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The Church is Christ’s own Body, The Father’s dwelling-place, The gathering of the called ones, God blended with man’s race; Elect before creation, Redeemed by Calv’ry’s death, Her character and standing Of heaven, not of earth. |
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New man of new creation, Born through her risen Lord, Baptized in God the Spirit, Made holy by His Word; Christ is her life and content, Himself her glorious Head; She has ascended with Him O’er all her foes to tread. |
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Christ is her one foundation, None other man may lay; All that she has, as Christ, is Divine in every way; Her members through the Spirit Their death on Calv’ry own; They’re built in resurrection— Gold, silver, precious stone. |
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One God, one Lord, one Spirit— Her elements all one— One faith, one hope, one baptism, One Body in the Son; The triune God is in her, One Body members own, By faith they are united, In hope of glory shown. |
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From every tribe and nation Do all the members come, Regardless of their classes United to be one. No high there is, nor lowly, No Jew, nor Gentile clan, No free, nor slave, nor master, But Christ, the “one new man.” |
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One Body universal, One in each place expressed; Locality of dwelling Her only ground possessed; Administration local, Each answ’ring to the Lord; Communion universal, Upheld in one accord. |
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Her local gatherings model The New Jerusalem; Its aspects and its details Must show in all of them. Christ is the Lamp that shineth, With God within, the Light; They are the lampstands bearing His glorious Image bright. |
Copyright Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.
Hymns, #824 is quite a special hymn. It contains a very deep mystery, but the saints do not sing it very often.
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Furthermore, the emphasis in every stanza is very clear. The first stanza is on the Body and the dwelling place; the second stanza is on the new man; the third stanza is on the foundation and its emphasis on building. All buildings require a foundation, and Christ being the head of the corner in God's building is the foundation (Matt. 21:42). Although stanza 3 does not have the term transformation, transformation is truly included in it: "Christ is her one foundation, / None other man may lay; / All that she has, as Christ, is / Divine in every way; / Her members through the Spirit / Their death on Calv'ry own; / They're built in resurrection— / Gold, silver, precious stone." Natural things must go through the killing of the cross and then be built up in resurrection. Wood, grass, and stubble can be transformed and built up as gold, silver, and precious stone. The Body and the new man need to grow, whereas the building needs transformation.
The second half of stanza 4 says, "The triune God is in her, / One Body members own, / By faith they are united, / In hope of glory shown." [Editor's note: The last two lines of stanza 4 in Chinese literally say, "By faith united, by baptism cut off, / In hope awaiting the Lord's coming."] Through baptism we have been cut off from the world and the old creation. Furthermore, we have been cut off from the flesh, the self, and everything natural. If we have been cut off from the world, the old creation, the self, and everything natural, we surely have been cut off from sinfulness and Satan. This cutting off results in a separation from every negative thing. We lack nothing because we are joined to everything positive and cut off from everything negative. Thus, we are waiting to be raptured; we are in hope awaiting the Lord's coming.
We need to sing this hymn and read this hymn, and we also need to learn this hymn. The last stanza says, "Her local gatherings model / The New Jerusalem; / Its aspects and its details / Must show in all of them. / Christ is the Lamp that shineth, / With God within, the Light; / They are the lampstands bearing / His glorious Image bright." If we become familiar with these words and speak these words, our speaking will eventually become like the hymn. I hope that we would sing this hymn one hundred times, once every day, singing slowly, reading slowly, speaking slowly, and digesting slowly so that these words can enter into our thoughts and into our entire being. After one hundred days this will become our possession.
In the table of contents of our hymnal there is a category called "The Church." It covers the church as the mystery of Christ, the increase of Christ, the fullness of Christ, the vessel of Christ, and the lampstand of Christ. It also covers the church's general definition, course, faith, unity, foundation, building, attraction, coordination, and fellowship. Hymns, #824 is on the general definition of the church, whereas #852 is on the attraction of the church. Perhaps many of us have been in the church life for a number of years, yet we are still not clear about the definition of the church, nor do we know what kind of price we need to pay when we are attracted by the church. These two hymns reveal to us these two aspects of the truth. I hope that we all can earnestly study the truths contained in our hymns.
Piano Hymns
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New York City, New York, United States
Hallelujah for Christ and the church And for the building up of His Body with all the saints !
NYC, New York, United States
Hallelujah for Christ and the church!
El Paso, Texas, United States
Christ "one new man"!!
Perth, WA, Australia
Praise the Lord for our Fathers purpose, and plan, in bringing us many sons into Glory, as the church, the Fathers dwelling place. Thank You Father that we have Your life, and nature, and we ARE becoming the New Jerusalem. We are precious ‘living’ stones for Your building work. The New Jerusalem is Your ultimate consummation, it will express You in fullness, in its details, and its aspects!
Tirane, Albania
Themel I Kishes , Krishti
Askush vec Tij sqendron
Ćdo gje qe ka , si Krishti
Hyjnore eshte gjithmone
Besniket permes Frymes
Gjejne vdekjen ne Kalvar
Ringjallja bashke I beri
Si perl , Argjend dhe ar .
Tirane, Albania
Christ is her one foundation,
None other man may lay;
All that she has, as Christ, is
Divine in every way;
San Francisco, California, United States
Praise the Lord, the church is Your Body -Body of Christ, with members blending together to express Triune God. The church is the new man of new creation, gathering of called one, there is no Jew nor Gentile, no high nor lowly, no free nor slave, but only Christ is all and in all. Hallelujah Amen!
The church the body of Christ. The expression of the only divine God. Christ the head and the only begotten son of God
Goiânia (GO), Goiás, Brazil
Oh Lord Jesus!!! I Just need Christ moment by moment and Forever. I Love Jesus!!
I like how it says her local gatherings model the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem there is oneness. I also like that it says the church is Christ own body. There aren’t many church languages. There is only the cross and Christ.