We need to have the dreams that Joseph had so that we may realize that in God’s view all His people are sheaves full of life to produce food for the meal offering to satisfy God and man.
When we see the church and the saints the way that God sees them, we will praise God for the church, for the church is in Christ, in resurrection, and in the heavens, and the church is perfect, holy, and beautiful in the Lord’s eyes.
Even more, blessed is everyone who blesses the church, and cursed is everyone who curses it. The church is the spiritual people of God on earth today; He has chosen, redeemed, saved, and transformed a group of people from all tribes and nations unto Himself, and the church is glorious.
Christ is in resurrection constantly cleansing us by the water in the Word to present us as a bride to Himself; He removes the spots, wrinkles, and any such things, and He sees the church as being glorious and without spot or blemish.
Who are we to speak evil of the church? Do we see things different than God? Are we right in our point of view concerning the church?
From the time that God called Abraham until now, all those who have done evil or cursed the people of God have been under a curse, and all those who blessed God’s people have put themselves under a blessing.
Even when we see something that is not right but rather sinful in the church, even when we see things that are not that holy but worldly, and even when we see that the heart of the saints is not pure toward the Lord, we can still not utter things that are negative concerning the church, for God sees the church as an entity full of life, light, and glory.
This doesn’t mean that we cover up things in the church or that we turn a blind eye to the bad things that take place; rather, in our going to the Lord or speaking to others concerning the church, we are learning to live in the dream that God gave to Joseph and the vision that He gave to Balaam, that the church is glorious, full of life, and full of light.
Yes, God really sees everything, and He knows all the situations, the heart of the people, and the condition of the saints; yet in His eyes the saints are sheaves full of life and stars full of light, and the church is heavenly, Christly, and resurrectionly.
In God’s eyes His people have already been transformed and glorified, and in the New Jerusalem there’s no sin, spot, blemish, weakness, or evil thing. Hallelujah!
Having the Vision of the Church being Christly, Resurrectionly, and Heavenly
According to the facts in the Bible, we can say that the church is Christly (of Christ and in Christ), resurrectionly (of resurrection and in resurrection), and heavenly (of the heavens and in the heavenlies).
The church is a matter in Christ, in resurrection, and in ascension in the heavenlies (Eph. 1:17-23; 2:5-6).
The church is not an earthly group of people who believe into a set of rules and regulations and call themselves Christians; the church is not a social gathering of those who read the Bible and try to live according to it.
The church has been produced in Christ’s resurrection and with His resurrection life; the church is of Christ, composed solely of the element of Christ; and the church is heavenly, for all believers have been seated with Christ in the heavenlies.
In the eyes of God the church is Christly, resurrectionly, and heavenly; these adjectives describe the facts conveyed in the Bible.
Brothers and sisters, we have spent too much time like a worm in the dirt looking at the saints and the church in that way; we have a wrong perspective. We need to look at the church and see that it is in Christ, in resurrection, and in the heavenlies.
And we need to tell Satan, Satan, you got it all wrong. We reject your evaluation of the church and take God’s evaluation of His people!
After Christ terminated the entire old creation through His all-inclusive death, the church was produced in His resurrection; now the church is absolutely in resurrection, for the church is a new creation created in Christ’s resurrection and by the resurrected Christ (1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 2:6).
If we see the church in a different way than this, then we have taken the enemy’s evaluation of the church and made it ours; God’s evaluation of the church is that it is Christly, resurrectionly, and heavenly, but the enemy always has something bad to say about the church, for he is the accuser of the brothers.
Hallelujah, the church has been resurrected with Christ, and now the church is in ascension, in the heavenlies with Christ!
The church is of Christ, the church is of resurrection, and the church is of the heavens. If we have such a vision, it will govern us to the uttermost and will rule out everything that is not of Christ (Christly), of resurrection (resurrectionly), or of heavens (heavenly).
We may look at the church and say that it is not so Christly; so why not exercise our spirit of faith and start to speak that the church is Christly, and by our very speaking the church will become Christly!
We speak what is not into being – this is faith, this is how God does it, and this is how He created both the old and the new creation.
We should speak well of the church and banish all the negative speech, for such a speech has killed us and has brought in too much negative, holding back the advance and building up of the church.
Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit to stand one with You and declare that the church is of Christ and in Christ, the church is of resurrection and in resurrection, and the church is heavenly! Hallelujah for the church, the Body of Christ! Grant us such a vision of the church, Lord, so that anything that is not Christly, resurrectionly, and heavenly be ruled out in us and among us. Amen, Lord, we stand with You to banish and squash all negative speech concerning the church, and we exercise our spirit of faith to speak the facts in the word of God until You make them a reality in the church life today!
Seeing that God’s People are Sheaves full of Life to produce Food to Satisfy God and Man
We need to learn that the way we look at God’s people is a serious matter.
In the Old Testament we see Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob, who saw the evil things that his brothers did, and he brought an evil report to their father. They were full of hatred and anger, and Judah was full of lust (see Gen. 37-38).
But God gave Joseph two dreams (Gen. 37:5-9), and in the first one he saw sheaves in the field, and the sheaves of his brothers came and worshiped his sheaf.
Joseph realized that, at the worst, his brothers are sheaves full of life, and at his best, he himself was nothing more than a sheaf full of life. The only difference was that God chose Joseph and not them; but in God’s eyes, he was not better than them.
This applies to us in the church life today. When we come into the church life for the first time, we enjoy this wonderful place, and all the saints are marvelous and wonderful; we love the church life, and we love the Lord so much!
However, the more we love the church and care for the saints, the more we think that some of them are like “gophers”, “turtles”, or even “scorpions” and “snakes”; we may think that many of the saints are in a pitiful situation, and even the church is pitiful.
At such times we need to have the heavenly dream to realize that God’s people are sheaves full of life to produce food to satisfy God and man.
When the Lord has mercy on us and shows us the heavenly dream, we will realize that the saints are not worse than us and we’re not better than them; there’s no “gopher” or “scorpion” in the church life but rather, all saints are sheaves full of life. Hallelujah!
This will save us from complaining to God or to others concerning the saints, and we will have a proper view of God’s people.
May the Lord save us from praying accusing prayers, reporting to Him the evils we see among the saints or their defects and weaknesses. May the Lord save us from complaining to Him concerning the saints that He has put us with.
May we see the heavenly dream to realize that we are not better than the other saints; we may see some negative things in them, but we and them are the same in God’s eyes – we are sheaves full of life to produce food to satisfy God and man.
Such a view will revolutionize us; we may argue with God and ask Him to really look at their heart and be thorough…but the Lord will show us that He looks at His people not from our view but from His view, and in His view there is no scorpions, sinners, or snakes in the New Jerusalem.
Elijah the prophet also complained against Israel before God and told Him, ”The children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and slain Your prophets with the sword; and I alone am left, and they seek to take my life” (1 Kings 19:10).
But the Lord was not pleased with this, and He told him, “Yet I have left Myself seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed unto Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18).
We may be fully right in what we say to the Lord concerning His people, and our complaining may be based on facts, but the Lord doesn’t want us to accuse the brothers and the sisters but rather take His view of the saints.
This is not to learn to lie to God or others concerning the saints, choosing to ignore the “obvious facts” and the situation of the saints; rather, this is to receive the dream from God and realize that in God’s view all His people – both us and the all the saints – are sheaves full of life to produce food for the meal offering to satisfy God and man.
Lord Jesus, grant us the heavenly dream so that we may realize that all the saints are sheaves full of life to produce food for the meal offering to satisfy God and man. Amen, Lord, change our way of viewing God’s people. Unveil us to see God’s divine view concerning the nature, position, function, and goal of God’s people on earth. May we live in the heavenly dream and see the people of God the way God sees them, as sheaves full of life to produce food for the satisfaction of God and man. Amen, Lord Jesus, thank You for making us sheaves full of life, and thank You that we all are the same in Your eyes – we are full of life and of light!
Read this article in the Romanian language / citiți acest articol și în limba română la următorul link, Cei din poporul lui Dumnezeu sunt snopi plini de viață, iar biserica este învierească și cerească.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis, pp. 1414-1416 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Numbers (2), week 11, The Vision of the All-Sufficient One – the Divine View of God’s People.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Christ in love Himself has given / That the Church be sanctified, / Without blemish, spot, or wrinkle, / To become His glorious bride. / He does nourish her and cherish / As a man his body treats; / He and she become one body- / Thus the myst’ry very great. (Hymns #823)
# Christ is her one foundation, / None other man may lay; / All that she has, as Christ, is / Divine in every way; / Her members through the Spirit / Their death on Calv’ry own; / They’re built in resurrection- / Gold, silver, precious stone. (Hymns #824)
# And now in resurrection / To her He draws most near, / And with untold affection / In glory does appear. / As she beholds her Bridegroom, / His glory floods her heart, / ’Til she, His Bride, is raptured, / His longed-for counterpart. (Hymns #1229)
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