We need Teaching and Reconstitution with God’s Word to have a Culture that Expresses God

In order for us to be the people of God as His testimony on the earth, we need teaching and reconstitution to be brought into a culture according to God; we need to be re-educated and reconstituted with the heavenly truths, the word that comes out of the mouth of God.

In the Old Testament we see the story of Ezra and Nehemiah, two men greatly used by God to bring His people back to His original intention.

We could say that today’s situation is very similar to the situation in their days, for so many believers today are in captivity in religious Babylon, with only a few that have returned to Jerusalem, the genuine ground of oneness.

Those who have been shown mercy by the Lord and whose spirits were stirred up that they would go up and build up the house of God may not be the strongest ones among God’s people but they are there, on the ground, building God’s house.

The rich Jewish families and leaders in Babylon may have lived a comfortable life, having everything they need, but they could not take part in the building of God’s house in Jerusalem unless they moved there to be on the ground where the Lord wants His house to be built.

Based on the reports that reached Nehemiah, those who were in Jerusalem were not in the best condition; rather, they were weak, they were not so zealous for God’s building, and many times they stopped the work of building the house of God. Sounds familiar?

Many times we are like this; we may even look around and see so many other Christians that are so zealous and so active in doing this and that for God, while we are so weak and even disheartened.

But thank the Lord for His word; He cares for His house, and He speaks to us through His word to bring us back to the rebuilding of God’s house.

Thank the Lord for the prophets who speak to us God’s up-to-date speaking, His instant word, to encourage us and cause us to continue to do the work of the building.

And thank the Lord for the Ezras of today who are both priests contacting God and being filled with God, and teachers (scribes) constituted with the word of God to teach the truth.

We need to be re-educated with the heavenly truths of God’s economy so that in our very nature and constitution we would be the people of God, the testimony of God on the earth.

For this, we need to open to the Lord and to those whom He uses to speak, teach, and constitute us; we need to allow His word to dwell in us richly.

May the Lord have a way to reconstitute us, and may He make us the Ezras of today who cooperate with Him to teach the truth so that the saints may be reconstituted with the word of God in their very nature.

May we be the priestly scribes of today, those who trust in God, are filled with God and are skilled in the word of God to teach the truth and infuse others with the heavenly truths of God’s economy.

The Need for Teaching and Reconstitution to be Brought into a Culture that Expresses God

When we look at the situation and condition of the people of Israel who have returned to the good land to rebuild the temple, we realize that they needed to be reconstituted.

Nehemiah and Ezra realized this.

There was the need for teaching and reconstitution to bring the people of God into a culture that was according to God, a culture that expressed God (Neh. 8:8).

The people of Israel returned to the proper ground and desired to build the house of God, but their constitution was still Babylonian, their way of living were the foreign ways of living, and even in marriage, they were married to foreign wives.

The way to help them be the people of God is not by correction or adjusting but by education, by teaching and reconstitution with the word of God.

Today we are in the church life and the Lord has stirred our spirit up so that we may go up to the house of God, bring wood, and build the house.

But in our way of living, in our expression, in our behaviour, and even in our inner being, we may be like the ones around us, worldly and Babylonian.

The Lord needs to do a work of reconstitution in our being.

We need a lot of education in the word of God and through the ministry of the age.

As we take in this education, as we open to the speaking of God’s word and take in the healthy teaching of God’s economy, we are inwardly reconstituted with the word of God.

Our mind will slowly start to think the same way that God does, and our desires will be more and more one with His desire. Even our will, as stubborn as it is, will be aligned with God’s will.

We need to take the truths in God’s word and be the priestly scribes contacting the Lord, being filled with Him, opening to Him, and allowing Him to touch us in our inner being so that we may not only learn the truths but be constituted with the truths.

For the reconstituting of God’s people, Ezra was very useful; he bore the totality of the heavenly and divine constitution and culture.

He saw the Babylonian culture being lived out and expressed among God’s people, and he prayed and was one with God to teach and reconstitute the people of God so that they would have a culture that expressed God.

Ezra was one through whom the people could be reconstituted with the word of God (vv. 1-2).

On one hand, there was Zerubbabel who took the lead to return to the proper ground, and he took care of so many things related to God’s people.

On the other hand, there was Joshua the high priest, and still there was Nehemiah, the governor.

All these were one for the work of educating and reconstituting the people of God, and Ezra stood with them as he spoke the word of God to help the people be educated and reconstituted with the heavenly truths.

May we be such ones. May we be those who are reconstituted in our very constitution so that we may be priests filled with God and teachers skilled in the word of God.

And may we see the need for education and reconstitution so that all the saints may enter into a culture that is according to God, a culture that expresses God.

The matter of being constituted with God’s word and teaching His word should not rest only with the elders and co-workers, those who serve God full-time.

Yes, their responsibility is to be in the truth and teach the truth to educate and reconstitute the saints, but we all need to enter into this also.

We need to practice contacting the Lord, being filled with Him, and allowing His word to dwell in us richly so that we may be reconstituted with the heavenly truths and be ready to speak the word to others for their education and reconstitution.

Lord Jesus, show us our need for teaching and reconstitution to be brought into a culture that is according to God in the church life. Save us from living and behaving in the same old way, the way of the nations. May we learn to speak the language of Judah and live a culture that expresses God. We come to You in Your word, dear Lord; we open our being to You and we allow Your word to speak to us, work in us, and dispense the element of God into us. Amen, Lord, we open to the education and reconstitution with the heavenly truths of God’s economy. May we be filled with the heavenly and divine constitution and culture, and may we cooperate with You to help others be reconstituted with the word of God. Amen, Lord, bring us into a culture that expresses God as we live the Christian life and the church life for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ!

For us to be Reconstituted, we need to be Educated with the Word that Comes out of the Mouth of God and Expresses God

Ezra brought the people of Israel back to the Word of God so that they may be re-educated and reconstituted with the heavenly truths in the divine word.

The story of the people of Israel is a type of our history in the church life.

At the time of Moses, they were educated and trained at Mount Sinai to become an army not only formed and organised but also constituted to be God with man and man with God.

When they moved, God moved, and when they stopped, God was with them (Psa. 68).

Everything related to them, from their actions and move, with the pillar of fire and pillar of cloud, was God being with them and them being the people of God.

But after a short time, they no longer expressed God, and He allowed them to die in the wilderness.

The second generation entered into the good land of Canaan as one man, and they had a great victory at Jericho, for they were fully one with God.

They were a divinely constituted army who had the one accord and was one with God.

However, one among them sinned and caused them to fail, and they had a defeat at Ai.

From that time onward, there was nothing among the Israelites but degradation and corruption and idolatry.

God raised leaders among them and sent them prophets to warn them and bring them back, but they refused to go along with God.

Eventually, God allowed the Babylonians to come and conquer the good land and carry the people of Israel away to Babylon to be disciplined and punished.

But praise the Lord, He cannot forget the good land, the land of Immanuel (Isa. 8:8).

He caused some to return to the good land under the leadership of Zerubbabel, a descendant of the royal family, to rebuild the city and the house of God.

However, the people who returned were still Babylonian in nature.

They had to be educated with the divine truths, the heavenly truths of God’s word, so that they would become the people of God in their very constitution.

Ezra brought the people back to the word of God so that they might be re-educated and reconstituted with the heavenly truths in the divine Word.

This is our need today; we need to be re-educated and reconstituted with the heavenly truths.

For us to be reconstituted and be the people of God as His testimony, we need to be educated with the word that comes out of the mouth of God and that expresses God (Psa. 119:2, 9, 105, 130, 140).

As the psalmist said in Psa. 119, we need to keep His testimonies and seek the Lord with all our heart.

We need to keep our way pure by guarding our heart according to God’s word.

The opening of God’s word gives light, imparting understanding to the simple.

For us to be reconstituted and be the testimony of God on earth, we need to be educated by being put into the word of God so that we may be saturated with the word.

We need to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly; Christ is embodied in the word, and the word needs to dwell in us richly in all wisdom.

May we open our being to the Lord in His word and may we allow the word of Christ to dwell in us richly.

As the word of God works within us, the Spirit of God through the word spontaneously dispenses God’s nature with God’s element into our being.

In this way, we are reconstituted.

The word of God is the very breath of God, the breathing out of God, and is profitable for teaching, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, so that we as men of God, God-men, may be complete, fully equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

May we learn the word of God, be filled with the word of God, and allow the heavenly truths of God’s economy to be in us and constitute us.

We may have good practices among us such as calling on the name of the Lord, baptism, presbytery, foot-washing, and pray-reading; these are good, but they are not truths but rather, practices.

We need to know the truth of justification by faith, regeneration, sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, transfiguration, being made God in life and in nature, and the church as the Body of Christ.

These truths need to constitute us and become long-term nourishment as a rich deposit of the heavenly truths in our being.

Lord Jesus, we open to Your word so that we may be educated with the word that comes out of the mouth of God and that expresses God. Speak to us in Your word. Reconstitute our inner being with Your word. We want to keep Your testimonies and seek You with all our heart. We aspire to guard Your word in our heart and have Your fresh shining in our daily living. Amen, Lord, keep us in Your word so that we may be saturated with Your word. May the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom so that we may teach and admonish one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs! Hallelujah! May the living word of God, the very breath of God, be wrought into us to reconstitute and re-educate our being to make us the people of God, the testimony of God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ezra, msgs. 2, 4-5 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (2022 winter training), week 5, entitled, Ezra, a Priestly Scribe, and the Need for Ezras – Those Skilled in the Word of God.
• Further reading on this topic:
  – The principle of the man-child, an article by Watchman Nee in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Christ making His home in our hearts and the material for the building, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Samuel, Chapter 30, by Witness Lee.
  – Ezra Program 4: The Need for Ezras—Those Skilled in the Word of God, LSM radio broadcast, watch/listen to it via youtube.
  – The word of righteousness – The righteousness of God, article by John Campbell in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – The riches of Christ and the need for a priestly scribe, portion from, The Recovery of God’s House and God’s City, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee.
  – Purification and the protection of the city, a portion from, The Recovery of God’s House and God’s City, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee.
  – Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther – listen to the LSM radio broacast, via, Amana Trust.
  – Read an excerpt from the ministry magazine on this topic here.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – God’s own Word must not be taken / Just as knowledge but as life, / Not alone God’s thought conveying, / But Himself to us as life; / Not alone God’s mind revealing, / But His Christ as life within, / Not alone the teaching giving, / But experience of Him. (Hymns #816 stanza 1)
  – All Scripture is the very breath of God, / And by His Spirit into words was breathed; / By godly men the words were written down, / With all God’s fulness unto man bequeathed… / It is the breath of God as wisdom too, / Knowledge divine to man it has to teach; / Th’ eternal purpose of the Lord it shows, / And leadeth man God’s final goal to reach. (Hymns #799 stanzas 1 and 4)
  – Here, O my Lord, may I feast upon Thee; / Flood with Thy Spirit and fill by Thy Word; / May, Lord, Thou be such a feast unto me / As man hath never enjoyed nor e’er heard. (Hymns #811 stanza 8)