Crystallization Study of Exodus 3.6

The Lord Jesus has set His suffering life before us as an underwriting for us to copy by tracing that He may be reproduced in us [1 Pet. 2:20-21]. This is spiritual xeroxing: Christ Himself is the original copy, the Spirit is the light, the divine life is the ink, and we are the paper for Christ to be reproduced in us. While we are bearing sorrows, suffering unjustly, we experience the grace of God, enjoying the motivation of the divine life within us and its expression in our life, that in our behavior we may become a reproduction of Christ, suffering as He suffered and living as He lived. This is God’s calling us to the suffering of Christ.

God has called the believers not only unto the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ but also into the eternal glory of God (1 Pet. 5:10). For this, the God of all grace is ministering to us the riches of the bountiful supply of the divine life in many aspects and in many steps of the divine operation on and in us in God’s economy. The initial step is to call us, and the consummate step is to glorify us. Between these two steps are His loving care while He is disciplining us and His perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and grounding work in us. In all these divine acts, the bountiful supply of the divine life is ministered to us as grace in varied experiences, that we may enter into His eternal glory and express the God of all grace.

Before we were called we were outside the kingdom of God, having nothing to do with God. However, God called us to partake of His divine life and nature that we may enter into the kingdom of God. Today we, the called ones, must live in the church that we may grow and develop in the life of God unto full maturity. Thus, we shall be richly and bountifully supplied with the entrance into the millennial kingdom in the coming age and into the new heaven and new earth in eternity within the kingdom of God, in which we shall reign as kings (Rev. 22:5b). (Truth Lessons—Level One, vol. 3, pp. 35-38)

Crystallization Study of Exodus 3.5

God’s calling is not only according to His predestination but also according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28b; 2 Tim. 1:9a). His purpose is His plan according to His will to place us into Christ, making us one with Him to share His life and position that we may be His testimony. According to such a purpose, such a plan, God predestinated us in eternity past and called us in time.

God’s calling is in Christ (1 Pet. 5:10)....He called us in Christ as the sphere. “In Christ” also indicates that the God of all grace has gone through all the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to accomplish the complete and full redemption, that He may bring His believers into an organic union with Himself. Thus they may participate in the riches of the Triune God as their enjoyment. Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God (Col. 2:9), has become the allinclusive, life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17) as the bountiful life supply to us (Phil. 1:19b). It is in this Christ, through His all-inclusive redemption and based upon all His achievements, that God can be the God of all grace to call us into His eternal glory, and to perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us in the Triune God as the solid foundation, thus enabling us to attain to His glorious goal.

God’s calling is that He may bring man out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9b)....Darkness is a sign of sin and death; it is the expression and sphere of Satan in death. The fact that mankind is in darkness proves that mankind is under the authority of Satan and dead in offenses and sins (Eph. 2:1). When God comes to call man, He opens man’s eyes and turns man from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to Himself. Light is a sign of righteousness and life; it is the expression and sphere of God in life. To be turned to God means to be turned to the authority of God, which is God’s kingdom of light. God has called us that He may deliver us out of the death-realm of Satan’s darkness into the life-realm of God’s marvelous light.

Crystallization Study of Exodus 3.4

If we could bring people out of the tyranny of the world into the wilderness and take them to the mountain where they see the revelation of God’s economy and eventually build a tabernacle for God, we would surely be satisfied. However, with the tabernacle we do not yet have the solid building, which is signified by the temple in the land of Canaan. Hence, if we would reach the ultimate goal of God’s calling, we must journey onward and enter into the good land....Many Christians, however, have not yet reached the stage of the tabernacle, the temporary church life, much less that of the solid building.

God has called us with a purpose. This purpose is to use us to bring people out of the tyranny of today’s world into the wilderness, a place of separation. It is also to bring them to the mountain where they may see the revelation concerning God’s economy and the design of the tabernacle, so that the tabernacle may be built. Furthermore, it is to bring them into the rich and all-inclusive good land to defeat God’s enemy and to enjoy the riches of Christ. Then God will be able to establish His kingdom in which He will have His dwelling place on earth. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 125, 138, 140-141, 131-132)

Crystallization Study of Exodus 3.3

In 3:18 [the term wilderness] is used in a positive sense, for here the wilderness is opposed to the world. It is the place of separation from the world. As soon as one is saved, he should be brought out of the world into the wilderness where there is no Egyptian element. When the children of Israel entered into the wilderness, they were set free from Egypt. In the same principle, if we would get out of the world, we must get into the wilderness. However, not many Christians have been brought into the wilderness. This means that some have been saved, but have not been delivered from the world and separated from it.

It is a very great matter to hear God’s speaking and to see His vision, especially the vision concerning His dwelling place. It is of vital importance that we go to the genuine mountain of God, to God’s mountain on earth today....In our experience we need to come out of Egypt, cross the Red Sea, and journey through the wilderness until we arrive at the mountain of God. At this mountain we are brought into God’s presence....Many of us can testify that whenever we gather together into the Lord’s name, we enjoy His presence. We hear His speaking, and we see His vision at the mountain of God. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 133, 123-124, 137, 583)

Crystallization Study of Exodus 3.2

The nation of Egypt typifies the kingdom of darkness, and Pharaoh typifies Satan, the devil. How can God’s people be delivered out of the hand of such an evil power and be rescued from the kingdom of darkness? Today this is done through the preaching of the gospel. Do not think that preaching the gospel to bring people to salvation is an easy task. To bring a person out of Satan’s hand and out of the kingdom of darkness is a mighty work. For this reason, the divine revelation in the New Testament places a very high value on the preaching of the gospel. Paul says that the gospel is the power of God (Rom. 1:16). (Life-study of Exodus, p. 62)

The purpose of God’s calling...is not to give His people a little enjoyment of the animal life and the vegetable life in Egypt; it is to bring them into a spacious land flowing with milk and honey. Do you have the assurance that in the church life today you are enjoying Christ as the good land? I can testify that I daily enjoy Christ as a spacious land flowing with milk and honey.

The land of Canaan is a type of Christ. However, this type has not yet been fulfilled in the experience of the saints....If we consider the good land and all its riches as being a full type of Christ, we shall realize that we are lacking in the experience of Christ.

Crystallization Study of Exodus 3.1

Pharaoh was a type of Satan, and Egypt was a type of the world. Just as Pharaoh was the ruler of Egypt, so Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31). God is still seeking to deliver His chosen people out of the usurping hand of Satan and out of the tyranny of the world. As God’s called ones, we need a clear view of what the world is. The world is not a source of enjoyment; it is a place of tyranny. In the world Satan is keeping God’s chosen people, those destined for the fulfillment of God’s purpose, under his usurping hand.

Every aspect of the world is a form of tyranny. In Exodus Pharaoh kept the children of Israel under tyranny by forcing them to do hard labor. The same principle operates today. As people work, they suffer under various forms of tyranny. Even making a long drive to work on a crowded freeway is one kind of tyranny. Likewise, the competition for promotion and the insecurity about losing a job are also kinds of tyranny. Nevertheless, anyone who does not labor for Pharaoh in the world will not receive the supply of the Nile....Shopping is another form of the world’s tyranny. Many young women are held in tyranny in a subtle way through shopping for the latest fashions.

Recently some saints told me that they do not have the time to pray or read the Bible. I pointed out that they have plenty of time to make telephone calls or to read the newspaper. This indicates that even the telephone or the newspaper may be a means of tyranny.

For us to live for Christ, we need to exist. Without our human existence we cannot live Christ. But today those in the fallen world care for nothing but their existence; they do not care for the purpose of their existence. To exist is one thing, but to exist for the divine purpose is another thing. The purpose ordained by God for our existence is to live Christ, to live God out, and to have God’s testimony. But the people of this world have only their existence; they have no purpose. Eventually they make their existence itself the purpose of their existence. They know nothing but existence. Satan picks up the existence of human beings or of human living and uses this existence to usurp people so that today the whole world cares only for existence, not for God’s purpose in existence.

Crystallization Study of Exodus 2.6

Moses...needed the male help and the female help. The male help is that of matching. This kind of help balances us, restricts us, and humbles us. Through his brother’s matching Moses learned to let others do what he was able to do....Whatever Aaron did, Moses was able to do also, but he was restricted from doing so. In the church life the Lord will often raise up an environment that forces us to allow others to do what we can do. This should be a principle of our functioning in the church. If a brother is able to do a certain thing, let him do it, even if you can do it better. This will humble you. However, I have seen many, especially sisters, who insisted that they alone be allowed to do a particular thing. According to our natural makeup, we do not want others to interfere with what we are doing. Nevertheless, we all must learn to let others do the very thing we are able to do. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 118)

Both in the church life and in married life we need to be such a “bridegroom of blood.” If a brother is to be truly God’s called one, he needs to be cut in a subjective way. We learn a great deal through the cutting. Sometimes my wife cuts me by restricting my eating. This cutting keeps me healthy and prevents me from indulging myself....Thus, the cutting keeps us from living according to the natural life.

Only those who are willing to be cut can be useful to God. Every useful one is a “bridegroom of blood.” Daily and even hourly we need to experience the circumcision of the natural life. It is not sufficient merely to see that we are sinful. Our natural life must also be circumcised, either by those in our family or by the brothers and sisters in the church.