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Additional Quotes about the Local Church by Witness Lee and Watchman Nee
Firstly, the Lord promises the overcomer that he will
be “clothed in white garments.” To be “clothed in white garments” in this
promise will be a prize to the overcomers in the millennial kingdom. In what
they have been walking in this age, will be a prize to them in the coming age.
Every Christian needs two garments. The first is the garment of salvation signifying
Christ as our righteousness objectively. In Luke 15, when the prodigal son
returned home, the father had the best robe prepared for him. The first thing
the father did was to have the best robe placed upon him. Wearing that robe,
the prodigal son was justified in the presence of the father. He had been a
pitiful beggar, no longer worthy to be with the father. But once he had the
robe upon him, he was justified and approved. This means that he was justified
in Christ and that Christ became his justifying covering. He was covered by
Christ as his righteousness. Thus, the garment of justification is for
salvation. However, besides this, we need another garment to make us approved
and well-pleasing to the Lord. The “fine linen, bright and pure” in 19:8
denotes this second garment. According to typology, the queen in Psalm 45 has
two garments, one for salvation and the other for her to be with the king in
His reign. After we have been saved, we need to mature and overcome all
frustrations and distractions. We must run the race and reach the goal. As we
are running the race, there are many things which would frustrate us from
reaching the goal. We must overcome all these frustrations. Yes, we have been
saved and justified and have the first robe for our salvation. But we must go
on to maturity and reach our destination. If we do so, then we shall receive a
reward. This is not a matter of Christ as our objective righteousness, but of
experiencing Christ as our subjective righteousness. Christ as our objective
righteousness has been put upon us, whereas Christ as our subjective
righteousness comes out of us. We must live out Christ as our second garment.
This garment is for the reward. The white garments mentioned in verse 5 refer
to this second garment. When we have this second garment, we are well-pleasing
to the Lord and shall receive the reward.
To the one who overcomes the Lord promises that He
“will by no means erase his name out of the book of life.” We cannot
understand this verse by itself. It is dangerous to do this. In order to
understand a verse such as this we need to be safeguarded by the whole Bible.
The name being “erased out of the book of life” indicates that that name was
already written in the book of life. “The book of life” is a divine record of
the names of those who partake of the blessings God has prepared for them. The
names of all the saints chosen by God and predestinated to partake of these
blessings are written in this book (Luke 10:20). These blessings are in three
stages: the church, the millennial kingdom, and eternity. The blessings in the
stage of the church, such as forgiveness, redemption, regeneration, eternal
life, and the divine nature are all the initial portions. All God’s chosen
ones whose names are written in the book of life have a share in these initial
portions to begin their spiritual life. If they cooperate with God’s supplying
grace, they will mature in life in the church age, and this earlier maturity
in life will constitute a prize with which the Lord will reward them at His
coming back. That prize will be the entrance into the millennial kingdom and
participation in the divine blessings in that stage, such as the joy and rest
of the Lord (Matt. 25:21, 23; Heb. 4:9-11) and the reign over the nations
(Rev. 2:26-27; 20:4, 6) which God has prepared as an incentive for His chosen
ones to go on with Him in the church age. However, many of His chosen ones,
after receiving His forgiveness, redemption, eternal life, divine nature,
etc., will not cooperate with His grace and go on with Him. Hence, they are
unable to mature in life in the church age and thus will not be ready at the
Lord’s coming back to enter into the millennial kingdom and share in the
divine blessings of that age as a prize. Therefore, during the millennial
kingdom their names will be erased from the book of life. After being
disciplined by the Lord and growing in life unto maturity during the
millennial kingdom, they will share in the divine blessings in the stage of
eternity, such as the eternal service with God’s eternal presence, the eternal
kingship (22:3-5), the New Jerusalem, the tree of life (22:14), and the water
of life (22:17). Then their names should be written in the book of life again.
This means that all God’s chosen ones whose names are written in the book of
life and who have been brought into the participation of the divine blessings
in the stage of the church shall “by no means perish forever” (John 10:28),
that is, they shall by no means lose the divine blessings of eternity. But
some, who will not cooperate with the Lord in the church age, will be
dispensationally disciplined by the Lord during the millennial kingdom and
will miss the divine blessings in that stage.
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