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1
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Lo, the central thought of God Is that He be one with man; He to man is everything That He might fulfill His plan. |
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2
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Earthen vessel man was made— Body, soul, and spirit too, God as life that he may take And with Him have oneness true. |
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3
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By the flow of life divine, Man becomes a precious stone Fit for building God’s abode, That His glory might be known. |
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4
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’Tis the city God hath built, ’Tis the dwelling God requires, ’Tis the new Jerusalem Which fulfills His heart’s desires. |
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5
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’Tis the building of the saints, ’Tis the blend of God and man, Purposed by the Father’s will Long before the world began. |
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6
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In its center, as its pow’r, Is the throne of Christ and God, Whence doth flow the stream of life As the Spirit’s living flood. |
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7
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Christ, the tree of life, is there In the flowing of the stream, Yielding fruit of life divine As the food of life supreme. |
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8
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God in Christ, the glorious light, Thru the city brightly shines, Scattering all the deathly night With its light of life divine. |
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9
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God in man and man in God Mutual dwelling thus possess; God the content is to man, And the man doth God express. |
Copyright Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.
Hymns, #972 is on the central thought of God. Stanza 1 says, "Lo, the central thought of God / Is that He be one with man; / He to man is everything / That He might fulfill His plan." Stanza 9 says, "God in man and man in God / Mutual dwelling thus possess; / God the content is to man, / And the man doth God express." Today God is in man, and man is in God. God and man thus possess a mutual dwelling. God is man's content, and man is God's expression.
God's desire was not merely to have a man as a living soul with a body of clay and a human spirit formed of God's breath. This cannot satisfy God, because the central thought of God is that He would be one with man (Hymns, #972). In the garden of Eden, God was still not one with Adam. God was God and Adam was Adam. In order to carry out His desire, God put man in front of two trees, one tree, the tree of life, symbolizing God Himself, and the other tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, being the embodiment of Satan. Then, God warned man to be careful about his eating. He said, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:16b-17). God's putting man in front of the two trees was a strong indication that God wanted man to take Him in by eating Him. If man would take God in, God would be life to man in his spirit. This was fulfilled in the New Testament. According to the New Testament, God came as the bread of life (John 6:35), good for us to eat. If we eat Him, we have the eternal life, the divine life, in our spirit. When we received the eternal life in our spirit, our spirit was regenerated, and we were born again. First, we were born of the flesh through our parents, but now we have been born of the Spirit in our spirit (3:6). Now we not only have God's life within us, but we are one with God. God can rejoice because He has come into man and become one with man.
Piano Hymns
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Renton, Washington, United States
Oh Hallelujah, I repent of many years blinded by worldly cares. Typically as man gets older he loses his vision gradually, but what happens when born again we begin to eat and drink this living bread and living water and grow in life and blindness is no more and gradually we see God's Economy and vision is totally restored and resurrection life can be experienced over and over as we eat and drink and Christ becomes all our life. By grace we have truly found the secret of living, Hallelujah!
Fremont, California, United States
This song
This song goes well with what I enjoyed from the last semi-annual training in Anaheim:
<> has this paragraph. “after my study of the Bible for the past 69 years what have I seen? I have seen the New Jerusalem. this is my vision, this is my revelation, this is my ministry. ”
Gen. 1&2 we see God, we see man, we see a tree, we see a river, we see a marriage.
What do we see in Rev. 21&22? We see God, we see man, we see a tree, we see a river, we see a marriage. The Bible is so wonderful! I didn’t see that, I want to see that.
Thru the help of the brothers and thru conferences and trainings, we can see God’s purpose, God’s economy, we see life and building. We see it in Genesis, Exodus, we see it in Psalms, we see it in the Prophets, we see it in the Gospels— the gospel of John is a book of life and building, and it connects to Revelation, it’s one book! It’s our river scene. And it didn’t start from us, the Lord raised up His faithful ones. There, in what history calls reformation, not only Martin Luther, there are other faithful ones that are lesser known, and the Lord showed them things, and showed them things, and through the centuries. But the one unique thing, especially our dear brother Watchman Nee, is that he had the way, especially to bring everything together. And to realize that we are standing on the shoulders of so many who have gone before. So this is not replacing, this is not putting them aside. This is honoring them and building further. That’s our river scene. But our brother Nee, and our dear brother, brother Lee, Witness Lee, they saw more, and it was not until later, even though he mentioned the new Jerusalem here and there, and brought out things, he told us it was not until those days, that before him was this view, the new Jerusalem. And with that view, you look at anything on our scroll, do you understand my language? And you can see, everything points to the new Jerusalem. Does it not say about Abraham in Hebrews 11? That he waited for the city that has the foundations whose architect and maker is God. Does it not say, those faithful ones, later in Hebrews 11, they were strangers and sojourners, they did not have roots in this earth, they were waiting for a better country, that’s new Jerusalem! That’s our scroll. Dear brothers and sisters , that’s the vision we all need to have. So that we pick up any book of the Bible with the help of our brothers, and we see the whole view.
Lagos, Nigeria
Hallelujah! God in man and man in God mutual dwelling place thus possess!
Lord we give ourselves to You that You may fulfill Your plan.
Cagayan De Oro City, Mis.or. 9017, Philippines
PTL! What a great God I have! His heart's desire is that He'll be one with me,.. become my everything so that He can fulfill His plan! I was an earthen vessel but filled with precious gold, the life of Christ and has possess this mutual dwelling for His abode. Amen.