Do you know what is the purpose of God’s calling? Did God call you? Did God appear to you and call You for His purpose?
In Exodus 3 we see how God came and called Moses, and the purpose of His calling was, on the negative side, to deliver God’s people from the usurpation and tyranny of Egypt and Pharaoh, and positively, to bring them into a good and spacious land flowing with milk and honey.
In a similar way, when God appears to us today through the gospel He intends not only to bring His divine life into us but to rescue us out of the usurpation and tyranny of Satan and the world and to bring us into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land.
Bringing a person out of Satan’s hand and out of the kingdom of darkness is a mighty work, and the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all those who believe. We need to recover the proper gospel preaching in a strong way as the Lord Jesus did so that others would be brought out of the authority of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love (Col. 1:13).
The real gospel causes us to drop our background and our possessions and makes us forsake any affections toward family members so that we become sanctified and separated as a community unto God. Before we can preach such a strong and high gospel we ourselves need to have a living not of this world but in the heavenly realm, a living in the mingled spirit enjoying the riches of the all-inclusive Christ.
We need to see the hope of God’s calling and have a daily living, walk, and testimony that is worthy of this high calling. We need to be those enjoying Christ as the all-inclusive good land, the spacious land in which milk and honey are flowing. Do we enjoy Christ to the extent that He is our life and our person? Do we take Him as the good land in which we walk and take possession of?
God’s purpose in calling us is to rescue us out of the world with its usurpation and to bring us into the full enjoyment of Christ in His all-inclusiveness so that we may enjoy this Christ and bring others also out from the world and into the all-inclusive Christ for God’s kingdom and God’s building.
The Purpose of God’s Calling: to Bring us Out of Satan’s Hand and Out of the Kingdom of Darkness
The purpose of God’s calling of Moses was, negatively, to deliver His people out of the usurpation and tyranny under Pharaoh in Egypt. In a similar way, on the negative side, the purpose of God’s calling is to rescue us out of Satan’s hand and transfer us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col. 1:13).
How can men be delivered out of the hand of Satan, the evil power, and how can they be rescued from the kingdom of darkness? It is through the preaching of the gospel. Many believers preach a very low and worldly gospel today, and the power of the gospel is gone.
Preaching the gospel to bring people to salvation is not an easy task; it requires that a person would be rescued out of Satan’s hand and out of the kingdom of darkness. Paul said that the gospel is the power of God (Rom. 1:16), and for us to bring people out of Satan’s usurpation and dominion we ourselves need to be in the kingdom of God, not compromised with the world, and not in the world.
The gospel we preach is the gospel of the kingdom (Matt. 24:14), and all creation needs to hear this gospel so that man would repent, believe, and be baptized (Mark 16:15-16). The church needs to have gospel meetings which are very high in standard, strong in message, and definite in calling so that people can hear God’s clear calling out of the world, into the waters of death, and step into another community – the church life as the people of God!
If we are saved by God, we need to fulfill God’s calling by bringing others out of the usurpation and tyranny of Satan and the world. The purpose of God’s calling is that we would cooperate with Him to open people’s eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Christ, the church people (Acts 26:18).
Our gospel preaching is not a nice and warm inviting message for others to “come and join the church”, neither is it a theological thesis given to others to understand and agree with; the gospel message is a call for people out of Satan’s tyranny!
The gospel delivers us from Satan and brings us from one kind of living – the living in the world, like the rest, in the vanity of our mind, with no God or hope – into another kind of living where we serve the Lord, follow Him, are delivered from Satan and the love of money, and have Christ as our only master.
Lord Jesus, fully rescue us out of the tyranny and usurpation of Satan and bring us into completely into the kingdom of the Son of Your love. Show us the purpose of Your calling so that we may live a life serving You, following You, and having You as our only Master. Lord, we want to have a walk worthy of Your calling and preach the gospel to those around us that they would be rescued out of Satan’s hand and out of darkness to be transferred into Your kingdom! Oh Lord, recover the preaching of the gospel where people can hear Your calling and come out of Satan’s tyranny and the world’s usurpation!
The Purpose of God’s Calling: to Bring us Into the All-Inclusive Christ with His Unsearchable Riches
The purpose of God’s calling of Moses was, positively, to bring His people into a good and spacious land, the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. In our Christian experience, the purpose of God’s calling is not just to deliver us out of Satan’s kingdom and grip but to bring us into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ with His unsearchable riches, the allotted portion of the saints in the light (Col. 1:12).
God’s calling is for us to get OUT of Satan’s kingdom and enter INTO God’s kingdom where we can enjoy Him in full. Our Christian life should not be a life of bondage, sorrow, and groaning under Satan’s tyranny and usurpation in the world but a life of walking in the spirit to enjoy the unsearchable riches of Christ.
We should not live a life in compromise in the world, being half in the world and half in the church life; rather, we should answer God’s call, cross the river, and walk in the land flowing with milk and honey – the all-inclusive Christ as the Spirit with our spirit (Eph. 3:18; Col. 2:6-7, 16-17; 3:11).
The question for many believers today is, Do we have the assurance that in the church life today we are enjoying Christ as the good land? Do we enjoy the unsearchable riches of Christ today in the church life?
God’s purpose in calling us is to bring us into the good land where we can enjoy Christ in a rich way together with all the saints. As we enjoy Christ in the good land with all the saints, God is able to establish His kingdom (Exo. 19:6; 2 Sam. 5:12; 7:12, 16; Rom. 14:17) and He is able to have a dwelling place built up on the earth (2 Sam. 7:13; Eph. 2:20-22; 4:12).
We are called out of the world to serve and enjoy God, and we need to experience being delivered from the world and enjoy the rich Christ in our daily living. Day by day we need to experience Christ in a practical way by taking Him as our life and our person so that we may walk in Him, enjoy His unsearchable riches, and experience Him as reality of the good land of Canaan.
Also, we need to cooperate with the Lord to bring others out of the authority of darkness and help them be transferred into the kingdom of God through baptism, and then bring them further to enjoy Christ in a full way as the rich all-inclusive One in the church life!
May Christ be not only the manna and the living water to us but also our life and person as we live in spirit, walk by the Spirit, and enjoy and experience the unsearchable riches of Christ for the accomplishment of God’s purpose!
Lord Jesus, bring us into the full enjoyment and experience of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good and spacious land flowing with milk and honey. Lord, we want to experience You day by day in a practical way as our life and person. Make us those who bring others also into the enjoyment of Christ as the good land, ushering them into the rich enjoyment and experience of Christ as the all-inclusive land. Praise You Lord for calling us out of Satan’s kingdom into Your kingdom to enjoy You, experience You, bring in Your kingdom, and build up Your habitation, the church!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 11, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1), week 3 / msg 3, The Purpose of God’s Calling.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Rescue the perishing, / Care for the dying, / Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave; / Weep o’er the erring one, / Lift up the fallen, / Tell them of Jesus the mighty to save. / Rescue the perishing, / Care for the dying; / Jesus is merciful, / Jesus will save. (Hymns #921)
# Chosen by God in ages past, / Our God will never let us go; / Salvation is assured fore’er; / ’Tis such security we know. / “I give to them eternal life, / They shall not perish,” is His word; / “No one shall snatch them from Our hands,” / This is the promise of the Lord. (Hymns #1298)
# Jesus, the all-inclusive land, / Is everything to me: / A Christ of brooks, of depths and streams, / And fountains bubbling free. / Springing from valleys and from hills, / Flowing till every part He fills, / He waters us—how glorious— / By His life! (Hymns #1164)
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Both Moses and Paul were called for this purpose, and we are called for this purpose also. We need to bring people all the way from the world into the all-inclusive Christ for God’s kingdom and God’s building. Oh, may our apprehension of God’s Word be uplifted in these days! What God desires is not merely the tabernacle with the initial enjoyment of Christ as the lamb, the manna, and the living water, but the temple with the rich enjoyment of Christ as the all-inclusive land. Day by day we need to experience Christ in a practical way as our life and as our person. He should be not only manna to us but also all the riches of the good land. What we need today for the accomplishment of God’s purpose is the genuine experience of Christ as the good land of Canaan. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, pp. 130-132)
Amen. Thank You Lord Jesus, for mercy all that made me heed to Your call, and for new mercies I see each day that keep me going on with You, in Your calling us, to leave the world behind of Satan’s tyranny and the world of darkness’s usurpation, to be lead with a great deliverance into the wilderness to hold a feast before You, to sacrifice our all to You. Bring us to the mountain Lord, for a full revelation of Your divine purpose, and lead us Lord to Yourself, as the good land flowing with milk and honey, that we may build You a dwelling place of God in spirit, to end to kingdom of darkness and bring in Your kingdom of grace and light. Lord Jesus, we give You our all, to be faithful to Your call. Amen!