Doing a Work that Changes the Age by Building the Church and Living the Church Life

Noah’s life was a life that changed the age, and Noah’s work was a work that changed the age; he received an all-inclusive revelation of what God’s intention is, he saw God’s desire, and he worked with God to build the ark, we need to build the church as the ark to end this age and bring in the kingdom.

Lord Jesus, we want to have a life and work that changes this age and brings in the age of the kingdom. We give ourselves to You today. Unveil us to see Your intention. May we realise that You desire to return and end this age. Oh Lord, may we see Your heart’s desire to obtain the church built up as the Body of Christ as the ark today. We are one with You, Lord, for the building up of the church today! Amen!

On the one hand, we need to have a particular kind of life today, a life that inherits all the godly ways of our forefathers, so that our life will change the age. On the other hand, we need to have the work that changes the age, the work that God wants us to have to end this age and bring in the next age.

The life we should have today is a life of grace, that is, a life of finding grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and by grace he lived in such a way that God had a way to judge that generation and end it.

We need to find grace in the Lord’s eyes by daily coming to the throne of grace. When we see the true situation of the corrupt age we live in, we will come to the Lord, and there’s grace in His eyes.

Oh, when we behold the Lord, when we apply His precious blood and simply look to Him, we will find grace in His eyes! His grace does everything to us and in us.

The fall of man is so great, the degradation of the church is so far advanced, and the wickedness and corruption of man is so clearly seen, yet the Lord as grace, can do so much for us, fallen people.

If we just turn, if we just find grace in the Lord’s eyes, grace can do everything in us. Grace is found in the Lord’s presence, for His very presence is our enjoyment.

When we love the Lord, exercise our spirit to touch Him, and come to Him in His word of grace, we enjoy grace. When we come together with the saints, we enjoy the processed Triune God as the grace of life.

He is our all-sufficient grace, and by His grace we labour for the Lord. May we be good stewards of the varied grace of God, and may we live a life of grace so that our life and living would end this age! Amen!

Noah’s Work was a Work that Changed the Age by Building the Ark to Terminate that Generation and Bring in a New Age

The Bible does not tell us the date and time of the Lord’s coming, but it gives us many indications of what will happen when the Lord comes back. As seen in Matthew 24, the days of the Lord’s coming will be as in the days of Noah.

People will be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, being oblivious of the fact that judgment is coming, until the day that Noah entered the ark. Wow.

Noah, on his side, found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and he inherited all the godly ways of his forefathers. He called on the name of the Lord, he walked with God, and he offered sacrifices to God, living in righteousness.

He also went further; as he walked with God, God opened His heart to Noah, and He showed Noah His intention.

Noah saw something more than his forefathers; he went on with God to do something further. Enoch saw that he needed to walk with God, and he walked with God until he was not, for God took him.

Enoch also prophesied concerning the Lord’s coming (Jude 14), and he named his son, Methuselah (meaning, when he dies, the deluge will come). Wow!

Noah, however, went further and saw something of what God wants to do in his age. He realised that God wants to judge that evil generation with a flood; this has never happened before, and they did not even know what that is, but Noah believed God.

By faith Noah, having been divinely instructed concerning things not yet seen and being moved by pious fear, prepared an ark for the salvation of his house (Heb. 11:7).

He not only walked with God but also cooperated with God to work with God. He built an ark according to God’s instructions for the salvation of his house.

As he lived in righteousness and built the ark, Noah condemned the world around him, and he became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. Wow!

Noah’s life was a life that changed the age, and Noah’s work was a work that changed the age.

God gave Noah an all-inclusive revelation, a further revelation; He showed Noah that he needed to build an ark to save himself and his household and a lot of living animals from God’s judgment through the flood.

On the one hand, Noah built the ark for many years, thus cooperating with God to have a work that changed the age. On the other hand, Noah’s ark was the way for God to terminate the corrupted generation and bring in a new age.

Noah walked with God and worked with God. He worked with God not only a few days or a few months; he worked with God for more than one hundred years to build the ark.

Most likely, those around him called him crazy, and most likely, some of them even helped him with this or that; there must have been a lot of people who helped him, but only Noah and his family entered the ark to be saved from God’s judgment.

People must have mocked him, for he was building a large boat on the land, and a flood has never been heard of. But Noah walked with God and worked with God according to the all-inclusive revelation he received from God.

Noah’s view of godly things was greatly broadened by what God revealed to him, and he saw much more than all his forefathers did.

He not only believed in the unseen One and walked with Him, but he followed the divine instructions and worked with God, and his work changed the age.

We must be like Noah today. We need to open to the Lord regarding this and consider before Him what kind of life and work we have today so that our life and work may change the age we live in to end this age and bring in the age of the kingdom.

Lord Jesus, we love You and we open to You. We want to find grace in Your eyes today. We come to You, dear Lord, and we enjoy You in Your word of grace. Unveil us to see what is on Your heart. May we see Your intention today. May we realise what You want to do in this age. Oh Lord, may we see that You desire to end this age. May we live in such a way that our life would end the age! May our work be such that it will end this age! Amen, Lord, as we walk with You, may we receive an all-inclusive revelation! We want to live in the ways we inherited from our forefathers, and we want to go on with You. May we see that You want to terminate this corrupted generation and bring in a new age! Oh Lord, we give ourselves to You today. Make us the Noah of today. May we work out our own salvation and cooperate with You to do a work that will end this age. Show us what kind of work we should have to bring in the end of the age and bring in the kingdom! Amen, Lord, we are here for You and for Your interest!

Doing a Work that Changes the Age by Building the Church and Living the Church Life

What is the work that we need to do today to end this age? If we are to be the Noahs of today, what should be our work today that will change this age? What do we need to do to end this age and bring in the age of the kingdom?

We need to be before the Lord concerning this as believers in Christ, and we need to come to God’s word and to the ministry of the age to see what kind of work we should have today to end the age we live in.

According to Matthew 16:18, the greatest prophecy in the Bible, the Lord Jesus will build His church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

What God is after today is the building of the church. The ark we build today is, on the personal side, Christ with His redemption, for He saves us from God’s judgment, and on the corporate side, it is the church.

Thank the Lord for opening up the truth in God’s word throughout the ages; today, we inherit an all-inclusive revelation.

Just as Noah in his age, we inherit all the godly ways of our forefathers and we stand on their shoulders. We inherit the visions and revelations given by God to all those who have gone before us.

We have the God-ordained way to meet and to serve, and the high peak of the divine revelation has been revealed to us.

Furthermore, the Lord has shown us that what He needs in this age, what He needs from His people today, is to gain the local churches as the practical expression of the one universal Body of Christ.

Our God is a God of purpose, and even though the outward situation seems to show that He is defeated, He will never be defeated in His purpose.

He wants to gain the building of the church and the practical and wonderful church life for the building up of the Body of Christ.

We have been transferred out of the authority of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love (Col. 1:13), and we need to be perfected to function in our measure for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12).

The Lord has ordained some gifts in the Body for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

He wants to gain the local churches, the golden lampstands all over the earth, for Him to gain His shining testimony.

He is walking as the Son of Man in the midst of the local churches to care for them in love, trim away anything that does not match Him, and add the supply of oil where it is needed.

May we live a life that changes this age and may we do a work that changes this age. May we not fall behind the present truth, the up-to-date revelation and vision. May we do a work that changes the age by participating in the building work of God today.

Only when the church is built up and the church life is lived out to be the reality of the Body of Christ, can the Lord have a way to gain the ark today as the ground for Him to judge this generation and end this age.

We are like Noah today, working with God to build up the church and live the wonderful church life for the building up of the Body of Christ.

What does the Lord want to do today? He has been doing one particular work in each generation; what is the work He is doing in this age?

He doesn’t merely want to save people, help them to please God, teach them to call on the name of the Lord, and enable them to live, beget, and walk with God.

He wants to gain the churches. He wants to gain the local churches built up for the Body of Christ to be expressed in every locality.

God wants to attract His lovers and seekers and gather them together to practice the proper church life as a testimony against the enemy’s kingdom of darkness and as a preparation for His return. This is what He intends today.

The ark is a type of Christ (1 Pet. 3:20-21)—not only the individual Christ but also the corporate Christ, the church, which is the Body of Christ and the new man to consummate in the New Jerusalem (Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 2:15-16; Col. 3:10-11; Rev. 21:2).

On the personal side, we need to be saved and remain in Christ to be spared of God’s judgment. On the corporate side, we need to work with God to build up the church as the Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem.

We need to live the proper and wonderful church life so that God would have a testimony in this age.

The building of the ark typifies the building of the corporate Christ, with the element of Christ’s riches as the building material, by those who work together with God (1 Cor. 3:9-12a; Eph. 4:12; 2:22).

We need to not only walk with God, taking Him as our centre and everything, but also work with God, that is, enter into God’s work to end this age. May we bring this to the Lord in prayer and tell Him,

Lord Jesus, we want to have a work that changes the age! Amen, Lord, show us what Your intention is today. May we be up-to-date with You, inheriting all the visions and revelations from our forefathers and being in the present truth today. Oh Lord, may we realise that You want to raise up the churches! May we see that God’s intention is to attract His lovers and seekers and gather them together to practice the proper church life as a testimony against the enemy’s kingdom of darkness and as a preparation for Your return! We give ourselves to You, Lord, to both work out our own salvation by being in Christ and work with God to end this age! We want to do the work that You give us to do. Perfect us to be those who do the work of the ministry unto the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. Lord Jesus, we want to build the ark today by living the proper church life and being built up with the saints for God’s testimony on the earth! Amen, Lord, may our work change the age! Make us the Noahs of today! Amen!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers on this topic, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis, msg. 29, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Noah, Daniel, and Job – Patterns of Living an Overcoming Life on the Line of Life to Fulfill the Economy of God (2026 International Chinese-Speaking Conference), week 2, The Line of Life with Noah— the Life and Work That Change the Age – day 5.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – The churches are the Body / Of Christ on earth today. / They are His testimony, / That He may have a way. / They are the golden lampstands / In cities far and wide. / They are His fighting army, / And His beloved Bride. / The churches, the churches, / Upon the earth today; / Lord, stir our hearts for Thy desire, / And build us, oh, build us, / Lord, we pray. (Hymns #1265 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – For ’tis God’s eternal purpose / That the Church His vessel be; / He intends that all our service / Build His Church continually. / All the gifted persons given / To the Body by the Head / Are to aid the Church’s building, / That to fulness she be led. (Hymns #914 stanzas 2-3)
  – The ark was just God’s testimony on the earth that time. / For God had found a corporate man through whom His light could shine. / He needed something built through which He’d fully be expressed, / And now it is the local church where God is manifest. / Be careful lest this age would lead you from God’s heart’s desire. / For Jesus’ testimony must set all our hearts afire. / The local churches are the ark, God’s testimony true. / For this we leave the age behind and give our hearts anew. (Hymns #1268 stanzas 5-6)