Only life can mend. And though we may know this, we don’t really know how it happens. All we know is that we need to be open to the divine fellowship of the divine life so that life would flow into us and mend us.
The ministry of the Apostle John is a mending ministry of life, and the basic and substantial element of his ministry is centered on the divine fellowship of the divine life. The divine life we receive is not static – no life is static! The divine life is flowing, it has a fellowship, and by the divine birth we have received the divine life with its fellowship.
It is such a mysterious matter that we, human beings, can be born of God and can possess His divine life and partake of His divine nature! In 1 John especially we see many mysterious yet wonderful matters related to the divine life and the divine fellowship.
We need to abide in the divine fellowship of the divine life so that we may enjoy all the divine riches. When we abide in the divine fellowship, we walk in the light, we practice truth, righteousness, love, the will of God, and His commandments.
However, we need to safeguard against the three negative things that can frustrate us from being in the divine fellowship. We need to safeguard against sin, the world, and idols. And we do this by living by the divine life and by allowing God’s word to abide in us so that we may overcome the evil one!
The divine birth enables us to not live habitually in sin – yet if we sin, we have a Paraclete, an Advocate with the Father, and His precious efficacious blood cleanses us from every sin as we confess it in the divine light. Wow, what a rich supply of the divine life in the divine fellowship!
The Divine Fellowship of the Divine Life (as seen in 1 John)
In John’s first Epistle we see the basic and substantial element of his mending ministry, and the center of the revelation in 1 John is the divine fellowship of the divine life.
God is not only our Creator but also our Father – we have been born of God at the time of our regeneration, and God is the source of the divine life, light, and love that we may enjoy the divine life (1 John 1:1-7).
We as God’s children can enjoy the divine life by abiding in the fellowship of the divine life according to the divine anointing (1 John 2:12-28; 3:24) based upon the divine birth with the divine seed for its development (1 John 2:29-3:10).
In 1 John we see three specific means by which the divine birth was carried out: the water (which terminates us), the blood (which redeems us), and the Spirit (which germinates us) (see 1 John 5:1-13). All the genuine believers in Christ have been born of God to be His children, those who possess His divine life and daily partake of His divine nature (1 John 2:29-3:1).
Now Christ indwells us through His Spirit to be our life and life supply so that we may grow in the divine life to become like Him – even as He is – when He is manifested (see 1 John 3:1-2). Now we simply need to abide in the divine fellowship of the divine life so that we may enjoy all God’s divine riches – we need to abide in the Lord (1 John 2:6; 3:6)!
When we abide in the Lord by abiding in the divine fellowship, we walk in the divine light (1 John 1:5-7) and we practice the truth, righteousness, love, the will of God, and His commandments (1 John 1:6; 2:29, 5; 3:10-11; 2:17; 5:2).
How can we practice all these? It is by the divine life that we have received through the divine birth at our regeneration (1 John 2:29; 4:7). When we abide in the divine fellowship of the divine life by abiding in the Lord, we can live out all the divine attributes of the divine nature and walk in light, love, truth, and righteousness, and God’s will and His commandments are being fulfilled in us.
Preserving Our Abiding in the Divine Fellowship
It is a fact that we are born of God, and it is a fact that when we abide in the Lord, in the fellowship of the divine life, we live out Christ. But in our experience we have to admit that many times there are hindrances to the divine fellowship and to our living Christ. In 1 John we see three main negative things that need to be dealt with: sin, the world, and idols.
Sin is lawlessness and unrighteousness (1 John 1:7-2:6; 3:4-10; 5:16-18). The world is defined in 1 John 2:15-17 as being composed of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life (also see 1 John 4:3-5; 5:4-5, 19). An idol is anything that replaces Christ in us, and in 1 John we specifically see that an idol is a heretical substitute for the genuine God and any vain replacement of the real God (1 John 5:21).
How can we be safeguarded against sin, the world, and idols? Again, it is by the divine life. Here’s how,
These three categories of exceedingly evil things are weapons used by the evil one, the devil, to frustrate, harm, and, if possible, even annihilate our abiding in the divine fellowship. The safeguard against his evil doing is our divine birth with the divine life (5:18), and, based upon the fact that the Son of God has through His death on the cross destroyed the works of the devil (3:8), we overcome him by the word of God that abides in us (2:14). In virtue of our divine birth, we also overcome his evil world by our faith in the Son of God (5:4-5). Moreover, our divine birth with the divine seed sown into our inner being enables us not to live habitually in sin (3:9; 5:18), because Christ has taken away sins through His death in the flesh (3:5). In case we sin occasionally, we have our Paraclete as our propitiation to care for our case before our Father God (2:1-2), and the Son’s everlasting efficacious blood cleanses us (1:7). Such a revelation is the basic and substantial element of the apostle’s mending ministry (Witness Lee, Life-study of 1 John, pp. 357-358)
Hallelujah for the divine life we received by the divine birth! We need to KNOW this and PRACTICE this by realizing we do NOT sin habitually but rather we have the divine life in us and we need to abide in the fellowship of the divine life. We need to deal with anything that the divine light exposes and then the fellowship of the divine life will be restored.
And if we fail and sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who intercedes before God for us; we can confess our sins and He will cleanse us from every sin – He will forgive us and forget our confessed sins. Whenever we confess our sins, the divine fellowship is restored and strengthened. Hallelujah for the divine fellowship of the divine life!
Lord Jesus, thank You for regenerating us with Your life and bringing us into the divine fellowship of the divine life so that we may enjoy all the riches of God’s life. Lord, keep us abiding in You and keep us maintaining the fellowship of the divine life. We want to deal with any sin, any aspect of the world, and any idol that would replace You. Lord, keep shining on us and keep us walking in the divine light. We want to confess the sins that the light exposes so that the divine fellowship of the divine life would be restored and strengthened. Lord, we praise You for providing everything we need for us to be in this fellowship and abide in this fellowship!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ speaking in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 John (msg. 40), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Mending Ministry of John, week 1 / msg 1, The Mending Ministry of Life.
- Further reference: recommending the whole epistle of 1 John in the Recovery Version with the excellent explanatory footnotes.
- Hymns on this topic:
# The flowing of life divine, / In spirit so sweetly flows— / The overflowing life divine, / Nourishing my spirit so— / Bringing the Triune God’s fullness, / In spirit operates and moves, / Bringing me all of His supply— / Life as my supply.
# Divine anointing in me dwelleth, / And it teaches me all things; / It ever leads me in the Lord to live / And to me His presence brings. / In my spirit the anointing dwells, / O the anointing dwells and / teaches everything; / In my spirit the anointing dwells / And ever teaches everything.
# Walk in the light, and thou shalt know / That fellowship of love / His Spirit only can bestow, / Who reigns in light above. / Walk in the light, and thou shalt find / Thy heart made truly His; / Who dwells in cloudless light enshrined, / In whom no darkness is.
# God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all! / Oh, how we love within His presence to dwell! / In this light we enjoy a constant cleansing within— / From every sin!
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