We praise the Lord that, what was divided and scattered in the old man is recovered in the new man, and today we can put off the old man and put on the new man! Amen!
It is really clear, when we read Ephesians 2, to see that Christ terminated all the negative things and abolished all the ordinances in His flesh on the cross, and He created the one new man by dispensing Himself as the Spirit into all His believers.
The cross abolished all the ordinances in order to give place to the Spirit, and in this one Spirit we all have access unto the Father (Eph. 2:18).
In our Christian life we all have some measure of experience of overcoming our differences and ordinances, but we need more such experiences, so that the reality of the one new man would pervade our whole living.
For example, we may be visiting a new place and notice that they are different than us and do things differently in the meetings than how we do it in our local church; but when we touch the Lord together and pray together, we realise that there’s really no distinction between us.
This is our experience in the church life again and again, and this really shows our need to blend.
If we remain in the same place for many years and we do not visit other localities, it is easy to get a certain taste, a particular flavor, and a local way of doing things and even speaking.
But when we visit the saints, visit other localities, attend conferences and trainings, we are taken out of ourselves and put into the flow of the Body, and our differences and ordinances are exposed; we can then cooperate with the Lord to apply the cross to all the things that make us different.
The reality of the one new man is in the Spirit mingled with our spirit; for us to live in the new man we simply need to be in spirit and live in the Spirit.
What was divided and scattered in the old man is being recovered and made one in the new man, for in the new man there is only Christ, and Christ is one.
We need to realise that what matters to the Lord is not this practice or that teaching but the new creation; a new creation is what matters, and this new creation is in our mingled spirit.
Our mingled spirit, living in the spirit, walking in the spirit, and being in the spirit, this is what matters.
Outward things may be good and helpful, but our emphasis shouldn’t be on them but on helping one another touch the Lord in the mingled spirit and grow in life for the building up of the Body and the bringing forth of the one new man.
What was Divided and Scattered in the Old Man is Recovered in the One New Man Today
When God created man He made him in His own image and according to His likeness so that man would be a corporate vessel to express God and exercise God’s dominion.
However, as soon as Gen. 3 we see that man fell, and through the fall, he not only lost God’s image and dominion but was also divided and scattered.
God’s intention is to gain one corporate man to express Him and represent Him, and Satan’s intention was that, through the fall, man would be divided and scattered.
In ch. 3 of Genesis we see the beginning of the fall, and in chs. 10-11 we see the final fall, the significance of the fall, which is that man was made useless in God’s purpose by being divided and scattered.
After the flood, mankind was divided into nations and was also scattered in different directions to different lands. At Babel mankind was divided according to their families, genealogies, languages, lands, and eventually nations.
What we see on earth today is a divided and scattered man, not a corporate man that fulfills God’s intention. So the vessel that God created was divided and scattered, for Satan intended to annul its function and purpose.
When a vessel is broken and divided, it loses its real purpose; man as a vessel to contain God, express God, and exercise God’s dominion, has been divided and scattered.
The corporate man that God created in His image and likeness should have been one, but he was divided and scattered, and the entire Old Testament is a record of the divided mankind.
But praise the Lord, Christ as the second man came, and through His death and resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit to generate a new creation, a new man; this new man is one.
In Acts 2 we see that, after the Triune God passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, He was enthroned in the heavens to be the Lord of lords, and He came down as the Holy Spirit upon His disciples to make them the one new man!
Hallelujah, this wonderful One who was incarnated, lived a God-man life on earth, was crucified, resurrected, and ascended, He came down upon His followers to recover them and make them the church, the one new man!
What was divided and scattered in the old man is recovered in the one new man.
In Acts 2:9-11 we see that there were at least fifteen nationalities speaking at least fifteen dialects gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover; although they were Jews (v. 5), they were not of one language but were divided and scattered. This was sovereign of the Lord.
When the Holy Spirit came and the disciples were given to speak in tongues, all these different, scattered, and divided nations heard the word of God in their tongue, and they believed into the Lord to be part of the church, a new creation of God! Hallelujah!
The church was brought forth, men were gathered together, and what was divided and scattered in the old man was fully recovered in the new man! Amen, praise the Lord that, even though in the old man we were divided and scattered, now in the new man we are gathered and made one!
Thank You Lord Jesus for coming as the Spirit to fully recover man to Your original purpose. Hallelujah, what was divided and scattered in the old man is now being recovered and made one in the new man! Thank You Lord for bringing us into this process of being recovered back to Your intention in creating man. May the church be the one new man in reality, the one corporate vessel filled with God to express God and represent God on earth. May we all be recovered from any division and scattering to being one in Christ for the church as the one new man!
We put Off the Old Man which is Divided and Scattered, and we Put On the New Man which is Gathered and One
The book of Acts clearly shows how the Lord Jesus went to the heavens, became the Spirit, and came as the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon His believers to produce the church.
With Paul’s further explanation in his epistles, we see the light concerning the one new man.
In Christ Jesus we who were far off have been come near in the blood of Jesus (Eph. 2:13); we were far off from God and from the people of God, but we have been redeemed and brought near both to God and to His people through the Lord’s blood.
Christ Himself is our peace, for He has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition, the enmity (v. 14).
On the cross Christ tore down the wall of partition that divided the Gentiles from the Jews, and He tore down and destroyed any dividing factor between different peoples.
In effect, on the cross Christ reversed the fall – He removed all the divisions between men and also the problems between God and man so that man and God would be one, and men would be gathered and one in Him. Wow!
Christ created one new man of two peoples, the Jews and the Gentiles. This is a fact. Now in our daily living and practical experience, we need to put off, as regards to our former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit (Eph. 4:22).
We still have the old man, and by default we live according to the old man; but we need to put off the old man which is divided and scattered, and put on the new man which is gathered and one!
The old man can never be improved or perfected, for it is constantly being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit.
The new man, however, was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality, and it being renewed according to the image of Him who created him (v. 22).
In our daily living we need to exercise to put off the old man – which is being divided and scattered – and put on the new man – which is gathered and one.
The ending of the divided and scattered old man was already accomplished on the cross; we simply need to experience it more and more today in our daily life.
Merely coming together with many believers from different backgrounds, localities, nationalities, and cultures, does not make us the one new man automatically; we need to put off the old man and put on the new man!
May we humble ourselves before the Lord and really come to Him so that the new man in our spirit would overflow into our entire soul, with the result that we all take Christ as our one person for the one new man.
What a glory that would be to God! In the world the more different and individualistic a person is, the better; this is contrary to God’s economy, which is to gather us and make us one.
But hallelujah, in the church life we are practicing to put off the old man and put on the new man to be recovered from any scattering and divisiveness to being gathered and one in the Lord!
Lord Jesus, we put off the old man, the divided and scattered man, and we put on the new man, the gathered and one new man! Thank You Lord for tearing down the middle wall of partition and bringing us near to God and to His people in the blood of Christ! Amen, Lord, may we daily put off, as regards to our former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit. May we put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ricky Acosta for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1977, vol. 3, “The One New Man,” ch. 2, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The One New Man Fulfilling God’s Purpose in Creating Man (2019 fall ITERO), week 3, The Creation and Bringing Forth of the One New Man.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Soon Thy saints shall all be gathered— / Inside the veil. / All with Thee—no more be scattered— / Inside the veil. / Nought from Thee, our hearts shall sever; / We shall see Thee; grieve Thee never; / “Praise the Lamb!” shall sound forever— / Inside the veil. (Hymns #550)
– The Lord doesn’t need more individuals, / He’s got too many now, it’s plain to see; / All He wants is One New Man forever, / And that doesn’t leave any room for you and me. / The only way that we’ll be one is Jesus! / The only way for Him to gather us, / Is by our EATING, DRINKING, BREATHING JESUS! / Until His riches overflow in us! (Song on, The Lord has put me in the Body)
– Thus we must put off the old man / That we may put on the new; / Thus, renewed in mind and spirit, / We will bear God’s image true. (Hymns #823)
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