Abraham—Called by God: The Significance of God's Calling

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THE SIGNIFICANCE OF GOD’S CALLING

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 12:1-3

The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles out of faith, announced the gospel beforehand to Abraham: “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”

Galatians 3:8

INTRODUCTION

In this chapter we come to the most wonderful section of the book of Genesis, the section on God’s calling (11:10—50:26). Genesis, a book of fifty chapters, is divided into three sections. The first section (1:1—2:25) covers God’s creation, the second (3:1—11:9) covers the serpent’s corruption of mankind, and the third covers Jehovah’s calling. Each of these sections begins with a special phrase. The first section begins with the words, “In the beginning God.” The second section begins with the phrase, “Now the serpent.” The third section begins with the words, “Now Jehovah” (12:1, Heb.). In these three sections we see three titles—God, the serpent, and Jehovah. These titles mean a great deal to us. After God created, the serpent crept in to corrupt, and then Jehovah came in to call. So the book of Genesis mainly relates these three major things.

According to the revelation of the Bible, Elohim, the Hebrew word for God in 1:1, is a title that mainly relates to God’s creation. The title of Jehovah, however, is especially concerned with God’s relationship to man in the matter of life. Jehovah is part, a main element, of the wonderful name of Jesus, for Jesus means “Jehovah the Saviour.” Since the name Jesus includes Jehovah, we may say that Jesus is the New Testament Jehovah and that Jehovah was the Old Testament Jesus.

In these three sections of Genesis we see that God created, the serpent, Satan, corrupted, and Jehovah called. Thus, in these sections we have creation, corruption, and calling. Which of these do you love the most? I love God’s calling. We are not only the created ones but also the called ones.

GOD’S CREATION, REVEALING GOD’S PURPOSE AND PROCEDURE • God’s creation unveils His eternal purpose. God’s eternal purpose is that man express Him with His image and represent Him with His dominion. We, the human race, are destined to express and represent God. This is clearly revealed in the first chapter of Genesis. In the second chapter we see God’s procedure to fulfill this divine purpose. His procedure is by the divine life. God must work Himself into us as our life that we might be able to fulfill His eternal purpose. Thus, in chapter one we see God’s purpose and in chapter two God’s procedure for the fulfillment of this purpose.

THE SERPENT’S CORRUPTION, CAUSING MAN’S FALL • In the second section (3:1—11:9) we see that the serpent, Satan, crept in to cause man’s fall. The serpent corrupted man and caused him to fall to the uttermost. Man fell lower and lower until it was impossible for him to fall any further. At that time Satan was happy and could celebrate his success. The whole human race was in rebellion against God. In a sense, God had been driven out from the earth.

THE LORD’S (JEHOVAH’S) CALLING, FULFILLING GOD’S PURPOSE BY GOD’S PROCEDURE • Although Satan, working through fallen man, had apparently driven God out from the earth, God is sovereign and cannot be defeated or frustrated by any kind of attack. All of Satan’s work simply affords Him an excellent opportunity to display His wisdom. Although sometimes I was sorry that I was a fallen person, most of the time I rejoiced, because I had been redeemed, regenerated, and regained. Because of the fall, our relationship with God the Father is sweeter and more meaningful than it would have been without the fall. If you will spend some time to review your life, I believe you will weep, not in sorrow, but in sweet remembrance of God’s wise and gracious work. When we enter into eternity, we shall exercise our spirit and recall our time on earth, and the memory of that time will be sweet, tasteful, and meaningful. God is wise. He allowed the serpent to come in. God watched the serpent and seemed to say, “Little serpent, what are you doing? Go ahead and do more. The more you do, the more opportunity I have to manifest My wisdom. Little serpent, do your best. Go on until you are satisfied and can do nothing more.” Eventually, Satan had to say, “I have done all that I can do. I have exhausted myself in causing mankind to fall lower and lower. I cannot make him fall any further. This is all I can do. I am finished.” When this point was reached, God came in, not as Elohim, but as Jehovah, the seed that was promised in 3:15. Nothing can frustrate God, defeat Him, or force Him to forsake His eternal purpose. He will complete what He has determined to perform. Nothing can change Him. Any interruption simply affords Him the opportunity to express more of His wise counsel.

If God had not been so wise, the book of Genesis would have been very short. But for God to display His wisdom, it has fifty chapters. The last thirty-nine and a half chapters are an abstract of the whole New Testament. Do you know how the New Testament begins? It begins with the words, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ Son of David, Son of Abraham” (Matt. 1:1). According to the genealogy in Matthew, the gospel begins with Abraham. The New Testament begins with the genealogy of Abraham. This corresponds with Genesis 12. Nearly everything found in the New Testament is sown as a seed in Genesis. So the thirty-nine and a half chapters that compose the third section of Genesis are a brief of the entire New Testament.

As we have pointed out on other occasions, the New Testament begins with the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom. When Jehovah came in to call Abraham in Genesis 12, He gave him a promise, and that promise was the preaching of the gospel. Galatians 3:8 proves this: “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham: In you all the nations shall be blessed.” The first preaching of the gospel is not in Matthew but in Genesis 12. In the preaching of the gospel to Abraham, the main item is the nation. The nation is the kingdom. In the next message we shall see that God promised to make Abraham a great nation and that this nation is the kingdom of God including Israel as God’s kingdom in the Old Testament, the church as God’s kingdom in the New Testament, the millennial kingdom in the coming age, and also the new heaven and the new earth. This is the kingdom and this is the gospel of the kingdom.

Galatians 3:14 speaks of the blessing of Abraham: “That the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations in Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” What is the blessing? It is the Spirit. Who is the Spirit? The Spirit is Jesus (2 Cor. 3:17). The Spirit is Jesus, Jesus is Jehovah, and Jehovah is God. Therefore, this blessing is just God Himself. In God’s preaching of His gospel to Abraham, He promised the called ones that He would give Himself to them as a blessing. This blessing is Jehovah Himself. Jehovah is Jesus, and Jesus is the Spirit whom we have received through faith in Christ. This is the gospel. Remember, Genesis is a book giving us an abstract of the whole New Testament. How we must worship God for His sovereign wisdom!

This long section of Genesis covers the lives of only three persons—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When God revealed Himself to Moses, He said, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exo. 3:6). As we shall see later on, this is clearly related to the Triune God. The New Testament is simply an autobiography of the Triune God—of the Father in Abraham, the Son in Isaac, and the Spirit in Jacob. Perhaps some will wonder about Joseph. As we shall see, Joseph does not stand alone; he is a part of Jacob. The entire story of the called ones in the book of Genesis is a story of these three persons, and the whole New Testament is a record of the divine Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, experienced by all the New Testament believers.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF GOD’S CALLING

THE NEW BEGINNING OF GOD • Now we need to consider the significance, the meaning, of God’s calling. Firstly, God’s calling was a new beginning. When God created man, there was a beginning. But that man was corrupted and spoiled. The man whom God created for Himself fell and forsook Him. So God came in to call man that He might have a new beginning with the fallen man. Even with us, God’s calling was a new beginning. We all have had a new beginning. I thank God that after living over nineteen years in the old creation, I received a new beginning before I was twenty. God’s calling is a new beginning made by God Himself. God would not give up man. Rather, He came in to call man that He might have a new beginning.

The man whom God called was Abraham. When God created Adam, He did not create a single man but a corporate man. When God called Abraham, in a sense He called a corporate man, but, in another sense, He called a single person. Although all of the descendants of Adam were created in Adam, we cannot say that all the descendants of Abraham were called in Abraham. Although it appears so outwardly, actually this is not the case, for Romans 9:7-8 says that not all the seed of Abraham are the children of God. Simply because a person is a Jew by birth does not mean that he has had a new beginning with God. Even those who are Jews by birth need a new beginning. Whether we are Jews or Gentiles, as long as we have had a new beginning by faith in Christ, we are Abraham’s seed (Gal. 3:7). Most of us are not Jewish, but we are all the seed of Abraham through faith in Christ. We are the seed of Abraham because we have had a new beginning. At the time of His calling of Abraham, God began to have a new beginning, and now we all have entered into this new beginning through faith. Whenever you speak about God’s calling, you must realize that His calling means a new beginning. I can never forget that afternoon in 1925 when I was called by God. Immediately I had a new beginning and my whole life, being, and concepts were changed. This is God’s calling.

THE TRANSFER OF RACE • In His calling, God’s new beginning with man is a transfer of race. God’s calling of Abraham meant that He had given up the race of Adam and had chosen Abraham with his descendants as the new race to be His people for the fulfilling of His eternal purpose. This was a transfer of race, a transfer from the created Adamic race to the called Abrahamic race (12:2-3; Gal. 3:7-9, 14; Rom. 4:16-17). When we say that God’s calling is a new beginning, we must understand that this new beginning is a transfer of race. We all have been transferred from the old created race to the new called race. Although we were born in a particular race, at the time of our calling we were transferred into another race, the new race of the called ones.

THE TRANSFER OF LIFE • The transfer of race in God’s calling is actually the transfer of life. Although you can boldly declare that you have undergone the transfer of race, can you say that you have experienced the transfer of life? Although we have had the transfer of race, we are still in the process of the transfer of life. I dare not say that I have had a full transfer of life. Neither can I say that I have had no transfer of life. I have had some transfer of life, but this process has not yet been completed. We all are in the process of the transfer of life.

We need an inner transfer of life. Even though we have had the transfer of race, the life within us must be transferred. If we do not have this inner transfer of life, we shall remain the same as the fallen race. If we are simply removed from one position to another, we actually remain the same in life. The mere transfer of position cannot fulfill God’s purpose in His calling of us. There must also be a transfer of life.

Since the transfer of life is from the life of Adam to the life of Christ, it is a transfer from the life of the old creation to the life of the new creation. Due to the fall of man, all of God’s original creation became old and is no longer able to fulfill God’s purpose. So God needs a new creation, a creation with a life stronger and much better than the created life of Adam. This stronger life is the uncreated life of God, the life of Christ. The transfer of life in God’s calling is from the fallen life of the old creation to this stronger and better life of the new creation.

AS SEEN IN THE CALLED ONES • The significance of God’s calling is clearly seen in God’s called ones. In Abraham, in Isaac, in Jacob, and in the New Testament believers we can see the new beginning of God, the transfer of race, and the transfer of life. Their lives can be considered as clear pictures of the significance of God’s calling.

IN ABRAHAM

The picture that is portrayed in Abraham is very clear. He had the new beginning, the transfer of race, and the transfer of life, which was a great problem to both him and God. Although the new beginning and the transfer of race in him transpired immediately at the time that he was called, the transfer of life in him took many years. It took several decades for him to have the transfer of life, and even then it was not fully completed.

FIRSTLY RELYING UPON ELIEZER • When God called Abraham out of the corrupted land, Abraham had no sons, no successors. God was sovereign. Before Abraham had undergone the transfer of race, God did not allow him to have a son. Because Abraham was childless, he relied upon Eliezer, his household servant, to be the possessor of his house, saying to the Lord, “Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the son of possession of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, a son of my house is mine heir” (15:2-3, Heb.). Abraham called Eliezer the son of possession of his house and thought that he would be his heir. Abraham was very natural, just as we are today. Although he received the promise, he interpreted it in a natural way. God rejected Eliezer, saying to Abraham, “This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir” (15:4). God was telling Abraham that Eliezer would not be the one to inherit the promise that He had given to him. A seed out of Abraham himself, born of Sarah, would be Abraham’s heir.

THEN BEGETTING ISHMAEL BY THE STRENGTH OF HIS FLESH • After God had rejected Eliezer as the heir, Abraham, at the suggestion of Sarah that he have a son by Hagar, exercised the strength of his flesh to fulfill God’s promise. He brought forth Ishmael. The wife was the one who made the proposal and eventually she was the one who was troubled by the result of her proposal. It was sovereign that Sarah was troubled in this way. On the one hand, Sarah’s proposal that Abraham have a son by Hagar was of the flesh. On the other hand, her command that Ishmael be driven out was according to God’s sovereignty. She told Abraham that he had to drive out Ishmael, the one who was born of the bondwoman (21:9-10). This command was very grievous to Abraham; he was deeply troubled by it. Then God intervened and said to Abraham, “Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah has said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called” (21:12). This meant that God told Abraham to let Ishmael go, for he was not the one who was to inherit the promise that God had given Abraham. Isaac was to be his heir. We all must realize that in God’s calling nothing of our natural life can be prevailing. To only have the transfer of race is not adequate. We need a complete transfer of life.

HIS NAME BEING CHANGED AND HIS FLESH BEING CIRCUMCISED • Firstly, God promised Abraham that he would have seed to inherit the promised land (12:7; 13:15-16). Later, when God told Abraham that Eliezer would not be his heir and that only the one born of himself would be his heir, God strongly confirmed His promise that Abraham would have seed of himself (15:2-5). After this, Abraham attempted to fulfill God’s promise by using his fleshly strength to produce Ishmael. As a result, God came in, saying, “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect” (17:1). God seemed to be saying to Abraham, “What you have done in begetting Ishmael is not perfect before Me. Now I must transform you. Your name shall be changed from Abram, which means an exalted father, to Abraham, which means the father of a great multitude (17:5). For this, you must be circumcised (17:10-14) that your fleshly strength may be cut off, that I may come to fulfill My promise, and that you may be exceeding fruitful.” Here God promised Abraham to make him a great father, the father of a great multitude. This indicated that Abraham would be the father not only of his descendants according to the flesh, but also of the New Testament believers according to faith (Rom. 4:16-17). We Christians have all become Abraham’s seed by faith in Christ. Although we were born of the Adamic race, we have been reborn into the Abrahamic race.

BRINGING FORTH ISAAC BY THE STRENGTH OF GOD’S GRACE • At the time when God changed Abraham’s name and commanded him to be circumcised, God said to him in 17:21,…Isaac, which Sarah shall bare unto thee at this set time in the next year.” Here we see that God made an appointment, setting up a time when Isaac would be born. This is referred to in 18:14 when the Lord said, “At the time appointed I will return unto thee, at the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son” (Heb.). The appointed time, the time set for the birth of Isaac was “the time of life.” This term, “the time of life,” is very meaningful. The word life in this phrase is the same Hebrew word that is used for the tree of life in 2:9. The time when Isaac would be born was “the time of life.” This happened after Abraham was circumcised. This indicates that “the time of life” when Christ will be life to us will come after our natural strength has been dealt with.

After the death of the strength of his fleshFBefore Isaac was born, Abraham and Sarah were completely deadened. Sarah’s womb was deadened, and Abraham’s body was considered dead (Rom. 4:18-19). What he had—Eliezer—and what he intended to keep—Ishmael—were all rejected, and his natural ability was terminated. Then what could he do? Perhaps Abraham and Sarah had some unhappy fellowship. Abraham might have said to his wife, “Dear, look at yourself. Your function has been deadened.” Sarah might have said to Abraham, “Dear, look at yourself. How old!” Both of them were in a deadened condition. Sarah might have said, “Eliezer is good, but God has rejected him.” Abraham might have replied, “Ishmael is better, but God would not accept him either. Since Eliezer has been eliminated and Ishmael has been rejected, that leaves you and me in such a poor situation. What shall we do?” But when “the time of life” came, Isaac was born of these two dead ones, as if it was by the power of resurrection. The time of that birth was “the time of life.” Spiritually speaking, the birth of Isaac was a birth of life.

By Jehovah’s visitationFThe birth of Isaac was by Jehovah’s visitation, by the Lord’s coming (18:14). Isaac’s birth was not merely a human birth. In that birth there was the coming of Jehovah, for the Lord had said that at the appointed time, He would return and Isaac would be born and that that time would be “the time of life.” When Abraham’s natural strength was ended, Jehovah came to bring in Isaac’s birth at “the time of life.” That was the transfer of life. Everything of the natural life must go. Even the ability to beget a son must be terminated. Nothing of our natural life or of our self has any share in God’s economy. Everything natural must be terminated until we are finished, dead, and have become nothing. Then, when we have come to the end, Jehovah will come in. This coming in of Jehovah means life. This is “Isaac.” Hence, the birth of Isaac is the coming of Jehovah. This is life, this is the new beginning, and this is the transfer of life. This is the significance of God’s calling.

It is very good to realize that we all have been called and have had a new beginning and the transfer of race. But we should all agree that we are still in the process of the transfer of life. Probably, some of us still cling to Eliezer, some want to hold on to Ishmael, and some have been fully disappointed. However, others among us have come to “the time of life.” In their case, “Isaac” has been born. Jehovah’s coming, Jehovah’s visit, has transpired with some of us. This is the transfer of life. We all need such a transfer.

We need to forget the superficial and natural teachings, such as improving and behaving ourselves. It is not a matter of behavior but of a life transfer. We all must be transferred not only in race but also in life.

When Abraham was called out of the corrupted land, he had no son. He became old and still did not have a son. Therefore, he put his trust in Eliezer, the son of possession. God rejected Eliezer. Then Abraham exercised the strength of his flesh to produce Ishmael. Abraham loved Ishmael and wanted to keep him, but God would not accept him. The promised son had to be born of Jehovah’s coming in, of the strength of God’s grace at the appointed time. When the appointed time arrived, Jehovah came to Sarah and Isaac came forth. In a sense, Jehovah came into Sarah and Isaac came out of her. That was “the time of life.” It was altogether a transfer of life.

IN ISAAC

In a sense, in Isaac the transfer of life was accomplished but it was not fully completed. We know this by the fact that Isaac still begat Esau whom God hated (Rom. 9:13). This means that within Isaac the natural life still remained. Thus, we may say that in Isaac the transfer of life was not completed thoroughly. It was completed in Jacob.

IN JACOB

FIRSTLY BEING THE SUPPLANTER JACOB • At first, Jacob was a supplanter. His name means a supplanter. To supplant means to take the place of another, or to get something, through subtle means. Jacob was one who stole in a secret way. For instance, he stole from his uncle, Laban. Laban thought that Jacob was helping him with his flocks, but while Jacob was helping Laban, he made a flock for himself. This is an example of Jacob’s supplanting. At the first, Jacob certainly did not have the transfer of life.

TRANSFORMED INTO ISRAEL, THE PRINCE OF GOD • God had a way to deal with Jacob. He transformed Jacob, the supplanter, into a prince of God. Although it took God a long time to accomplish this, at a certain time He told Jacob that his name was being changed from Jacob to Israel (32:27-28). Thereafter, he was called Israel. God did the same thing to Jacob that He had done to Abraham: He changed his name and his strength. When God came in to deal with Jacob, Jacob was truly a supplanter. He even wrestled with God. He was so strong in a natural way that even God found it difficult to subdue him. We should not laugh at Jacob. We are the same as he was. We are so strong that even God finds it difficult to subdue us. When God comes to deal with us, we wrestle with Him. Although it is difficult for God to subdue us, eventually we shall be subdued by Him. Jacob’s wrestling forced God to touch his thigh, to touch the strongest part of his being. After that happened, he was lame. From that day onward, his supplanting was over. The supplanter had become a prince of God. Throughout the remainder of his days he did not steal again. His supplanting hands became blessing hands. He no longer supplanted; he only blessed. He stretched out his hands to bless whomever came to him. He even blessed Pharaoh, the greatest king on earth at that time (47:7, 10). The supplanter became a blesser. This is the prince of God. Here we have the full transfer of race with the complete transfer of life. This is God’s calling. God’s calling began at Genesis 12:1 and will continue until the coming of the New Jerusalem. All the supplanters will be terminated and become the princes of God. The New Jerusalem will come in, not only as a transfer of race, but also as a transfer of life.

IN THE BELIEVERS

BEGINNING WITH REGENERATION • In principle, the experience is the same with the believers today. With the believers, this transfer of life begins with regeneration (John 3:3, 5). After being regenerated, we are in the process of the transfer of life.

ACCOMPLISHED BY THE EXPERIENCE OF SPIRITUAL CIRCUMCISION • With the believers, the transfer of life is accomplished by the experience of circumcision, by the putting off of the flesh (Col. 2:11; Gal. 5:24). Today God is circumcising us, and this circumcision lasts quite a long time. I believe that many among us are still under God’s circumcising hand. You may still cling to your fleshly strength or to your natural man. This requires God to come in and cut, or circumcise, that part of you. Hence, we all are in the process of being circumcised. In other words, we are in the process of transformation.

COMPLETED AT THE REDEMPTION AND TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR BODY • The transfer of life will be fully completed at the time of the Lord’s coming back. At that time our body will be fully redeemed and transfigured (Rom. 8:23; Phil. 3:21). Then we shall be the called ones, not only in the transfer of race, but also in the complete transfer of life. At that time we shall enjoy all of the blessings that God promised to our father Abraham. This is God’s calling. God’s calling is not for Abraham’s natural descendants. God’s calling is for the people who follow Abraham to exercise the obtained faith, to live by and in God, and to experience the transfer of life by the working of God. As a result of this process, we shall be altogether another people, a people of God’s calling. Then we shall enjoy all the blessings of God’s promise. All that God promised to Abraham will be the blessings of the New Testament gospel in which we all shall participate through faith in Christ.

Abiding in the Lord to Enjoy His Life: CHAPTER SEVEN EXPERIENCING THE CLEANSING OF THE LORD’S BLOOD AND ENJOYING THE ANOINTING OF THE HOLY OINTMENT

CHAPTER SEVEN

EXPERIENCING THE CLEANSING OF THE LORD’S BLOOD AND ENJOYING THE ANOINTING OF THE HOLY OINTMENT

Scripture Reading: 1 John 1:6-10; 2:20, 27; Lev. 14:14-18

In this message we will go on to see another aspect of abiding in the Lord and enjoying His life, that is, experiencing the cleansing of the blood and enjoying the anointing of the ointment.

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD AND THE HOLY OINTMENT

The Precious Blood Cleansing Us from Sin

The main items in the first two chapters of 1 John are the Lord’s blood and the holy ointment. The Lord’s blood is for the cleansing of our sin, and our sin is of two aspects: the inward sin, the sin within us, in our heart; and the outward sins, the sins in our actions. The inward sin is our sinful nature that we have from birth. Adam fell, and sin entered into him. As the descendants of Adam, we were born with a sinful nature (Rom. 5:12). No one needs to go through a training after birth to learn how to commit sin; everyone sins naturally.

Sinning comes from human nature, from the fall. Just as a bad tree does not need to bear bad fruit to become a bad tree, so man does not need to commit sin intentionally to become a sinner. In God’s eyes, human beings sin every day. Man’s entire being is altogether a lie, and every part of him is a lie. The eyes can lie, the nose can lie, and even the hair can lie; sometimes even his gestures are lies. This is because the human life is a lying life. A bad tree automatically bears bad fruit without being taught, and a good tree naturally bears good fruit also without being taught. In the same way, because our nature is sinful, whatever we do, without any special intention, is naturally sinful. Inwardly we have the sinful nature, and outwardly we have the sinful actions, which are the sinful deeds. The precious blood cleanses us from our sinful nature inwardly and our sinful deeds outwardly. This is the efficacy of the precious blood.

The Efficacy of the Holy Ointment

The other item is the holy ointment. The holy ointment here does not refer to the ointment itself or to its essence; it refers to the anointing of the ointment. The English word anointing here refers to the action of the ointment. According to our understanding of the Chinese word for ointment, it can be a noun referring to the ointment itself or a verb referring to the action of the ointment. In Greek, this word is used not as a noun or as a verb but as a gerund; it does not refer to the ointment but to the function of the ointment. This is a function of grace, and this function is the anointing of grace. Thus it is not bad that the Chinese Union Version uses an expression here that means unction of grace. The New Testament Recovery Version in Chinese directly uses an expression which literally means ointment-anointing.

We must understand the thought of 1 John. First the blood cleanses us, then the ointment anoints us. It is as if we were treating a wound on our physical body; first we cleanse it, then we rub on some medicinal ointment. In the same way, the blood first cleanses us and then the ointment of God, which is the Spirit of God and God Himself, comes to anoint the place which has just been cleansed by the blood. In this way we obtain not only forgiveness through the blood but also God Himself by the anointing.

Now this ointment remains in us constantly, anointing us continuously. In other words, God Himself functions within us to anoint us with His substance. This is like painting; you apply and spread the substance of the paint onto a surface. In the same way, God operates and functions within us to anoint His own substance and element into us. This causes us to subjectively know God Himself.

The Fellowship of the Divine Life

Most people know God as a God outside of them who is on high. This is an objective, outward knowing. Our God, however, is our Redeemer today, and by the cleansing of His blood and by His becoming the Spirit He now abides in us. He anoints us inwardly, painting His substance and element into us. Thus, we have a feeling within us and know that God wants to do a certain thing, so we follow Him to do it. At other times we know that God does not want to do a certain thing, so we do not do it.

This kind of knowing is not obtained from an outward, objective knowledge. Instead, it is received subjectively from the inward anointing. For example, small children like to eat sweet things and hate to eat bitter things. This knowledge does not require outward teaching. Rather, it is the knowing a child possesses naturally, and this knowledge comes from the nature of life. The life of the little child naturally wants sweet things and hates bitter things. This knowledge of sweet and bitter does not come from outward teachings but from an inward function of life. This function is a kind of knowledge that is subjective, not objective.

The anointing is God’s functioning within us. He is our life. As the Spirit, He dispenses Himself into us as life. Thus, the anointing is the anointing of God, of the Holy Spirit—of the Spirit and of life. By this anointing of life, we can walk in fellowship with God. We must have this anointing before we can have fellowship with God and before we can live in this fellowship.

John’s Gospel speaks of grace and truth, whereas John’s Epistle unveils that the fellowship of the divine life brings us to the very sources of grace and truth, which are love and light. The truth is the shining and the expression of light. For example, if there were no shining of light here, this place would be dark, and we would not be able to see anyone’s face; but once the light shines, everyone’s real condition is manifested and everything becomes clear. In the same way, love is the source of grace, and grace is the manifestation of love. God Himself is love and also light. Therefore, if we remain in the anointing and walk in the fellowship of life, we enjoy God Himself, and the substance of God, which is love and light, is anointed into us. The expression of love is grace, and the manifestation of light is truth. Hallelujah, how good this is!

The anointing refers to a central matter, that we who believe into the Lord and are saved need to abide in the Lord to enjoy His life. The Lord has given us His life, and this life is simply Himself in us as life. We who are saved need to enjoy this life every day. In the preceding chapters we pointed out repeatedly the way to abide in the Lord in order to be able to enjoy Him as our life. In this chapter our subject is “Experiencing the Cleansing of the Lord’s Blood and Enjoying the Anointing of the Holy Ointment.” According to the truth of the Bible, this is a solid and profound matter.

EXPERIENCING THE CLEANSING OF THE LORD’S BLOOD

Forgiveness and Cleansing

Experiencing the cleansing of the Lord’s blood and enjoying the anointing of the holy ointment are completely different from most people’s concept. The Lord’s blood first cleanses us, then the holy ointment anoints us. This is explained very clearly in the first two chapters of 1 John and is something that is according to God’s economy, but this matter does not exist in most people’s concept. Many people feel that since they have offended man and God, they must beg God to forgive and pardon them. They may never think that the blood can cleanse people. In most people’s concept, the sight of blood is frightening and any blood that is sprinkled onto people makes their body dirty, so they may wonder how the blood could cleanse them. We can see how the matter of forgiveness and cleansing goes against the average person’s concept.

In God’s concept, however, we are fallen, sinful people. Our sin does not merely need forgiveness; it also needs cleansing. For example, when you get your clothes dirty, it is an offense to your mother. Even though your mother forgives you, the dirt is still on your clothing and needs to be washed off. In the same way, to forgive, to pardon, is one thing, while to cleanse, to remove the stain of sin, is another. Therefore, 1 John 1:9 says that God not only forgives us but also cleanses us. Forgiving is to forgive the trespass, and cleansing is to wash away the stain of the trespass.

Before God and according to His law, we have sins and trespasses, while as to our person, our being, we have been stained. For our trespasses we need God’s forgiveness; for our stains we need God’s cleansing, which is by the precious blood. First John 2 says that after being cleansed, we have received something of grace from the Holy One. Within us there is something that is constantly moving and anointing, which is the holy ointment. Actually, this holy ointment is God Himself coming into us to anoint us based on the cleansing of the blood.

The Type in the Old Testament

Despite the fact that this matter is clearly explained in 1 John, it is still not easy for us to understand because the human concept does not have this thought and because it is very deep, mysterious, and abstract. In the Old Testament, however, this thought can be seen in the type of the cleansing of the leper. Leprosy does not begin from the outside but from within; then it appears outwardly to become an uncleanness. Leprosy signifies sin. Sin does not first harm our outward actions. Rather, it first enters our nature to corrupt it, and then it breaks forth from our nature and is manifested outwardly to also corrupt our outward actions.

A leper was condemned before God, and his person was unclean. Therefore, he needed God’s forgiveness on the one hand and the cleansing of his being on the other hand. Leviticus 14 says that before he could be cleansed, he had to offer a trespass offering and a sin offering (vv. 12, 19). The trespass offering was for the outward deeds, the trespasses, and the sin offering was for the inward nature, the sin. Fallen man has contracted leprosy, having an inward sinful nature that is manifested as the outward sinful deeds. Moreover, he is unclean before God. Therefore, he must be forgiven before he can be cleansed. This is why he first needs to offer to God two kinds of offerings—the sin offering and the trespass offering. These two offerings typify the Lord Jesus as our Redeemer who accomplished redemption for us.

Leviticus 14 shows that when the one asking for cleansing had been forgiven through the offering of the sacrifices, the priest took the blood shed from these two sacrifices and put it on the person’s ear, thumb, and toe (v. 14). The ear is for hearing, the hand is for doing, and the foot is for walking. Man commits sins because of these three members. For example, a young student first hears his classmates at school describing how they stole their fathers’ money, and the sinful nature within him rises up in response. Then he walks home and uses his hands to do the same thing. Thus, he successfully commits a sin, and the leprosy has come out into the open. We thank the Lord that Christ died for us, for our sin, and for our sins, our trespasses. Now through the offering of the Lord Jesus as our sin offering and our trespass offering we are redeemed from sin. However, we are still not cleansed, so we must apply the redeeming blood on our ear, thumb, and toe to obtain cleansing.

After the cleansing, the priest brought the oil and sprinkled it seven times before God. Then he put it on the ear, thumb, and toe upon which the blood had been applied; that is, he put the oil upon the blood. Following this he poured the remainder of the oil on the person’s head (vv. 15-18). In this way, the person became a son of oil (Zech. 4:14). Because he had been washed by the blood and then anointed with the oil, he was cleansed.

The natural man cannot understand this kind of truth and finds it very strange. Generally people think that Christianity instructs people how to worship God, fear God, and honor God. Then it teaches people to be faithful, righteous, and peaceable. It also teaches people to have filial respect, brotherly affection, and benevolence. It is true that the Bible does mention these things and even says much about them; nevertheless, the basic concept of the Bible is focused on the blood and the oil. God wants to sprinkle us sinners with the blood; then He wants to anoint us with oil. Wherever the blood is sprinkled, there the oil is applied. In this way we have become those who are sprinkled by the blood. Furthermore, we have become those who have the anointing; that is, we have become sons of oil. Thus, we are cleansed and can enter into the fellowship of the eternal life.

THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE ETERNAL LIFE

Hence, in the New Testament, the apostle John first wrote his Gospel telling us that Jesus Christ was God who came in the flesh and died for us; then in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit to give us the eternal life. When we believe and receive Him, He comes into us as the life-giving Spirit and gives us the eternal life. Thus, we are regenerated to become the children of God. Then John continued his writings with 1 John, telling us that whoever is regenerated with the life of God to be a child of God has this eternal life inside him and that this life brings a fellowship.

Most people do not adequately understand the meaning of fellowship; the average Christian may even think that it means “social contact.” The Bible, however, does not say social contact but fellowship. In Greek, this word fellowship is koinonia, which refers to several people or objects that can be mixed together and mingled thoroughly. For example, lightbulbs are mingled into one flow, because within them they all have the current of electricity from the electric plant and are all blended in one flow; hence, they have “fellowship” with one another. Therefore, we may explain fellowship as a flow, but we cannot say that it is a social contact.

The best illustration of fellowship is the circulation of blood in the body. The blood in the human body circulates very quickly; before we have finished speaking one sentence, the blood has already been circulating. That circulation is a fellowship to the body. The circulation of blood is a flow, but to all the members of the body it is a fellowship. Because of this fellowship our ears and our feet are connected even though they do not grow next to one another. When I am speaking here, my mouth is not the only part working, all of my members are cooperating. Even my hair is moving, and this is all because of the circulation of the blood that joins all the members in one fellowship and makes them one.

REMAINING IN THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE DIVINE LIFE BY CONFESSING TO GOD

The divine life, like the current of electricity and the circulation of blood, is always flowing. First John 1:7 says, “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.” This means that when we believed in the Lord Jesus, the eternal life entered into us and brought with it the fellowship of life. Therefore, we must remain in this fellowship, and then the Lord’s blood will cleanse us from our sins. Regrettably, this fellowship within many saved ones has stopped and is interrupted. With regard to the spiritual life, these people are deadened.

Furthermore, although we have believed in the Lord Jesus, our sins have been forgiven, and we have been saved, our inward nature still exists and the root of our sinning is still there. In the last century, there were some in Christianity who said that once a person is regenerated, sin is eradicated from him. This kind of teaching still exists today. However, John says that we who are saved and regenerated and even have God’s life within us do not have sin eradicated from our being. He says, “If we say that we do not have sin, we are deceiving ourselves” (1 John 1:8). In Greek, the word for sin here is singular, referring to the sinful nature. This sinful nature is the root of the sinful deeds (v. 7) we commit.

Because man has a sinning life, he commits sins. The older a person becomes, the more abundant his fruits of sin are. Before God every person has sinned; there are no exceptions. Of all the people born on earth, there is none who does not steal or lie. It is natural for people to lie; it is unusual when they do not lie. The so-called tactful people are just good liars. Courtesy is often a game of playing politics. If someone would say that he has never stolen anything or that he has never lied, he is the top sinner because he has not told the truth. We believers in Christ do not like to scold others. Rather, we like to speak the truth in love, and what we actually want to do is to preach the gospel and proclaim the truth. All the people in the world are cheating one another; only the Lord’s life is truth.

With the exception of the Lord Jesus, we do not believe that there is any perfect, holy person. Only the Lord Jesus is absolutely without sin. As those who have been saved by grace, we have the Lord’s life and His Holy Spirit. We need to pray unceasingly, to be in fear and trembling, and to exercise to walk according to the Spirit. However, whenever we are a little careless or loose, our flesh immediately comes out. I can testify that even though I do not commit big sins every day, at the end of each day before I go to sleep, I still need to confess and repent. Although I did not steal anything or tell any lies, I am not happy within. Of course, this unhappiness is not from the Lord but from myself and my flesh.

For the sake of my health, my wife does not allow me to eat carelessly. Sometimes people give me things to eat, but she hides them from me; then when the grandchildren come, she brings them out. When I find out about this, my heart is not happy. Of course, it is not the Lord Jesus who is unhappy within me; rather, it is I who am unhappy. Although I have not committed a gross sin such as fighting with my wife, I have committed the cultured, refined sin of being secretly angry and unhappy within. Therefore, every evening as I consider, I always discover that I did a number of things not in my spirit and without living Christ; I was altogether in myself. I confess all these things one by one.

I believe that many brothers and sisters love the Lord and have been in the church life for many years, yet they have the same “sickness” and are in the same condition that I am in. This is our problem. Even though the brothers know that they should live Christ and walk according to the Spirit, they get angry inwardly when their wives hide things from them. The sisters all say that they want to live Christ and walk in the Spirit, but whenever they pick up the telephone and begin talking, they cannot put it down. These matters all indicate that we truly need the Lord’s salvation.

Perhaps we have been saved for many years. We love the Lord, are experienced in spiritual matters, and have some experience in life, but as soon as we leave the fellowship of the divine life, we have no way to walk in the light. We may use a lightbulb to illustrate this. It does not matter how long a lightbulb has been shining or how experienced it is; as soon as the electrical current is cut off, it cannot shine. Our breathing is another illustration. No one can say that because he has breathed for many years and is very experienced, he can stop breathing for a few days. It does not matter how much experience you have in breathing; as soon as you stop breathing, you will immediately die. In the same way, we cannot depend on our years of experience in the matter of the fellowship of the divine life. We must continue non-stop in this fellowship.

We all must see that even though we have been saved, we must humble ourselves. We still have the sinful nature, and we still commit sins. Perhaps we do not commit big sins or gross sins, but we constantly commit small sins. Sometimes we get upset just because of what other people say, and we become unhappy within. All people are the descendants of fallen Adam. Even if we are moral and righteous, no one is without sin or offense before God. Our nature is just sin. Therefore, we must confess our sins daily before the Lord. We have discovered all this from our actual experience.

By way of illustration, an apple tree is not an apple tree because it bears apples; rather, it bears apples because it is an apple tree. Even if, for some reason, it does not bear apples for many years, it is still an apple tree. In the same way, you may be very moral and righteous today because you are in a good environment which does not give you the opportunity to commit sins. If your environment were to change, however, you may not be so good. Moreover, we have the sinful nature within us and are sinners by birth. Hence, whether or not we sin in deeds, still we all are sinners.

This is why we deceive ourselves if we say that we do not have sin. If we say that we do not have sin, we consider God a liar, because the Bible clearly says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God….Through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin, death; and thus death passed on to all men because all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23; 5:12). The fact that all men die proves that all have sinned. How can a person say that he does not have sin? If he really had no sin, then God could be considered a liar because He said that all have sinned.

GOD FORGIVING OUR SINS

God cannot lie. If we speak the truth, we must confess that we have a sinful nature within and sinful deeds without. Hence, we are bona fide sinners. Perhaps in the eyes of men, you are a perfect gentleman, one who is filled with a sense of justice. Before God, however, you cannot say that you have no sins or trespasses outwardly, nor can you deny that you have a sinful nature inwardly. Thus, we all need God’s forgiveness. But how does God forgive us? He does not sit on high in the heavens with majesty and authority, saying, “Because I love you, I erase your debt of sin and forgive you.” If He did it in this way, He would be a loose, careless, unrighteous God. The Bible reveals that God is a God of principle, a God who is righteous and holy; He cannot do things in a way that would violate His holy nature or His righteous character. He must do things that are judicially righteous.

The Bible indicates that the first step God took in saving us sinners was to be incarnated as a man, and this man was called Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was God incarnated, a true man with a body of bones, blood, and flesh; He was a man with real human blood. Therefore, He was qualified to be the Substitute for humanity in shedding His blood and dying for man. Furthermore, the Lord Jesus did not become a full-grown man in the twinkling of an eye. He was not born one day, crucified the next, and raised and raptured on the following day. He was incarnated according to the laws of creation by being conceived in the womb of a virgin. He remained there for nine months and then was born as a baby. He then lived the human life on earth according to the laws of human growth.

It seems the Lord Jesus did not do anything in His first thirty years except to live as a true man in the home of Joseph, a carpenter, whom others thought was His father. He truly and actually passed through the trials and tribulations of human life. When He was thirty years old, He came out to minister, preaching the truth, healing the sick, casting out demons, and releasing the people who were oppressed by sin. After ministering for three and a half years, He personally delivered Himself up to the cross as the Substitute for all men, using His real human body with its human life and nature to vicariously take God’s punishment on the cross for us, shedding His real human blood to cleanse us from our sins. In this way He accomplished the work of redeeming us so that God could legally forgive us. This was truly a marvelous work!

THE ALL-INCLUSIVE HOLY ANOINTING OINTMENT

In the universe there are two great, marvelous matters: one is God’s incarnation and the other is His death on the cross with His resurrection in which He became the life-giving Spirit. In His incarnation the Lord became a man of flesh and blood with God in Him, and as the last Adam who passed through death and resurrection, He became the life-giving Spirit. Today this life-giving Spirit is both God and man, both the Creator and the Redeemer, even the Savior. As the Redeemer He died on the cross for us to redeem us from the curse of sin, and as the Savior He enters into us to save us from the bondage of sin, the world, and the flesh. Moreover, as the life-giving Spirit, He enters into us not merely to give us life but also to be our life.

This Spirit is the all-inclusive Spirit, who comprises God, man, the Redeemer, the Savior, the life-giving Lord, and the Holy Spirit. This Spirit also includes all the experiences of the trials, tribulations, and bitterness which the Lord passed through in His human life on earth. Moreover, this Spirit includes the Lord’s death and resurrection on the third day with their efficacy. So now the Spirit is an extraordinary Spirit, a mingled and all-inclusive Spirit.

In Exodus 30 there is a type of the Spirit—the holy anointing ointment. The holy anointing ointment is made of one hin of olive oil (signifying the unique God) with four ancient spices (signifying the four living creatures, the creation): myrrh and cassia, five hundred shekels each; and cinnamon and calamus, two hundred fifty shekels each. The four kinds of spices are of three units with the middle unit split into two, signifying that the middle One of the Divine Trinity was split and died for us on the cross, and in resurrection He was completely mingled with us. This is the holy anointing ointment typifying the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit.

In this Spirit, who is typified by the ointment, there are God, man, the experience of human life with its trials and tribulations, the death on the cross, the power of death, resurrection, the power of resurrection, and all that He is, such as His human virtues and divine attributes. All these items were compounded into the Spirit. Therefore, this Spirit is the Triune God, our Lord Jesus, the Creator, the Redeemer, the Savior, the life-giving Spirit, and life, compounded with all the items of His human living, His death, His resurrection, and all that He is. Moreover, Revelation tells us that this Spirit has been intensified sevenfold. What a Spirit!

Today, all that the Lord Jesus is and all that He has accomplished are written in great detail in the Bible. This Bible is the gospel; the content of the gospel we preach today is the entire Bible. We thank and praise Him that as the Spirit He is experientially real. When we preach the Bible, this Spirit comes along. The same is true when we read the Bible because this Spirit, who is God and the Lord Jesus, cannot be separated from the word of the Bible.

When you hear the gospel, when you hear people preaching the Bible, your spirit within you is moved because your spirit can touch this Spirit, who is God Himself, that is, the Lord Jesus Himself. When He moves you and your heart turns to Him, you feel that you need Jesus, that your life is vain, and that you are a sinner without hope in the world. You feel that you have been struggling and laboring, and that even if you have some fame or accomplishment, it has no meaning. What is there in the end? What will the future be? Your heart turns and you call, “O Lord, I have sinned! O Lord, I need You!” As soon as you call, you have believed and you are saved. Many believers prayed very simple prayers when they were saved. Nevertheless, their heart turned and their mouth called. As soon as they opened their mouth to pray, the Spirit entered into them and they were saved.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD AND THE HOLY OINTMENT

What is the precious blood? It is the Lord’s blood. The Lord’s blood indicates the redemption accomplished by the Lord. Through His incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection He accomplished the work of redemption. In the Bible, the work which the Lord accomplished by His being processed is called redemption, and it is symbolized by the blood. Thus, the blood represents redemption, which includes the Lord’s incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection. What then is the ointment? We have already seen that the ointment is God Himself who is the Spirit. Our God became flesh as the Lord Jesus; He passed through human living, death, and resurrection, thereby accomplishing redemption. Then in resurrection, He became the life-giving Spirit. The Spirit includes all that Christ is. Thus, the blood, representing His redemption, refers to what He has accomplished, while the Spirit, representing all that He is, refers to what He is.

Your being sprinkled by the blood indicates that you have been redeemed. All the negative things and the problems of sin can never bother you again. Because of the blood, God forgives all your sins and erases all your offenses. After the sprinkling of the blood, the Spirit as the ointment—what God is—follows to anoint you inwardly. God is life; He is also love, light, holiness, righteousness, and power. This anointing anoints all that God is into you, giving you all of God’s being. The Lord’s blood cleanses us, and the ointment anoints us. In this way the redemption God accomplished and all the riches of His being are fully applied to us through our believing.

I am very happy today because I am a person who has been cleansed by the blood and who has obtained God Himself. I was a sinner, a fallen and corrupted person, but my God, who accomplished redemption for me, sprinkled the blood upon me, a symbol of His redemption, and cleansed my entire being for me to receive His redemption and all that He has accomplished. At the same time He also anointed into me what He is, His very being, represented by the ointment. Thus, even today, we who believe in the Lord have the precious blood and the holy ointment. Hallelujah, how wonderful this is!

ABIDING IN THE LORD AND ENJOYING HIS LIFE THROUGH THE BLOOD AND THE OINTMENT

As soon as we are saved, we obtain the fellowship of the divine life. However, the inward sinful nature and the outward sinful acts always become a problem to us, as we have described above. Both gross sins and trivial sins block our fellowship with God and give us a sense of guilt. Therefore, if we want to remain in the fellowship of the divine life, the first thing we must do is confess our sins to God. First John 1:7-9 says that whenever we are in the light, we confess our sins. When we are not in the light, we do not feel that we have sin; once we are in the light, however, we feel that we truly have sinned. As soon as we confess our sins, the Lord forgives us. If we are in darkness though, we will only see the sins of others without seeing our own sins. In that condition we cannot confess our sins, and the Lord’s blood cannot cleanse us from our sins.

In other words, whenever we come to God and feel that we are wrong or we have a guilty feeling, that means we are in the light. Spontaneously, we ask the Lord to forgive us of our sins. Once we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive us of our sins. He is also righteous, so He must cleanse us from all our sins through the blood of Jesus. The cleansing of the precious blood brings in the anointing of the holy ointment. This anointing teaches us how to live and walk.

Thus, the next time you are about to get angry, the anointing will immediately remind you that you must walk by the anointing. You can be angry only when the anointing is angry; when the anointing is not angry, you cannot be angry. When the anointing says, “Hallelujah,” you must also say, “Hallelujah.” All our deeds and actions must follow the teaching of the anointing. In this way our entire living will be one of experiencing the cleansing of the precious blood and enjoying the anointing of the holy ointment. Then we will abide in the Lord and enjoy His life.

A life of abiding in the Lord and enjoying His life is a life in which we constantly experience the cleansing of the blood and enjoy the anointing moment by moment. Whenever you have even a slight feeling that something is wrong or have the sense that you are living in the flesh, in the old creation, or in the self, you should immediately confess your sin and ask for the Lord’s forgiveness. When you confess according to this sense, it proves that you are in the light. Then the blood cleanses you, and the anointing follows to anoint you, increasing the element of God within you. You then enjoy more of what God is. You are practically abiding in the Lord and enjoying His life.

Abiding in the Lord to Enjoy His Life: CHAPTER SIX IN THE HOLIEST PLACE, LIVE WITHIN THE VEIL

CHAPTER SIX

IN THE HOLIEST PLACE, LIVE WITHIN THE VEIL

Scripture Reading: Heb. 10:19-20; 4:16; 1 Cor. 3:16; 1 Thes. 5:23

Prayer: O Lord, we worship You that You have gathered us before You, and we believe that You are with us. How good it is that we can be here around Your word, and by this we can draw near to You and contact You as the Spirit! O Lord, we really thank You that, as our Savior, You died on the cross for our sins, You bore all our offenses, You were judged by God for us, and You were raised from the dead. O Lord, cleanse us with Your precious blood. By this blood we have the boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies. Lord, we have no fear within us because our conscience has been purified by being sprinkled with the precious blood. Having peace and boldness before You, we can hear Your speaking.

Lord, we pray that You reach every one of us and visit each one. Come into us to touch our heart again, and open up our spirit and the understanding of our mind that we may have the wisdom to understand Your word and may also have the revelation to see Your vision. O Lord, cause us all to be moved by You in our spirit to receive Your grace. Cause us all to know You as the true and living God and as the all-inclusive Spirit, who is in our mouth and in our heart for us to contact at any time.

Lord, we believe that Your Spirit is with us. We praise You that You have made us Your temple; we are Your dwelling place. We and You as two spirits have become one spirit. We pray that You bless us for us to have You as our life, even abundantly. Lord, grant us the utterance and give us the fresh and clear word to meet the need of the people. We also pray that Your word, bringing with it Your authority, Your power, and Yourself, would come to people to subdue them that they may repent to You, turn back to You, and see the corruption of the world and the vanity of human life. O Lord, we also ask You to shine upon us so that we may truly know You. Even more, we ask You to bestow Your blessing upon us that we may all have life and may have it abundantly. Amen.

THE HOLIEST PLACE, THE VEIL, AND THE THRONE OF GRACE

The title of this message is In the Holiest Place, Live within the Veil. This is taken from a line of the second stanza of Hymn #557 in the Chinese Hymns. The Bible speaks of the Holiest Place and the veil. However, Christians in general probably do not know the meaning of the phrase the Holiest Place. In addition, they explain the word veil merely as a curtain used to separate spaces or things, and they know even less what within the veil refers to.

After I was saved, I was puzzled about what the Holiest Place was and what within the veil meant. I felt that it was not too hard to understand these two words—Holiest and grace. But Holiest plus place equaling the Holiest Place referred to a location. What kind of place was this? Furthermore, grace plus throne equaled the throne of grace. What kind of throne was this? On earth there is a great mess everywhere. Where is the Holiest Place? And where can the throne of grace be? It seemed that it was not easy to find them. Therefore, I concluded that the Holiest Place and the throne of grace must be in the “heavenly hall.” Thus, “In the Holiest Place, touch the throne of grace” must refer to our entering into the “heavenly hall.” Moreover, the expression heavenly hall is definitely found in Hebrews 9:24 in the Chinese Union Version, but in reality, heavenly hall, which is altogether a Buddhist term borrowed by the Chinese Bible translators, does not correspond with the teaching of the Scriptures. The term heavenly hall does not exist either in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament or in the Greek text of the New Testament.

In order to understand the meaning of these terms—the Holiest Place, the throne of grace, and within the veil—I went to many places to listen to sermons for many years. However, it was not easy to hear messages concerning these things in the common Christian meetings. It was not until one day when I went to the meetings of a Brethren Assembly that I heard an explanation of what the Holiest Place is, what the throne of grace is, and what it is to be within the veil. At that time, they had prayer meetings every Tuesday night. During the meeting, the whole congregation would kneel down and pray with loud groanings. They said that this is to “enter the Holy of Holies” and “come forward to the throne of grace.” Afterward I found out that these phrases were quoted from Hebrews 10:19-20 and 4:16. I received a great deal of help from them. After I had had a considerable amount of experience, I gradually understood the real meaning of “entering the Holy of Holies” and “coming forward to the throne of grace.”

THE TYPES OF THE TABERNACLE AND THE HOLY OF HOLIES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

In the Old Testament, when the Israelites came out of Egypt and journeyed through the wilderness, God commanded Moses to build a tabernacle for Him so that He could be with the children of Israel. Outside of this tabernacle was the outer court, which was one hundred cubits in length, fifty cubits in width, and enclosed with the fine linen as the curtains. The tabernacle itself was thirty cubits in length, ten cubits in width, and ten cubits in height. It was divided into two parts: the Holy Place and the Holiest Place. The Holy Place was twenty cubits in length and the Holiest Place was ten cubits in length. This tabernacle was the dwelling place of God among His redeemed people at that time on the earth. It was also the precursor of the temple; first there was the tabernacle, and then it became the temple. When the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, the tabernacle was the dwelling place of God. After they entered into the good land, Canaan, and settled down there, they built a fixed tabernacle of stones, and that was the holy temple. The contents of the temple were the same as that of the tabernacle, having three parts: the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holiest Place.

To enter the Holy of Holies, the priests had to first pass through the gate of the outer court which was on the east toward the sunrise. Then they passed through the outer court into the Holy Place and then finally into the Holiest Place. At the entrance of the tabernacle in the outer court there was the altar of burnt offering, where they offered sacrifices to God. In between the Holy Place and the Holiest Place, there was a very thick veil separating the two. The common people could enter the outer court but not the Holy Place. Only the priests were qualified to enter the Holy Place. As to the Holiest Place, only the high priest, who had the highest office among the priests, was allowed to enter it once a year.

In the Holiest Place was the ark, within which were the Ten Commandments which God had established with His people. Upon the ark was a cover of pure gold with two cherubim expressing God’s glory. This cover was the throne of grace. When the high priest entered the Holiest Place, the first thing he did was to sprinkle on this cover the propitiating blood from the altar to make propitiation before God for the sins of the people. It was on this cover that God forgave the sins of the people; it was also here that God fellowshipped and spoke with the high priest. Because this cover was sprinkled with the propitiating blood and had there the cherubim as God’s expression and was the place where God spoke to the high priest, it was called the throne of grace, the place for God to give grace to man.

Therefore, we can see that the Holiest Place was the innermost part of the tabernacle, and its main content was the throne of grace, where God met with His redeemed people, forgave His people, and spoke to His people. It was here that God gave grace to people. Hence, this was truly a great matter. In this vast universe there is a small earth. On this earth there was a place called the outer court. Within the outer court there was a tabernacle, the outer part of which was the Holy Place and the inner part of which was the Holiest Place. Furthermore, within the Holiest Place there was an ark. Upon this ark there was a cover where God gave grace to man; hence, it was called the throne of grace. The throne of grace was the center of the Holiest Place.

THE FULFILLMENT AND REALITY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

In Hebrews 9 the apostle Paul indicates that the first tabernacle, the Holy Place, signifies the old covenant and that the second tabernacle, the Holy of Holies or the Holiest Place, signifies the new covenant (vv. 8-10). He also indicates that the Holy of Holies today is in heaven, where the Lord Jesus is (vv. 12, 24). How then can we enter into the Holy of Holies in heaven while we are still on earth? The secret is our spirit, referred to in Hebrews 4:12. The very Christ who is now in heaven is also at the same time in our spirit (Rom. 8:34, 10; 2 Tim. 4:22). As the heavenly ladder (Gen. 28:12; John 1:51) He joins our spirit to heaven and brings heaven into our spirit. Hence, whenever we turn to our spirit, we enter into the Holy of Holies. There we meet with God, who is on the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16).

The veil which closed off the Holy of Holies typifies the flesh of Christ. When Christ’s flesh was crucified, this veil was split in two from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51), thus opening a new and living way (Heb. 10:19-20) for those of us who were alienated from God, who is signified by the tree of life (Gen. 3:22-24), to enter into the Holy of Holies—into our spirit—to contact and enjoy God as our life and life supply.

The first stanza of Hymn #770 says, “In the holiest place, touch the throne of grace, / Grace as a river shall flow.” This is what Revelation 22:1 says: There is “a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street.” That throne of God is the throne of grace. Whenever we come to the throne of grace, the grace of God is like a river flowing to us.

DWELLING IN THE HOLIEST PLACE AND LIVING WITHIN THE VEIL

Hymns, #551 is a Pentecostal hymn. In the last century, a group of Christians felt that Christianity was too dead and deadening and that it had fallen into rituals and letters and was short of the Spirit and life. From their study of the Word they saw that at the apostles’ time, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon people. Therefore, a group of Christians in England began to pray and seek for the Holy Spirit. They testified that they prayed to such an extent that they also received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This was the start of the Pentecostal movement.

The Pentecostal movement developed and spread to the United States in the beginning of the twentieth century. It first prevailed in Massachusetts and then continued on to the West until it reached the Los Angeles area. At the same time, a group of Christians in a certain place in Pennsylvania on the East Coast claimed that they had received the so-called gifts of the Holy Spirit. Thus, based on the account in Exodus 15, they called the place where they were Elim (v. 27), indicating that they were not dry but rather full of the living water. Those who met there wrote this hymn. Then in 1934 this song spread to China and reached our hands. In October of the same year, Brother Watchman Nee had an Overcomers’ Conference in Hangchow. Because this hymn could stir up our spirit very much, he asked me to translate the chorus into Chinese, and we sang it in the meetings.

In 1963 and 1964, when we were preparing the English hymnal, we selected the entire hymn. Then in 1966 and 1967, when we were recompiling the Chinese hymnal, we translated the entire hymn into Chinese. The first stanza of this hymn says,

I’ve believed the true report,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!
I have passed the outer court,
O glory be to God!
I am all on Jesus’ side,
On the altar sanctified,
To the world and sin I’ve died,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!

The third stanza says,

I have passed the outer veil,
Hallelujah to the Lamb! Which did once God’s light conceal,
O glory be to God!
But the blood has brought me in
To God’s holiness so clean,
Where there’s death to self and sin,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!

The outer court here typifies the world. Here it says that we should forsake the world instead of remaining in it. We need to be sanctified on the altar so that we can pass from the outer court through the first veil into the Holy Place, where there is the showbread table as our divine and all-inclusive supply.

The fourth stanza says,

I’m within the holiest pale,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!
I have passed the inner veil,
O glory be to God!
I am sanctified to God
By the power of the blood,
Now the Lord is my abode,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!

The inner veil typifies our self, the fallen man, and the flesh of sin put on by the Lord Jesus (Rom. 8:3). When the Lord Jesus was crucified and died, the veil of the temple was split in two from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51). This indicates that when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, our fallen man, our natural man, was also crucified there. This abolished our self, which is what separates us from God, in order that we may have an open way into the Holy of Holies to contact and enjoy God. Thus, not only God dwells in the Holy of Holies, but we also dwell in the Holy of Holies.

Stanza two says,

I’m a king and priest to God,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!
By the cleansing of the blood,
O glory be to God!
By the Spirit’s pow’r and light,
I am living day and night,
In the holiest place so bright,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!

This is a description of “dwelling in the Holiest Place and living within the veil.”

According to our Christian experience, the Holy of Holies today refers to our spirit. First Corinthians 3:16 says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” Today we are God’s temple. The temple of God has three parts: the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. First Thessalonians 5:23 says that as the temple of God we also have three parts: body, soul, and spirit. The body, which is the outward appearance, typifies the outer court; the soul, which is within the body, typifies the Holy Place; and the spirit, which is enveloped by the soul, typifies the Holy of Holies.

Only the saved ones can be the temple of God, because the temple of God is the dwelling place of God, the place in which God dwells. The unsaved ones do not have God dwelling in them; hence, they are not the temple of God. We all have God’s indwelling. Today He is the Spirit dwelling in our spirit. In the Old Testament God dwelt in the Holy of Holies of the temple. In the New Testament God also dwells in the Holy of Holies—our spirit. Therefore, Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit.” This proves that God dwells in our spirit.

Today this God who is above all dwells in our spirit! This is tremendous. If the President wanted to come and stay in our home, we would all be surprised to receive such a great honor and would treat him as a distinguished guest. How much greater God is than the President, yet He comes to dwell in our spirit! How wonderful this is! When God dwells in us, our spirit becomes the Holy of Holies. Because the presence of God is in the Holy of Holies, the throne of grace is there. The throne of grace indicates the presence of God, which is God Himself. God comes into our spirit to give grace to us.

ABIDING IN THE LORD AND ENJOYING HIS LIFE BY ENTERING INTO THE HOLY OF HOLIES TO TOUCH THE THRONE OF GRACE

What does it mean to abide in the Lord and enjoy His life? First, we must know where this Lord is whom we want to enjoy. Today the Lord is in our spirit. When I was young, I felt that this matter of abiding in the Lord was very abstract. Every time I prayed, I would kneel down in a definite and sincere way. While I prayed, I would think that the Lord must be sitting high above in heaven, and hopefully my prayers would be able to reach that high. I believed the Lord could bring my prayers from the earth to heaven far above. But sometimes I did not have the assurance that my prayer would reach heaven and be heard by God. That was my condition sixty years ago.

Praise the Lord, we who are in the church today are blessed! We all know that the Lord as the Spirit comes into our spirit when we believe into Him. The Lord, who is the God who created the universe, became flesh to be a man named Jesus Christ two thousand years ago. For our redemption He went to the cross to die and bear our sins, and as the last Adam He resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit. Now He is everywhere just like the air. Romans 10 says that while we are preaching the gospel, this Spirit is with us reaching the listeners to be in their mouth and even to get into their heart. If anyone would open his heart and call, “O Lord Jesus!” the Lord as the Spirit will enter into him.

Once the Lord comes into us, He will never leave us. Sometimes we feel that it is good to believe in the Lord, but sometimes it is troublesome, since many things become inconvenient because of the Lord. However, the salvation of the Lord is truly wonderful. He not only redeems us but also comes into our spirit. Regretfully, today many Christians do not know the mystery of the salvation they have received. How blessed we are that we can know this mystery! Our Lord, who is the Lord of the universe, was undefinable and hard to find. However, because of His mercy, He became flesh and was crucified for us. Then He resurrected to become the Spirit to dwell in the spirit of those who believe in Him, and He takes up His residence in them.

To know is one thing, but to enjoy is another. This phrase, enjoying Christ, was used first by us. The way to enjoy Christ is, “In the Holiest Place, live within the veil.” We have already pointed out that the outer court signifies our body, the Holy Place signifies our soul, and the Holiest Place signifies our spirit. To enjoy Christ, instead of living in our soul or our body we should enter into our spirit and live in our spirit.

For example, if you get angry and quarrel with others, your body, in particular your mouth, becomes a venting organ. If you shut your mouth, you become “deflated” and your anger dissipates. However, if you continue to open your mouth, the result is that the quarreling becomes more and more serious. The more you speak, the more you feel in your soul that you are right, and eventually you even act in your flesh. At this time, instead of living in the Holy Place, you are living in the outer court.

When you live in the outer court, you must be warned by this hymn, “I’ve believed the true report, / Hallelujah to the Lamb! / I have passed the outer court, / O glory be to God!” You should not quarrel any more, because your flesh has been crucified with Christ. Perhaps you feel that if you do not quarrel and give vent to your anger, your heart will not be at ease and your stomach will also hurt. However, we all need to be reminded that it is best not to use our body, which is the outer court, as the instrument for quarreling and getting angry. Sometimes we have passed the outer court—not using our body as an instrument of the flesh—yet our soul, including our mind, emotion, and will, which is the part that employs our body as an instrument, is still very active and is constantly instigating us to go out again to the outer court. As a result, although we exercise control of ourselves to not live in our flesh, we are altogether living in our soul. We try to restrain ourselves from living in the flesh, but the result is that we live completely in our soul, and we become so active that we are unable to calm down.

It may be that at times like this the Lord has mercy on us and comes to remind us, saying, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?” (1 Cor. 6:19). We belong to the Lord, and the Lord lives in us. If we receive the reminder and turn from our soul to our spirit, we enter into the Holy of Holies. Once we enter into the Holy of Holies, we enter into a refuge and reach a safe region. In this way we are preserved.

We all have this kind of experience. Every time we turn to our spirit, we repent and confess to the Lord, admitting that we live so much in the flesh and in the soul. The more we ask for the Lord’s forgiveness and pray to fellowship with the Lord, the more we receive grace. Grace begins to flow to us like a river. This means that we have touched the throne of grace. If we do this, the living water saturates us and fills us until it overflows so that we are completely in grace.

At the same time, the glory of God shines through our whole being so that we have no place to hide. This leads us to see our filthiness, to see that we have wronged our spouse and our relatives and that we are wrong in many different things. Then we beat our chest, weep, and repent. In this way of confessing we receive grace immensely. This is to pass through the outer court and the Holy Place into the Holy of Holies to touch the throne of grace. The more we touch the throne of grace, the more we have the presence of God. The more we touch the throne of grace, the more we have the riches of God. Moreover, we are able to enjoy the hidden manna within the ark and have a deeper experience of Christ as the life supply. In this way we abide in the Lord and enjoy Him as our life.

Abiding in the Lord to Enjoy His Life: CHAPTER FIVE NOT A MATTER OF SIN BUT A MATTER OF “I”

CHAPTER FIVE

NOT A MATTER OF SIN BUT A MATTER OF “I”

Scripture Reading: John 6:57; Gal. 2:20; 1 Cor. 15:10; Phil. 1:20b-21a

The title of this message is Not a Matter of Sin but a Matter of “I.” This statement does not sound Chinese, nor does it sound like a word from the Bible. However, according to my personal experience, if you want to abide in the Lord and enjoy His life, you must understand that this is not a matter of whether you sin but of whether it is you who live. If it is you who live, then even if you do not sin, you are still abiding in yourself. When it is not you who live, you are blessed.

ABIDING IN THE LORD NOT BEING A MATTER OF SINNING

Even if I do not sin and I am a “saint” today, I am still “I” without any change. Then this “I” will be the root of trouble. As long as “I” am here, there will be trouble. If we see this point clearly, we will abide in the Lord even when we would not like to. If it is that you merely do not sin, it is highly possible that you are still one hundred percent in yourself. In other words, while you may not sin, it is still possible that you are one hundred percent not abiding in the Lord. To abide in the Lord is not a matter of whether or not one commits sin. Of course, when one abides in the Lord, he cannot sin. However, not committing sin is not equal to abiding in the Lord.

Confucius never heard about Christ or knew the Lord, yet he could say, “One cannot pray when he sins against heaven.” He did not know anything regarding the Lord, but his ethical speech and ways were commendable. He was truly a perfect man. At the age of seventy he was able to do the desires of his heart yet not transgress what was right; that is, he did not sin. Notwithstanding, he did not abide in the Lord and had nothing to do with the Lord. This is strong proof that abiding in the Lord is altogether not a matter of sinning or not sinning.

REPENTANCE BEING A CHANGE OF MIND

As natural beings we have our natural concepts from birth. Thus, when we hear the Lord’s word and the gospel of God, we remember our sins. Of course, this is right. With regard to the gospel of God, our sins certainly are a problem. Therefore, all those who preach the gospel always ask people to repent, and also the people themselves realize that they are sinful and consequently need to repent. However, this kind of realization is too natural. According to the light of the gospel truth, a so-called sinless person also needs repentance. In Greek, the meaning of repent is not mainly on repentance. It is not that you have sinned and made mistakes, so you regret and correct yourself by making a turn. Rather, it is that you have done something which may not have had anything to do with sinning, but afterward you still regret and correct yourself by making a turn. For example, sometimes the sisters repent after going to a store to do some shopping, even though shopping itself is something apart from sinning. The Greek word for repent is composed of two parts: one part implies “change” and the other part means “mind.” The combination of the two means “a change of mind.” Therefore, to repent is to have a change of mind, issuing in regret. It is to have a turn in purpose.

GOD CREATING MAN WITH THE PURPOSE THAT MAN MIGHT TAKE GOD AS HIS CONTENT AND THEREBY EXPRESS GOD

To repent means to cause our mind, which was going the wrong way, to turn around. Due to our misconceptions, we think that morality is our goal and is the meaning of our human life. However, the divine revelation in the Bible shows us that God is man’s goal, man’s center, and man’s meaning. God should be his content. The Bible does not say that God created man according to the image of morality. Rather, it says that God created man according to the image of God. This means that God created man that man may express God. For man to express God, he must have God as his content. If we do not have God within us, there is no way for us to express God. What is expressed outwardly altogether depends on what has been formed within. Therefore, it is not a matter of morality but a matter of God.

When man fell, he fell into sin. Confucius and Mencius also were born among fallen men. Hence, their concept was that man needs improvement from a fallen condition to a moral condition. Because they did not know God, they tried to change man altogether by teaching benevolence and justice according to their moral concepts. This is the work of Confucius and Mencius: teaching morality and, in particular, benevolence and justice. However, the Bible reveals that God is the source and that He created man for His own purpose, that is, that man might be filled with God, take God as life, and have God as his content for the expression of God.

MAN’S NATURAL CONCEPT BEING TO DO EVERYTHING BY HIMSELF

When I was first saved, I heard about abiding in the Lord. My concept was that from morning to evening I should not lose my temper, I should always be gentle toward others, I should speak at a slow pace and with a moderate tone, I should not do things in haste, and I should walk neither too fast nor too slow and make no loud sound. At that time the books in the Bible I liked to read the most were James and Proverbs. All typical Chinese appreciate the book of Proverbs. Therefore, the Chinese New Testament is printed with Proverbs as an appendix. The book of James resembles Proverbs. James says, “But let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” (1:19). The elderly James truly was experienced. To only listen and not speak means that one could never get angry. The best way for an angry person to control his anger is to keep his mouth shut. No matter how much others may offend you, if you simply hold on to this secret of keeping your mouth shut, you will not get angry. However, once you open your mouth and the words start to flow out, your wrath will be released. Therefore, I totally agreed with what James said, and I even practiced this at times.

Later I discovered that what I was practicing was neither abiding in the Lord nor enjoying the Lord’s life. I misunderstood its meaning. As a result I practiced many years yet had no success. The Bible says that when the Lord was suffering persecution, He was “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter / And like a sheep that is dumb before its shearers” (Isa. 53:7). He was truly like a sheep. To abide in the Lord is to be like a sheep, but I was like a fast horse. How can I be a sheep? Therefore, although I fully believed in the Lord, never doubted, and behaved as a Christian, I was often discouraged because I felt that I could not make it. For a period of time I was very disappointed. Still I continued to practice and learn slowly.

What I am fellowshipping with you is based not only upon the Bible but also upon what I have learned. Perhaps some would say that the title of this message is very strange. This is so, but it is through experience that I know the truth which I speak. According to what was taught in the past, if we truly want to practice abiding in the Lord, we should rise up early, pray first, then wash, and then sit down to read the Word. However, I can guarantee that you might be able to practice this for three days, but you will not be able to continue it for thirty days. Maybe you can do it for even thirty days, but you will not be able to carry it out for three months. I myself have practiced this way of rising up early to pray and read the Bible, perhaps more than all of you. The first two days I would do well, but it did not last, and I could not continue.

Finally, I came to realize that it is not a matter of practicing certain things, not a matter of sinning or not sinning, not a matter of having morning revival or not having morning revival, and not a matter of praying first after getting out of bed. I discovered that even though I practiced all these things, I was still “I,” and I remained unchanged. It was I who prayed before washing, and it was definitely I who read the Word after praying. Although outwardly I did many things, inwardly it was still I.

Although I continue to encourage you about things—because people need encouragement and cannot do well without it—I know that in the end all encouragement will not avail. At the most you will be burning only for five minutes. Not only so, even with us Christians who love the Lord and who are zealous for Him, our zeal often does not last for more than five days. Therefore, many times before five days are up, we have to change our “gimmick.” In the practice of the church life, the elders often change their gimmick, perhaps every five months, because no gimmick can last from the beginning of the year to the end. Whatever practice we try to maintain, eventually our zeal for it will diminish. The reason for this is that I am still “I.”

NO LONGER I WHO LIVE, BUT CHRIST WHO LIVES IN ME

Galatians 2:20 says, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” Religion, ethics, or any kind of philosophical concept requires us to become perfect people who are without sins or transgressions. Only the biblical concept is superior to the human concept; its highest goal is not for man to be a perfect man without any sin or transgression, but for man to live God’s life that God may live in man. Such a concept is clearly revealed in Galatians 2:20.

“I am crucified with Christ.” We have already pointed out that the meaning of crucifixion is not suffering but termination. However, most Christians have the wrong understanding—that to take up the cross is to suffer. This is altogether a natural concept and not the pure revelation of the Bible. The cross referred to in the Bible is not for us to suffer but for us to be terminated. In John 19:15 when the Jews pointed to the Lord Jesus who was standing before Pilate and said, “Crucify Him,” what they meant was, “Get rid of Him.” Their purpose for putting the Lord on the cross was not that He would suffer but that they would get rid of Him.

The meaning of “I am crucified with Christ” is that in Christ I have been annihilated, terminated, together with Him. Whether I am good or bad, I have been terminated. Whether I am moral or immoral, I have been terminated. Whether I hate or love others, I have been terminated. Moreover, whether I disobey my parents or honor them, I have been terminated. Paul, the one who wrote this word, said that before he was saved, before he received Christ, he became blameless “as to the righteousness which is in the law” (Phil. 3:6). He could be considered a perfect man according to the law. Nevertheless, he still repented. Humanly speaking, he was proven to be one who was truly blameless, a perfect man, without sin or transgression; but such a man was still not what God wants. It was not until after Paul repented that he could say that it was not the righteousness of the law that would be manifested in his body, but as always Christ would be magnified in his body, whether through life or through death (Phil. 1:20b). The rendering of as always is very meaningful. It is not a short-lived matter but always. Paul did not magnify Christ in a short-lived way like the night-blooming flowers which are beautiful for a moment but wither at the blink of an eye. Rather, he always magnified Christ whether through life or through death. Instead of ethics, it was Christ who was magnified in his body. He said, “For to me, to live is Christ” (v. 21a).

Dear brothers and sisters, we all need to see that we are very much governed by our natural concepts. Each time we read the Bible, we bring in our natural concepts. Every time we speak about abiding in the Lord, we think that this refers to being blameless, to sinless perfection. We think that to abide in the Lord is to be a perfect person. Actually this is not so. To abide in the Lord means that in all things it is not you who are doing and living, but it is the Lord who is doing and living. In my life I have had many experiences, but what I have experienced the most is that when we Christians do not live by the Lord but by ourselves, that is the most dangerous moment. Any time you live by yourself, you may feel very good and that you do not have any problems, but actually this is the most dangerous time.

I often say that you can never hate those whom you did not once love. You would not bother to hate the people on the streets whom you do not know and who are not related to you. Have you ever hated anyone whom you did not love previously? In like manner, those who have the worst temper are not those who easily lose their temper. Those who frequently lose their temper are in the habit of losing their temper, so they do not readily go into a rage. Rather, it is those who are very gentle, who are the most like lambs, that when they explode with anger, they become altogether uncontrollable. Why is this? This is because they have been living by the self. If you love by your self and you are gentle by your self, eventually, you will hate by your self and explode with anger by your self.

The Bible tells us at the outset that there were two trees in the garden of Eden: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil comprises not only the knowledge of good but also the knowledge of evil. Good and evil are joined together; they are of the same nature. Where there is good, there is also evil; evil always accompanies good. This is the truth in the Bible. When good comes, evil will certainly follow. For example, the date trees in North China have thorns. If there are dates, there are thorns. There is not one tree that bears dates that is without thorns. In the same way, evil always comes with good.

A certain Christian said that if you have the knowledge of evil, actually that knowledge is sin. It would be best that in our thoughts and in our concepts there is no such thing as sin, for then it is guaranteed that we will not sin. If we know both good and evil, the result will be that we do both good and evil. However, the Bible does not tell us to get rid of evil and to do good. The Bible tells us to live wholly by the Lord. When we live by the Lord, not only will we not hate others, but we will also not love others in ourselves. We will simply live by the Lord.

HE WHO EATS THE LORD LIVING BECAUSE OF THE LORD

The Lord Jesus said in John 6:57, “So he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.” What does because of Me mean? To say that it means “by” may seem quite correct, but in Greek the word is not by but a word that is hard to interpret. Even the best expositors have not fully explained it. Experience is required to understand this. To explain this word, we need the entire Gospel of John.

The Lord Jesus said, “As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (v. 57). The living Father sent the Lord Jesus. This sending is not the sending in its ordinary sense, in that the sender stays back while the sent one goes forth. For example, if you have difficulty in getting around, you may send someone to get a book for you. This kind of sending means that you do not move, while the sent one moves. However, the Gospel of John tells us that when the Father God sent the Lord Jesus, the Father God came with and in the Lord Jesus. When the Father God sent the Son, He first entered into the Son, and then He sent the Son. The Father lives, and He lives in the Son. The Father’s living in the Son sends the Son. Hence, the Son as the sent One lives because there is One living in Him.

In John 6:57 the word because means that in the Son there is a living God and that His being and His living are the cause, or the reason, of the Son’s living. Therefore, this verse means that the living Father entered the Son and lived in the Son, and then He sent the Son. When the Father moved, the Son moved; when the Father spoke, the Son spoke. Whatever the Son spoke or did was because of the Father’s speaking and doing in Him. Thus, the living Father is the factor of the Son’s living and moving. The living Father lived in the Son and sent the Son; hence, the Son lived because of the Father’s living in Him, and the Son spoke and moved because of the Father’s speaking and moving in Him.

In the same way, those who eat the Lord will live because of the Lord. To eat is to take food into us as our life supply. Thus, to eat the Lord Jesus is to take the Lord Jesus into us as our life supply. This Lord Jesus is also living. He always lives in us; He lives in us daily, and He lives in us unceasingly. We are those who have received the Lord Jesus, so we should live because He lives in us. We live and move because the living Lord Jesus lives and moves in us. He who eats the Lord has the living Lord living within him. Thus, this living Lord is the factor of his living, as Paul said, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” Christ lives in me as the factor of my living. Because He lives like this in me, I live. Therefore, when I live, actually it is not I who live but it is Christ who lives.

NEEDING TO PRACTICE IN OUR DAILY LIVING

While this truth is very difficult to explain, it is still possible to speak it rather clearly. The hardest thing, however, is to apply this truth to our daily living. The young people are full of energy; therefore, it is difficult for them to deny themselves in all things and live by the Lord. The older people tend to boast of their age and despise others. The older they are, the more they think they are experienced; thus, it is even harder for them to deny themselves and live by the Lord. In addition, in great matters or in difficult times it is easier for us to live by the Lord, but in the small things in our daily life it is very easy for us to depend on ourselves. Nevertheless, as those who love the Lord we should ask ourselves, “Is it I who live or is it the Lord who lives today?” I have many children and grandchildren, and every time I have contact with them I experience a strong correction within: “Is this you or the Lord Jesus? Is this the Lord speaking in you or is it you yourself?”

It is not a matter of being right or wrong but a matter of whether or not it is the Lord. If you are speaking or behaving in yourself, then what you might think is right is still wrong. If you live by the Lord, then even some things you think are wrong are right. The revelation in the four Gospels is clear; the Lord healed the sick on the Sabbath. The Pharisees said that He violated the Sabbath, but the Lord said that He was not wrong because He is the Lord, He is God. As the One who established the Sabbath, He had the authority to put the Sabbath aside. Eventually, He said that the Son of Man was the Lord of the Sabbath. He had the authority to establish it and the authority to abolish it. Hence, we should all let the Lord be the Lord. He is the Lord; whatever He does is right. If we do it, everything is wrong because it is not what the Lord wants. The Lord does not want us to do anything. What he wants is to be in us and to live out Himself from within us.

This kind of concept is easy to understand but not easy to practice. We love the Lord very much and are willing to live by the Lord, but whenever we do anything, we always live ourselves. We have all received the mercy of the Lord to at least not do sinful things. In the matters in our daily life, however, especially in small things, it is very easy for us to live completely by ourselves and not by the Lord. It is not until the meeting time that we might remember we should go to the meetings by the Lord.

Even in the meetings we may still not live by the Lord. When you should open your mouth, you would not. The Lord urges you to praise, prophesy, or pray, yet you are often afraid and unwilling to lose face. You might feel that when you have learned to speak and can be an instant sensation, then you will be willing to open your mouth. Therefore, it is still you who live. If you truly live by the Lord, when you have the inner sense to pray, you will not care whether it sounds good or bad; you will pray. Thus, whether it is in our daily life or in the meetings, we do not live by the Lord. Whether we are newly saved or we have been saved for many years, all of us are good at living ourselves.

On the cross the Lord Jesus was a Lamb. Instead of threatening people, He was mistreated by them. After His resurrection from the dead, He became a dove. Even we often mistreat our Lord Jesus. Nevertheless, He is patient as a dove. He moves continually within us so that we would not do anything by ourselves but instead allow Him to do everything. Just as He lived because of the Father, He also wants us to be transformed into His image and live because of Him. We thank the Lord that due to His infusion and influence, even though we often live by ourselves, we do have a measure of His image. Whether we are shepherding others or going to work or school, we all need to ask for the Lord’s leading and to live by the Lord. Whenever you do not live by the Lord, even if you do good, you are still outside of the Lord and not abiding in the Lord. This is not doctrine; this is a matter of actual practice and experience. May we all be able to practice so that in every action, word, and attitude we would entirely live by the Lord and live because of the Lord. Whether in speech or action, we must live by His speaking and moving in us. He must be the factor in what we speak and what we do.

In the same principle, we love the brothers and sisters because He is in us loving them. His love in us is the factor of our love. We love the brothers and sisters because He loves them. It is not that He loves whom He loves, and we love whom we love. It is not because He loves, so in like manner we love. Rather, it is because the Lord loves in us that we love together with Him. This is to live by the Lord. The result is that we will live in the Lord and abide in the Lord. Spontaneously, we will also enjoy the Lord as our life. May the Lord have mercy on us and grant us the grace so that we all can practice this.