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Scripture Reading: Psa. 68:18; Eph. 4:7-8, 11-16
The previous seven chapters on the meal offering cover five major points. The first point concerns the significance of the meal offering. We have seen that the meal offering is a present to God of the humanity of Jesus which we have experienced, enjoyed, and appreciated. Second, the meal offering constitutes worship to God. Third, the meal offering affords priestly food for the priesthood. Fourth, the meal offering not only constitutes worship to God and affords food for the priesthood but also produces standing boards, which are the main structure of God’s dwelling place. By feeding on the meal offering, all the priests become the standing boards. Fifth, the meal offering forms the tabernacle by uniting all the boards together.
The sixth point is very deep and difficult to explain. It is perhaps the deepest aspect of the meal offering; it concerns the making of the gifts. The gifts in Ephesians 4 are not abilities but the gifted persons, such as the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherds and teachers. These are not skills or abilities; these are persons gifted with skills and abilities. Moreover, Ephesians 4:11-16 reveals that not only are the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers gifts to the Body, but every member of the Body is a gift.
Consider your own body. Every member of your body is a gift to your body. Do not think that only Paul the apostle was a gift to the Body and you are not. Perhaps Paul was an arm, but you may be at least a little finger. The arm is a gift to the body. Regardless of how small we are, even less than the least, we are still gifts to the Body. Ephesians 4 speaks of the effectual working in the measure of each one part. Each of us is at least one of many parts, and all the parts are gifts.
We must see how all the gifts are made or constituted. When Paul was Saul of Tarsus, he was not a gift. He was a persecutor, an enemy, of the Body. After he was saved, however, he became a gift. But became is not an adequate word. It is better to say that after he was saved, he was constituted a gift. He was a rebel, a foe, an enemy, and a persecutor to the Body, but he was constituted an apostle. To be constituted means to be composed or transfigured with additional elements added in. Without the adding of these elements, nothing can be constituted. Paul was a rebel, but an element was added into this rebel that killed the rebellious germs. Other elements were also added that built him up as an apostle.
The point we must see is that the main element by which Paul was constituted an apostle is the humanity of Jesus. To prove this we must read Psalm 68:18 with an improved rendering: “Thou hast ascended on high, thou led a train of vanquished foes: thou hast received gifts in man; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.” Christ ascended on high, and having conquered all His enemies, He led captive a corporate train of vanquished foes, including Paul the apostle. Then He received gifts in man and for man, even for the rebellious man. He received the gifts in His humanity for our rebellious humanity. So in this verse we see two kinds of humanities: the humanity of Jesus, by which He received the gifts, and our rebellious humanity, for which He received the gifts.
I believe we all know that Christ made such a rebel as Saul of Tarsus into an apostle. He persecuted Stephen, and he persecuted others in Jerusalem, but he was not satisfied. Therefore, he went to the high priest and obtained authority to go to Damascus and bind all those who called on the name of the Lord. While he was journeying, a light shone from heaven, and he fell to the earth. The Lord asked him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” When Saul asked who He was, the Lord replied that He was Jesus, the One whom he was persecuting. From that moment, something of the ascended Jesus entered into that rebel. He was so clever, able to see everything, but after Jesus came into him, he became blind. He could see nothing. Many of us need to be blind. When Jesus really gets into us, we cannot see anymore. Formerly, Saul was leading others; now others led him (Acts 9).
The constituting of Saul into an apostle proceeded from that day to the time of Acts 13. That rebel was constituted an apostle by Jesus, and he became one of the greatest apostles. But do not think that he became an apostle overnight. Such a constitution required a long time, a long process, for all the elements of the ascended Jesus to be added into him. Jesus made him an apostle; Jesus constituted him with all His own elements as an apostle. Jesus has received all the saved persons from the Father, and all these, including Saul, eventually become the gifts. Christ received these gifts in His humanity, and then He gave all these saved ones to His Body for the perfecting of His Body.
For the making and constituting of a gifted person, the humanity of Jesus is required. Jesus did not do this in His divinity but in His humanity. He received the gifts in man. Darby’s New Translation uses this phrase in man. The Lord received the gifts as a man, on a man’s standing, and in a man’s position. After His ascension He did not receive the gifts in the position of the Son of God, but in the position of man. For Him to receive the gifts means that He constituted the gifts.
When we were saved, Christ received us from the Father. We were called and chosen by God in eternity, so we belonged to the Father. Then the Father passed us on to Jesus. The Father gave, and the Son received. After the Son received us, He sent us, for example, to the church in Los Angeles where we became gifts for the building up of the church. We were chosen, predestinated, and called by the Father and then given to His Son Jesus. Finally, Jesus gave us to the church in Los Angeles as gifts. But whether these chosen, predestinated, called, and given ones will be proper gifts or not depends upon the constitution of the humanity of Jesus within them. The determining factor is how much of the humanity of Jesus has been wrought into us. The Lord did not receive us in His divinity but in His humanity. This is very meaningful.
In the past, much has been said concerning the need of the divine life and nature to be wrought into us. But if we spend more time in pray-reading the Word, we will see that God intends to work into us the divine life with a human nature. God wants to work Christ into us, and Christ is not only the Son of God but also the Son of Man. God intends to work a person into us who has the life of God and the nature of man.
I remember some of the Western missionaries I met years ago in the Far East. Some had doctor’s degrees and were excellent preachers, but they were not so useful. Some, however, were not learned and had no degree, yet they were very much used by the Lord. At that time I did not understand, but now I know the reason. Those who were more useful in the hands of the Lord were those who were enjoying the humanity of Jesus. It may be that they did not know this term, yet they did in fact participate in the Lord’s humanity. Some of the missionaries could not preach and were not able to teach well, but they brought a good number to the Lord by experiencing the humanity of Jesus.
I have seen all kinds of Christians: formal Christians, fundamental Christians, Pentecostal Christians, and inner-life Christians. I have not only seen these different kinds of Christians, but under God’s sovereignty I was also among many of them. Yet I must say that all of them do not experience much of the humanity of Jesus. The Pentecostals are supposed to be powerful, and the fundamentalists are supposed to know the Bible well, but eventually they may not be so useful in the hands of God because they are simply short of the humanity of Jesus. They are gifts to the Body, but they have a shortage of the humanity of Jesus.
Please do not misunderstand what I mean when I speak of the proper humanity. I realize that some may think that we must simply be human. So they say, “Let us be human. God does not want angels; He wants human beings. Let us go to the beach, engage in sports, and watch TV.” That may be human but not Jesusly human. We must be Jesusly human, not humanly human. I am not referring to our natural and fallen humanity. We should not bring anything natural into the realm of Jesus. We already have enough of this kind of humanity. We need another category of humanity — a new, holy human nature, as mentioned by Andrew Murray in his book The Spirit of Christ. Jesus perfected such a human nature, not in a natural way but in a divine way. It is humanity yet something divine.
Jesus is a man, but His humanity is of a different source than ours. By death and resurrection He uplifted this humanity. His humanity is not only new and holy but also uplifted. Our natural humanity can never match His. It may be difficult to discern the difference in word, but in our experience there is a great difference. Our humanity at its best is just a shadow; the humanity of Jesus is the reality. A genuine flower and an artificial flower look alike in size, color, shape, and form. If you lack discernment, you may say that they are identical. But they are absolutely not. One has come out of life; the other has no element of life.
For the building up of the local church today, we need the standing boards, the uniting bars, and all the members to be the proper gifts by being constituted with the humanity of Jesus. Not only must we be standing up and united, but also we must be useful. Every member among us must be useful. We are all gifts to the Body, so we must function in a useful way. This can be done only by being constituted with the humanity of Jesus.
Years ago I could not speak in this way because I did not have this light. I was not so clear, but I did have some experience. Praise the Lord, today we see that our need is the humanity of Jesus! In the past, we thought that if we had certain kinds of gifts and manifestations with the baptism of the Holy Spirit and if we had a certain amount of Bible knowledge with proper training, then surely we would be useful. This may be of some use, but eventually what we do without Jesus’ humanity will be torn down by what we are. Brother Watchman Nee used to tell us that some people build up twelve inches by what they do but tear down fourteen inches by what they are. This means that they tear down more than they build up. Hence, it is better for them not to do anything. We may build up a certain amount by our Bible doctrine and knowledge, but we will damage more than we build up because of our shortage of the humanity of Jesus. In the church life we need the humanity of Jesus much more than the gifts, the so-called baptism, or the knowledge of the Bible.
Ephesians 4:11-12 says that all the gifted persons do not build up the church directly, but indirectly. “He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.” All the gifted persons are for the perfecting of others, thus equipping them to be useful members. To perfect and equip is simply to help the saints to grow in life. To perfect and equip the saints is to feed them with the meal offering, the humanity of Jesus.
Suppose we have before us a normal baby with all its proper organs and members. Many of the members of this little babe do not yet function properly because it is short of growth and maturity. The baby has two feet with legs, but he cannot stand up or walk because he is short of the growth in life. The mother must therefore perfect him and equip him. This is not done by putting many good things upon him. If she went to the supermarket and bought many good things to heap them upon the baby, it would not help. There is only one way for the mother to perfect her baby to maturity — by feeding him. If a baby has proper food, he will grow in life. All his organs and members will mature into useful function.
We are all born priests; we have been born into the priestly family. But we are all priestly babes; we need the growth in life. The main food that will enable us to grow into mature priests is the meal offering, which signifies the humanity of Jesus. This meal offering comes from the labor of the more mature ones. In the church there should be a number of mature ones who labor on the good land to produce the grain for making the meal offering. They must bring this offering to the Tent of Meeting to present to the Father. The remainder will be the food for feeding the priestly family.
Today the Lord Jesus is constituting certain members of His Body into the proper gifts to the Body, and He is doing this by the way of His humanity. He has received gifts in man and in the position of man. Therefore, the fastest way for us to grow is by feeding on the humanity of Jesus. It is not by having gifts or Bible knowledge, although it is not my purpose to oppose these things. The fastest way for Christians to grow is by feeding upon Christ’s humanity. The more we masticate Jesus, the more we will grow.
There are many matured ones among Christians today, but they are not matured in life. They may be matured in knowledge, in teaching, or in gifts, but as far as life is concerned, they are babes. Regardless of what kind of gifts we have, it is exceedingly easy for us to be tossed by waves and carried about by the winds of teaching. Christians today have all these things, yet they are not stable; it is so easy for them to change. This is because the proper growth in life is lacking.
Do not think that I am criticizing today’s Christians. I am simply stating the facts of today’s Christianity. In Luke 24:49 the Lord likened the baptism of the Holy Spirit to a piece of clothing. The disciples were told to wait until they were clothed with power from on high. But can anyone grow by being clothed? We all know that clothing is not for growing but for covering. What is lacking today is the proper food for the Christians. Gifts cannot feed us, knowledge cannot feed us, and even the best capabilities cannot feed us. We may be able to do many things, but doing cannot feed us. This is why many Christians are so poor today. They have clothing, knowledge, and capabilities, but they have no food. The food can come only from the humanity of Jesus. The humanity of Jesus is the main food for the priests.
Those who bear responsibility in a local church should not demand so much from the younger ones. Instead, they must labor on the land, produce the grain, make the flour, and prepare the meal offering for the Tent of Meeting. Then the remainder will be for all the priests to feed upon. Thus, all the infant priests will grow into useful gifts for the Body. The real need for today’s church life is not teachings but the humanity of Jesus. Ephesians 4:15 tells us to hold to truth, which means the reality: “Holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ.” The reality is mainly in the humanity of Jesus. Jesus is the reality, and we must grow up into Him in everything. We must grow up into the Head in all things in our daily walk by holding the humanity of Jesus. For Christ to receive gifts in man means that we must hold to His humanity in order to enjoy the reality and grow into useful gifts to the Body. As we grow, we are able to function. This is why Ephesians 4:16 says that out from the Head the whole Body is joined and knit together through the joints of supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part. This causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.
This is the building up of the church. We must all look to the Lord so that we may see how the standing boards and the uniting bars are produced, as well as how the gifts are constituted. The only way is by feeding on the humanity of Jesus. It is thus that we will grow in life and be constituted as the proper gifts for the building up of the Body.
