HUMAN VIRTUES FOR THE KINGDOM
First Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21, and Ephesians 5:3-5 are verses which show us the humanity which is not fit for God’s kingdom. I do not even like to mention all these things; they are the negative side of human virtues. These verses mean that if we do not have the proper human virtues, we are finished as far as the kingdom of God is concerned. If we mean business with God to participate in His kingdom, we must have the proper human virtues. It is impossible to have these virtues by ourselves. But thank God that we have One who is the proper, unique Man dwelling in our spirit. Such a One with all His proper human virtues is in us to be our humanity. Paul says in Ephesians 5 that we should not allow these negative things to be even named among us as is fitting for saints (Eph. 5:3). We must realize that as saints, we are holy human beings. Therefore, our mouths should never be used even once to mention anything filthy. We do need such a human virtue. We should never mention our sordid failures in the past. God has forgotten them, so let us forget them. We never need to speak of things like that. Rather we should say, “Praise the Lord!” and give thanks to God.
All these virtues show us that for the kingdom of God we need the proper human virtues, and for all these proper human virtues, we need the humanity of Jesus. When we have this humanity we will not only be in the kingdom of God, we will be the kingdom of God. The church in Los Angeles is the kingdom of God in Los Angeles. Satan has been deceiving the church for many generations. Either he keeps Christians from spiritual things, or he causes them to pay their attention to spiritual things on the divine side, neglecting their proper humanity. But the Lord is going to recover the humanity of Jesus. This is another item which the Lord has recovered in order to strengthen His recovery of the church life. Without the proper humanity, it is impossible to have a proper local church life.
In all the local churches, people must see the glory of God expressed in human beings. How they behave, how they dress, how they contact one another, how they behave in their family life, and how they act in their daily walk must be really human, yet manifest the glory of God. This is the proper church life.
Finally, when we come to the end of the Bible, we see the overcomers who will reign with Christ a thousand years. “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and who did not worship the beast nor his image, and did not receive the mark on their forehead and in their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Rev. 20:4). How do all of these overcomers become qualified to reign with Christ? I do believe that it is by the humanity of Jesus being worked into them.
May the Lord help us to realize how much we need His humanity. We need all the human virtues in order to put Satan to shame. Every bit of our daily walk must conform with the Lord’s humanity in our spirit. If the Lord’s humanity does not agree with what we are doing, we must say, “Lord, I will never go against Your humanity within me in this matter. I will simply give it up.” If we do this, we will all have a proper daily life in the humanity of Jesus. Then we will have a proper church life, and this church life will be God’s kingdom on the earth today. This will be a real shame to Satan and a real boast to God.
(Christ as the Reality, Chapter 17, by Witness Lee)
