This book presents a vision of Christ and the church. It then goes on the emphasize the need to experience this Christ as the Spirit in our spirit and to practice the church life on the ground of oneness.
Much of what is preached and taught among Christians today concerns the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus, that is, the work He did during His life on the earth. However, just as the person of Christ has two aspects, so does His ministry. While He was on earth, He was the man Jesus. Since His ascension into heaven, however, He is the glorified Christ. His earthly ministry lasted for only a limited time, but His heavenly ministry is eternal; it will never end. What is Christ doing now? In this book, Witness Lee answers this question, opening up the second part of Christ’s ministry, the heavenly ministry, the ministry that continues today.
In the Lord’s recovery during the past five hundred years the church’s knowledge of the Lord and His truth has been continually progressing. This monumental and classical work by Brother Witness Lee builds upon and is a further development of all that the Lord has revealed to His church in the past centuries. It is filled with the revelation concerning the processed Triune God, the living Christ, the life-giving Spirit, the experience of life, and the definition and practice of the church. In this set Brother Lee has kept three basic principles that should rule and govern every believer in their interpretation, development, and expounding of the truths contained in the Scriptures. The first principle is that of the Triune God dispensing Himself into His chosen and redeemed people; the second principle is that we should interpret, develop, and expound the truths contained in the Bible with Christ for the church; and the third governing principle is Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church. No other study or exposition of the New Testament conveys the life nourishment or ushers the reader into the divine revelation of God’s holy Word according to His New Testament economy as this one does.
The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1956, volume 2, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee mainly in April 1956. Historical information concerning Brother Lee's travels and the content of his ministry in 1956 can be found in the general preface that appears at the beginning of volume 1 in this set. The contents of this volume are divided into four sections, as follows: 1. Four messages published in The Ministry of the Word in 1956. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Ministry of the Word, Miscellaneous Messages, 1956. Chapter 1 was previously published in a booklet entitled A God Who Hides Himself. An unabridged version of this message is included in volume 3 of this set as chapter 1 of the section entitled A God Who Hides Himself. 2. Seventeen messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, in April. These messages were previously published in a book entitled Three Aspects of the Church, Book 1: The Meaning of the Church and are included in this volume under the same title. 3. Nineteen messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, in April. These messages were previously published in a book entitled Three Aspects of the Church, Book 2: The Course of the Church and are included in this volume under the same title. 4. Eighteen messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, in April. These messages were previously published in a book entitled Three Aspects of the Church, Book 3: The Organization of the Church and are included in this volume under the same title.
When God created man, He placed him before two trees: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. In warning man to avoid the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God indicated His desire for man to eat of the tree of life, signifying that man should receive God as his life supply. Witness Lee unveils in The Tree of Life that God is not looking for well-behaved Christians; He is looking for those who will experience and enjoy Christ as the reality of the tree of life.
“We must realize that we Christians are a meeting people. A Christian is a meeting person. Without meeting, there is no Christian life and no church life. It is rather difficult for any Christian to grow without attending the meetings. There is no way for any Christian to serve God without meetings, and it is impossible for Christians to express Christ if there are no meetings. The church life is a meeting life.” In How to Meet Witness Lee offers much precious and practical guidance related to the biblical way to meet as Christians.