晨興聖言-挪亞、但以理和約伯...(W5-3)

第五週 • 週三

W05-d3-ch

晨興餧養

伯四二5~6 我〔約伯〕從前風聞有你，現在親眼看見你。因此我厭惡自己，在塵土和爐灰中懊悔。

約伯是在一個範圍裏，建立一個錯誤的東西。他在建立自己的完全、正直和純全。他認為自己是完全正確的，他以自己所建立的為傲，他也信靠這個，並引以為榮。

神在祂永遠的經綸裏，沒有意思要建立這些東西；反之，神認為這些事全數是攔阻，所以要把這些從我們身上剝奪…。當一切都被剝奪之後，你就看見神，祂就吸引你接受祂。於是你就有神的性情、生命、元素、素質，甚至祂的所是。這使你裏面有新陳代謝的變化，把你從你現在為人的形狀，變化成為另一種形狀，就是神聖的形狀。因着這變化的結果，你就會返照神，就是彰顯祂並將祂分賜給別人。

這就是神在約伯身上的目的，也是今天祂在我們身上的目的。現在你和神可能在兩個不同的範圍裏，因此，神要把你從現在的範圍遷移到祂的範圍裏，叫你不只與祂成為一，更成為祂的一部分（約伯記生命讀經，一九三至一九四頁）。

信息選讀

假設有人嘗試和約伯談論這些事，約伯可能會說，『你在說甚麼？我從我的先祖那裏學到許多關於神的事，我也留意我所學習的。你卻說我是在錯誤的範圍裏，還說神要在我裏面建立出於祂自己的東西。你對我說到成為肉體、重生、變化，但這些是甚麼意思，我一無所知。』約伯沒有接受這樣啟示的性能；在他的屬靈辭典裏沒有這些辭。

在原則上，今天許多基督徒的光景也是如此。神聖的啟示已經賜下、寫下並解開了。然而許多信徒卻不領悟神的經綸，或照着神的經綸而有的神聖分賜。他們可能認為，作基督徒就是相信神的兒子耶穌基督是我們的救主，為我們的罪流了寶血，藉着祂的死拯救我們；相信聖靈現今與我們同在，幫助我們有良好的行事為人，幫助我們行善，使神得榮耀；並且相信我們死後會上天堂。那些對基督徒的生活持守這種觀念的人，很可能沒有看見，作基督徒也包括聖別、變化、模成、神聖經綸的神聖分賜，以及新耶路撒冷作為經過過程、終極完成之三一神的擴大。

我們都需要領悟，今天有兩個不同的範圍—舊造的範圍和新造的範圍。舊造的範圍是天然事物的範圍，新造的範圍是神聖事物的範圍。我們都生在舊造裏，生在天然的領域裏，但神要我們成為神聖的。為這緣故，我們需要一個大的遷移—從亞當遷到基督裏。這遷移的頭一面是重生。我們需要重生，然後需要更新。我們得更新時，我們這人的某些部分就被『剝皮』，由新的元素所頂替；這元素會使我們變化，至終模成神長子基督的形像（羅八29）。

我們也需要學習如何與別人談到新造裏的屬靈事物。…假定你和一位信徒談到變化成為神的長子基督的形像；那位信徒可能會說，『我聽過神的獨生子，卻沒有聽過神的長子。神的長子是誰？』我擔心你們可能無法說明這事（約伯記生命讀經，一九四至一九五頁）。

參讀：約伯記生命讀經，第三十一篇。

WEEK 5 — DAY 3

Morning Nourishment

Job 42:5-6 I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye has seen You; therefore I abhor myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.

Job was in the realm of building up something that was wrong. He was building up himself in his perfection, uprightness, and integrity. He thought that he was absolutely right. He was proud of what he had built up, and he trusted in that and glorified himself in that.

God in His eternal economy has no desire to build up these things. Rather, He considers all these things as frustrations and intends to strip them away from us…When everything is stripped away, then you will see God, and He will attract you to receive Him. Then you will have God’s nature, life, element, essence, and even His being. This will cause a metabolic change within you to transform you from the present form of your human being to another form, the form of the divine being. As a result of this transformation, you will be a person reflecting God, that is, expressing Him and dispensing Him to others.

This was God’s intention with Job, and this is His intention with us   today. Now you and God may be in two different realms. But God wants to transfer you from your present realm into His realm, not only to make you one with Him but even to make you a part of Him. (Life-study of Job, pp.   156-157)

Today’s Reading

Suppose someone had tried to talk to Job about all these things. If someone had done this, Job might have said, “What are you talking about? I have learned a lot about God from my forefathers, and I have been paying attention to what I have learned. Yet you say that I am in the wrong realm   and that God intends to build up something of Himself in me. You speak to me about incarnation, regeneration, and transformation, but I do not know what any of these things mean.” Job simply did not have the capacity to receive such a revelation. He did not have these terms in his spiritual dictionary.

In principle, the situation is the same with many Christians today. The divine revelation has been given, it has been written, and it has been interpreted. Nevertheless, many believers have no understanding of the economy of God or of the divine dispensing according to the divine economy. They may think that being a Christian is simply a matter of believing that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our Savior, who shed His blood for our sins and who has saved us through His death; that the Holy Spirit is now with us to help us to behave ourselves well and to do good that God may be glorified; and that we will go to heaven when we die. Those who hold this concept of the Christian life may not realize that being a Christian also involves sanctification, transformation, conformation, the divine dispensing of the divine economy, and the New Jerusalem as the enlargement of the processed and consummated Triune God.

We all need to realize that today there are two different realms—the realm of the old creation and the realm of the new creation. The realm of the old creation is the realm of natural things, and the realm of the new creation is the realm of divine things. We were born into the old creation, into the natural sphere, yet God wants us to be divine. For this, we need a great transfer: We need to be transferred out of Adam into Christ. The first aspect of this transfer is regeneration. We need to be regenerated, and then we need to be renewed. As we are renewed, certain parts of our being will be “peeled off” and replaced by a new element that will cause us to be transformed and eventually conformed to the image of Christ, who is the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29).

We also need to learn how to talk to others about the spiritual things in the new creation…Suppose that you speak to a believer about being transformed into the image of Christ as the firstborn Son of God. That believer might say, “I have heard about the only begotten Son of God but not about the firstborn Son. Who is the firstborn Son of God?” I am concerned that you may not be able to explain this. (Life-study of Job, pp. 157-158)

Further Reading: Life-study of Job, msg. 31