晨興聖言-信徒(一)-(W12-1)

第十二週 • 週一

W12-d1-ch

晨興餧養

太九14~15 那時,約翰的門徒到耶穌跟前來,說,為甚麼我們和法利賽人常常禁食,你的門徒倒不禁食?耶穌對他們說,新郎和伴友同在的時候,伴友豈能哀慟?但日子將到,新郎要從他們中間被取去,那時他們就要禁食。


〔在馬太九章十四至十五節,耶穌〕不是用道理回答〔約翰的門徒〕,乃是用一個人位來回答。祂說祂自己是新郎!…新郎乃是全宇宙中最令人喜悅的人。你說你敬畏神,你要討神喜悅,你喜歡服事主等等—這是好的,卻相當宗教。…新郎同在時,懼怕是不存在的。祂是這樣可愛;祂是這樣令人喜悅的;我們毋需懼怕這樣一位。阿利路亞!我們有新郎!(李常受文集一九七○年第二冊,九頁)

信息選讀

主耶穌…是羔羊背負我們的罪,完滿地完成了救贖;祂也是帶着鴿子的那位,分賜生命到我們裏面,並用靈為我們施浸。但除了這些,祂還是新郎。至終,在聖經的末了,我們看見這樣一個辭:『羔羊的妻。』(啟二一9)這件事多多少少與宗教並宗教的思想相反。羔羊是救贖主,但在十字架上除去我們罪的羔羊,也是我們的新郎。

你們曾否這樣禱告過:『哦,主耶穌!你真是可愛;你是我的新郎。主,我愛你,我愛你就像一個人愛她的新郎一樣。』…新郎與我們在一起—我們有祂的同在!我們不僅有全能之神的同在,我們也有新郎,最可喜悅之人的同在。祂是何等寶貝,何等可愛。

聖經不僅告訴我們,主耶穌是我們的新郎,聖經也說到,祂之於我們既是這樣一位,我們之於祂乃是四種身分的人。馬太福音和路加福音告訴我們祂是新郎,我們是陪伴之人。…我們愛新郎。…祂的同在對我們是何等美好,何等可悅!…我們是在內室陪伴新郎的人。

第二,我們是神所邀請參加祂兒子婚筵的賓客(太二二1~10,啟十九9)。父神現今正在為祂兒子豫備婚筵,並邀請許多人參加。…現今我們正在坐席。…每當我們進到祂的同在裏,我們就領會我們是來赴婚筵。每當我們來在一起聚會,我們必須認識,我們是來參加婚筵。召會的聚會必須不只是一種的便餐,而是筵席;並且不是普通的筵席,乃是婚筵。

第三,我們是童女,出去迎接新郎(太二五1~13)。…一面說,我們與祂在一起,我們一直享受祂;但另一面說,我們正在等候祂。我們等候祂的方式乃是出去迎見祂。…我們都必須是童女,與這地無分無關。我們的目標是祂的再來,我們的標竿乃是基督,我們都對準祂。這樣,祂纔是我們真實的享受。

我們第一方面是新郎的伴友,第二方面是賓客,協力廠商面是童女,第四方面是新婦。…這四方面都是為着叫我們享受基督作我們的新郎。第一方面,我們是新郎的伴友,享受新郎。第二方面,我們是賓客,享受祂作我們的筵席。協力廠商面,我們是童女,享受新郎的來臨。最終,我們將是新婦,享受新郎到至極。因此,要享受基督作新郎,我們對於祂必須是這四種人。藉着這四種方式,我們享受基督是如此豐富,如此甜美。願主使我們對這四方面有深刻的印象,帶我們進入對基督完滿的享受裏(李常受文集一九七○年第二冊,一○至一一、一三至一六頁)。

參讀:基督與宗教相對,第一至三章;馬可福音生命讀經,第九篇。

WEEK 12 — DAY 1

W12-d1-en

Morning Nourishment

Matt. 9:14-15 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but Your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, The sons of the bridechamber cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

[In Matthew 9:14-15, Jesus] answered [John’s disciples] not with a doctrine but with a person. He referred to Himself as the Bridegroom! A bridegroom is the most pleasant person in the entire universe. You say that you fear God, you want to please God, and you like to serve the Lord—that is good, but it is rather religious…In the presence of the Bridegroom, fear is nonexistent. He is so lovely; He is so pleasant; we need not fear such a One. Hallelujah, we have the Bridegroom! (CWWL, 1970, vol. 2, “Christ versus Religion,” p. 7)

Todays Reading

The Lord Jesus is…the Lamb who bears away our sins and accomplishes redemption in a full way, and He is also the One with the dove who imparts life into us and baptizes us with the Spirit. But besides all these, He is the Bridegroom. Eventually, at the end of the Bible, we have such a term, the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 21:9). This is a matter that is to some extent contrary to religion and religious thoughts. The Lamb is the Redeemer, but the Lamb who took away our sins on the cross is also our Bridegroom.

Have you ever prayed in this way: “O Lord Jesus, You are so lovely; You are my Bridegroom. Lord, I love You; I love You just as one who loves her bridegroom”?…The Bridegroom is with us—we have His presence! We not only have the presence of the almighty God but the presence of the Bridegroom, the most pleasant person. He is so precious and so lovely.

The Bible not only tells us that the Lord Jesus is our Bridegroom, but that as such a person to us we are four kinds of people to Him. Matthew and Luke tell us that He is the Bridegroom, and we are the sons of the bridechamber… We love the Bridegroom…His presence is so good and pleasant to us…We are companions of the Bridegroom in the bridechamber.

Second, we are the guests invited by God to the wedding feast of His Son (Matt. 22:1-10; Rev. 19:9). God the Father is now preparing a wedding feast for His Son and inviting many to attend it…We are feasting now…Whenever we come into His presence, we realize that we have come to a feast. Whenever we come together in a meeting, we must realize that we have come to a wedding feast. The church meeting must not be just a meal but a feast, and not an ordinary feast but a wedding feast.

Third, we are the virgins going forth to meet the Bridegroom (Matt. 25:1- 13)…In one sense we are with Him and we are enjoying Him, but in another sense we are waiting for Him, and we wait for Him in the way of going forth to meet Him. We all must be virgins and have nothing to do with this earth. Our goal is His coming; our goal is Christ; we are aiming at Him. As such, He is our real enjoyment.

In the first sense we are the sons of the bridechamber, in the second we are the guests, in the third we are the virgins, and in the fourth we are the bride. These four aspects are all for our enjoyment of Christ as our Bridegroom. In the first sense we are the companions in the bridechamber enjoying the Bridegroom. In the second sense we are the guests enjoying Him as our feast. In the third sense we are the virgins enjoying the coming of the Bridegroom. Eventually, we will all be the bride to enjoy the Bridegroom to the uttermost. Thus, to enjoy Christ as the Bridegroom we must be four kinds of persons to Him. By all these four ways we enjoy Christ so richly and sweetly. May the Lord impress us deeply with all these four aspects and bring us into the full enjoyment of Christ. (CWWL, 1970, vol. 2, “Christ versus Religion,” pp. 7-11)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1970, vol. 2, “Christ versus Religion,” chs. 1—3; Life-study of Mark, msg. 9

 

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