[UntoHim]

Hymn 971

SUBJECT: ULTIMATE MANIFESTATION-GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE
METER: 6.5.6.5.D.
AUTHOR: Witness Lee
COMPOSER: M. Koch, from Geistliche Lieder


1 God’s eternal purpose
Is to join with man,
Causing man, His vessel,
To be born again,
His own life imparting,
Filling to the brim;
Man may thus express Him,
And be one with Him.

2 God in His own image
Hath created man,
That he may be able
To fulfill His plan;
That he may receive Him
As the tree of life
To become His fulness
As to man the wife.

3 In His life’s rich flowing
Man will be transformed
Into precious substance
And to Him conformed.
Thus will man be builded
As His counterpart,
Thus to be His dwelling,
Satisfy His heart.

4 ’Tis the holy city,
New Jerusalem;
With His saints God mingles,
Makes His home with them.
He becomes their content,
His expression they;
They shall share His glory,
One with Him for aye.

5 He’s the very center,
Ruling on the throne;
By His life the power,
Saints are kept in one.
By His light of glory,
They are kept in light,
Harmony enjoying
In divine delight.

6 He’s their living water,
And their food supply;
All their thirst and hunger
He doth satisfy.
He’s for them the temple,
In Himself they live,
In His constant presence
Worship ever give.

I wonder if John Ingalls' name has been purged from the LSM hymnal? (Like they did with purging his name from the Recovery Version of the New Testament) If so, this would be a another grievous (not to mention legally liable) attempt to write out a major contributor in the Local Church of Witness Lee Movement. Of course John Ingalls is too much of a godly man to go after the powers that be over there in Anaheim (like they would go after him in a heartbeat in a similar situation) Witness Lee's English back in the early 60's was not strong enough to write (or translate to English) these hundreds of hymns. There is little doubt that Ingalls was the major contributor to the writing of these hymns, and as a matter of fact, this was not much of a secret for all the years, until of course, he became persona non grata in the late 1980s.