From chapter eight of The Ministers in the Lord’s Recovery – Genuine Ministers of the New Covenant
The Ministry in the Lord’s Recovery Abounding with the Glory of God
Like the ministry of the apostles in the New Testament, the ministry in the Lord’s recovery abounds with the glory of God. The brothers who minister according to the gospel of the glory of God are not only teachers of the truth but also luminaries that shine forth God in Christ as light (Phil. 2:15; Matt. 5:14). I along with many other saints have closely observed these brothers in their living and work and can testify that they have lived Christ as the truth for the shining of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:2; Phil. 1:19; John 14:6). Rather than walking in craftiness or conducting themselves in fleshly wisdom, they have conducted themselves in the grace of God in His singleness and sincerity (2 Cor. 1:12; 2:17). They have not adulterated the word of God for profit but have always ministered the pure word of God, even at the cost of risking opposition from religion (v. 17). They have not preached themselves but Christ Jesus as Lord of all, conducting themselves as our slaves for Jesus’ sake, never making themselves an object of attention but exalting Christ alone (4:5; Acts 10:26; Rom. 10:12).
In traditional Christianity, as preachers grow older, their ministry usually wanes. This is because their ministry mainly depends on their physical strength and natural intelligence, both of which gradually diminish with the passage of time. In vivid contrast, we have witnessed that the more the ministers in the Lord’s recovery advance in years, the more they shine with glory. This is because the afflictions that they have endured for the sake of Jesus have worked together to constitute them with the God of glory (Acts 7:2). Their spiritual vitality is ever increasing because they labor not by their natural strength but by depending on the exceedingly great power of God as their indwelling treasure (cf. Eph. 1:19-23). Therefore, the gospel that they preach is simply the shining of their Christ-saturated being and their Christ-expressing living; like the apostle Paul, their very being and living are their ministry.
This ministry conveys us into glory because the ministers exercise to live in the Holy of Holies, behold the glory of the Lord, and allow the God of glory to shine through their transparent vessels (Heb. 10:19, 22; 2 Cor. 3:18). This shining is not an outward, visible phenomenon but the spiritual shining of the invisible glory of God, such that those who are under this ministry enjoy a sweet, pleasant, and endearing inward shining of God in Christ. The ministry incorporates the very God who shines forth and speaks to His redeemed people from between the cherubim of glory on Christ as the propitiation place in the Holiest of all (Exo. 25:22; Psa. 80:1, 3; 99:1; Heb. 9:5). Commenting upon Exodus 25:18-22, Brother Lee describes our experience of God’s speaking to His people in glory:
When we listen to someone speaking in a meeting, as long as that speaking is the word of the Lord, we should have the sense that we are in glory. Whenever the word of God is spoken in the ministry, we sense glory within us. Many preachers today are eloquent. But when you hear them speak, you do not have any sense of God’s glory. You may admire their eloquence and appreciate their knowledge, but there is no sense of God’s glory. However, when you listen to the genuine ministry of the Word, you are attracted, not by eloquence or knowledge but by a sense of God’s glory. After you return home, the glory may follow you. Years later, you may still recall the glory you sensed in that meeting. From our experience we know that God meets with us in the midst of His glory and speaks to us in His glory.62
I wish to attest on behalf of the ministers of the word in the Lord’s recovery that when these ministers give a message, we often do sense the glory of God. We feel that that the God of glory is meeting and speaking with us from between the cherubim of glory in our spirit as the Holy of Holies, shining into us to fill us with Himself and make Himself known to us in Christ. By leading us to turn our heart to the Lord and exercise our spirit—cultivating a direct, personal, affectionate, and spiritual contact with the indwelling Christ—this ministry brings us face to face with Him in whose radiant countenance we behold the glory of God (Num. 6:24-26). As we enjoy this lovely, precious, charming, and endearing person, looking into the index of His eyes and sensing the shining of God’s glory in our heart, we love Him as the most excellent treasure in the universe, lose our taste for worldly idols, and are spontaneously transformed into His glorious image (2 Cor. 2:10; 4:6-7; 3:18). There is no greater joy or higher delight than gazing upon the incomparable glory of God manifested in the face of Jesus Christ in our mingled spirit. The ministry in the Lord’s recovery ushers us into such an indescribably intimate and unforgettable enjoyment of Him for our genuine transformation into His image from glory to glory so that we may become the New Jerusalem, a city of light that shines forth with the eternal glory of God in Christ the Lamb as the lamp (Rev. 21:10-11, 23; 22:5).
62 Life-Study of Exodus, pp. 1011-1012
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