the first one to the throne, and we will come after Him. Now we are marching to the throne, for God intends to bring us into glory and to set us on the throne. (Life-study of Ezekiel, 2nd ed., pp. 122-123, 125-126, 128-129, 131)
Day 5
Verses: Ezek. 1:27 Then I saw something like the sight of electrum, like the appearance of fire encased all around, from the appearance of His loins and upward; and from the appearance of His loins and downward, I saw something N N N QRZRY N God’s intention is to cast Satan down and to redeem many of those taken captive by Satan and bring them to His throne. God cannot receive the full glory until we are brought to the throne. One day we will be brought to the throne, and then God will be able to boast to Satan. He will triumphantly declare that His chosen ones, who had been taken captive by Satan, have been brought to the throne. However, we need to realize that in our present condition we are not qualifiied to be on the throne. Do you look like a king If you were weighed on the heavenly scales to determine your spiritual weight, how much would you weigh? I am concerned that many of us would weigh hardly anything at all. This is a very serious matter. We have been called to be sons of God, and we are destined to be kings, but we need God to work in us and on us to qualify us for kingship. (Life-study of Ezekiel, 2nd ed., pp. 130-131)
[In Ezekiel 1:27] we see that the appearance of the man on the throne has two aspects: from His loins and upward He looks like electrum, and from His loins and downward He looks like fiire—The upper part of a man, from his loins to his head, is the part of feeling, of sensation. This part signifies his nature and disposition.
According to His nature and disposition, the Lord Jesus on the throne looks like electrum. The lower part of a man’s body is for moving. The appearance of fiire from the loins and downward signifies the Lord’s appearance in His move. When the Lord comes to us, He first comes as fiire. When He stays with us, He becomes electrum. Furthermore, whenever the Lord moves through us, He moves like fiire to burn, enlighten, and search. After this burning, something will remain, and that will be the electrum—a mixture of gold and silver signifying the Lamb-God, the redeeming God. God wants us to gain Him as the electrum. In order for this to be our experience, He must first come to us as fiire to enlighten, search, and burn—If we would gain Him as the electrum, we need to experience Him as the fiire.
Eventually, we need to realize that nothing good dwells in us [Rom. 7:18a]…The following is a partial list of the negative things that we have within us: division, strife, hatred, envy, temper, self-love, self-goals, ambition, selfiishness, ego, and many other ugly, evil things. We are full of these things, but we may have very little of the Lord. Therefore, we need the Lord to come to us and burn away all these negative things. After these things have been burned out, the electrum, the redeeming God, will remain in us. No matter how clear our sky is and no matter how much we may have the throne above our sky, we still need the Lord's presence as the fiire which enlightens, searches, and burns so that we may have Him remaining in us as electrum.
This is the Lord’s visitation with us, and this is the Lord’s move with us and on us. It is a great blessing to be under the Lord’s visitation. The Lord comes to us as a consuming fiire, and we gain Him as electrum. Often there is no need for us to declare that we have such a God. When others are with us, they will be able to sense that we have the electrum, the redeeming God, remaining with us. They may also have the impression that we are not light but are persons of weight. We are weighty with electrum, weighty with the Lamb-God. At this point the four living creatures are not only for the manifestation of the Lord and not only for the move of the Lord but also for the administration, the government, of the Lord…This is truly wonderful. (Life- study of Ezekiel, 2nd ed., pp. 132-133)