Spiritual Progress

© 2012 Jasper Life Publications 1st Edition in English – August, 2012 1st Edition in Portuguese – February, 2012 Spiritual Progress Progresso espiritual Translated from Portuguese with permission of Editora Árvore da Vida All rights reserved by Jasper Life Publications Inc. Jasper Life Publications Inc. 725 Viscount Road London, Ontario, Canada N6J 4G9 Phone: (519) 472-6620 www.jasperlife.com info@jasperlife.com ISBN 978-1-926970-42-4 Printed in Brazil All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Bible text from the New King James Version® is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing

by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000.

CONTENTS

Preface..........................................................5 1

Back to the Father........................................ 7

2

God’s Purpose in Creating Man................. 21

3

Moved by the Love of God.........................33

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God Is Accessible, Touchable....................43

5

The Spirit and the Name of the Lord......... 55

6

Supply Others with Life.............................69

7 Constantly Renewed..................................83

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PREFACE

Dear reader, with great joy we offer you one more publication related to an important topic in Christian literature. In this book, Dong Yu Lan covers a crucial matter—spiritual progress.

To many children of God, the new birth, regeneration, is the highest spiritual experience one can have. Here we will see that it is the starting point so that we can have an organic and living relationship with God, for the development of our salvation and to cooperate with Him in carrying out His will on earth.

In our experience, we can say that, beginning from regeneration, the new birth is so that we can advance from the physical, visible, legal, and correct sphere, to the spiritual, organic, and living sphere with God, for the growth of the divine life in us to maturity.

Unfortunately, many things prevent us from maturing spiritually. This book shows us that we must not lose sight of or be distracted from the main purpose of God. 5

We will also see that God’s goal is not for us to be in the church passively, just going with the flow. We must be active and take advantage of the environment in which we were placed to be perfected. In this way we will become more useful to Him, spreading the divine life to others through the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom.

Therefore, spiritual progress is not just for our own enjoyment, causing us to be mystical people, untouchable, but it is for us to play our role better in order to fulfill the eternal will of God. May the Lord enlighten you in reading this book!

Sao Paulo, February 2012 The Editors

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Chapter One

BACK TO THE FATHER

Progress to the Faith Human life has two spheres, two areas of experience: the visible or material, and the invisible, the spiritual, which is related to faith. The word says that without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6).

Therefore, if we pay attention only to what is material, we are blind to His eternal purpose and thus we cannot bear fruit to Him. God wants us to go from the material to the spiritual sphere through faith, which is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (v. 1).

In this book, we will present some spiritual facts, some truths that need to be present in our lives as Christians. As long as we have not gone beyond merely knowing them, regardless how deep and biblical 7

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they are, they are only doctrines to us, objective and material facts, not bringing us spirit and life (John 5:39-40; 6:63), and not providing growth and spiritual maturity. We must therefore advance from the realm of mere knowledge to life, to a living and experiential contact with God and His word.

Superficial Things The wise King Solomon wrote three books: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. In Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, we can only find references to the physical realm. Both depict the life we should have with regard to work, riches, friends and even the fear of God. It is likely that Solomon was already in the middle of his life when he wrote most of the book of Proverbs, using therefore the wisdom God gave him (1 Kings 4:29-34). In this book, we find instructions and advice for a balanced life. The Chinese people, for example, greatly appreciate the book of Proverbs.

Because of the influence of Confucian ethics, they value sayings and thoughts of wisdom. Their editions of the New Testament include the book of Psalms as in the West, and also the book of Proverbs. Why is there a special interest for this book? Because it speaks of human morality, instructing us how to act in various situations. Its teaching is very straightforward and can even be accomplished without relying on God. 8

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The book of Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon when he was very old. After so many years of his life, he concluded that all was vanity. In one of its meanings, the word vanity expresses the quality of being vain, empty, illusory, and meaningless.

Initially Solomon considered himself to be very wise, for his wisdom had been given by God. However, he only had the wisdom of this world, which is human and earthly, and eventually considered it vanity because it brought him no satisfaction. He enjoyed and experienced all that his wealth allowed him to, all the kinds of pleasures that human life can provide; but at the end of his life, he considered all things as vanity and grasping for the wind (Eccl. 1:14-17).

As work, wealth, pleasure and wisdom were empty, meaningless things, Solomon said it was better that man should eat and drink while waiting for death.

In Ecclesiastes 5:18, it says, “Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage.� Solomon believed that eating and drinking was all one could get for his work. In the next verse, he adds that if God gives riches and wealth, and power to eat of it, we must rejoice in our labor—for this is the gift of God. He therefore diminishes all that God can give to superficial things.

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That’s what most people crave for, and this is the motivation of many who seek the Lord Jesus. Many are attracted to and assume that, by believing in Jesus, God has to give them wealth, and thus, they live only to eat, drink and enjoy. People like this demand from God the best house, the best food, the best car, because, according to them, living modestly doesn’t fit their Christian life.

Living in this way is empty and meaningless, because it is only limited to the physical, visible, and material sphere. There is no spiritual progress if we focus on that. What we need is to seek is what is related to faith. Even in our work and studies, our eyes must be looking unto Christ (Heb. 12:2), and our thoughts on things above, not on things here on earth (Col. 3:1-2).

The Book of Spiritual Progress The third book written by Solomon was Song of Solomon. He actually wrote a thousand and five songs (1 Kings 4:32), but this was the only one chosen by the Holy Spirit to be part of the Bible. Why? Because this book clearly presents the purpose of God, besides showing spiritual progress in detail and the way to reach it. Song of Solomon, by means of many pictures and symbols, shows that we Christians must advance from experiencing only 10

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physical things and enter into the spiritual realm.

He describes how we should live after regeneration, after we become children of God.

Divine Metabolism Song of Solomon gives us an interesting picture, where we see the need to live the Christian life in the spiritual realm which is invisible, mysterious and totally beyond human imagination and wisdom.

Let’s use some illustrations to understand what this spiritual realm is. For example, for our body to grow and develop, we need physical things like food, air and water. We also seek satisfaction that certain psychological things can give us, such as knowledge and entertainment, among other things.

Many think they have all the pleasure they seek in these things. However, when we have experience in the spiritual realm, everything changes: physical and psychological things can no longer satisfy us, because we see how transient they are and we begin to seek what is eternal, that is, we seek the things that are related to the life of God. The spiritual realm is organic because it is totally related to life. While a person is growing, a continuous process of cellular change occurs in his body; nearly all over the entire body the old cells are being replaced with new ones. A well known 11

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example of this is what happens to the skin cells.

Another important process occurs through eating; when we eat something, that food is metabolized and becomes part of us. The result is visible in the skin, hair and physical form in general.

In principle, the same is true in the spiritual realm. When we eat the word of God, this food mixes with us and gradually transforms us into Christ’s image (Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18; Col. 3:10).

In this organic process, the old “cells” of self and sin will be replaced by the cells of the new man, created according to God (Eph. 4:24). The Bible calls this process, developing our salvation (Phil. 2:12) and to have growth, the increase of God (Col. 2:19).

Therefore, the Christian life is not about following laws and external rules, but it is to live by faith, by the life of God which is in us (John 6:57; 1 John 5:12). When we eat spiritually, the divine life grows in us and we live by this life more and more.

We were saved by God and He has made us a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), yet many things of the old creation still remain in us: the natural being, the old man, the self, and the soul life. These are all obstacles that hinder the growth of the life of God in us. What do we need? Rules? Laws? None of that can change us inwardly. Rather we need a salvation that is organically worked out in us, removing the old cells and creating new ones. In this divine 12

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metabolism, we receive more of God’s life, which slowly and gradually fills our being, leading us to live by it and no longer by the soul life or the self.

Faith and Love What we have set out above is a snapshot and quick overview of the organic relationship God desires to have with us, which is presented in detail in Song of Solomon. This book describes the spiritual progress of the beloved, who represents someone who loves the Lord, and all the emphasis is on organic, spiritual, invisible, mysterious, and unsearchable matters. The book describes the experiences of a Christian from his conversion until he reaches full maturity.

When we receive salvation, we also receive the faith with regard to God, and love with regard to God and man. When we receive the word of God by faith, it produces more faith in us and as a result of its growth, love also grows. The more love we have for the Lord, the more our faith will increase; this is a life cycle that will lead us to maturity. Eventually, we will be ready to reign with the Lord.

The apostle Paul strove to present the Corinthians as a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Cor.11:2). This indicates the need for spiritual growth—no one would present a child to get married. So every Christian, every 13

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genuine child of God, needs to grow in life. For God’s life to grow, we need to eat spiritually, allowing this metabolic process to work in us continually. Thus, little by little, all that belongs to the old creation, including our human being, the flesh, and the soul life, is being eliminated. As this occurs, we become more absolute for God’s life and more useful to His purpose.

Being mature means to receive the full dispensing of God, causing our mind to be the same as His, causing us to love what God does and making choices according to His will. Thus, we will be like God in life and nature, but never in position. We will then be men mingled with God, in whom God has full freedom to act and express Himself, and whom He can count on to perform His work on earth.

In Song of Solomon, the maturity of Christians is revealed represented by the beloved, when she is then called the Shulamite. This name does not appear at the beginning of the book, where the beloved is only called beautiful or dear, but her growth has begun. She grows and matures until she is called the Shulamite.

This name is the feminine of Solomon, the beloved in Song of Solomon, who represents Christ. Therefore, the Shulamite is the same as Solomon. From a spiritual standpoint, this means that this Christian has matured until he is fully identified with Christ, to the extent of being the same as He is; becoming a Shulamite and is to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29).

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The Triune God Our transformation is only possible because God is triune. There are many discussions among Christians in relation to the Divine Trinity. What, then, is the right, balanced teaching about God? We can say, in a simple manner, that God in His essence and nature, is unique, but when He relates to man, or when performing His work in man, He is manifested in three aspects.

In the Godhead there is the Father, the Son and the Spirit, which we call the Holy Trinity. There is a distinction between the three, but they cannot be separated at all. They are three, yet they are one (Gen. 1:26; Isa. 45:5-6; Matt. 28:19; Eph. 4:6; 1 Tim. 2:5; John 14:8-9). They are one, yet they are distinct.

This is the Triune God; He is “three-one”. We must be careful not to use the word persons in relation to God; human language is deficient to define an exact expression for the mystery of the Trinity. You cannot explain the Triune God in an understandable way, but it is a fact that God is triune.

The Triune God is not to be understood doctrinally, but to be experienced by us. In 2 Corinthians 13:13 we read, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” This shows that the Triune God is not merely a doctrine; He is for our living, for our enjoyment.

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John 3:16 is one of the best known Bible verses.

There it says that God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son. Few people realize that the God who loved is also the Son who was sent; to save us, God became the man Jesus. In Christ, God was limited in time and space. Anyone wishing to have contact with Jesus Christ would need to be in Palestine more than two thousand years ago and go where He was. When He walked in Galilee, He could not be in Jerusalem at the same time, for His physical body limited Him. How could we here, so far away, have contact with Jesus?

There was also a time limitation. Moses said that man would live until he is seventy, or with strength, until he is eighty (Psa. 90:10). Today, with the progress of science, it’s not unusual to reach one hundred years.

But that does not change the fact that we are people limited to time. In His physical body as a man, the Lord Jesus could not live more than two thousand years; so He could not be with us today. How then can we have fellowship with Him? This only happens because Christ became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).

The work of the Son for us was to become incarnate and die on the cross, to be buried, to resurrect, and to ascend into heaven, sitting at God’s right side.

However, this has not made His work available to all men. For this cause, He became the Spirit. The Father loved us, the Son died for us, and the Holy Spirit 16

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brings us the reality of everything that God is and accomplished (John 14:16-17, 26). How can we have contact with God the Father? Only through the Son (v. 6). And where can we find Christ, the Son? In the life-giving Spirit, who is in our spirit (Rom. 8:2, 10-11; 2 Cor. 3:17-18).

With reference to the Triune God, the Father, the Son and the Spirit are not three gods or three ways of God to act. In fact, when one of the Trinity works, the other two are present, working concurrently.

When the Lord Jesus lived on earth, the Father and the Spirit were in Him. Christ said that He was with the Father and the Father was in Him, and that they would abide in those who kept His word (John 14:10, 23). How could Jesus, a man, and God, the Creator of the universe, be brought into a limited man and abide in him? Only by being the Spirit. How did we receive Jesus (1:12-13) at the time of our salvation?

We received Him when we received the Spirit (20:22).

The Divine Trinity in Song of Solomon The whole Bible shows the Triune God’s intention to be brought into man and mingle Himself with him.

This is God’s eternal plan and is the key to interpret and understand the whole word of God. This also applies to the Song of Solomon. In verses 2 and 3 of Chapter 1, we find pictures that indicate the work of the Triune God. 17

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The first part of verse 2: “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth” (lit.), speaks of the work of the Father, and the second part: “For your love is better than wine”, represents the work of the Son, and verse 3: “Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is ointment poured forth”, speaks of the Holy Spirit.

These verses do not present a doctrine about the Triune God, but they speak of our spiritual experience with Him, describing aspects of the organic salvation which leads us to progress spiritually. Thus, advancing step by step, we will reach maturity and become a Shulamite, cooperating with Christ today, having been perfected in the church and prepared to rule with Him in the world to come.

The end of verse 3 and the beginning of verse 4 record the result of this living contact with God, “Therefore the virgins love you. Draw me away!

We will run after you.” When we touch God, love is produced in us, and this love attracts us and makes us run after Him. We see in this the eternal purpose of God, which is to have a living contact with the man He created and redeemed.

Kissed by the Father Verse 2 says, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth” (lit.). Song of Solomon records the various 18

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dialogs of the romance between a virgin and King Solomon. On the other hand, reading this book with spiritual eyes, we find in it the perfect description of our Christian life. It is likely that Solomon did not know he was being inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the song that way. The verse we mentioned, for example, has no explanation in the human sphere: the girl is talking to King Solomon, but asks for a third person to kiss her, because the love of Solomon is better than wine. How can we understand that? Now, by whom did the Shulamite want to be kissed? The explanation can be found only in the spiritual realm.

King Solomon represents the Lord Jesus Christ; while the Shulamite represents a Christian, someone who loves the Lord. This Christian is not asking the Lord Jesus to kiss him, because in this case, the sentence would be: “Kiss me with the kisses of Your mouth� as found in some translations. The desire of this Christian is to be kissed by God the Father, and this request has a deep and important spiritual significance.

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