5 – The Ministry Produced through Revelation and Suffering, Part One: Revelation (3)

Published on: September 20, 2023

From chapter five of The Ministers in the Lord’s Recovery – Genuine Ministers of the New Covenant

Through their reading of the Holy Word, both Brother Nee and Brother Lee not only apprehended its factual contents with a sober mind but also received revelation of its spiritual significances by means of a spirit of wisdom and revelation (Eph. 1:17). Conscious of the inability of the natural mind to understand the Bible, they exercised their regenerated spirit to contact the Lord through a prayerful reading of the Word, thereby receiving revelations from the Lord through His Spirit in their spirit (Matt. 11:27; 16:17; Gal. 1:12; 1 Cor. 2:10-15). Endeavoring to transcend fanciful imaginations, doctrinal concepts, religious traditions, secular philosophies, and cultural bias (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:16-17), they received mercy from the Lord to be unashamed workmen who cut straight the word of the truth, interpreting the word of God in its various parts rightly without distortion under the divine guidance (2 Tim. 2:15). Brother Nee and Brother Lee abided by the principle of interpreting the Bible with the Bible: “The basic principle of interpreting the Bible is that in order to interpret any verse we need to consider not only the context of that verse but also the context of the entire book and a bird’s eye view of the entire Bible concerning God’s purpose.”21 Under the enlightenment of the Spirit, the brothers surely received many priceless revelations concerning the Triune God, His complete salvation, and His eternal economy contained in the Holy Word. It is worth considering the expansive breadth and profound significance of the truths concerning Christian faith and practice that the Lord revealed to Brother Nee and Brother Lee, which include but are not limited to the following items:

  1. the assurance of the believers’ salvation (John 10:28-29; Rom. 8:16; 10:9-13; 1 John 3:14; 5:13)
  2. the difference between eternal salvation by grace through faith and the kingdom reward as the result of working according to the Lord’s will (Eph. 2:8; Gal. 2:16; Matt. 16:27; 1 Cor. 3:14; Rev. 11:18; 22:12)
  3. the evil of denominationalism in dividing the believers (cf. 1 Cor. 1:10-13; Gal. 5:19-20)
  4. the clergy system as a human hierarchical organization annulling the function of the members of the Body of Christ (cf. Rev. 2:6, 15; Matt. 20:25-26; 23:8-11; Eph. 4:16)
  5. the universal priesthood of all believers (1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10; cf. Exo. 19:6)
  6. the truth concerning the death, resurrection, ascension, and second coming of Christ (1 Cor. 15:3-4; Luke 24:51; Eph. 4:8-10; 1 Thes. 1:10)
  7. the indwelling of the Holy Spirit for life and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for power (John 7:38-39; 14:17; 20:22; Rom. 8:9, 11; Acts 2:1-4, 17-18, 33; 10:45)
  8. the tripartite nature of man (1 Thes. 5:23; Heb. 4:12)
  9. Christ as life (John 11:25; 14:6; 1 John 5:12; Col. 3:4)
  10. the law of the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2)
  11. the overcoming life of Christ (John 16:33; Rev. 5:5; 12:11; Rom. 5:17; 8:37; 1 John 5:4, 18; cf. Phil. 4:13)
  12. the calling of the overcomers (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21)
  13. the boundary and ground of a local church (Acts 8:1; 13:1; 1 Cor. 1:2; Rev. 1:11)
  14. the centrality and universality of Christ (Col. 1:15-20; 3:10-11)
  15. the practicality of the church life related to proper meetings and the service of the elders and the deacons (Acts 4:24, 31; 5:42; 12:12; 14:24; 20:7, 11, 28; 1 Cor. 10:17; 14:31-33; Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9)
  16. the genuine oneness of the church (1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 2:16; 4:3-6; John 17:11, 21-23)
  17. the authority of the Holy Spirit in the Body (Acts 13:1-4; 16:6-7)
  18. the Holy Spirit as the reality of the Christian’s life and living (John 16:12-15; Gal. 5:16, 25)
  19. the deputy authority in the church (Acts 20:28; 2 Cor. 10:8; 13:10; Phil. 1:1; Titus 1:7; 1 Pet. 5:2)
  20. the building of the church and the coordination in the church life (Matt. 16:18; Rom. 12:4-5; Eph. 4:11-16)
  21. spiritual warfare as a matter of the Body (6:10-18; cf. Rom. 16:20)
  22. the discipline of the Holy Spirit (Heb. 12:5-11; cf. Rom. 8:28)
  23. the breaking of the outer man for the release of the spirit (2 Cor. 4:7-12; cf. John 12:24-25)
  24. the believers’ human spirit (Eph. 1:17; 2:22; 3:5, 16; 4:23; 5:18; 6:18)
  25. the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:16-18; John 14:17-20)
  26. enjoying the Lord—eating, drinking, and breathing Him (John 6:57; 7:37; 20:22)
  27. the all-inclusive Christ as the good land (Col. 1:12; 2:7; cf. Josh. 14:1; Deut. 8:7-10)
  28. the economy of God (1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:10; 3:9-10)
  29. pray-reading the Word of God and calling on the name of the Lord (Eph. 6:17-18a; Acts 2:21; Rom. 10:13; 2 Tim. 2:22; cf. Psa. 27:8; Jude 20-21)
  30. the believers’ transformation for God’s building (Rom. 12:2, 4-5; 2 Cor. 3:18; cf. 1 Cor. 3:12-17)
  31. being joined to the Lord as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17; cf. 2 Cor. 3:17; Rom. 8:16)
  32. the all-inclusive, compound, life-giving Spirit (Phil. 1:19; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Exo. 30:23-25)
  33. the seven Spirits of God being the sevenfold intensified Spirit (Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6)
  34. the scriptural way of meeting and serving (Matt. 28:19; John 15:16; 21:15-16; 1 Thes. 2:7-8; Heb. 10:24-25; 1 Cor. 14:1, 3-4, 26, 31)
  35. the teaching of the apostles (Acts 2:42; Titus 1:9; cf. 1 Tim. 1:3-4)
  36. the ministry of the New Testament (Acts 1:17, 25; 2 Cor. 3:6, 8-9; 4:1; 5:18; Eph. 4:12)
  37. the eternal life of God for the believers’ salvation and reigning in life (Rom. 5:10, 17, 21)
  38. God’s complete salvation—judicial redemption and organic salvation (v. 10, 17; Gal. 4:4-6)
  39. the Body of Christ as the organism of the Triune God (Eph. 1:3-23; 4:3-6, 16; Col. 2:19)
  40. the deification of the believers (John 1:12; 3:6; 12:24; 15:5; Rom. 8:29-30; 2 Cor. 3:18; 2 Pet. 1:4)
  41. the Triune God as the divine and mystical realm (John 14:10, 20; 17:21; cf. 15:4)
  42. the New Jerusalem as the consummation of God’s eternal economy (Rev. 21:2—22:5)

These great revelations concerning the Triune God and His eternal economy constitute the very rich “capital” with which Brother Nee and Brother Lee ministered to the saints for their enjoyment of the Triune God.

21 CWWL, 1977, vol. 1, p. 163

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© 2023, David Yoon. All rights reserved.

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