1Ⅲ In the Lord's recovery today, there is an urgent need for the growth and maturity required for the formation of God's army; we need to grow in life unto maturity—Exo. 30:14; Num. 1:2-3, 18; Eph. 4:12-16:
2A Spiritually, males who are twenty years old and over signify those among God's people who, regardless of their natural status, are strong in spirit and mature in the divine life; only these are qualified to be formed into an army to fight for God's interest and move on earth—Exo. 30:14; Num. 1:3.
3B The growth of life is the increase of the element of God (Col. 2:19), the increase of the stature of Christ (Eph. 3:17a; 4:13), the expanding of the ground of the Holy Spirit (5:18), the decrease of the human element, the breaking of the natural life, and the subduing of every part of our soul (2 Tim. 1:7).
4C To be transformed is to be metabolically changed in our natural life, whereas to be matured is to be filled with the divine life that changes us; the last stage of transformation is maturity, the fullness of life—Heb. 6:1.
61 As believers, we need to go on, to be brought on, to maturity by forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, pursuing toward the fullest enjoyment and gaining of Christ for the uttermost enjoyment of Christ in the millennial kingdom—Phil. 3:12-15.
83 The ultimate issue of the believers' growth and maturity in the life of Christ is a full-grown man—the church as the Body of Christ growing into a mature man—vv. 13, 16.
18Further Reading: CWWL, 1955, vol. 3,”The Way for a Christian to Mature in Life,” chs. 18-19; CWWL, 1953, vol. 3,”The Knowledge of Life,” chs. 1, 12;Life-study of Genesis, msgs. 92-93