SPECIAL FELLOWSHIP CONCERNING THE WORLD SITUATION AND THE LORD'S MOVE
Message Two
God's Sovereignty, the Divine History within the Human History, and the World Situation and God's Move to Spread His Recovery
Scripture Reading: Rev. 4:11; 5:13; Lam. 5:19; Joel 1:4; 3:11; Acts 17:26; Matt. 24:14
I. It is crucial that we see a vision of God's sovereignty and have a clear view and proper understanding of God's sovereignty—Rev. 4:2; 5:1; Dan. 4:1-3, 34-35; Rom. 9:19-23:
A. Sovereignty refers to God's absolute and unlimited right, authority, power, and position—Rev. 4:11; 5:13.
B. As the sovereign One, God is above everything, behind everything, and in everything—1 Kings 22:19.
C. God has the full capacity to carry out what He wants according to the desire of His heart and according to His eternal economy—Eph. 1:4-5, 10; Dan. 4:35.
D. Like Jeremiah, we need to change our position and angle from ourselves to God and recognize God's eternal being and His eternal and unchanging government—Lam. 5:19.
E. The book of Revelation is a book of God's administration, unveiling the throne of God for the divine administration throughout the universe—4:2; 5:1; 6:16; 7:9; 8:3; 21:5.
F. Romans 9:19-23 refers to God's sovereignty:
1. We need to realize that we are God's creatures, and He is our Creator; as His creatures, we should not resist His purpose or answer back to Him, the Creator—vv. 19b-21; Jer. 18:1-6.
2. Romans 9:22-23 reveals that God sovereignly created us to be His vessels, His containers, according to His predestination—2 Tim. 2:20-21.
3. In His sovereignty God has the authority to make the ones whom He has selected and called vessels of mercy to contain Him in order that His glory might be manifested—Rom. 9:23.
II. The Bible reveals the universal history according to God's economy—the divine history within the human history—Joel 1:4; 3:11; Dan. 2:31-45; Eph. 1:3-6; Micah 5:2; Rev. 19:7-9; 22:17a:
A. In this universe there are two histories: the history of man, the human history, and the history of God, the divine history; the former is like an outward shell, and the latter, like the kernel within the shell.
B. God's move among men is wrapped up with the course of human history.
C. In the Minor Prophets the human history is defined and signified by the four kinds of locusts in Joel 1:4, and the divine history is with Christ and His mighty ones, the overcomers, in 3:11.
D. The divine history within the human history is revealed in the Bible in considerable detail—Eph. 3:9-10; 1:10; Acts 2:23; 2 Thes. 2:2-8; Dan. 2:35, 44; 7:22, 27; Rev. 11:15.
E. The divine history, the history of God in man, was from Christ's incarnation through His ascension to become the life-giving Spirit and then continues with His indwelling us through God's organic salvation to make us the bride of Christ—John 1:14; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17; Rom. 5:10; Eph. 5:27; Rev. 19:7-9; 22:17a.
F. We were born in the human history, but we have been reborn, regenerated, in the divine history; now we need to consider whether we are living in the divine history or living merely in the human history—John 3:3, 5-6; 1:1-13:
1. If our living is in the world, we are living merely in the human history.
2. If we are living in the church, we are living in the divine history, for in the church life God's history is our history, and thus we and God have one history, the divine history—1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20.
III. The events of world history have been sovereignly arranged by God for Him to carry out His purpose—Acts 17:26; Rom. 8:28; 2 Tim. 1:9:
A. We all need a clear view from which to consider the world situation—Eph. 3:11.
B. The world situation is under God's sovereign arrangement; God determined the appointed seasons and boundaries—Acts 17:26.
C. For God to carry out His purpose, He has arranged the world situation; history is meaningful when we realize this—Eph. 3:9; Dan. 2:20-21; 4:2-3, 25-26, 34-35.
D. All the major events in human history match God's move on earth.
E. Since the church comes out of mankind, we as God's chosen ones need to have this view of history; in order to have the proper church life, we must therefore know the world situation—1 Thes. 1:1; 1 Cor. 1:2.
F. Whether we speak of God's becoming flesh through incarnation, or of the spreading of the gospel, or of the raising up of the church life, or of the preparation of the bride, all these aspects of God's move require the proper environment as far as the world situation in concerned:
1. For Christ's ministry to be carried out, there was the need for the Roman Empire to be established to provide a situation in which redemption could be accomplished and the gospel could be spread—Luke 2:1-7; John 19:17-21.
2. The Roman Empire was for the gospel; Germany was for the Reformation; Great Britain was for the spreading of the gospel and of the truth; and now the United States has become the center for the recovery, from which it can spread to all the continents.
3. God will use the United States to spread His recovery so that the Lord may return—Rev. 22:20; 11:15.
G. If we keep up to date with what is happening today on earth, we will realize that God is controlling the entire world situation under the leadership of the United States for the spreading of His recovery—Matt. 24:14; 28:18-20.
H. We need to be more aware of God's sovereign arrangement of the world situation, more concerned about the crucial time in which we live, and more burdened for God's move in the present world situation—6:33.