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The Bible is a mysterious book. On the surface the Bible is plain and easy to understand. Hence, some people regard the Bible as a book of stories. Others, being more thoughtful, consider the Bible to be a book of doctrines. However, if we have the Spirit of God with us, we know deep within that the significance of the Bible is not related to stories or doctrines but to the Spirit.
When people look at me, they first notice the clothes that I am wearing, and if they look more intently, they notice the next layer, my skin and flesh. If there were a way to look deeper, people would see my bones and internal organs. This is the deepest layer that is visible to man. Nevertheless, I am not composed of only these layers. Within me there is something invisible, something that neither medical professionals nor scientists can uncover. This something is my spirit. Within every human being, there is a spirit. If I did not have a spirit, I would be a walking corpse, an absolutely worthless person. I thank the Lord that I have a spirit. The spirit of man is what makes man valuable.
Man has a spirit, and the substance of the Bible is Spirit. The Bible is not of the letter but of the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:6). In John 6:63 the Lord said, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” Regrettably, when many people read the Bible, they touch only the words on the surface of the Bible but not the Spirit. Many people know that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary and that He was born in Bethlehem, because they heard this story when they were children. However, there is another story within these Bible stories. This story is spirit and is life. There is not much value in knowing only the stories on the surface. We must see that within the stories there is another story — spirit and life. Only then is the Bible of value.
The story of Jesus is an extremely mysterious story. For two thousand years historians, theologians, and men of letters have acknowledged the story of Jesus. However, we must know the story within the story of Jesus. The story within the story of Jesus is of the Spirit. The Gospel of Matthew shows not only how Jesus lived, worked, and acted on the earth; it also shows the Spirit within His living, work, and actions.
Matthew 1:18 and 20 say, “Now the origin of Jesus Christ was in this way: His mother, Mary, after she had been engaged to Joseph, before they came together, was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit...For that which has been begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.” According to the Gospel of Matthew, the origin of Jesus is a story of the Spirit and is entirely outside religion. Jesus was born in the land of Judea. At the time of His birth, Judaism was a strong religion. Judaism is not a Gentile religion or a heathen practice but an orthodox religion. This religion was established in the Old Testament with a holy temple, altar, priestly system, rituals for offering sacrifices, and ways of worshipping God. These are the items that constitute Judaism as an orthodox religion.
However, the birth of Jesus took place outside religion. God sent an angel, Gabriel, to a young virgin (Luke 1:26-27). Who could imagine such a thing? If we were God, we would send a messenger to the home of a priest in Jerusalem. According to our concept, if Jesus is to be born, He should be born in Jerusalem, in the holy temple, and in the home of a priest. Furthermore, He should be born as a priest. But God is different from us. We have religious concepts and natural concepts, but God does not have any of these. God sent Gabriel to Galilee, an insignificant lower-class province. Gabriel went to a little city called Nazareth in Galilee. He did not go to a wealthy family but to a poor and humble family and even to a weak and fragile virgin. This shows that the birth of Jesus took place outside religion; it was against religious tradition and contrary to cultural regulations. His birth was a story of the Spirit.
It is a pity that Christianity has put Christ into religion and made Him a religious figure. The Jesus we believe in is not a religious figure, nor is He in religion. Where is He? He is in the Spirit.
Christ was born outside religion, outside Jerusalem, outside the holy temple, and outside the priestly system. He was born in the lowly region of Galilee to a poor and humble family in Nazareth through a weak and fragile girl. This is seemingly negative. However, Mary was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit. This was not of religion, tradition, culture, or regulation. It was entirely a story of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:20).
At the time of Christ’s birth there were Gentile religions. Now even Christianity has turned into a religion. Christianity has regulations, methods, and doctrines, but it lacks the Spirit. We must see that the age has turned. The Lord desires to turn His church away from religion, doctrines, and regulations and from the law and rituals. He wants the church to turn away from everything outward to the Spirit. The Lord Jesus was not in religion, nor was He a religious figure. The conception and birth of the Lord Jesus was altogether of the Spirit. We did not receive the founder of a religion or a savior in religion. We received the living Christ, who is altogether in the Spirit. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and His birth was outside religion.
Christ was apparently the same as any other human being, and He had a lowly status. According to the prophecy in the Bible, He was to be born in Bethlehem, but He was conceived in Nazareth. This is wonderful. When the time came for Him to be born, God exercised His mighty hand to arrange the environment to take Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, her days were fulfilled, and the Lord Jesus was born. This fulfilled the prophecies in the Bible. After a short period of time, they left Bethlehem and went down to Egypt, and from Egypt they returned to Nazareth. Nazareth was in a despised region. The Lord grew up in a poor family, and He grew up gradually, just like any other human being. However, within Him there was something different. This something was the Spirit. God does not desire religion, rituals, or doctrines. Neither does He desire spectacular material things, such as buildings. Rather, He desires the inner story of the Spirit. The Lord wants to turn the age. He does not want us to pay attention to religion, rituals, ordinances, methods, regulations, or doctrines. The Lord wants us to pay attention to Him as the living Spirit.
Are our meetings in religion? Do we have ordinances, methods, or regulations in our meetings? God does not want any of these things. God wants us to meet in spirit. Should we be quiet or noisy when we worship God? Some may say that we should be noisy; if this is the case, we have a noisy religion. Others may say that we should be quiet; if this is the case, we have a quiet religion. Saying that we should be quiet is wrong, and saying that we should be noisy is also wrong. Being noisy is of no value, and likewise, being quiet is of no value. We do not want to be quiet, nor do we want to be noisy. We want the Spirit. We do not care for silence or for noise. We care only for the Spirit. If the Spirit is with us, we can be in Nazareth or in Bethlehem. What matters is that we are in the Spirit and that the Spirit is with us.
We need to be delivered from our natural concepts and our religious thoughts. We do not care about outward things. We only care about the Spirit in us. As long as the Spirit of the Lord Jesus is present, it is right even to be in a manger. Today Christ is not concerned with outward things, which are material, visible, religious, systematic, doctrinal, and ritualistic; He is concerned with the Spirit in us.
Matthew 3:16 says, “Having been baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Him.” When the Lord was about thirty years of age, He began to minister. Although He was filled with the Spirit inwardly, He still needed to have the Spirit upon Him. The Lord went to John to be baptized. After His baptism, when He came out of the water, the heavens opened, and the Spirit descended upon Him. By being conceived of the Holy Spirit, the Lord was filled with the Holy Spirit. In His baptism the Spirit was poured upon Him. Hence, He was filled within with the Spirit and clothed without with the Spirit. The Lord was saturated with the Spirit within and engulfed by the Spirit without. This was the preparation for the Lord Jesus to begin His ministry.
However, this is not emphasized in Christianity. If someone in Christianity desires to be a preacher, he does not need to be filled with the Spirit, nor does he need the outpouring of the Spirit. Rather, he must study theology and preferably obtain a Doctorate of Divinity. May the Lord grant us mercy to see that serving the Lord is not a matter of education, talent, or knowledge; it is a matter of the Spirit. All that matters is the Spirit. We need the Spirit within and the Spirit without, the Spirit’s infilling and the Spirit’s outpouring. We need the Spirit within and without.
Matthew 4:1 says, “Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil.” In the previous section, we saw that the Lord Jesus had the Spirit within and without; however, He was still a man. As such, His actions were those of a man. However, His actions were also led by the Holy Spirit. He went wherever the Spirit led Him. He was a person who lived in the Spirit; that is, He was a person who walked according to the Spirit.
Satan’s purpose in tempting the Lord was to cause the Lord to leave His standing as a man. Satan tempted Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, speak that these stones may become loaves of bread” (v. 3). Satan wanted the Lord to take His position as the Son of God rather than as a man. However, the Lord Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone” (v. 4). The Lord remained in His position as a man. Although the Lord was a man, He was led by the Holy Spirit. The Lord was a man, but He lived in the Spirit.
Suppose a sister says that since she is filled with the Holy Spirit, she no longer wants to be a wife, or suppose a brother says that he has been a husband for many years, bearing the burden of his family, just like a cow dragging a cart, but now that he is filled with the Spirit, he no longer wants to be a husband. Such statements are not of the Spirit. A husband should still be a husband, but with the Spirit he can be a better and more proper husband. Formerly, he was a husband according to his ideas. After being filled with the Spirit, he is a husband according to the Spirit. A wife cannot resign from being a wife after being filled with the Spirit. Formerly, she was a wife in herself, but after being filled with the Spirit, she can be a wife in the Spirit. Formerly, she was a wife without the Spirit, but now she is a wife filled with the Spirit, clothed with the Spirit, and according to the Spirit. In this situation Satan has no way to deal with her.
It is a failure to be a wife without the Spirit, and it is also a failure to have the Spirit and not want to be a wife. Satan’s way is to push us to either extreme, that is, either to be a wife without the Spirit or to be full of the Spirit but not a wife. A sister may say that instead of cooking and taking care of her home, she will go out to preach the gospel because it is right to listen to God rather than man. Another sister may say that she will take care of her home and be a good wife whether or not she is filled with the Spirit. Both situations are not according to the Spirit.
Similarly, the young saints are children to their parents. They cannot resign and say that they will no longer be children. This is what God has arranged for them. When we were born, we were assigned the role of being children. We cannot stop being children, but we should not be children without the Spirit. The young saints should be filled with the Spirit within and without. They should be first-class children, excellent children, children in the Spirit.
We should never think that the Holy Spirit always leads us to a good place. The Holy Spirit led the Lord Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. After being filled with the Spirit, a young brother may say, “Hallelujah! Since the Lord cares for me and I am filled with the Spirit, my father will receive me.” If his father opposes him and his mother is unhappy with him, he might say, “I quit! My father is unreasonable, and my mother is unsuitable to be a mother. I will forget about them and follow the Spirit. I will go to the church and follow Jesus.” If he wants to follow Jesus, he should go home. His home is his “wilderness.” He should never say that his father is unreasonable. His father is a good father, and his mother is a good mother. He must learn to be a son in the Spirit.
Christianity has lost its power because it has lost the Spirit. The churches in the recovery also lack power because the churches also need more of the Spirit. May the Lord enlighten us to see our need to live in the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that we should only care for our families or do housework, but those who live in the Spirit are more diligent in their housework, and they are more thorough in the Spirit.
Matthew 12:28 says, “If I, by the Spirit of God, cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” According to this verse, the Lord Jesus worked entirely by the Spirit. He did not use His own method or His own effort; He worked by the Spirit. The co-workers should not care for methods; rather, they should care for the Spirit. The age has changed, so there are no more methods, and even if there were methods, the methods are not effective and should not be employed. We should turn from methods to the Spirit.
May the Lord grant us mercy to live in the Spirit and not use or follow any methods. When the Lord Jesus worked on the earth, He worked in the Spirit, not according to any methods. Hence, we also must serve in the Spirit. Our eyes need to be opened to see that we do not want methods; rather, we should work in the Spirit and walk according to the Spirit. The age has changed. We should no longer live in the age of following dead ordinances. This does not mean that everyone may do as they wish. Our Lord Jesus never kept the Judaic regulations; however, He never did anything in a wild way. The Lord lived and worked in the Spirit.
Matthew 3:11 says, “He Himself will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.” The Lord was born of the Spirit, was baptized in the Spirit, was led by the Spirit, walked according to the Spirit, and worked by the Spirit. As a result, He baptized people in the Spirit. If we had lived in those days and had gone to follow the Lord, He would have baptized us in the Spirit. The Lord would not have taught us to believe that there is a God, to know that the universe and the things in it were created by God, to know that our forefather is the old Adam, or to know that we are fallen. The Lord never taught people in this way. As long as a person would repent, the Lord baptized him in the Spirit.
“He Himself will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.” This is the primary matter. The Lord did not teach people or correct them; rather, He baptized people in the Holy Spirit. This is entirely a matter of the Spirit. Christianity also baptizes people, but baptism in Christianity has become a ritual. The Lord Jesus did not follow rituals. As soon as people believed into Him, drew near to Him, and followed Him, He baptized them in the Spirit and caused them to be persons in the Spirit.
Matthew 28:19 says that we should go forth and baptize people into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Does this baptism refer to water baptism or to the baptism of the Spirit? Into what do we baptize people? Apparently we baptize people into water, but we actually baptize people into the Spirit. When we baptize people, we believe that although we are baptizing them with water, we are actually baptizing them into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The first time that the Bible uses this term the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is in Matthew 28. This term is very meaningful. The Father is the source; He has a heart’s desire, a will, and a plan. The Son is the expression; He came to accomplish the Father’s heart’s desire, to fulfill the Father’s will, and to carry out the Father’s plan. The Son died on the cross and shed His blood to redeem us, and He resurrected from the dead to accomplish redemption, thus fulfilling the Father’s will. Then the Spirit came to apply what the Son accomplished. The Son accomplished the Father’s plan, and the Spirit applies the Son’s accomplishment. The Father is in the Son, the Son is the Spirit, and the Spirit enters into us. Not only so, through baptism we enter into the Triune God. Then all that the Father has planned is ours, all that the Son has accomplished is our portion, and all that the Spirit is applying becomes our enjoyment. This is the significance of baptizing people into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
I am afraid that baptism has become a ritual or ordinance. We preach the gospel, visit the gospel friends, and prepare them for baptism. When we think that they are ready, we arrange a date for their baptism. This arrangement leaves the gospel friends with the feeling that baptism is a ritual or ordinance for them to join a religion. We may tell them that to be baptized is to die with the Lord, to be buried with the Lord, and to resurrect together with the Lord, but subconsciously, they still regard baptism as a ritual to join a religion. Likewise, the brothers who baptize do it as a ritual. Since they are assigned to baptize, it does not matter whether or not the new ones are baptized in the Spirit. The brothers care only to put the new ones into the water. Their sole responsibility is to immerse people into water. This is our condition.
When we baptize people, we should be filled with the Spirit, and we should believe that when we immerse them in water, we are baptizing them into the Holy Spirit. We should have this faith, and we should help the new ones to have this faith. Through this one faith and one baptism, we enter into the Holy Spirit. Those who are baptized in this way are in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Being a Christian is not a matter of believing certain doctrines or being baptized into a religion. It is a matter of entering into the Spirit. Formerly I was a person outside the Spirit, but now I am in the Spirit. Hence, a person should not wait in order to be baptized. A person who hears the gospel, repents, and believes should be baptized immediately. If he must wait three weeks to be baptized, the baptism will not be as effective. We should baptize a person as soon as he repents so that he can enter into the Spirit.
Matthew 5:3 says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” Verses 19 and 20 of chapter 10 say, “When they deliver you up, do not be anxious about how or what you should speak, for it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for you are not the ones speaking, but the Spirit of your Father is the One speaking in you.” In verses 42 through 45 of chapter 22 Jesus said, “What do you think concerning the Christ? Whose son is He? They said to Him, David’s. He said to them, How then does David in spirit call Him Lord, saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand until I put Your enemies underneath Your feet’? If then David calls Him Lord, how is He his son?” A person who is baptized into the Spirit becomes a person in the Spirit. These three portions of the Scriptures show three characteristics of a person in the Spirit. First, he is poor in spirit (5:3). This is not about being humble; it does not refer to humility. Rather, it is being emptied in spirit. Such a person can say, “I have lived for so many years, yet I still need to know God.” He may be very successful in the world, be very educated, and have many things, but he knows that he is short of God. Because he is poor in spirit, he wants God. Such a person is blessed. He does not tell the Lord that he knows or that he understands. He is poor in his spirit and tells the Lord that he does not understand the heavenly things, the spiritual things. If he is poor in spirit in this way, he will be blessed, and the kingdom of the heavens will be his. A person who is poor in spirit is in another realm; he is in the kingdom. He is no longer in the earthly realm but in the heavenly realm.
Second, when a person who has been baptized into the Spirit encounters a difficult situation, he is not anxious as to what to do or say, because it is not his responsibility to speak; the Spirit of the Father speaks in him (10:19-20). A person who is anxious is exercising his mind. Instead of exercising our mind, we should follow the indwelling Spirit. To be anxious is to depend on ourselves, but to follow the Spirit is to depend on the Lord. This is the principle of being a Christian.
Third, a person who is in the Spirit is able to know Christ in his spirit. According to the flesh, Christ is the offspring of David, but in spirit David called Christ Lord (22:42-45). David did not know Christ according to the flesh; he knew Christ in the spirit. This is the type of person we should be. We should know Christ in our spirit.
