THE NEED OF BREAKING
We all have the Lord Jesus within us, and we can boldly testify of this fact. But can we say with confidence that the Lord is expressed from within us? We probably do not have the boldness to say this. Instead, if asked how much we express the Lord, we may say, “I am so strong in myself that often the Lord Jesus does not have a way to be expressed through me. Sometimes I feel that I am like a marble statue: hard and completely opaque. My ‘marble’ self completely covers the Lord Jesus. How, then, can I express Him?” This is the reason we need the Lord’s breaking. Although we may be like marble, the Lord has a way to break us. By the cross He breaks our marble self.
We should have the faith to believe that more and more the Lord will be expressed in us. If we give Him the way to grow in us and to come forth from within us, we shall express Him more and more. Then the churches will be filled with the divine glorification.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF GLORIFICATION
Let us consider once again what glorification signifies. We need to emphasize the fact that glorification signifies that the old man has been terminated and that the new man has come in. This new man spoken of in John 16 is the vine, and the vine is the Father’s house, the place where He is happy to dwell. We also are very pleased to dwell in the Father’s house. This means that the church is a mutual habitation for God and us. Praise the Lord that glorification is the new man, the new man is the vine, and the vine is the Father’s house!
We have seen that in John 17 the Lord prayed that the Father would glorify the Son so that the Son might glorify Him. To glorify the Son is actually to build the Father’s house. Hence, glorification is the building. Furthermore, the building is the cultivation of the vine. The vine tree comes into being through the birth of the new man. When the new man was born, the vine with all its branches came into being. Now the vine is growing and spreading, and this spreading is the divine glorification.
In the divine glorification the Triune God is glorified in humanity, and humanity is glorified in divinity. One day the Lord Jesus will come in a physical manifestation of glory, and we shall be brought into that glory. Then there will be glorification upon glorification and glorification within glorification. Eventually, there will be the ultimate consummation—the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem will be the completion of the new man, the consummation of the vine, and the full building of the Father’s house. May we all see that the Father’s house, the vine, the new man, and the glorification are all one thing.
(The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, Chapter 50, by Witness Lee)
