“Wisdom hath built her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars” of support. So declared the book of Proverbs (9:1), whose author was Solomon, the wise King of Israel. Christ is the wisdom of God manifested from heaven on earth by the divine act of the Incarnation. And like Solomon of old who, through the wisdom granted to him from heaven, built the magnificent physical house of God—the temple in Jerusalem; just so, the “greater than Solomon”—even Christ himself (Matthew 12:42c ASV)—is today continuing to build God’s spiritual house, which is the church, the body of Christ. And the material the Lord uses to build God’s spiritual house is the sevenfold character of the Christ-life that is resident within every member of His church. And according to one’s understanding of the book of Proverbs, the Seven Pillars of Wisdom alluded to in its chapter 9 can symbolically represent the seven different traits, attributes or features of Christ’s noble character which can be found expressed throughout the many sayings appearing in this book of wisdom: Righteousness, Diligence, Love, Lowliness, Graciousness, Discipline, and Truthfulness.
Thus, Wisdom Personified seeks to progressively develop in us His followers these seven distinct traits of His character. And once He has established these in our lives, He shall be able to complete the building for His Father of that dwelling place of rest and peace which God has longed to have among His people. In order for this to be accomplished in us, however, we will need to submit ourselves to Christ totally and allow His Spirit who indwells us to develop and firmly establish these various character-traits in us so that Christ’s virtuous character may be manifested through us as a testimony to the world and for touching those in need of moral and spiritual help. This is the Lord’s purpose for us His people.
Stephen Kaung ( - Present)
Stephen Kaung is a Chinese Chrisitan speaker and writer, and now living in Richmond, Virgina. At an early age was converted to Christianity and was active in the Methodist Church in China, with home his father was a minister. He first met watchman need in the early 1930's and joined Nee's indigenous christian work full-time, working with him until 1949 when he left China and became involved with Christian work in other ares of the Far East.Stephen Kaung worked very closely with T Austin-Sparks until his death in 1972. His burden has been to allow a testimony of the Lord in the local assembly, and to help the saints see the great importance of the Church as God intended it. Stephen Kaung's major work has been to translate the writings of Watchman Nee into English, over 50 titles which have been published by his own organisation, Christian Fellowship Publishers (CFP), In Richmond, Virgina.
... Show more