Search
We have seen the centrality and universality of Christ — Christ as the central One and the universal One. Furthermore, we have seen that He is the all-inclusive and subjective Christ to us. On the one hand, we stress the all-inclusiveness of Christ — He is the center, the circumference, and everything. On the other hand, we want to see that this very central, universal, all-inclusive Christ is so subjective to us. If He is not subjective to us, He has nothing to do with us, and we cannot experience Him as life and everything to us.
We all may realize that with a subject as big as the centrality and universality of Christ, there are many things to see. However, we are not dealing with doctrinal matters here; we are dealing with the experiential matters. Therefore, we will just concentrate on the main point concerning Christ being subjective to us.
We pointed out before that the New Testament speaks a number of times about Christ’s ascension, but it also says many, many times in various ways that Christ is in us, Christ is dwelling in us, and Christ is making His home in us. On the one hand, the Scriptures reveal to us that Christ has ascended to the heavens and is now at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51; Acts 1:11; 7:55-56; Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20). But on the other hand, they tell us more clearly that this very ascended Christ is now in us (Rom. 8:10a; 2 Cor. 13:5b). “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27c). “It pleased God...to reveal His Son in me” (Gal. 1:15a, 16a). “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (2:20a). “Christ is formed in you” (4:19b). There are phrases, clauses, sentences, verses, paragraphs, chapters, and books in the New Testament which speak about Christ in such a subjective way.
However, there is something more crucial than this. This crucial thing is that we have to know where Christ is today. We know He is in the heavens and also in us. But in which part of our being is He? In the preceding chapter we showed clearly that this very Christ today is the Spirit. First Corinthians 15:45b tells us that Christ as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. We have also seen that this wonderful life-giving Spirit, who is Christ Himself, is now in our spirit. This is the human spirit created by God purposely for us to contact Him, contain Him, and even digest Him and express Him. Christ today as the divine Spirit, the life-giving Spirit, is in our human spirit. This is why 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”
Furthermore, Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” Two spirits witness together, so these two spirits are mingled together as one spirit. This is why in many passages in the New Testament it is difficult to discern whether the spirit refers to the Holy Spirit or to our human spirit. This is especially true in Romans 8. But we know that it is a mingling of two spirits. It is wonderful that these two spirits, the divine Spirit and the human spirit, can be joined and mingled as one (1 Cor. 6:17).
We know that we are identified with Christ and one with Christ. However, we have to realize that this oneness is possible only in the spirit, not in the body nor in the mind nor in the soulish life. We are one with the Lord in the spirit. The Lord is the Spirit, we have a spirit, and these two spirits are mingled as one. The divine Spirit is life to the human spirit, and the human spirit is the container, the vessel, to contain and express the divine Spirit. I have no human word to express what is on my heart and in my spirit about this matter. It is something too great and wonderful.
Brothers and sisters, I would ask you to read again the sixty-six books of the Bible, look into the universe, and consider what the central point in the divine thought is. The central point in the divine thought is that this wonderful divine Spirit wants to come into this little human spirit. This is the key, the secret, of the whole universe, and this is the very center of the sixty-six books of the Bible. These sixty-six books tell us a great number of things, but the very center of all the things mentioned in these books is this wonderful oneness. Christ, as the substance of the Divine Trinity, as the Spirit, comes into our spirit to dwell in it and to be one with us. There is nothing that can be more subjective than this.
Now let us turn to 2 Timothy 4:22: “The Lord be with your spirit.” At the end of the two Timothys you have such a “hidden” verse. I say “hidden” because it was hidden to me for over thirty years. I had read the New Testament again and again, and I knew many things in 1 and 2 Timothy, but I did not notice this verse, which says, “The Lord be with your spirit.” It is regrettable that many Christians today do not even know that they have a spirit. You have the heavenly King in your “home,” yet you do not know in which “room” He is. Many Christians simply do not know what the human spirit is and where the human spirit is. However, 2 Timothy 4:22 tells us that the Lord is with our spirit.
You all know where your ears, eyes, nose, lips, tongue, stomach, hands, and feet are. You also know that you have a mind and a heart. But do you know that besides all these you have a spirit within you? First Thessalonians 5:23 says that you have a spirit, a soul, and a body. The spirit is a part distinct from the soul and the body. I have the burden to stir up your heart to pay attention to the fact that you have a part in you that is the spirit. You have a room in your building, yet you do not know where that room is. You have to find the room and open the door, and you will see the heavenly King in it. In your building there is such a wonderful room, a secret chamber, where He is.
We have a spirit. Otherwise, this Bible is a lie. We all believe that the Bible is the Word of God. In this Word we are told clearly that the Lord is with us in our spirit. Even though very few Christians today know that they have a spirit and very few know how to exercise their spirit, the Bible clearly says that the Lord, the living One, the all-inclusive One, the central One, the universal One, is today subjectively in our spirit. Whether we know it or not, this matter is clearly revealed in the Word.
Now let us read 2 Corinthians 4:7: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.” In order to help us realize this verse in a full way, we need to read some verses in the previous context, that is, in chapter 3. Let us read 2 Corinthians 3:6: “Who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Who is this Spirit who gives life? We saw in 1 Corinthians 15:45b that the life-giving Spirit is Christ Himself.
Now we come to 2 Corinthians 3:17: “The Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” The Spirit mentioned in this verse is the Spirit who gives life mentioned in verse 6, in the earlier part of the same chapter. The Spirit who gives life is Christ Himself. The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Where is the Spirit of the Lord? He is in our spirit.
Verse 18 continues, “But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” The Lord is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the Lord. It is this Spirit who gives us life, who frees us, and who transforms us. In these three verses we have three things: life-giving, freeing, and transforming. All these things are related to the wonderful Spirit, who is Christ Himself. Christ is the Spirit who gives life, who frees us, and who transforms us.
Christ as the Spirit has given us life, and now He is waiting for a chance to free us and transform us. How can He do this work? Can He do this by being far, far away from us in heaven? He can do this work only by being in us. By dwelling in us, He works to liberate and transform us. He is liberating us from many bondages and transforming us from the natural life into the image of the Lord.
Second Corinthians 4:7 tells us that “we have this treasure in earthen vessels.” Christ as the wonderful Spirit, the life-giving Spirit, the freeing Spirit, and the transforming Spirit is the treasure in the earthen vessels. We are the earthen vessels, vessels made of clay, the earth. Just as there is a small receiving part in a transistor radio to receive sounds, so also within us we have a receiving organ to receive Christ. The stomach is the receiving organ for us to receive food. Within a human being there is also a human spirit that serves as the very receiving organ for us to receive Christ as the treasure into us. This treasure is in the earthen vessels, not outside, upon, or above them. This is very subjective. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.” This means that we have to express God, to manifest God, from within.
Hebrews 4:9 says, “So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” This Sabbath rest is Christ as our rest, typified by the good land of Canaan. Then verse 11 says, “Let us therefore be diligent to enter into that rest lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.” There is a rest waiting for us, and we have to be diligent, to labor, to strive, to enter into it lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience, the example of the disobedient Israel. Indeed, most of them fell in the wilderness and did not enter into the rest — the good land.
Right after verse 11, we have verse 12. Verse 12 begins with for, indicating a continuation of what was previously said. “For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” We need to carefully consider this verse. Why is the dividing of soul and spirit mentioned here? Why is discernment mentioned here? Why are they not mentioned in other places or other books? If we are going to understand a verse, we have to take care of the context. The previous verses tell us that a rest remains for us to enter into and that we have to be diligent, to labor, to strive, to enter into that rest. Then this verse tells us that we have to divide the soul from the spirit, to discern the soul from the spirit. Why? We need to look into the whole book of Hebrews to find the answer.
The book of Hebrews mentions three things with three parts. The first thing is the tabernacle or temple with three parts: the Holy of Holies, the Holy Place, and the outer court. The Ark of God is neither in the outer court nor in the Holy Place but in the Holy of Holies. The Ark of God is the testimony of God, which is Christ Himself. Christ is the testimony and witness of God (Rev. 1:5; 3:14). Christ is neither in the outer court nor in the Holy Place but in the Holy of Holies. The book of Hebrews charges us and encourages us to enter into the Holy of Holies (10:22).
We have to look at the picture of the type. In ancient times when the people of Israel came to worship God, most of them came into the outer court to deal with the altar of burnt offering and the laver. A small number of priests entered into the Holy Place, where the table of the bread of the Presence, the lampstand, and the incense altar were. Therefore, to be in the Holy Place is much better than to be in the outer court. In the outer court you have only the altar for offering your sacrifices and the laver for washing yourself, but when you get into the Holy Place you have the bread of the Presence, the light, and the incense to please God. That is much better, but it is still not the best. The outer court is good, the Holy Place is better, but the Holy of Holies is the best. In the Holy of Holies was the Ark, which typifies Christ Himself. Only the high priest had the right to enter into the Holy of Holies. But today we all are priests (1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10), and we are charged and encouraged to enter into the Holy of Holies.
Since we are Christians, no doubt we have experienced the altar of burnt offering, typifying the cross, and the laver, typifying the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit, in the outer court. Some of us may have already entered into the Holy Place. We are enjoying Christ here as the bread, the life supply; as the lampstand, the light of life; and as the incense, the acceptance by God in Christ’s resurrection. Now we have more experience of Christ. However, this is not the best. We are encouraged to enter into the holiest of all, the Holy of Holies, to enjoy Christ Himself. We need to press on to enjoy not only Christ as life, as light, and as the acceptance to God but also Christ Himself as the Ark in the Holy of Holies.
Next, the book of Hebrews also tells us about the type of the good land of Canaan. Here we have to consider the history of the children of Israel, which was of three stages, or three periods, which transpired in three places — in Egypt, in the wilderness, and in the good land of Canaan. If we consider carefully before the Lord, we will realize that Egypt corresponds to the outer court. In that outer court the children of Israel enjoyed Christ as the sin offering and the Passover Lamb by offering Him on the altar. Then they entered into the wilderness, which was better than Egypt. In the wilderness they had freedom and enjoyed the heavenly manna, the living water, and even the tabernacle. The wilderness simply corresponds to the Holy Place. When they were in the wilderness, this means that they were in the Holy Place, not in the outer court nor in the Holy of Holies. They were not in Egypt, but neither were they in the good land of Canaan. They were in a place in between. The wilderness is better than Egypt but inferior to the good land of Canaan. So here we have three places corresponding to the three sections of the tabernacle. Egypt corresponds to the outer court; the wilderness, to the Holy Place; and the good land of Canaan, to the Holy of Holies. While this book encourages us to enter into the Holy of Holies, it also tells us that we have to enter into the rest of the good land. Thus, we have the Holy of Holies and the good land of Canaan.
Finally, Hebrews 4:12 indicates that we are tripartite beings, beings of three parts: the body, the soul, and the spirit. The body corresponds to the outer court and to Egypt. The soul corresponds to the Holy Place and to the wilderness. All the soulish Christians are wandering in the wilderness of their soul. No doubt, they are seeking the Lord, but they take a roundabout way. All the time they are going round and round in the wilderness, in the Holy Place, in the soul. They love the Lord, seek the Lord, and enjoy the Lord as the manna from heaven, yet they are in their soul and do not have the rest. As long as you are wandering, going round and round in your soul, you will not have the rest.
You may be better than the Christians who are in Egypt. They enjoy Christ merely as their Redeemer, the Passover Lamb, yet they are still in Egypt, in the world. They are still very much in the flesh, in the body. You are better than that. You gave up Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and experienced an aspect of Christ’s death. Furthermore, you love the Lord, seek the Lord, and are going on for the Lord. Yes, you are marching on, but you are marching round and round. All the time you are in your soulish life, in your soul. You have not entered into the spirit, which corresponds to the Holy of Holies and to the good land of Canaan. When you enter into the spirit, you are in the Holy of Holies where the Ark is, that is, where Christ is. When you enter into the spirit, you are also in the good land, which is Christ Himself. Since the divine Spirit is in the human spirit, when you touch the human spirit, you touch the divine Spirit, who is Christ Himself.
Therefore, we have these three things with three parts: the tabernacle having three parts, the history of Israel having three parts, and our being having three parts. All these parts correspond to one another.
Now as Christians, we need to check and see where we are today. Are we in the outer court, in the Holy Place, or in the Holy of Holies? Are we in Egypt, in the wilderness, or in the good land? Are we in the flesh, in the soul, or in the spirit, where Christ is, and which is the Holy of Holies to Christ? First, you may say you are in Egypt, in the outer court, or in the fleshly body. Second, you may say you are in the wilderness, in the Holy Place, or in the soul. Third, you may say you are in the good land of Canaan, in the Holy of Holies, or in the spirit. Are you in the first part, second part, or third part? Some may say that they are in the second part. To be in the second part is to be neutral, lukewarm. If you are neutral, or lukewarm, you are neither cold nor hot, and the Lord will spew you out (Rev. 3:15-16). We need to advance. Look at the history of the children of Israel. They displeased the Lord simply by wandering in the wilderness.
We need to see that the goal set before us by the Lord is the Holy of Holies, that is, the spirit. The spirit is the innermost part of a human being. It is where Christ is today. It is the Holy of Holies to Him. Also, to be in our spirit is to be in the good land. In our spirit is Christ’s Spirit, so this good land is Christ Himself. Hebrews 10:19 says that we have the boldness for entering the Holy of Holies. We are told, encouraged, and charged to have the boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies.
Some Christian teachers say that the Holy of Holies is in heaven. On the one hand, I admit that the Holy of Holies today is in heaven, where the Lord Jesus is (9:12, 24). However, if the Holy of Holies were only in heaven, how could we enter into it while we are on earth today? On the one hand, the Holy of Holies is in heaven, but on the other hand, it is in our human spirit. The very Christ who is in heaven is now also in our spirit (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, heaven today is in our spirit. Our regenerated spirit, our recovered spirit, our cleansed spirit, is the Holy of Holies today. Thus, it is easy for us to enter into the Holy of Holies. Wherever we are, there the Holy of Holies is, because it is the innermost part of our being. Hence, whenever we turn to our spirit, we enter into the Holy of Holies.
The problem is that many of us do not know where our spirit is. Once I was living in a house for many months, yet I was not aware that there was a secret room in the house. Likewise, many of us have been Christians for years, yet we have not discovered that there is a secret chamber within us that is the Holy of Holies, where Christ is today. That secret chamber is our human spirit, where Christ, the living One, the life-giving Spirit, the freeing Spirit, the transforming Spirit, the wonderful Spirit, dwells. We have to realize this.
Now that we have discovered the Holy of Holies in our spirit, we have to learn how to enter into it. We have to learn how to get into the spirit, into the Holy of Holies, into the place of rest. This is why in the preceding chapter I stressed the exercise of the spirit through prayer. My intention was not to speak about prayer. My intention was to help you learn to exercise your spirit. If you are going to contact Christ, you have to exercise your spirit. Every contact with Christ is a real prayer in the spirit. You have to learn all the time, day and night, to exercise your spirit to contact Christ. Real prayer is your talking in your spirit with Christ who is living within you.
I have been asked numerous times by people, “Brother Lee, will you tell me how many times a day you pray?” This is really hard to say. Can you count how many times a day you breathe? If you can count your breathing, I am afraid you are not a healthy person. You cannot count the breathing of a healthy person. He is breathing all the time. When I am ministering to the saints, I am praying within. I cannot minister without contacting Christ. Sometimes some sisters came to me and said, “Brother Lee, it is so easy for me to lose my temper. What is the best way for me to control my temper?” I told them not to try to control their temper. Whenever you are going to lose your temper, you had better contact Christ. Then you will gain Christ more.
We should learn to pray always (1 Thes. 5:17), not by the mind but by the spirit. Always have a living talk with Him, the living One who is in your spirit. He is wonderful, all-inclusive, central, and universal. Yet He is so small to you because He is confined within you and even imprisoned within you. He has been put into jail by you and has become so small within you. We have to learn to experience Christ as the central, universal, all-inclusive, subjective, and wonderful One. His bountifulness is inexhaustible.
Do you need comfort? When you contact Him a little bit, you have the comfort. Do you need encouragement? Just contact Him by your spirit, not by your mind. Sometimes there is no need for you to utter clear words, but you can just say, “O Lord, O Lord.” You just groan a little bit in this way, and you will be encouraged. Do you need power? Just contact Him, and you will have the power. He is the mighty One as the power. Do you need gifts? Just contact Him. He is the Giver. You should treasure Him, the Giver, more than His gifts. Do you need healing? Take Him as the Healer, and you will have the healing. Do you need wisdom? Do you need guidance? Just contact Him; then you will have the wisdom and receive the guidance. This is easy. Wherever you can breathe, there you can contact Him. He is so close to you, so available to you, and so handy to you. He is even closer to you than the air because the air is outside of you, but He is within you. Learn to contact Him all the time.
Learn to be always present with the Lord. Never be absent from Him. Whenever troubles, trials, difficulties, burdens, and sorrows come, you have to contact Him immediately. Just a little contact, just a little touch, and you will have the power, the energy, and the strength. He is the universality; He is everything. If you need love, He is love. If you need patience, He is patience. If you need humility, He is humility. Just learn to contact Him in your spirit. This is very simple, but you need to keep practicing it.
However, there is one more thing I wish to point out to you, that is, the work of the cross. Yes, Christ is wonderful, but if you are going to enjoy Him, you have to deny yourself. You have to renounce yourself. This is a problem. On the one hand, we know that we are hateful in God’s eyes, but on the other hand, in our eyes we are really lovable. I believe that in our consideration no other person in the whole world is as good, as nice, as humble, and as patient as we are. We love ourselves and consider ourselves to be better than others. No one considers himself inferior to others. Thus, even though we have become Christians, whatever we do, we will do it by ourselves. When we are humble, we are simply humble by ourselves. When we come to the meetings, we show ourselves to be humble, even though we are not humble at home. That is something by ourselves. How much we need to deny the self so that we may enjoy Christ!
Now let us see the way to deny the self. Whenever we are going to love others, we have to contact Christ. We have to tell Him, “Lord, this I, this ego, has to be put on the cross. No longer I, but Christ. Lord, I do not want to love by myself but to love by You. May You love through me.” We have to learn to apply the cross to ourselves. There are a lot of teachings and writings about the cross, but there is very little application of the cross to one’s self. We have to learn to apply the cross of Christ to ourselves daily in a practical way. When I am going to contact a brother, I have to learn to contact my Lord first by telling Him, “Lord, I am so afraid that I am going to contact my brother by myself. Lord, help me to crucify this ego. Help me to apply Your death, Your killing, Your putting to death, to this ugly self, this ugly ego. I would not and I dare not love others and contact others by myself. Even the best thing I am going to do by myself is so sinful. I am afraid of it; I am trembling. Lord, I want to learn to live by You, to love others by You, and to be humble, patient, good, and kind by You. I want to be everything, do everything, speak everything, and express everything by You.”
We need to learn the lesson of applying the cross to our soulish life. Our ego, our self, should be buried under the waters of the Jordan, just like the twelve stones were buried in the Jordan when the children of Israel crossed over it (Josh. 4:9). It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us (Gal. 2:20). Just as the old children of Israel died and were buried in the Jordan, so our ego, our natural life, died and was buried through Christ’s death on the cross. Now we can enter into the good land of Canaan. If our ego still exists, that means we are still in the wilderness, the land east of the Jordan.
Brothers and sisters, let us learn how to apply the killing death of Christ to ourselves. In all things — in the ministry, in the eldership, in the church administration, in the service of the deacons and deaconesses — we have to learn how to deny the self. If we do this, the good land will be ours, and the riches, the produce of the good land, will be a bountiful surplus. We will have an abundant supply of Christ to bring to His children and the church.
Therefore, two things are important. The first thing is to realize that our spirit today is the Holy of Holies. We have to exercise the spirit and learn how to enter the Holy of Holies all the time. The second thing is to see that we have the ego, the old life, the natural life, the soul, the wilderness. We also have the flesh typified by Amalek in the Old Testament, who opposed God’s people (Exo. 17:8-16). Our flesh and our natural life are always hindering and frustrating us, so we have to apply the cross. We need first the spirit and then the cross. We have to apply the cross to our ego, to our natural life, to our soulish life; then we will be in the good land and in the Holy of Holies. Between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies there is the veil, which is the flesh, the natural man. This has to be rent. Then we are in the Holy of Holies. When we cross the Jordan River and our self is buried there, we will enter into rest and enjoy the resurrected life in the good land of Canaan. We will enjoy the riches of Christ and God’s presence in the Holy of Holies.
The New Testament principle is that something from within the spirit flows out to reach others. It is not something from outside of us. That is the Old Testament principle. In the Old Testament, the Spirit of Jehovah, the Spirit of the Lord, always came upon certain persons, and they would speak something for the Lord, saying, “Thus says the Lord.” “Thus says the Lord” is not the principle of the New Testament but of the Old. Today the enemy, Satan, is trying his best to bring the New Testament believers back to the Old Testament. The Old Testament principle of prophesying is “Thus says the Lord” (Isa. 10:24; 50:1; Jer. 2:2; Ezek. 2:4). But you cannot find this kind of speaking in the New Testament. Of all the Epistles written by the apostles, not one has this tone.
In 1 Corinthians 7:10 Paul says, “To the married I charge, not I but the Lord.” This is the New Testament principle of incarnation. The Lord does not speak from the heavens above us, but He speaks within us. Whatever we say, He says with us, through us, by us, and in us. Whatever we do, He does it through us and by us. This is the New Testament principle.
The Catholic Church has brought Christianity back to Judaism by mixing a lot of Old Testament forms with the things of the New Testament. Some Christians are trying their best to bring the New Testament believers back to the Old Testament principle, not in forms but in certain teachings and movements. That is wrong. We must remain in the New Testament principle.
The Lord has come down and entered into us to be one with us. All the Epistles were written in the tone of their writers. “I (Paul) tell you. I (Peter) tell you. I (John) say this. It is not I but Christ. The Lord speaks in me.” In the Old Testament the Lord was an objective Lord, doing things in miraculous ways outside His people. But today in the New Testament the Lord is the subjective One. He does not pay attention so much to the outward manifestation, but He pays His full attention to the inward working.
Paul had a thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:7), which I believe was a kind of physical suffering in his body. He went to the Lord three times, asking the Lord to remove it (v. 8). But the Lord said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you” (v. 9a). The Lord would not remove the thorn outwardly, but He would be the sufficient grace to Paul inwardly. Paul had to learn to experience the Lord Himself as the inward grace, not the Lord’s performing of an outward miracle. This is the New Testament principle.
The subtle enemy, Satan, is trying his best to bring the New Testament believers back to the Old Testament time. Do we want to still be wandering in the wilderness? Of course not. May the Lord be merciful to us. Let us come into the rest in the Holy of Holies, into the good land, into the spirit, and learn to know the Christ who is with us in our spirit. “My grace is sufficient,” but where is the Lord’s grace? Galatians 6:18 says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.” We have to realize that grace is not something outward in miracles, in signs, and in physical or material things. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is with and in our spirit. We have to experience His grace in our spirit inwardly, not in something else outwardly. I believe that the apostle Paul is the best example of all the believers. We have to follow him. We have to be the New Testament believers, not the Old Testament people.
