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The Lord Jesus was born outside religion, people sought Him outside religion, and people served Him outside religion. People served the Lord, followed Him, and walked with Him outside religion. Before the Lord Jesus began His ministry, He was introduced by His forerunner, John the Baptist. This introduction was also outside religion. The Lord Jesus was introduced outside religion.
Matthew 3:1-6 says, “Now in those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near. For this is he who was spoken of through Isaiah the prophet, saying, ‘A voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight His paths.’ Now this John had his garment of camel’s hair and a leather girdle around his loins, and his food was locusts and wild honey. At that time Jerusalem and all Judea and all the surrounding region of the Jordan went out to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.” In verse 11 John said, “I baptize you in water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is stronger than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He Himself will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.”
John the Baptist introduced Christ. According to the Bible, John was born a priest. The priests were central figures in the Jewish religion. They lived in the temple, wore the priestly garments, and ate the priestly food, the sacrifices. The work that the priests did was also special. In addition to offering sacrifices and setting the bread of the Presence in order, they lit the lamps, burned incense, and lived in God’s presence. This was the life of an Old Testament priest. The one who introduced the Lord Jesus was a priest. Ordinarily, a priest should live in the temple, wear priestly robes, eat priestly food, and do the priestly work. However, John the Baptist introduced the Lord Jesus in a way that was contrary to religion. He put religion aside. Not only so, he went against the culture that was attached to religion. The priests lived in the temple, but John lived in the wilderness. The wilderness cannot compare with the temple. The temple was the center of the Jewish religion and a place of culture; whereas the wilderness was completely outside religion and culture. If we had a choice, would we choose the temple or the wilderness? I am afraid that even though many of us shout that we want the wilderness, in our heart we would rather have the temple.
What does the temple signify, and what does the wilderness signify? In Christianity, especially in Catholicism, people like to build chapels with tall steeples and painted glass. There is a logic to this kind of architecture. When we go to an open stadium or to a field, we feel released, but when we walk into a chapel, we are filled with a sense of respect and dare not be casual. This is the culture of the temple. The ritual of worship in the temple is very solemn and serious. First a pastor goes to the platform and leads the congregation to sing, then a music conductor directs the choir to sing a four-part harmony, and then a young lady sings a solo. After singing, a minister leads the congregation in the reading of the Scripture, which is followed by prayer. After all this a doctor of divinity gives a message. Finally, the congregation is dismissed following a benediction: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” This is religion. This is today’s temple.
To be in the wilderness is to be without regulations, ceremonies, and established rules, that is, to do everything according to the Spirit’s leading. The religionists would say that such worship cannot be considered as worshipping God, because there is no religious atmosphere. This is the significance of being in the wilderness. By the eighteenth century the Anglican Church had become the state church of England, and every person who was born in England was born into the Anglican Church. The Anglican Church taught that the word of God is holy and therefore should not be preached outside of a sacred place such as a chapel that had been consecrated and sanctified. The holy word of God could be preached only in a chapel and not anywhere else. Anyone who preached the word of God outside a chapel was committing a serious offense. But God raised up John Wesley as His servant in England. Just like John the Baptist, John Wesley preached in the “wilderness.” He did not preach in a chapel; instead, he preached on the street. When he spoke, his listeners were touched, some even to tears, and thousands repented.
These examples should help us understand the significance of the temple and of the wilderness. When we sit quietly in a meeting, we are in the temple. Suppose a brother stands up and says, “I have a testimony. Hallelujah! I am not in the temple; I am in the wilderness. I am released! I have been set free from religion!” Then another brother also stands up and says, “Amen! Hallelujah!” If this is the way we meet, we are not in the temple but in the wilderness. May the Lord lead us out of religion, ordinances, and oldness.
There are many experienced, godly, and well-behaved saints. They are somewhat older and frown upon this way of meeting. An older saint once said to me, “Brother Lee, you need to balance the young ones. They are too loud. We can hardly bear it any longer.” I told him, “Perhaps the young ones are too loud. Maybe they should not be so loud, or maybe they should even be silent. However, allow me to say that you need the Lord to balance you. You need to be a little louder. You should take the lead to be louder and stronger than the young ones. I do not know whether or not the young people should be loud, but I do know that you need to be loud.”
If a brother is for being loud, being loud will be his temple. The younger saints are for being loud. They insist on being loud and are not happy when they must be quiet. The louder they are, the happier they are; thus, being loud has become their temple. The older saints like to be quiet; hence, being quiet has become their temple. However, the Lord does not want us to be in religion. His leading is often the opposite of what we want. If we want to be loud, He may tell us not to. If we want to be silent, He may tell us that we must be loud. Whatever we desire to do may become our temple, but it is not what the Lord wants. What we dislike is often our wilderness, and that is what the Lord wants.
Now that we are clear concerning the significance of the temple and the wilderness, we should ask ourselves which is better. The young people should consider what is their wilderness. If their temple is to be loud, then their wilderness is to be quiet in a meeting. The older saints should also consider what is their wilderness. Their wilderness might include not only being loud but also jumping. When they are loud and jump, they are in the wilderness, and they are against religion. John the Baptist was born a priest. He should have lived in the temple, worn a priestly robe, eaten priestly food, and done the priestly work of offering sacrifices, setting the bread of the Presence in order, lighting the lamps, and burning the incense. However, in order to introduce Christ, he went against religion by living in the wilderness and wearing a garment of camel’s hair. Leviticus 11 speaks of ordinances concerning contacting clean and unclean animals and concerning being defiled by them. Verse 4 says that camels are unclean and that the Israelites were not to touch them. However, John the Baptist wore garments made of camel’s hair. This was against the religious regulations, but the Lord liked it. May the Lord grant us mercy to see that He is not for religion. John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey, which was against the Jewish culture and tradition. John the Baptist was not an accident. Christ had come! He is always contrary to religion and does not remain in a religious atmosphere. Therefore, those who introduce Christ are contrary to religion. They live in the wilderness, wear camel’s hair, and eat locusts and wild honey.
John the Baptist introduced Christ in a very particular way. Instead of preaching doctrines, he proclaimed, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 3:2). The Greek word for repent means to “have a change of mind,” that is, to have a change of concept. John seemed to be proclaiming, “Another sphere, another realm, has come. Turn and have a change of concept. Turn from your way of worship. Turn from your religious ordinances. Formerly, we offered sacrifices in the temple, set the bread of the Presence in order, lit the lamps, and burned incense, but now we must abandon these things.”
John the Baptist did not teach doctrines to those who repented; rather, he buried them in water. John terminated and buried anyone who had a change of mind. It did not matter whether a person was a chief priest, a tax collector, or a scribe; as soon as they repented, John buried them. They were buried out of their old society, old religion, old culture, old ordinances, and old methods. Once they were buried, they were terminated.
However, this was not the end. In verse 11 John the Baptist said, “I baptize you in water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is stronger than I...He Himself will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.” John buried people and terminated them, but the Lord Jesus, whom John introduced, would enliven the buried and terminated people so that they would be His followers. The way that John introduced the Lord Jesus was very crude and uncultured.
If John were to introduce Christ according to the Jewish religion, he would have convened a meeting with the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes. In the meeting he would say, “The purpose of this meeting is to introduce Christ. Thank God that Christ is born. I am John, a priest, and I am here to introduce Christ.” He would then ask Christ to go up to the platform, and continue, “This is Jesus Christ. He was born in Bethlehem and grew up in Nazareth. Now I would ask all of you to come forward to shake hands with Him and congratulate Him.” This is the religious way, but John did not introduce Christ in this way. Instead, he was by the river Jordan in the wilderness. The people that went to him repented and were buried one by one. John told them that he buried them, but Jesus Christ would come and baptize them in the Holy Spirit and fire so that they would be made alive. The Lord Jesus was introduced in a way that had no religious color, background, or atmosphere.
Matthew 11:18-19 says, “John came neither eating nor drinking; and they say, He has a demon. The Son of Man came eating and drinking; and they say, Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is justified by her works.” John had no taste for eating or drinking. Since the Lord was introduced by John, people thought that the Lord should not have a taste for eating or drinking. John did not eat or drink, but the Lord Jesus ate and drank. He was not according to the new religious thought. The Lord did not even eat and drink in an ordinary manner: He feasted in Matthew’s home with tax collectors and sinners (9:9-10). This was intolerable to John’s disciples. Is it right to eat and drink? Or is it right to not eat and drink? Hallelujah! There is no regulation. Is it right to be loud or remain quiet in the meetings? Both are right, and both are also wrong. Both right and wrong belong to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. To be concerned with being right or wrong is to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord does not care for being right or wrong. He cares only for the tree of life. To be loud is not right, and to remain quiet is also not right.
The Lord said, “Wisdom is justified by her works” (11:19). Wisdom is Christ (1 Cor. 1:24, 30). All that Christ did was according to the wisdom of God, which is Christ, and He was justified, vindicated, by His wise deeds and works. The King James Version uses children instead of works in Matthew 11:19 (cf. Luke 7:35). The New Testament believers are the children of wisdom, who justify Christ and His deeds and follow Him as their wisdom. We do not follow eating or not eating. We follow only Christ. If Christ is loud in us, we should be loud, and if He is quiet in us, we should be quiet.
The young saints like to be loud, but they must ask themselves whether Christ is the One who is loud in them. If they have the assurance that Christ is the One who is loud in them, it is right to be loud. My concern is that the Lord is not loud in them. The older saints should also ask themselves whether the Lord Jesus is quiet within them. If the Lord Jesus is quiet within them, then it is right to be quiet. It is not a matter of whether we should be loud or be quiet; it is a matter of having the Lord Jesus in us. It is not a matter of eating or not eating but a matter of having wisdom. Wisdom is the living Christ. We follow the living Christ however He leads us.
Our problem is that we follow methods instead of wisdom. Formerly, we met according to the old method. We came to the meeting and sat quietly until a brother called a hymn. Then an elder or responsible brother would say, “Let us pray together, and then we can pray one by one.” After the prayer an elder would announce that it was time to give testimonies. After half a minute of silence, another elder would encourage us to be bold because time is precious. If there was still no response, another elder would call on a certain brother to give a testimony. This brother would stand up reluctantly and give a rambling testimony. This was the situation of our meetings in the past. We all have been in such meetings. I praise the Lord that this time when I came to Taiwan, the old religion has been buried to some extent. However, although the old religion has been buried, a new religion has been brought in.
The disciples of John the Baptist also brought in a new religion. John the Baptist lived in a way of neither eating nor drinking, and his work was to baptize people. However, not long afterward, his disciples formed a religion of baptizing people. In John 3, before John was thrown into prison, his disciples were questioning a Jew about purification. The Jew might have said, “We do not need baptism. We have the rite of purification. We wash our hands and feet, and we are clean.” The disciples of John might have replied, “Your washing is not good enough, because you just wash your hands and feet. The washing by our rabbi John is better. He buries you into the water.” Thus, the disciples of John probably regarded baptism as the best rite of purification. This was a new religion. When John began to minister, he did not establish a religion of baptism. He baptized people and buried them in order to introduce them to Christ. However, based on this baptism, his disciples formed a religion of baptism. This religion continued to exist until the time of Acts 19:3-5. Up until that time some of the people did not care about going to Christ or being baptized into Christ; they only cared about baptism as a ritual.
Based on John’s not eating and drinking, the disciples of John also set up the regulation of fasting. When they saw that the Lord Jesus and His disciples were feasting, they questioned the Lord, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but Your disciples do not fast?” (Matt. 9:14). The disciples of John formed two new religious practices: the practice of baptism and of fasting. Their old religion was buried, but a new religion was raised up. The old religion was over, but a new religion appeared. Our way of meeting in the past was according to an old religion, but I am concerned that our present way of meeting has become a new religion. The saints have been trained to have a new way of meeting. The meeting begins with loud prayers, then there is a time for sharing, and finally there is some testifying. The brothers and sisters must bury these steps. We buried the old religion, and we must also bury the new religion. Any form of religion must be buried. The way to meet is to be in spirit, not to follow procedures. It is a matter of wisdom, not a matter of eating or not eating. Sometimes we may be loud, but sometimes we may not be loud. Sometimes we may have some sharing, but sometimes we may not have some sharing. Sometimes we may testify, but sometimes we may not testify. There is no regulation.
Formerly our prayers were long. A brother could pray for at least one or two minutes. Certain saints had the ability to pray for fifteen minutes. They prayed long prayers in every prayer meeting. Such long prayers caused everyone to sleep. The long prayers were so intimidating that other saints would not dare to pray. Only the co-workers, elders, deacons, and responsible ones were able to pray, but their prayers were routine and long.
Now there are no long prayers. Everyone prays short prayers. The saints proclaim, “Praise the Lord,” “The Lord is good,” “The Lord is lovely,” “We eat locusts and wild honey,” “We wear garments of camel’s hair.” Is this kind of prayer good? Yes, it is good. However, praying short prayers has become a new regulation. Sometimes there is the need for someone to offer a long prayer. In the meetings everyone is loud, and everyone prays short prayers, but it is more enjoyable for there to be a long prayer between the short prayers. However, there should not be any regulation concerning this.
In the past when there was no regulation, we were at a loss and did not know what to do. It is difficult for the young people to give up being loud, but Jesus is the Lord when we are loud, and He is also the Lord when we are not loud. The Lord does not always want the older saints to be quiet. When the older saints insist on being quiet, they are the Lord, not Jesus. It is a precious experience for Jesus to be the Lord. Tonight He may want us to be loud, but tomorrow night He may want us to weep, to jump, or to remain quiet. There is no regulation.
May the Lord be merciful to us. The age has changed, and the old religion has been buried. No one should say that being quiet is right, nor should anyone say that being loud is right. Both are right, and both are wrong. We do not eat or drink, and we do not abstain from eating and drinking. We do not have meetings with long prayers, nor do we have meetings with short prayers. In our meetings we have both long prayers and short prayers. Hallelujah! We do not have an old religion, nor do we have a new religion. We only have the leading of the Spirit. We follow Christ and take Him as our wisdom. We have left religion, regulations, rituals, and methods. We have neither the old practices nor the new practices. We have Christ, we have wisdom, and we have the Spirit.
