Let us turn to Acts 3.
Let us read Acts 3:20-21:
And that He may send the Christ appointed for you, even Jesus:
Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things,
whereof God spake by the mouth of His holy prophets that have been from of old.
Here we see that, before the Lord’s return, heaven must receive Him—until when? Until the restoration of all things. When our Lord returns, that is when we shall see the restoration.
What does the restoration of all things mean? It is the gathering together in one of all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.
Let us also turn to Romans 8, verse 19.
For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God.
For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of Him who subjected it, in hope
that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Here Paul speaks of the groanings of the universe. Creation groans because it is subjected to futility and to the bondage of corruption.
Then, in Romans 8:23, we find the groanings of the saints:
And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Before, we saw the groanings of the universe. Now we see the groanings of the saints.
Then Romans 8:26 speaks of the groanings of the Spirit:
And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
We have the groanings of creation, the groanings of the saints, and the groanings of the Spirit.
We know that God’s eternal purpose is revealed in Ephesians 1:10: that in the fulness of the times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ.
Ephesians 3 shows us that in Christ God established His purpose in order that He might express His manifold wisdom to the rulers and authorities. We have spoken of these things in the past two evenings.
Now we want to consider this: How can we attain to God’s eternal purpose? How can we serve Him according to His eternal purpose, so that He may gain His ultimate goal?
Romans 8 is therefore extremely important.
Before explaining this important truth, I want to add three points that I missed yesterday.
Last evening we ended with a video clip showing the groaning of creation. We saw a star two or three times heavier than the sun slowly becoming old. As it reached its final stage, it began to shrink until it was compressed to the size of Manhattan.
That star became a neutron star. Because it turns, it sends out periodic signals. In the video clip, we could see the dying star.
Now, I want to make one clarification. Strictly speaking, the signals from that type of neutron star have very long intervals. The actual sound from such a star can be like firecrackers during Chinese New Year.
We used that illustration so that the brothers and sisters could gain an impression. Although the sound and the picture were not exactly the same, it was a real signal—the groaning of creation.
When Paul spoke of the groanings of creation, creation was groaning because it is under futility and under the bondage of corruption. This universe is aging.
Scientists, through their instruments, were able to hear what could be described as the groanings of creation when a star reaches its final stage. It is like an old man reaching his last stage. A signal is sent out.
The second point is this: God’s purpose is for the heading up of all things in Christ. But heaven and earth have been disconnected, and man and God have been disconnected.
Sin entered the world, and death entered the world. Between sin and death, there are disease and aging. When we see this condition, we have to ask, “Who can save us?”
Thank the Lord: the Lord desires to be our Savior. Sin keeps us far apart from our Lord, but when He was crucified, He did a work.
On one hand, He took hold of our hand; on the other hand, He took hold of God’s hand. On the cross, He reconciled us to God. This is the work of Christ.
But it is not only a matter of disconnection between man and God. There is also a disconnection between earth and heaven. Earth is far from heaven.
The Lord desires to head up all things in Christ. Before, all things were disconnected; now, they are to be connected. On the cross, our Lord became the heavenly ladder connecting heaven and earth.
On one hand, He took hold of heaven; on the other hand, He took hold of earth. As He breathed His last, heaven and earth were reconnected. This is the work of our Lord.
If earth is disconnected from heaven, earth becomes a desert. Earth becomes like the Dead Sea. Around the Dead Sea is desert; thorns and thistles grow there. It is curse after curse after curse.
Of course, when our Lord began His work, He began near the Dead Sea. Why? Because when He came out of the Jordan, the Bible tells us that the heavens were opened.
According to Mark, not only were the heavens opened, but the heavens were torn. Since man sinned, heaven had never been opened. Yet near the Dead Sea, when our Lord came out of the Jordan, heaven was opened.
In other words, when He came to earth, He came to bring heaven down to earth. He is the heavenly ladder. Therefore, He chose this significant location and began His work there.
Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua. About fifteen hundred years before Jesus came out of the Jordan, there was a man in history called Joshua. Joshua brought the people through the Jordan.
When Joshua came out of the Jordan, the people followed him and came out. He brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey.
When our Lord came out of the Jordan, He showed that He is greater than Joshua. He is the true Joshua. Joshua brought the people out of the wilderness into Canaan, but our Lord does a mightier work.
He brings us out of the wilderness of this world. He brings us out of the desert and into the land flowing with milk and honey. In other words, heaven and earth are reconnected.
When the Bible speaks of Mount Hermon, it speaks of the heavenly realm. The bride and bridegroom in Song of Songs 4 are on Mount Hermon. In the New Testament, we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies.
The Holy Spirit uses the expression, “Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon.” When we speak of Mount Hermon, it speaks of the heavenly realm.
From Mount Hermon, the Jordan River begins. At the foot of Mount Hermon is the source, the headwaters, of the Jordan. It flows into the Sea of Galilee, and from Galilee it flows out as living water.
The Sea of Galilee is surrounded by green land. Then the Jordan continues to flow all the way down to the Dead Sea.
If the Dead Sea is connected to heaven, the Dead Sea is no longer dead. The Dead Sea becomes fresh water. That is why our Lord chose the area of the Dead Sea.
There is only one way to solve the problem: we must be connected to heaven.
Why is the summing up of all things in Christ necessary? Because the disconnection between heaven and earth has resulted in a great rupture. The deepest point of that rupture is the Dead Sea.
Our Lord chose that place to begin His work because, ultimately, He wants the Dead Sea to live again.
There are two problems: man and God are disconnected, and earth and heaven are disconnected. God’s eternal purpose originally has to do with man. Therefore, if both problems are to be solved, man must first be reconciled to God.
On the cross, Christ became the Mediator. Man and God are reconciled. But the Lord also does one more thing. These are two sides of the same work: He is the heavenly ladder who joins heaven and earth.
Since we have been saved, the heavens are open. Those who have been saved are no longer far from heaven. We are on earth, yet it is as though we are in heaven.
Heaven is not merely something that will happen in the future. Heaven began the day you were saved. Thank the Lord—this is glorious and amazing.
Yet when will heaven and earth be completely connected? It will be when the Lord gains His mature people, when His life grows and fills the whole body, and when all things are subjected to Christ.
When the Lord returns, water will flow from the temple. In the Old Testament temple, we come into God’s presence to worship and to prostrate ourselves before Him. But in the New Jerusalem, wherever there is a throne, there are flowing waters of life.
When the Lord returns and the final great earthquake takes place, mountains will be changed. The Mount of Olives will be elevated, and according to Ezekiel, it will become the highest mountain.
Water will flow eastward, all the way to the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea will become fresh water. Wherever the living water flows, creation will revive.
Today, there are no fish in the Dead Sea. The only thing one can do is float upon it. There is nothing living there; everything is death.
But Ezekiel 47 tells us that fishermen will stand by the sea, casting their nets. The Dead Sea will become like the Sea of Galilee. The Dead Sea will become alive.
How can the Dead Sea become alive? It is impossible to reverse the aging process by human power. If one dies, one dies. But when the Lord returns, the Dead Sea will live again.
It will be released from bondage and will share, together with the children of God, in freedom. This is why our Lord began His work near the Dead Sea: the Dead Sea will be restored.
Last evening, we mentioned that Jesus was made a little lower than the angels. Man also was made lower than the angels.
Why did God create man lower than the angels? Angels are created beings, and man is also a created being. God did not use Himself as Creator to deal directly with a created being. He intended to use man to deal with angels.
If man, who was lower than the angels, gained the victory, it would be a true victory. If man were greater than angels, Satan could say, “You are mightier than I am.” But God’s manifold wisdom is seen in His eternal purpose in man.
Adam failed. Therefore Jesus was made lower than the angels. What does that mean? He stood in the position of the Son of Man.
At least eighty times, the Lord referred to Himself as the Son of Man. When we think of the Son of Man, we should think of God’s eternal purpose, because God’s eternal purpose is connected with man.
Adam failed, but our Lord gained the victory. Because He stood under the authority of God, all things were placed under His authority. At the end, He became heir of all things.
There is a glory that He possessed before the world was—the glory of the Son of God. But there is also a glory given to Him as the Son of Man, because He suffered and gained glory and honor as a crown.
God used man to overcome the enemy. Because Christ stood as a man, He gained the glory as the Victor.
Incarnation means that the Word became flesh. Jesus became man. But incarnation is not merely that Jesus became man; incarnation is connected with God’s eternal purpose.
Now let us return to the three groanings: the groanings of creation, the groanings of the saints, and the groanings of the Spirit.
Creation is aging, and man is aging as well. In English, we sometimes say that a person is “getting rusty.”
Once a man reaches thirty, he begins to go down the slope. Perhaps at twenty-five one begins to get wrinkles. If one is happy, there are wrinkles in one place; if one is sad and depressed, wrinkles appear elsewhere.
People today are very concerned about aging. Some receive injections to remove wrinkles, and then six months later they need another injection. Others have skin-lifting procedures or put gold and silver beneath the skin.
But eventually even those things become too heavy and collapse. Why do we groan? Because heaven and earth are disconnected, and man and God are disconnected.
When man and God became disconnected, sin made man separate from God. Man became an orphan in the universe.
But not only that: after man was separated from God, man and man became separated.
When Adam saw Eve for the first time, he said:
This is now bone of my bones,
and flesh of my flesh.
This was the first poem in history. But after man failed, Adam hid from the face of God. When God asked, “Why did you do this?” Adam said, “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”
Before, the two were as one. But once sin entered, Adam blamed the woman. He forgot that she was bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh.
Cain, the first murderer, did not kill an enemy; he killed his own brother. Sin makes brothers separate. Brothers fight over inheritance, and brothers may use guns and knives against one another. Is this not the result of sin?
We also see problems among family members, even between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law. Many jokes arise from these tensions, but the reality is that man and man have been separated.
Sin not only made man separate from God; sin made man separate from man. It also made man separate from creation.
Before the fall, creation was under man’s feet. If Adam was distressed, perhaps he could call a little bird to come and sing to him. But since man rebelled, creation also has rebelled.
Even small things can trouble us. Here, many have been bitten by mosquitoes. It seems that even mosquitoes can persecute us.
Before I came here, I intended to sleep for twenty minutes. I think the mosquitoes knew I was going to mention them, because they bit me three times.
Once I was in Brazil for a conference. I wanted a good night’s rest so that I could be awake in the morning, but there were many mosquitoes and I could not sleep.
The brothers suggested a mosquito burner, but I did not like that idea. I asked whether there was another way. In China, we have mosquito nets, but they did not have them in Brazil.
I said, “Can we go to a bridal shop and get a bridal veil?” With a veil over my head, I slept very well. Of course, this is a joke.
But even mosquitoes pick on us. And there are things smaller than mosquitoes that can take one’s life—germs.
Everywhere there are germs: on toothbrushes, desks, phones, door handles, and hands. There are many harmful things that we cannot see, and they are our enemies.
We invented penicillin, but now there are super-bacteria. We are in a dangerous environment.
When we see this situation, we see the result of the disconnection between heaven and earth and the disconnection between man and God.
What is the hope of all things? God’s eternal purpose is not in animals; it is in man, who was made lower than the angels.
When man failed, hope seemed lost. But the cross gave us the victory. Those who have been redeemed possess within them the life of the tree of life.
These are the ones who return to Eden. These are the ones who can fellowship with the Lord and receive the supply of heaven every day.
This is the New Jerusalem. God tabernacles among men, and He wipes away every tear. This is the new heaven and the new earth: heaven and earth connected again.
Because of the cross, heaven and earth are connected. Because of the cross, man is reconciled to God. The life of Christ has begun within us.
When Adam ate the forbidden fruit, his spirit died. Then his mind and emotions began to decay, and finally his body lay in the tomb. Death worked from the center outward.
But when we receive the life of Christ, life begins from the center outward. The moment you were saved, your spirit was revived.
We were once full of decay, but because we have Jesus Christ within us, we now have eternal life—something incorruptible.
This life works from the inside outward. It affects our mind, emotions, and will, and we are changed from glory to glory.
When your spirit is saved, that is regeneration. When your mind, emotions, and will come under the Holy Spirit and are changed, that is transformation.
But redemption is not complete until this life expands all the way to our body. Our outer man decays day by day, but the inner man is renewed day by day.
When the church is mature and the bride is adorned and ready, the Lord will return. Then our bodies will be changed, clothed with glory. This is transfiguration—the redemption of the body.
If heaven and earth are to be completely reunited, the body must become one with the Head. Ephesians 4 speaks of our maturity. The body grows upward into the Head, even Christ.
This is the heading up of all things. If our life grows upward into Christ, that life is a life of love.
Many times brothers and sisters have difficulties with one another. Newly saved believers often experience a kind of honeymoon, but afterward problems arise. Even married couples have these difficulties.
Before marriage, the woman speaks and the man listens. During the honeymoon, the man speaks and the woman listens. After the honeymoon, both speak and the neighbors listen.
Why do these problems occur? The husband is not connected to the Head, and the wife is not connected to the Head. Their love is merely natural love.
We can teach people how to give flowers or remember birthdays. These methods may be helpful, but the real issue is whether husband and wife have fellowship with the Lord and receive the leading of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit may tell a wife, “Speak a little less.” If she speaks one word too many, there can be a problem. But if she follows the Spirit, God’s nature is expressed.
The answer is not merely reading books about how to be a good husband or wife. The answer is to be connected to the Head.
Sin separates man from God, man from man, and man from creation. What is salvation? Salvation is a reverse operation.
The flesh carries us in one direction, but the Holy Spirit turns us in the opposite direction. A dead leaf flows with the water because it has no life. But a fish can go against the tide.
The flesh makes us separate, but the Holy Spirit makes us one. The Holy Spirit is the living water.
If we receive the supply from heaven, then even the most difficult problem between two brothers becomes nothing. We are able to love one another as Christ has loved us.
How does the Lord love us? We rebelled against Him; we wronged Him; we hurt Him. Yet He loved us and forgave every one of our debts.
How can we forgive someone seventy times seven? Only when we see how much we owe the Lord.
When we know how much we owe the Lord, and how He has forgiven us, then we can love one another.
The Lord’s work begins with those who are saved. They are conformed to the image of His Son. As the Lord gained the victory, they too may overcome.
God’s purpose is for those who have been saved—the church. Through the church, God manifests His manifold wisdom to the rulers and authorities.
It is easy for people to separate. In the same gathering, some may be Democrats and some Republicans. Political views can become a reason for brothers and sisters not to meet together.
But there is one miracle: brothers loving one another.
Do not say merely that we heard a great message. When you return home, you will be with brothers and sisters every day. It is easy to love people far away; it is another matter to love those who are near.
God has forgiven your ten thousand talents, and He has also forgiven your brother. No matter what, he is born of God. You have to love him.
If you experience God’s love, you can love the brothers. This is a testimony that happens every day.
It is not remarkable that couples fight or that people have differences. The remarkable thing is that those who cannot naturally be together are nevertheless together. Why? Because they look up to heaven. God is love.
When you face the love of the cross, you have no reason not to love your brother. It is not merely to love those who are lovable, but to love those who are not lovable.
If Christ has accepted you, can you not accept others? Before you were saved, did you not persecute the Lord? Were you not the chief of sinners? Yet your debt was completely forgiven.
The Lord teaches us not merely to forgive seven times, but seventy times seven. Our love must be enlarged.
We need to repent because our love is so small. This is why the church has become fragmented.
Whether one is blue or green, Republican or Democrat, each may have political views. But if you are one with Christ, you do not see merely blue or green; you see Christ. Then you cannot help but love the brothers and sisters.
Satan works to divide. During elections, people may no longer love one another. But political views must not become a stumbling block between brothers and sisters.
If all things are to be headed up in Christ, where does this begin? It begins with the church.
In Ephesians 1, God shows His purpose in Himself. In Ephesians 3, God shows His purpose in Christ. Simply speaking, God’s eternal purpose is Christ and the church.
How can this purpose be realized? Ephesians 4 tells us:
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called,
with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Where does this come from? It comes from the flow of the Holy Spirit. In Eden, there was gold, bdellium, and onyx stone. This speaks of the work of God’s life within us.
When we follow the flow of the Holy Spirit, we become humble, gentle, patient, and forbearing toward one another. Then we are diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit.
Unity is not something we manufacture. It is a unity that the Spirit has already given us. You are born of God, and your brother is born of God. Therefore, naturally, you are one.
Then the body grows from the unity of the Spirit to the unity of the faith. This is the growing up of the body.
If you are a little further ahead than your brother, do not quarrel with him. Feed him with love. Wash his feet. One day, when he grows, he will grow into the same Head.
It is easy to leave fellowship. But if you leave, the cross is gone and fellowship is gone. The life the Lord has given us not only makes us one with the Head; it also brings the saints together.
If charcoal is put together, there is a great fire. But if one piece says, “I am leaving,” it may still be charcoal, but soon the fire goes out.
Here we see the way of oneness in Ephesians 4. As we mature, we are connected with our Head, Christ.
As long as you are connected with the Head, as long as you are united with the source of love, you will have love. You may say, “I have no more love for my husband.” Of course you do not—if you are disconnected from heaven. But Christ is love.
This resolves problems in the family, problems between in-laws, and problems between brothers and sisters.
Grace gives us this reverse operation. Because of this reverse operation, we grow.
If we see the eternal purpose of God, unity is not an issue. Yet people often say, “We were together before, but because we are different, we must separate.”
When brothers and sisters meet each other as enemies, that is a tragedy. Brotherly love is not only for heaven. Today we are on earth as though in heaven.
If we cannot love one another now, then our claim to love in heaven is empty. The division and brokenness of the church make Satan laugh.
Only when we are united with the Head, obedient to the Lord, and loving even our enemies can we silence the enemy. Then the church overcomes.
What is bound on earth is bound in heaven, and what is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven. But we cannot exercise spiritual authority without spiritual reality.
The important question is this: Are we one in Christ?
When the body grows, there is only one mind because there is only one Head. We may establish schools or families, but we cannot manufacture a church. The church is the body of Christ.
We meet together and break bread together: one bread and one cup. But if we cannot love one another, what does that mean? May the Lord open our eyes.
The most difficult problems in the church can be solved. Those who make peace are blessed, for they shall be called sons of God.
They are not merely children of God; they have matured as sons of God. Their life has grown. They are overcomers in the church.
When the Lord returns, God will display them in the heavens. Matthew 13 says that the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
Our Lord prayed, “Father, forgive them.” He prayed for those who cried, “Crucify Him.” If we see what the Lord has done, we too can pray for our brothers and sisters.
These are the overcomers. Their victory is the victory of the church. This is what Ephesians 5 calls the glorious church.
Does the glorious church mean that every believer is mature? Not necessarily. But wherever there is a group that grows and makes peace, God gains a testimony of a glorious church.
One day God will bring every word into account, especially words that have divided the church. If we are one with Christ, even when we are wrong, we can repent and return to the Lord’s presence.
These mature sons of God will be displayed in the heavens. Romans 8 speaks of the revealing of the sons of God.
What is the spirit of sonship? It is more than having the life of a son; it is the maturity of sonship.
In Roman society, wealthy men often had slaves. A son might grow up among the slaves and appear to be like one of them. Yet when he matured, the father would hold a great ceremony and declare, “My son has finally grown up. Now I place him in the position of son.”
Then the son could take care of all that belonged to his father. This is sonship. Before, he had the life of a son; when he matured, he entered into the position of sonship.
We have received the Spirit of sonship. It is a life that grows. One day, in Christ, we shall mature and grow upward into the Head.
Even if not every believer matures at the same time, when the overcomers mature, God declares that the church has come to maturity. Then He gains a glorious church.
It is like graduation. Some may take longer than others, but when graduates are displayed upon the platform, their parents rejoice: “My son has finally grown up.”
Creation is waiting for us to graduate. Creation groans while it waits for the sons of God to be revealed.
Today we are so divided. How can we grow? Satan is happy when the church is divided, and creation seems hopeless. But by grace, if we mature, the Lord will return sooner.
May the Lord speak to our hearts. We hear the groaning of creation, our own groanings, and the groanings of the Spirit.
When we look at ourselves, we may say, “How old we are becoming. We have white hair, and our hair is falling out.” But the Holy Spirit also looks at us.
You may have been saved five years, or ten years, and yet your temper remains the same. Are you being conformed to the image of His Son?
Paul speaks of the church having neither spot nor wrinkle. How can the body have wrinkles? If there are wrinkles, it means that the flesh has dominion in the church.
When the Holy Spirit looks at the condition of the churches, He cannot help but groan. He intercedes with groanings too deep for words.
Sometimes we have silent moments because we do not know how to speak. But when the Spirit sees the condition of the church, He is speechless. Even the Holy Spirit has no words.
Yet if we allow the Holy Spirit to intercede, He will intercede for us according to the eternal purpose of God revealed in Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 3.
Then all things work together for good. This is the result of the Holy Spirit praying for us.
For Christians, there are no accidents, only incidents. There is no such thing as luck.
Martin Luther had a student who said that everything was going wrong. Luther asked him, “How have you been praying?” The student replied, “I keep praying, ‘Lord, may Your will be done.’” Luther said, “Then God is answering your prayer.”
All things work together for good. Even the most difficult circumstances may be custom-made by the Holy Spirit to conform us to the image of God’s Son.
When you see a face that is not lovely, or hear something unpleasant, remember that the Holy Spirit may use these things to work Christ’s character into you.
If we accept these things from the Lord’s hand, we shall be conformed to the image of the Son.
The image of Christ speaks of character. Those who have been saved have the life of Christ, and that life has a nature.
A chicken has one nature and a duck another. A chicken is afraid of water, but a duck is not. That is its nature.
What is the nature of Christ’s life? His humility, His gentleness, His patience, and His love.
But we groan because gentleness seems to come and go, and patience comes and goes. We want these virtues to remain. Why? Because nature must become character.
If an image is merely painted on pottery, it can be easily removed. But if the image is burned into the pottery, it cannot be wiped away. This is the work of the cross.
Through the work of the cross, we have gold, bdellium, and onyx stone. We can love one another, be one in Christ, and grow.
If one has a little humility, another has a little patience, and another has love, then when the saints gather together, the character of Christ is expressed. The personality of Christ is the image of Christ.
This is why we cannot stop meeting together. The work Christ does in one believer may be His patience; in another, His love.
When the whole church gathers together, the image of Christ can be seen. Then believers can love one another, the body is connected to the Head, and the body grows into maturity.
When the glorious church appears, the mature sons are displayed in heaven. They have entered into sonship. That is when Christ gains a glorious church.
On the day the Lord returns, heaven and earth will be connected. The Dead Sea, once marked by death, will have life and fish. It will become like the Sea of Galilee, and creation will be restored.
The new heavens and the new earth begin. What is redemption? Our bodies are clothed with glory.
Our Lord tasted death for all things, and all things will be summed up in Christ. Earth will be clothed in glory; this is the new earth. Heaven will be clothed in glory; this is the new heaven.
We who were corruptible will become incorruptible because we are clothed with glory. This is the new creation.
Because the church matures, the new heaven and new earth will be full of glory. Our Lord is the heavenly ladder, and heaven and earth are tightly connected in Him.
Upon the garden of Eden stands New Jerusalem. The whole New Jerusalem is God’s tabernacle among men.
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and He shall dwell with them,
and they shall be His peoples,
and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God:
and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.
This is how God, through Christ, gathers together in one all things.
Before we end, I would like to say one more thing. If you read your handbook, all three main speakers have different responsibilities.
My subtheme is the kingdom as it relates to the gathering together of all things in Christ. When I was asked to speak on this subject, I was obedient, and through that obedience the Lord gave me some words.
But in these three messages, you may not have heard much direct mention of the kingdom. Yet I believe this is what the Holy Spirit has done.
When you read Esther, you do not find the word “God,” but you see God everywhere. When you read Ruth, you may not find the word “love,” but you see love everywhere in the relationship between Ruth and Boaz.
Perhaps you did not hear the word “kingdom” often, but may the Lord open our eyes to see what the kingdom is.
Matthew repeatedly speaks of the kingdom of heaven, while the church is mentioned only twice. Why? Because the kingdom is connected with God’s eternal purpose.
May the Lord speak to our hearts.
Lord, we commit these words back into Your hands. If You find them useful, please use them.
Lord, if You do not find them edifying, cause the brothers and sisters to forget them. But if these words are good, use them.
Use these words in Taiwan, Singapore, Canada, Australia, China, and wherever Your people are found. Bless these words.
May Your word fill the whole earth. May the gospel of the kingdom be preached, so that all things may be summed up in You.
We give You all the glory, honor, and love. We ask for Your blessing upon Your people.
In Jesus’ precious name.