
Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 2:14-16; 3:3-6
As we have seen in the past two chapters, 2 Corinthians gives us a full portrait of a person living in the presence of God, that is, in the Holy of Holies. After chapter 1 the apostle Paul starts to tell us what kind of person he is as he is living in the Holy of Holies. He mentions a number of aspects of such a person who is living in the presence of God, in the Holy of Holies, all the time.
The first aspect of a person living in the Holy of Holies all the time can be seen in 2:14, where Paul says, “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ.” W. J. Conybeare, in his translation of 2 Corinthians, tells us that the Greek word for leads us in triumph was a special word used in ancient times to describe a triumphal procession. In the Roman Empire, when a general won a battle, he captured many captives. Then in the capital there was a celebration of the victory, and in that celebration there was a triumphal procession with many captives to make a show of the victory gained by the general. The apostle Paul adopted this expression to show that Christ is the General who gained the victory and that God today is celebrating Christ’s victory.
Among so many who have been captured by Christ, Paul was one. He was one of the biggest opponents to Christ and to His gospel. One day on the road to Damascus, he was conquered, subdued, and captured (Acts 9:1-9). From that day he became a captive of Christ. We may think that Paul was going out to travel here and there as a wonderful preacher. But according to his feeling, he was in the triumphal procession of Christ as a captive. God is celebrating the victory of Christ with a triumphal procession, with a train of captives. Paul was a captive in the celebration of Christ’s victory. He had been captured by Christ.
The first aspect of a person living in the Holy of Holies is that of a captive. First of all, we have to be captives of Christ in the train, in the procession, of the celebration of Christ’s victory. If we are going to live in the Holy of Holies, to enjoy Christ as the good land, to be in the spirit, we must first be captured by Christ. Christ has to conquer us, subdue us, and capture us. Truthfully speaking, many of us must admit that instead of us being captives to Christ, Christ is a captive to us. All day we are celebrating our victory, with Christ as a captive in the train of our celebration. In our experience who is the captive — Christ or we? Who is celebrating the victory? Who is defeated — we or Christ? Many of us have to admit that nearly all the time, Christ our Savior has been defeated and captured by us, becoming our captive in the train of the celebration of our fleshly victory.
This is the challenge in this chapter — a person living in the Holy of Holies must be a captive in the train of Christ’s triumphal procession, celebrating Christ’s victory on the cross. In so many things and nearly in all things, we are not subdued or conquered by Christ. It may be that our will, the human will, the self-will, has never been conquered. On the one hand, we as believers are slaves to Christ. But on the other hand, we are still opponents, enemies, to Christ because even until now our will has not been subdued or conquered. We should consider whether or not our desire has been conquered by Christ. I realize from my own experiences that even in seeking spiritual things we may still be an enemy of Christ. While we are seeking spiritual things, we are still an opponent to Christ because we seek spiritual things in our way according to ourselves, according to our desire. We may be seeking the Lord yet be seeking Him according to our will. On the one hand, we are seekers of the Lord, but on the other hand, we are opponents to Christ. We must realize that we first have to be conquered. We have to be defeated, praying from the depths of our being, “Lord, defeat me. Be merciful to me, and never let me have the victory. O Lord, how dangerous and how pitiful it would be if You would allow me to have the victory. Lord, keep me defeated.”
Day by day there are many struggles, not between you and the world but between you and the Lord. Day by day there are many battles, not between you and sins but between you and the Lord. Do not focus on the world or sins, but take care of the battle between you and the Lord. If you would only be willing to be defeated by the Lord, all the world and all the sins would be under your feet. You are defeated by the world because you defeated Christ. You are defeated by besetting sin because you are defeating Christ all the time. I hope that you would concentrate your prayer on this one thing — “Lord, make me Your captive. Never let me win. Defeat me all the time.” After praying in this way, you will see what will happen to you. All the self-will, self-desire, self-emotion, self-thoughts, and so many things of the self are still existing with you, and day by day, hour after hour, Christ has been defeated by you. This is the problem.
We may think that we are called to serve the Lord, that we are going to do some work for the Lord. We may think that we are serving the Lord in an absolute way, but we do not know how many rebellious elements are within us. The germs, the elements of rebellion, are still within us, so we have to be defeated, conquered, subdued, and eventually carried away as a captive in the triumphal procession of Christ’s victory. Second Corinthians is not a book of doctrine but the autobiography of a person who considered himself as a captive in the train of the triumphal procession of God’s celebration of Christ’s victory over His enemies. Paul said that God “always leads us in triumph.” When I was young, I thought that this was my triumph. Today, though, I realize that this is not my triumph but His triumph. God always leads us as a captive in the triumph of Christ.
Are you willing to be a captive? You need to tell yourself and tell the Lord that you are willing to be a captive of Christ. If only a small number of people would be willing to be captives of Christ in His triumphal procession, the entire United States would be greatly affected. Many seek for gifts of power, but what the church needs, what the world needs, is not a gifted person but a captured person. Today what the church needs is not a spiritual giant but a little captive. In this universe and on this earth, God is celebrating the triumph of His Son, Christ. Are you willing to be just a little captive in this celebration? If you are willing, then wherever you go, something will happen. Person after person will be captured. Just as you are a captive, they also will become captives of Christ. We may consider the apostle Paul as a great preacher, but he considered himself as a captive. God leads us as captives in the triumph of Christ, celebrating His victory. We have to be willing to be Christ’s captives.
I believe that a great number of young people today are ready and willing to serve the Lord, but I am greatly concerned that their seeking is along the lines of power, gifts, teachings, and knowledge. This seeking is on the wrong track. First, we have to be conquered, defeated, and captured by Christ. We need to bow our knees and say to Him, “Lord, I am willing to be Your captive.”
After Paul tells us that he is a captive in chapter 2, he goes on to tell us that we have to be letters of Christ in 3:3. The second aspect of a person who lives in the spirit, the Holy of Holies, is that he is a letter. In 3:3 Paul said that “you are a letter of Christ ministered by us, inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God.” A letter is something that has been written. But if you have never been captured by Christ, you could never be written on by the Spirit of the living God. First, you have to be captured. To be captured by Christ means that your emotions are subdued, your will is subdued, and even your desires are captured. Then the Spirit has a free way to write on you whatever He wants to write of Christ. Christ has been put into you (Col. 1:27), and as the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17) He is within you to write the elements, the riches, of Christ into your whole being. But if you are rebellious in your mind, in your emotions, and in your will, there is no way for the Spirit of Christ to write something of Christ into your being. He is waiting for you to be willing to be captured by Christ. If you are conquered, defeated, subdued, and captured by Christ, you will be a good piece of paper for the Spirit’s writing.
You may think that you are able to go out to do some work for the Lord, but you may merely be “a piece of blank paper” with not much of Christ written into you. How much of Christ can others read in your being? This is not merely a matter of speaking or preaching but a matter of being read by others. How much of Christ can be seen or read by others in you? This depends upon how much of Christ has been written into you.
The inner working of the indwelling Christ is an inner writing. The Spirit of the living God is within you waiting all the time for a chance to write something of Christ into your being, into your inward parts. But I say again that until you are willing to be captured by Christ, the Holy Spirit can write nothing of Christ into you. Christ is in your spirit (2 Tim. 4:22), but He is not so much in your mind, emotion, and will. You have Christ within you, but you may be rebellious in your mind, emotion, and will. Now you need to be defeated, conquered, subdued, not doctrinally but practically in your mind, emotion, and will. When you are really subdued by Christ, the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Christ within you, will have the chance, the free way, to write something of Christ gradually into every part of your being. Paul uses the word inscribed, not merely written. Christ is inscribed into every part of our inner being with the Spirit of the living God to make us His living letters so that He may be expressed and read by others in us.
I am for the study of the Bible, but if you study the Bible only with the desire to get the knowledge of the letters, you will get very little. It is not the knowledge of the letters but the Spirit who gives life (2 Cor. 3:6); it is not the teachings but the Spirit who gives life. If you consider that to read or to study the Word of God is merely to get some knowledge or teaching, you are absolutely wrong. To read and to study the Word is mainly to feed your inner man, to nourish your inner man, not merely to get the knowledge (Jer. 15:16; 1 Tim. 4:6). Regardless of how much knowledge you get from the Bible, if you are not subdued by Christ and being written into with the Spirit of the living God, you can do nothing for the Lord in a way which will really build up His Body.
If we are going to build up His Body, first of all, we ourselves have to be defeated. We have to be conquered. Then we will be under the inner writing of the Spirit all the time. There will be a writing, an inscribing, of Christ going on within us, not by the letters of knowledge in our mind but by the living Spirit in and out from our spirit. Some element of Christ will be inscribed, will be wrought, into the inward parts of our whole being. Something of Christ will be inscribed into our mind, our emotion, our will, and our whole person, our whole being, will become a letter of Christ. It is not merely that we go out to preach Christ by our speaking but that we are persons with Christ inscribed into our being as a living letter of Christ. Wherever we go, people can see and read something of Christ within us.
This is a matter of the ministry, not of gift. You may receive a gift in an instant, but if you are going to have a ministry, you will need an amount of time to be conquered, subdued, and captured by Christ. Eventually, the way will be paved for the indwelling Christ to write Himself gradually, little by little, into your being. Then you will become a minister with a ministry, not merely a gifted person with a gift.
Whatever has been revealed in the Scriptures has to be written or inscribed into you, not merely by your studying of the Word or your reading of the Bible but by your being willing to be captured by Christ. Many Christians think that if they hear better messages to acquire more Bible knowledge, they will become better believers. This is a wrong understanding. To be a minister with a ministry to build up the Body of Christ is not a matter of receiving better teachings or a certain help from hearing messages but a matter of Christ inscribing Himself into us in a living, real, active, and practical way.
How much we need to pray-read the verses in this chapter in a desperate way! We may even fast and pray, “Lord, in my whole life I have never been conquered by You. I have been seeking, but I have never been conquered or captured by You. I am so rebellious toward You in my mind, emotion, and will. Lord, I am fasting for this matter. Be merciful to me and conquer and capture me.” We need such a specific prayer to the Lord. Then we will be a good piece of paper for the living Spirit to inscribe all the riches of Christ into our being. God will accomplish something through us as captives and as living letters of Christ.