LESSON THREE – THE LORD’S RECOVERY

1 John 1:1 — That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life.

1 John 2:24 — As for you, that which you heard from the beginning, let it abide in you. If that which you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

THE MEANING OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY

The word recovery means that something was there originally and then was lost. So there is the need to bring that thing back to its original state. The word recovery is somewhat simple and not too profound, but when we speak of the Lord’s recovery, we need to apply it to the revelation of the whole Bible. From this point of view, the Lord’s recovery is a profound and crucial thing. In a sense, the revelation of the entire Bible is a revelation of recovery. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “Concerning the Lord’s Recovery,” p. 5)

First, the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the divine truths as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, the holy Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16).…The truths as revealed in the Scriptures have been lost, missed, misunderstood, misinterpreted, and wrongly taught throughout the ages. Hence, there is the need of the Lord’s recovery. In the age of the early apostles, in the age of the church fathers, in the age of the church councils, in the age of Catholicism with the papal system, and in the age of the Protestant practice, the Lord has always recovered some of the lost, missed, misunderstood, misinterpreted, and wrongly taught truths through some of His saints who loved Him and His holy Word. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “1993 Blending Conference Messages concerning the Lord’s Recovery and Our Present Need, pp. 9-10)

THE FIRST ASPECT OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY— THE REVELATION OF GOD

The Lord’s recovery has three aspects. The first aspect is the revelation of God. The revelation of God is the speaking of God. From Moses in the Old Testament until the apostle John in the New Testament, God spoke for more than fifteen hundred years. His speaking collectively became the completed Bible, which is in our hands today. Hence, the last book of the Bible, Revelation, says at the end that no one should add to these words or take away from these words (22:18-19).

THE SECOND ASPECT OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY— THE GOD-MAN LIFE

Now we come to the second aspect of the Lord’s recovery, that is, the God-man life, which is the kind of living that the believers need to have. The worldly people emphasize moral and ethical living and religious living, yet these are not what God wants. What God wants is the God-man life, which is God and man living together.

THE THIRD ASPECT OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY— THE PRACTICE OF THE CHURCH

Finally, we need to see the third aspect of the Lord’s recovery, that is, the practice of the church.…The church as the universal Body of Christ is the universal house of God and also the kingdom of God (Eph. 1:23; 1 Tim. 3:15-16; Matt. 16:18-19). These three—the Body of Christ, the house of God, and the kingdom of God—are just one. The Body of Christ is the house of God, and the house of God is the kingdom of God.

The universal Body of Christ is the house of God, that is, the kingdom of God, appearing in various cities as local churches. The Bible shows that one city should have only one church for the sake of keeping the oneness and preventing division (Acts 8:1; 13:1; Rev. 1:4, 11). Deuteronomy 12:5-18 clearly tells us that when the Israelites arrived in the good land, they could not choose a place of worship as they liked. They needed to go to the place where God had placed His name, which was the place where God would build His dwelling place. The Israelites needed to worship God there.

Today the practice of the church that God desires is the same as this in principle, that is, one city having only one church for the keeping of the oneness (Acts 8:1; 13:1; Rev. 1:4, 11).

The local churches in the various localities are scattered in different places by geography, yet they are not divided by any doctrine or matter (1 Cor. 1:10-13).

In the practice of the church, although the unique church of God is expressed as the many local churches throughout the whole globe, the churches are still the unique universal Body of Christ and should not be divided into sects or denominations  (1 Cor. 10:16-17). (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The Issue of the Union of the Consummated Spirit of the Triune God and the Regenerated Spirit of the Believers,” pp. 235, 240, 243-245)

References: CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “Concerning the Lord’s Recovery,” ch. 1; CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “1993 Blending Conference Messages concerning the Lord’s Recovery and Our Present Need,” ch. 1; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The Issue of the Union of the Consummated Spirit of the Triune God and the Regenerated Spirit of the Believers,” ch. 6

WE ARE FOR THE LORD’S RECOVERY

The Church—The Lord’s Recovery – 1255

• We are for the Lord’s recovery
  Of the local church;
  We are for the Lord’s recovery
  Of the city and the earth.
  Standing on the ground of oneness,
  Oneness in the Lord,
  We are building up the temple
  Of our glorious Lord.

• We are for the Lord’s,
  We are for the Lord’s,
  We are for the Lord’s recovery!
  We are for the Lord’s,
  We are for the Lord’s,
  We are for the Lord’s recovery!

• We are for the Lord’s recovery,
  To our hearts so dear;
  When we exercise our spirit,
  Our vision is so clear.
  Babylon the Great is fallen,
  Satan is cast down,
  And the local church is builded
  On the local ground.