THE RECOVERY OF THE DIVINE REVELATIONCONCERNING THE ETERNAL LIFE
The fourth item of the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the divine revelation concerning the eternal life. Many Christians hold the concept that eternal life is a blessing given to the believers, in which they merely go to a heavenly mansion to enjoy a better life. When I was in Christianity, no one told me that eternal life is not a blessing but that it is simply life. In our physical body we have a biological life (bios), and in our soul we have a psychological life (psuche). We had these two kinds of life before we were saved. But when we were saved, we received another life, eternal life (zoe).
The Life That Is Not Only Eternal Both in Time and in Nature
The eternal life is the life that is not only everlasting but eternal both in time and in nature (John 3:16, 36; 1 John 1:2). This life is unlimited both in time and in nature; hence, it is eternal.
The Uncreated Life of God, the Indestructible Life,
and the Incorruptible Life
The eternal life is the uncreated life of God (Eph. 4:18), the indestructible life (Heb. 7:16), and the incorruptible life (2 Tim. 1:10). Concerning the definition of the eternal life, I received much help through the writings of Watchman Nee, Mary E. McDonough, Ruth Paxson, and T. Austin-Sparks. Through their writings I came to know that to be regenerated is simply to receive God into us as our life, to receive a life that is divine, a life other than our human life.
The Life That Is in the Son of God and That Is the Son of God
The eternal life is the life that is in the Son of God and that is the Son of God (1 John 5:11-12; 1:2; John 14:6). This life is not only in the Son of God, but it is the Son of God Himself.
The Life with Which the Believers Are Regenerated and
Which Becomes the Believers’ Life,
Making the Believers the Children of God
and the Members of Christ
The eternal life is the life with which the believers are regenerated, and which becomes the believers’ life (Col. 3:4a), making the believers the children of God (John 1:12-13) and the members of Christ (Eph. 5:30).
The Life on Which We Should Lay Hold
In 1 Timothy 6:12 the apostle Paul charges us to lay hold on this eternal life.
The New Testament teaches us that the eternal life has three stages, and these three stages are in three ages—the present age, the church age; the coming age, the kingdom age; and the eternal age, in the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center. In the first age, the church age, we receive the eternal life. Thus, it becomes our life, and we enjoy this life and live by it. In the church age it is a matter of receiving the eternal life, but in the next age, the age of the kingdom, the eternal life is not for people to receive but for people to enter into. In Matthew 25:46 those among the nations who are judged by the Lord Jesus to be “sheep” will enter into eternal life in the kingdom age. Thus, in the coming age the eternal life will become a sphere for people to enter into. In that age the eternal life will be given as a reward. In this age the eternal life is for us to receive as a free gift (Rom. 6:23b), but in the coming age the eternal life will be for us to enter into, not as a free gift but as a reward. This reward will be given to both the overcoming believers and to the “sheep” in Matthew 25 who paid a price to take care of Christ’s brothers during the great tribulation. Then in the eternal age, that is, in the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center, the eternal life will eventually be the consummated gift [402] for all of God’s redeemed people to manifest the Triune God for eternity.
If we have this view, we will be able to understand a number of verses in the Gospels. In the Gospels the Lord told people both to enter into eternal life and to receive eternal life. In Matthew 19:17 the Lord told the young man to enter into eternal life, but in John, especially in chapter 3, He spoke of receiving eternal life. We have received eternal life as a gift, but whether or not we will enter into eternal life as a reward in the future remains to be determined. We may receive the eternal life without doing any work, as a free gift, but to enter into the eternal life requires us to do the proper works, to have the proper virtues, and to pay a price. If we are not clear concerning this, we may feel that the New Testament contradicts itself by saying, on the one hand, that we can receive the eternal life as a free gift and, on the other hand, that we must pay a price to enter into it. We need to be clear that in the present age, eternal life is a gift given for us to receive, but in the coming age, eternal life will be a reward to recompense us for the price that we have paid for the Lord’s sake. Then in the eternal age the receiving and the entering will become one.
It is by this eternal life and in this eternal life that the believers have been brought forth. The eternal life is crucial for the producing of the believers and for the building up of the organic Body of Christ.
THE RECOVERY OF THE DIVINE REVELATION
CONCERNING THE BELIEVERS
The fifth item in the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the divine revelation concerning the believers.
The Believers Being Tripartite of Spirit, Soul, and Body
The believers are tripartite beings of spirit, soul, and body (1 Thes. 5:23).
The Believers Being Redeemed, Justified, and Reconciled to God in Christ
The believers are redeemed, justified, and reconciled to God in Christ (Rom. 3:24; 5:10a). We have not only been saved; we have been redeemed, justified, and reconciled to God in Christ.
The Believers Being Regenerated in Their Spirit
by the Spirit with the Divine Life,
Which Is Christ, to Be the Children of God, Having the Divine Nature,
and the Members of Christ in the Union of the Divine Life
The believers are regenerated in their spirit by the Spirit (John 3:5-6) with the divine life, which is Christ (Col. 3:4a), to be the children of God (John 1:12-13), having the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4b), and the members of Christ (Rom. 12:5) in the union of the divine life. Regeneration takes place in our spirit. It is carried out by the Spirit with the divine life, and it makes us, first, the children of God, and then, the members of Christ.
The Believers Having Been Crucified with Christ, Being Terminated in Their Old Man
The believers have been crucified with Christ, being terminated in their old man (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6).
The Believers Having Christ Living in Them
as the Pneumatic Christ, the Spirit, Indwelling Them
The believers have Christ living in them as the pneumatic Christ, the Spirit, indwelling them (8:11).
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