It is the Lord’s mercy that we are in the His recovery, and it is only in His recovery that the Lord is able to accomplish His heart’s desire on the earth today. Since the Lord has had mercy upon us to bring us to His recovery, we should be clear about what the Lord’s recovery is. First, the recovery is not a new invention, but that which we “have had from the beginning” (1 John 2:7). The Lord revealed the truths in His recovery in the New Testament, so in this sense, they are “old commandments.” But when the divine light shines on these old commandments in our experience, they become new. Speaking of the commandment to love the brothers, a note on 1 John 2:8 says, “Old, because the believers have had it from the beginning of their Christian life; new, because in their Christian walk it dawns with new light and shines with new enlightenment and fresh power again and again.” Thus, the attitude we must have toward the truths we have received in the Lord’s recovery is twofold: we have had these truths from the beginning, but they should always be new and fresh, strengthening us to live the Christian life.
To truly know the Lord’s recovery, we must also be clear that it is founded upon four great pillars: truth, life, the church, and the gospel. These four pillars are not separate items, but are interrelated and dependent upon each other. Of the four, truth is the focal point. In relation to life, truth is the container, and life is the content. So in order to have and experience life, we must know and be filled with the truth. The building up of the church depends on the level of truth we have. The built-up church, however, is the supporting pillar and holding base of the truth. And the gospel is simply the proclamation of the truth. The extent to which we can proclaim the full gospel depends upon our constitution with the truth. So the gospel brings us the truth, by which we have life and are built up into the church.
The fact that we need to be constituted with these four pillars for the sake of the Lord’s recovery implies that we can be made pillars ourselves (Rev. 3:12). As those who know and are constituted with the truth, life, the church, and the gospel, we become the pillars in God’s building today. May we all aspire to become such pillars for the sake of the Lord’s recovery today.
Since the Lord has had mercy upon us to bring us to his recovery.