Message Title: the Eternal Life - the Life of God with the Divine Nature, the Triune God being the Structure of the Bible, and the Hidden God, a God who Hides Himself
Ephesians 4:18 Being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance which is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
the life of God is the unique life. in the whole universe only the life of God can be counted as life. the life of God is uncreated, without beginning of ending, existing by itself, and ever, unchangeably existing. from the standpoint of eternity, only the life of God is life. when we were regenerated, we received this eternal life, entering into our spirit, the center of our being. right now, this eternal life is gradually saturating our entire being.
the eternal life is the life of God with the divine nature. As those who have received equally precious faith, we, the believeers in Christ, should be partakeres of the divine nature. the divine nature refers to what God is, that is, the riches, the elements, and the constituents of God's being. the divine life and the divine nature are inseparable; the divine nature is the substance of the divine life and is within the divine life. A partaker of the divine nature is one who enjoys the divine nature and participates in the divine nature. if we enjoy God and partake of the riches of His being, we will be constituted with the divine nature, becoming the same as God in life and nature, but not in the Godhead and expressing Him in all that we are and do.
Isaiah 45:15 Surely You are a God who hides Himself, / O God of Israel, the Savior.
there is a book in the Old Testamnt, the book of Esther, God is not even mentioned. but from the record in this book, we can see that, although God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and full of forgiveness, He is also the hiding God. God did countless things in the midst of th children of Israel and countless things in their personal lives, yet He concealed Himself. God is ceaselessly working, yet He is always hidden. today, we need to realise that, God is still hiding Himself, especially when He is helping us.
Luke 18:1 And He told them a parable to the end that they ought always to pray and not lose heart,
Luke 18:2 Saying, There was a certain judge in a certain city who did not fear God and did not regard man.
Luke 18:3 And there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, Avenge me of my opponent.
Luke 18:4 And for a time he would not; but afterward he said within himself, Even though I do not fear God nor regard man,
Luke 18:5 Yet because this widow causes me trouble, I will avenge her, lest by continually coming she wear me out.
Luke 18:6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unrighteous judge says.
Luke 18:7 And will not God by all means carry out the avenging of His chosen ones, who cry to Him day and night, though He is long-suffering over them?
Luke 18:8 I tell you that He will carry out their avenging quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?
the widow in verse 3 signifies the believers; in a sense, the believers in Christ are a widow in the present age because their Husband, Christ, is apparently absent from them. the widow in this parable kept coming to the unrighteous judge and asking him to avenge her of her opponnt; we ought to pray persistently for this avenging and should not lose heart. before the Lord comes back, our faith will be challenged .
the Greek word rendered "faith" in verse 8 means "the faith"; this denotes the persistent faith for ouor persistent prayer, like that of the widow. the faith through which we were saved is the initial stage of the faith; the faith that brought us into a life union with Christ is the linking faith - the faith that comes into us through our contacting the Triune God continually so that we may live by the Son of God.
the linking faith is the divine requirment for the overcomers to meet Christ in His triumphant return. the linking faith is the Triune God moving in us to link us to His unsearchable riches. the linking faith is the faith of the believers who have no trust in themselves; rather, their trust is in God. when the Lord Jesus returns, He will find a number of overcomers who are living by the linking faith and will regard them as treasures for His kingdom in the thousand yars of His reign. when we experience and live out the hidden God over a length of time, when He comes in a hidden way for the overcomers, we will join with Him in the kingdom and reign with Him for a thousand years.