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Scripture Reading: Gen. 3:1, 13-15; John 3:14; 12:31-32; Rev. 20:1-3
As we have seen, the first two chapters of the Scriptures give us the blueprint of God’s plan, and the last two chapters of the Scriptures show us a picture of the consummation of God’s plan. If you cut off the first two chapters with the blueprint and the last two chapters with the picture and read from the third chapter of Genesis to the twentieth chapter of Revelation, you will realize that the greater part of the Scripture starts with the serpent (Gen. 3:1) and ends with the ancient serpent (Rev. 20:2). This shows us that after the blueprint of the divine plan had been revealed, the serpent came in right away to damage, to poison, the vessel created by God for Himself.
God’s central thought is to put Himself into all His creation as the vessel with man as the center and all the other things as an environment, an attachment, to this vessel. But before God put Himself into this vessel, Satan, the enemy of God, came in as the serpent to damage, to poison, the vessel. He knew that man is the center of the vessel of the old creation, so he came in to inject his poison into the center of this vessel. If you look at the Scriptures with this point of view, you will understand why the serpent came in such a way. In order to inject something into a physical body, you always choose a soft place. A soft place is so easy to inject something into. The enemy, the serpent, is very subtle. He knows quite well which part of the old creation is the softest; it is the females. The sisters are too soft. Because they are so soft, they are good for the enemy to come in and inject something. Many times I told people that if you are going to contact the sisters, do not reason with them or argue with them. Just drop two tears; you will convince them because they are so soft. The enemy did the same in principle. He came in to inject himself through the soft part, the weak part, of humanity, and he succeeded.
From that time on, Satan has been mixed with humanity. In the human nature there is something of the serpent. In the human nature there is something satanic, something that is Satan himself. When the Lord was on this earth, He scolded people by calling them “offspring of vipers” (Matt. 3:7; 12:34) and “brood of vipers” (23:33), that is, children of the serpent. Furthermore, He told the Jews that they were of their father the devil (John 8:44). In other words, they were the children of the devil because the life, the nature, the substance, of the serpent has been injected into the human nature. We must realize what the fall of man means. It does not only mean that man did something wrong against the law of God; that is too objective. The fall of man is also very subjective in that something of Satan has been mixed with man.
Do you know what the difference is between the body and the flesh? The body was made by God as a pure vessel to contain the soul, but the flesh is the body mixed with the nature of Satan, becoming something very sinful. If you read Romans 7, you will realize that sin dwells in the members of the body (vv. 17, 20, 23). In Romans 6, 7, and 8 sin, singular in number, denotes the life and nature of Satan. In fact, in these three chapters, sin is a person, the embodiment of Satan, and is living and acting. It can reign as king (6:12); it can rule over you, control you, and lord it over you (v. 14); and it can become your master and make you a slave (v. 20). Sin, which is the life and nature of the devil, is in the body. Therefore, the body was changed in nature because something of Satan was injected into it, causing it to be mixed with Satan. If you read the Scriptures carefully, you will see that from Genesis 3 all the things on the negative side came from the injection of the serpent, from Satan.
At the very juncture when man fell, God came in and promised that One would come as the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15). Therefore, we are clearly told in the Scriptures that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was born through a virgin (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23; Gal. 4:4); His birth was not of a human father. He is the real seed of the woman, and He dealt with the serpent by bruising his head, that is, by putting him to death. In order to kill a serpent, you do not deal with its tail, its body. Rather, you have to deal with its head. If you hit its head with a stone, you will put it to death. It is the seed of the woman who bruised the head of the serpent, who put Satan to death. Due to Satan’s subtlety today, many people, even in Christianity, do not recognize that the Lord Jesus was born of a virgin. The enemy knows that the seed of the woman refers to Christ. One day the Lord came as the seed of the woman to bruise the head of the serpent, that is, to put Satan to death.
In John 3:14 the Lord told us that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. The story of the type of the bronze serpent is recorded in Numbers 21:4-9. Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness in order to deliver the people of Israel from the poison of the serpents. At that very time, the people of Israel in the eyes of God were like serpents because they had been poisoned by the serpents. God provided a deliverance, that is, a deliverer, and that deliverer was lifted up in the form of a serpent to be their substitute. Because they were serpents in the eyes of God, their substitute needed to be in the form of a serpent. The Lord was lifted up on the cross with the human nature in the form of a serpent. I would ask you, “Was the One who was nailed on the cross on Calvary a man or a serpent?” He was a man with the form of a serpent. Jesus was a man crucified on the cross, yet He was crucified there in the form of a serpent. The One who was lifted up was only in the form of the serpent, without the nature, the life, and the poison of the serpent. Romans 8:3 tells us that the Lord Jesus came in the likeness of the flesh of sin. He had only the form of the flesh of sin but not its nature. So when the Lord was lifted up on the cross, not only man but also Satan was dealt with. When fallen man, fallen humanity, was dealt with on the cross by the death of the Lord, Satan was also dealt with.
Thirty years ago I listened to a message given by Brother Watchman Nee. He told us that Satan thought that it was fortuitous for him to gain man, to possess man, and to put himself into man as a resident within him. Brother Nee said that, on the contrary, this was a pity to Satan because having come into man, he became located. It is hard to catch a mouse at large, but if you can locate it, it is easy to catch. When Satan entered into the human nature, he was located and bound with the human nature. On the day that the Lord took the human nature to the cross, He simply put Satan, who was within the human nature, on the cross. It was easy for the Lord to deal with Satan simply by His death on the cross. When the Lord was lifted up, man, humanity with the satanic nature, was dealt with there, and Satan was also dealt with by the death of the Lord on the cross. Therefore, we are told that Christ destroyed, annulled, the enemy of God by His death on the cross (Heb. 2:14). In this way Satan has been cast out.
From the time of the cross, all that the Lord has done and is still doing on the negative side is to execute the judgment that He accomplished on the cross, that is, to execute the judgment on Satan. Satan has been cast out; that is something accomplished judicially, but once a case is tried in court and judgment is declared, there is the need of the execution. The execution of a judgment always requires executioners. After the judgment on the cross, the Lord did and is still doing many things on the negative side to execute the judgment until the time when He will have the adequate cooperation of the Christian “executioners.” When He has adequate Christian executioners to cooperate with Him, then He will come to bind the serpent and cast him into the bottomless pit (Rev. 20:2-3). That will be the end of the serpent.
This is the whole story of the greater part of the Scriptures from Genesis 3 through Revelation 20. However, this is only on the negative side, from the enemy’s sneaking in to the enemy’s being cast out. In this long period four things also happened on the positive side. On the negative side the Lord came to deal with Satan, but on the positive side the Lord first came to give Himself to us through death and resurrection and in the Spirit and in the Word. In order to eat a chicken, you cannot simply bring it to your dining table. First you have to kill it, and then you have to cook it. After cooking the chicken, you can then receive it in another form; this is a picture of resurrection. You can now put the cooked chicken on a plate on the dining table because it is ready to be eaten. When the Lord Jesus was killed, He was “cooked.” Have you realized that the Lord was “cooked” in the “fire”? He was prepared, and now He is ready for us in the Spirit and in the Word. The Spirit is the “plate,” and the Word is the “dining table.” When you come to the Word, you come to the dining table, and when you contact the Spirit, you contact the plate, and the food is on the plate. The Lord went through death and was resurrected; that is, He was slain and cooked. He has been put in the Spirit and has been embodied in the Word. He was prepared and has been presented to us. Therefore, the Gospels tell us that “all things are ready” (Matt. 22:2-14). This is the first matter on the positive side.
The second positive matter is that you need to come and feast. This is to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus, receiving Him. This is to be saved. The first matter is that the feast has been prepared and all things are ready, and the second matter is that you have to come to take Him, to receive Him.
The third matter is that, after being regenerated and saved, after coming to the Lord, you have to feed, even to feast, on Him day by day so that you may grow and be transformed. In today’s Christianity, after people are saved, they are taught many things. They are taught to do this and to do that. I must tell you that this is wrong. After you have been saved and regenerated, after you have come to the Lord, the only thing you have to do is to feed on the Lord day by day so that you may grow by the Lord and in the Lord and so that you may be transformed in Christ. The last item is that you have to be built up together as one Body. This means that you need to have a church life and to be a living member functioning in the Body.
In summary, on the negative side there is only one item: to deal with Satan, to cast out the serpent. On the positive side we have four matters. First, the Lord Jesus died and resurrected, and He was transfigured. He has been prepared, and He is ready for us. Second, we have to come to Him, to believe in Him, to receive Him. Third, we have to feed on Him, fellowship with Him, and commune with Him all the time. In this way we can grow and be transformed into His image. Fourth, we have to be built up together as the Body to have a church life and be the living members functioning in the Body. If people ask what the Scriptures teach and tell us, we have to tell them that the first two chapters are the blueprint of the divine plan, the last two chapters give us a picture of what God has been doing, and the greater part in between shows us five things, one on the negative side and four on the positive side. On the negative side, Christ came to deal with Satan, to cast out the serpent. On the positive side, Christ has been prepared for us; we must come to receive Him, enjoy Him, and experience Him; we must feed on Him to grow; we must be transformed; and we must be built up together as the church, the Body. This is what the entire Scripture says. Now you can see the central thought of God, what God is seeking. Eventually, we see that God is seeking after a building. Therefore, the picture in the last two chapters shows us that the ultimate consummation of God’s work throughout the generations will simply be a building. Do you have a clear vision of this? What is your goal as a Christian? What is your direction as a believer in Christ? You must have this vision with such a building as the goal, the aim, and the direction.
After Satan came in, he brought in many items. First, Satan brought sin and death to us (Rom. 5:12). Following this, he constituted sinful man. The man created by God was pure, but after the fall man was injected with Satan, so man became sinful and was constituted a sinner (5:19a). Furthermore, he brought in the world, the human life in human society. Do you realize that human society is a world under Satan? The world is a satanic system. The Greek word for world, kosmos, simply means a system. The enemy, Satan, systematized the human race with the human society. When you come into human society, there are many systems systematizing you. Education is a system; marriage is also a system. However, this does not mean that education and marriage are wrong. Rather, marriage has been utilized by the enemy as a system to systematize people. You need to get married, but do not be systematized. You may ask what the difference is between marriage and the system of marriage. If you consider the marriage of Isaac and Rebecca, you will be able to see the difference. Isaac married Rebecca; that was all. It was so simple. Today, however, there is a system of marriage. When people are married, they come not only into marriage but also into the system of marriage. Isaac came into marriage, but he was not systematized by marriage. I do not say that you should not marry. On the contrary, I have said that you need to be increased. However, you should not be systematized by anything of the human life.
All things of the proper human life are of God, but all these proper things have been utilized by the enemy as systems to systematize people. Hence, the human life systematized by the enemy simply becomes a world, a system. People have no liberty, no freedom, to serve God because they are so systematized. This does not mean that the young people should not go to school. Rather, I encourage you to go to school. However, do not be systematized by your degree, even by your Ph.D. Likewise, you must use money, but do not be systematized by it. You also need to clothe yourself. This is something ordained by God, but the enemy has utilized the matter of clothing to systematize people. Many worldly people do not have the freedom, the liberty, to serve the Lord, simply because they have been systematized by their clothing. Some people spend hours in dressing themselves, but they would not spend one minute to read the Word. They spend many hours to go shopping for their clothing, but they do not come to the meetings. They serve clothing, but they do not serve God. To dress ourselves is not something of the world, but to be systematized by dressing is absolutely something of the world. That is something worldly.
Therefore, we see that with Satan sin came in, death came in, sinners were constituted, and a world was formed, organized, and systematized. In addition, there is the kingdom of darkness, that is, the kingdom of Satan with the rulers, the authorities, the world-rulers of this darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:12). All these things are related to Satan. This is a satanic group consisting of six items: Satan, sin, death, sinners, the systematized world, and the kingdom of darkness. On the negative side, these are the matters that the Scriptures are concerned with. By the cross the Lord put the enemy, Satan, to death (Heb. 2:14). He also died as the One who was made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21), and He died for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3). All sins are the fruits of sin. Thus, on the cross He solved the problem of sin with its sins. Not only so, the Lord tasted death on the cross (Heb. 2:9) and thus solved the problem of death. Furthermore, on the cross the Lord has crucified the sinful man. Galatians 2:20a says that we have been crucified with Him, and Romans 6:6 says that our old man has been crucified with Christ. Then what about the world? The world has also been judged by the Lord on the cross (John 12:31; Gal. 6:14b). When man was put to death on the cross, Satan, who was within man, was also put to death, and the world, which belongs to Satan, was judged on the cross. Moreover, according to Colossians 2:15, the kingdom of darkness with the rulers and authorities was stripped off by Christ on the cross. Thus, it is only by the cross that the Lord has dealt with and is still dealing with this satanic group of items.
By this summary you should be clear what the central thought of God is. The central thought of God is not merely to put away sins, to forgive sins, or to save and deliver us. The central thought of God is that Christ has to be wrought into us, and we have to be built up together with others as the Body, which is the corporate expression of God in Christ, to be a spiritual building, the New Jerusalem. This is the central thought, and it is the direction, the goal, the aim, toward which God is working.
