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Prayer: Lord Jesus, how we treasure this time! We believe it is altogether of You that we are all gathered together into Yourself. Lord, grant Your blessing upon all of us and do bless this time. Sanctify us, Lord. Lord, grant us the anointing. Lord, grant us a gracious, rich, and abundant visit. Lord, open up the heavens. Even Lord, open up Your heart to us and help us to open ourselves to you. Amen, Lord.
In Acts 26:19 Paul says, “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” After Paul was caught by the Lord, he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Paul speaks not only of a vision but of a vision from the heavens, a heavenly vision. In his defense of himself and his ministry before King Agrippa, he indicated that he had earlier received a vision from the earth, an earthly vision. This was the vision of the law. Paul had been fully caught by that vision, but while he was so vigorously carrying out that vision, he was caught by One from the heavens who gave him another vision. This other vision is mainly described in verse 18: “To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.” Forgiveness of sins is the initial grace and the base of all the blessings of the New Testament jubilee, while the inheritance is the main object of this heavenly vision. For us to see what this inheritance is requires much unveiling. Actually, Paul’s fourteen Epistles are the development and the description of this inheritance. If you would read and study his fourteen Epistles thoroughly, you could see that this inheritance is nothing less than the processed Triune God who is consummated in the all-inclusive, compound Spirit. This inheritance is the very Triune God in His divinity dispensed into us for our enjoyment. The forgiveness of sins is an initiation into the enjoyment of such an inheritance. This heavenly vision is not like the earthly vision concerning the law. The law does not give life (Gal. 3:21) or bring any kind of enjoyment. There is no inheritance with the law. The law is full of requirements, and the law only demands.
The initial stage of the vision from the heavens is the forgiveness of sins. Do not despise this initial aspect. The forgiveness of sins deals with so many things, including sin, oldness, worldliness, and everything that is a frustration to God’s eternal move. When Paul was Saul of Tarsus, vigorously carrying out the old vision, he became a great obstacle to frustrate God’s eternal economy, yet he had no realization of this. To sin is not just to steal, to commit fornication, or to murder. Apparently, Saul was a very ethical and moral person, never stealing, never committing fornication, and never murdering. According to the law he was righteous, but in the eyes of God he was the second greatest enemy to God’s economy. The greatest enemy was Satan, and the second greatest enemy was Saul of Tarsus. The embodiment of God, the very Christ, came to this enemy, telling him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? You are attacking Me. You are My enemy. No one among humankind has ever frustrated Me as much as you have. Do you think that all the Gentiles are so sinful and that you are so righteous? Actually, you are more sinful than all the Gentiles. But here is a vision for you to bring mainly to My chosen people among the Gentiles, those whom you condemn to the uttermost. The first item of this vision is the forgiveness of sins, and the positive aspect of this vision is that you are to bring the Gentiles condemned by you into the very enjoyment of Me, the embodiment of the processed Triune God. Of course, you also are My chosen one. I forgive you, and now I bring you into this enjoyment. Whatever you have seen of Me and whatever you have enjoyed of Me will be the very vision that you will carry to the Gentiles condemned by you. I will make them your fellow believers, and I will make them and you with all your fellow countrymen chosen by Me one Body, not only to enjoy Me but also to contain Me to let Me have a full expression in this universe, the testimony of Jesus.”
Acts 26:18 says that the inheritance is among “those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.” The phrase by faith in Me means for the believers to enter into an organic union with the embodied God in Christ and processed and consummated in the Spirit. We all have to enter into this organic union with such a processed and consummated God. How could the chosen ones enter into such a union? It is by faith, not by sight or appearance. This vision is comprised solely of invisible things, which are only realized and substantiated by faith.
We should not regard Acts 26:18 in a common way. However, for years we may not have spent time to get into the significance of such a verse. We may have just read it and taken it for granted. We may not have considered what the forgiveness of sins is or what it comprises. Previously, we may have understood the inheritance to be a heavenly mansion that we would inherit in the future. What is it to be sanctified? What is it to have faith in Him? We took these matters for granted as if we understood everything. This is the vision that Paul received from the heavens, which he carried out for so many years. When he was arrested by the Jews and defended himself before King Agrippa, he declared that from the time he had received the vision until then, he was never disobedient to this heavenly vision. This vision was the very ground, the very vigor, and the very content of this apostle’s ministry. He ministered based upon this vision, he ministered with vigor by this vision, and he ministered by taking this vision as his goal. This vision enabled him to withstand any kind of persecution and opposition, and this vision enabled him never to have any change or deviation. He was bold to tell Agrippa that he had never disobeyed this vision.
Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint.” The King James Version says, “The people perish,” the New American Standard Version says, “The people are unrestrained,” and the Berkeley Version says, “The people run wild.” All these different renderings refer to people who are not governed, directed, ruled, or restrained. To cast off any kind of restraint means that you are unwilling to be restrained, to be ruled. The King James translation of this verse, which says that “the people perish,” actually refers to the result or issue of casting off restraint and being unruly. The result is that you perish. Surely, if we take the way of having no vision, we will perish. This corresponds with the Lord’s word in Matthew 7:14: “Narrow is the gate and constricted is the way that leads to life.” Constricted means “ruled or governed.” A person can drive to many places in the United States, but his driving must be restrained by the white lines on the road. If you do not drive in a governed way, either you will perish or others will perish. The history of Christianity is a history of people driving with no restraint, with no vision. The second half of Proverbs 29:18 says, “Happy is he who keeps the law.” The law is the restraint, the ruling. You may have the law yet not see the law to have a vision. The Jews of the Old Testament had the law, but not everyone saw the vision. One who has the law but does not see the law to have a vision will run wild. Where there is no vision, the people run wild.
At this time we must review our vision at least once more. No doubt, we have to thank the Lord for His mercy that we all are here. We have received much mercy, and we have experienced much grace. Still we need to strengthen and stress our vision at least once more. What can we say concerning the Lord’s vision in His recovery? What would we tell people that we have seen in the Lord’s recovery? If we do not have a vision, we become so common. We become those doing just another piece of Christian work. Since the Reformation, such common works have been raised up again and again in many places. Today many different Christian works are all around us. Are we going to add to this number of common and even good Christian works? Shall we preach the gospel in the common way, go to the mission fields to be a missionary, open up a school to teach the Bible, put out some papers to expound the holy Word, or set up some meetings to gather the seeking ones to worship, serve, and edify each other? All these are quite common. If we intend to do this, we had better close our halls. To be here in this way without a controlling vision would be meaningless.
Although I can never compare myself with the apostle Paul, I cannot deny that I have seen a vision. I would die for this vision. So many dear ones all advise me to rest, but I do not care for my life. I prefer to live and to die for my commission that I may finish my course. I would endeavor to exhaust my entire being until I die. The Scriptures say in Psalm 90 that human life, generally speaking, is up to seventy years of age, and if you are strong, you may live to be eighty (v. 10). At the age of eighty-one I am beyond the age that the Scriptures define for a man’s lifetime. My wife frequently reminds me that I am over eighty and that I need to take care of myself. Many times, I rested in order to take care of her. I labor both day and night because of the heavy burden of the vision. I am a small man, and I have no degree, no fame, no position, and no rank. Yet even the angels can testify for me that I have really seen something. I have seen something, not only for the recovery but for the entire aggregate of all Christians. I am so sorrowful for the present ignorance among the Catholics, among the Protestants, and among you all. This is my burden, dear saints. Because I have seen the vision, I just cannot spare myself.
I have been with many of you brothers in the English-speaking world for over twenty-two years. Truthfully speaking, many of you are still under a kind of ignorance. What you do, what you say, and how you take care of the churches indicate that you are short of the vision that I have seen and that the Lord has been speaking to us for the past twenty-two years. I am especially regretful that it is as if some of you have never heard the messages given in the elders’ training of 1984. What a revelation was in those messages! Since those messages were delivered, though, has there ever been a change in you? Has there been a change in your being, in your service, and in your taking care of the church? According to my observation, there has not been much change. That training of twelve days with three messages each day may have become a vanity to some of you. In those messages the New Testament ministry, the vision of the Lord’s recovery, the way to carry out the vision, and other crucial matters concerning the practice of the Lord’s recovery were stressed very much. One strong point in those messages is that the elders should not control the church. Even after that fellowship, in some churches, stronger control was exercised. This is a shame. The more the Lord in His ministry tells us not to control the church, the more control is exercised by some. This is a cause for much suffering, and this is a proof that those messages were not effective for some.
To control the saints is a shame. If you control a church, you will suffer spiritual death. History testifies to this. You cannot control God’s people. The Holy Spirit would not allow you to do such a thing. Even the spirit within the saints would not allow this. The leading ones are slaves. In the Life-study of Matthew I told the sisters who are the wives of the elders to consider themselves as the wives of slaves. Although I gave such a strong word in 1976, many went back afterward to be nearly the kings in their locality. Paul, in his ministry, considered himself as a slave. In 2 Corinthians 4:5 he says, “We do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.”
I do not control the churches. I simply speak the word of God. I do not have the intention to control anyone, but I do have a burden to release the holy Word. Because of this, so many of the saints listen to me. You may try to get people to listen to you, but the more you do this, the more they will go away from you. Whether or not the saints would listen to you depends upon how much you could minister to them. You are here because you received the help from the ministry of the holy Word, but regrettably you received the help only according to your taste. You did not take the ministry that comes from the Lord absolutely. As a result, you have suffered. You should pray, “Lord, help me to take my hands off. I would go back only to serve your flock as a slave. I would not control anyone.”
The holy Word is more than clear on this matter. In Matthew 23:8-11, the Lord told the disciples, “But you, do not be called Rabbi, for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father, for One is your Father, He who is in the heavens. Neither be called instructors, because One is your Instructor, the Christ. And the greatest among you shall be your servant.” Because of these verses, some brothers in England in the last century picked up the term brethren. First Peter 5:3 says to the elders, “Nor as lording it over your allotments but becoming patterns of the flock.” The elders must set themselves up as an example. Labor to be an example. If there is the need of cleaning, you have to do the cleaning first. If there is the need of vacuuming, you have to do the vacuuming first. If there is the need of cleaning the restroom, you have to do it as a pattern. You should not sit on a throne giving orders, ruling others. This is absolutely wrong. There is not such a thing as a “local headship.” The only headship in the church is the heavenly headship.
When some referred to me as an elder or an apostle, this was an insult to me. I am just a small man, without fame, without degree, trying the best to be a slave to serve not only the saints but also the sinners by ministering the Word that the Lord has opened up to me. Many of the brothers can testify for me that I never exercised any kind of authority to control anyone. Do not think that I am deaf or I am blind to the problems in the churches. I have a lot of feeling concerning all the churches, but I would never control the churches or say anything to control them. Whenever I hear something concerning some problems in the churches, my practice is to pray for them.
I exhort all of you brothers not to control the church you are caring for. If possible, some of you should resign from the eldership. In the Bible there is a way for the appointing ones to deal with the wrong elders (1 Tim. 5:19-20). This is very rarely done because we do not believe in controlling, and we do not believe in adjusting. I only believe in the Lord’s mercy and grace and in His holy Word moving in you by His gracious Spirit. This is all that I trust in. I trust in His mercy, His grace, the Word, and the Spirit. I do not like to control anything, to adjust anything, or to direct anything, but I like to pray for you to receive mercy, grace, the Word, and the Spirit. I do have a full trust in these four things, but it depends upon your attitude. Will you receive the mercy? Will you receive the grace? Will you receive the Word in an absolute way and not according to your choice, to your taste, to your preference, or to your priority? Just receive His mercy, His grace, and His Word absolutely and His Spirit unconditionally.
In the elders’ training of 1984 we spoke strongly concerning the unique ministry of the New Testament. However, in the time since then some have endeavored to teach something different, to carry out something that differs from the unique ministry. In 1 Timothy 1:3 Paul says, “Even as I exhorted you, when I was going into Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus in order that you might charge certain ones not to teach different things.” To teach different things does not mainly refer to heresy. Rather, it refers to the Old Testament things, such as the law and the genealogies (vv. 4, 7). These are the things that are different from the testimony of Jesus and from God’s economy. This economy of God is not by any feeling or by an outward seeing. It is by faith.
Faith is a term that concerns the entire New Testament. Galatians 3:23-25 says that before faith came, we were guarded under law. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the law. We have received the Holy Spirit, not by an outward work but by the hearing of faith (v. 2). Christ makes His home in our hearts through faith (Eph. 3:17), not through our feelings. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:13 that he spoke by the spirit of faith. In the following chapter he says that we walk not by appearance, not by anything seen or felt but by faith (5:7). Regeneration is not something that you can see. Sanctification is not something that you can see. Transformation is not something that you can see. Can you see the conformity to Christ’s death? Probably the only thing that people will see will be our glorification. We all will be in glory; then all will see. But before that consummating item of God’s salvation, nothing is visible. Nothing is by sight. Everything is by faith. Often when we quote Ephesians 3:17 and 1 Timothy 1:4, we do not include the words through faith or in faith.
In Hebrews 6:4-5 Paul says that we have become “partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come.” God has given us a foretaste of the things of the coming age, and many of the things of the coming age will be by sight, not by faith. When the millennium comes, there will be a great restoration (Isa. 11:6-9; 35:5-10; 65:25). But today all the bequests of the New Testament blessings are by faith, not by sight. In last year’s elders’ training, this was stressed very much. But it seems that in the months since that time this word has become a vanity to some of you.
At that time the entire vision of the Lord’s recovery was presented to you concerning God, concerning Christ, concerning the Spirit, concerning the believers, concerning the church, concerning the kingdom, and concerning the New Jerusalem. According to my observation, nearly all the elders labor quite much, but in your labor you do not care much for the vision.
What is the vision that the Lord has shown us for His up-to-date recovery? We all know that the Lord’s recovery did not begin with us. The Lord began His recovery at least by the time of the reformers, among whom was Martin Luther. The main item that was recovered at that time was justification by faith. After that the matter of the inner life was recovered through people like Madame Guyon, Father Fenelon, and Brother Lawrence, the so-called mystics. This was a reaction to the dead Protestantism in the 1600s. At about the same time sanctification by faith, the so-called holiness, was discovered. The brotherhood of the believers was discovered first by the northern European brothers in the 1600s and later in the early 1800s by the Plymouth Brethren. Around Germany there were different kinds of “brother” churches, such as the Grace Brothers and even the Mennonites. Small items were also discovered, such as baptism by immersion instead of sprinkling; because of this the Baptists were raised up. Administration that is not by bishops but by the presbytery, the elders, was also recovered; with this the Presbyterian denomination was raised up. Then the so-called gifts were discovered, giving rise to the Pentecostal movement. All these may be called sundry items. Immersion is a small item, the presbytery is a small item, and even the gifts are a very small item in relation to God’s New Testament economy.
In 1 Corinthians 12 when Paul lists the gifts, he puts tongues and interpretation of tongues at “the tail” (vv. 8-10, 28). Although Paul lists tongues and interpretation of tongues as the last item among the gifts, some would uplift them, not only as the head but as the crown upon the head. This is altogether too much. Do you believe that the recovery of tongue-speaking is the Lord’s recovery? It is just one unimportant item of the Lord’s recovery. Paul says that tongue-speaking builds up the individual but does not build the church (14:4). The problem with the discovery of the miraculous things is that some made these things the unique things. Even justification by faith is not the unique thing. Sanctification is not the unique thing. The inner life is not the unique thing. Needless to say, immersion or the presbytery are not the unique thing. Later we will see what the unique thing is.
The Lord’s New Testament move has been on this earth for nearly two thousand years. In this time the Lord has done very much. He has brought the gospel to every corner of this earth. His Word, the Holy Bible, has been translated into almost every language and dialect of man. Many have been brought to the Lord. Now we must consider several issues. First, in such a great work as this, how much has been carried out by the fundamentalists with the Word, and how much has been carried out by the Pentecostals with the Spirit? Perhaps more than ninety percent of the Lord’s move in these two thousand years has been carried out by the fundamentalists with the Word. Less than ten percent has been carried out by the Pentecostals with the so-called “Spirit.” Second, if there were no Bible or expounding or teaching of the Bible on this earth, but only the Spirit with all the gifts, what would be the situation today? It would certainly be poor. Third, we must consider the way of the major denominations today. Besides the Catholic Church there are the Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist denominations. Of these, the Southern Baptists have the greatest membership. They do not speak much concerning the Spirit. Rather, they depend upon their Sunday-school lessons. Qualified writers work the year round to compose the Sunday-school lessons to be used in the next year. Basically, the Southern Baptists do not trust in their big meetings but in their Sunday-school lessons.
The fundamentalists’ way is with the Word. Since the middle part of the last century, the Pentecostal movement has risen up. Within this one and a half centuries, what has been built up by the so-called “Spirit” with the gifts? Only the Assemblies of God denomination has been built up. In half a century the membership of the Assemblies of God has risen very quickly. But in their classes they taught their students not to try to build up the church by tongue-speaking. Instead, they were told to build by teaching the Bible. All the other branches of the Pentecostal movement have been coming and going, even disappearing, but the Assemblies of God denomination stands because in their meetings they teach the Bible. In China I attended one of their meetings in 1936. A learned American missionary was there taking the lead by teaching people. They do not oppose tongue-speaking. Rather, they practice it privately, but they do not trust in this for the building up of the church.
Throughout the past twenty centuries the work of the Spirit has been talked about and experienced by different Christians. In my study of spiritual books I have encountered the term the second blessing. The inner-life people always encourage others to have a second blessing. This means that after you have been regenerated, you need another blessing. The fundamentalists use another term — the fullness of the Spirit. After you have been saved, you must seek after the fullness of the Spirit. Then the Pentecostal saints use another phrase — the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The Friends denomination, the Quakers, emphasize the experience of “quaking.” In Taiwan one denomination picked up the way of shaking their chairs to receive the power of the Spirit. The second blessing, the fullness of the Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, quaking, and chair shaking all refer to the same thing in a broader sense. We should not be narrow. We should have a broader view. Do not stress so much that the second blessing is the unique thing. Actually, this thing is about the same as the fullness of the Spirit. The fullness of the Spirit is about the same thing as the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost is about the same thing as quaking. If the inner-life people stress the inner life as the unique thing as opposed to all other kinds of terminology, that is wrong. Every person first must be regenerated and then must be filled with the Spirit. No one can deny this fact. But how to express this and how to experience it may vary. It may differ according to your background and your environment.
In my hometown of Chefoo, not too far from our hall, was another hall where a group of Pentecostals met. Once their leader came to me, trying to convince me to take up the Pentecostal way. I said to him, “Brother, I surely know what your intention is in coming here. Since you have been in your way for years, how many do you have meeting with you?” When he told me that there were under one hundred, I replied, “I am not in your way, but among us there are close to one thousand. Do you have the power, or do I have the power?”
Many Christians are narrow-minded and shortsighted. Once they get something, they would stay with that one thing and make it the unique thing. This is wrong. We have to believe in history. Christianity has been on this earth for nearly two thousand years. Millions have been saved, and thousands became giants serving the Lord, including John Wycliffe; the reformers, among whom were Martin Luther, Madame Guyon, Father Fenelon, Brother Lawrence, Zinzendorf, John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, and Jonathan Edwards; and the Brethren teachers, among whom were J. N. Darby, William Kelly, and C. H. Mackintosh. The Brethren were especially powerful. They saturated nearly the entire earth with the truths that they had seen from the Word. Then there were Charles Spurgeon, G. Campbell Morgan, S. D. Gordon, A. J. Gordon, Andrew Murray, Charles Finney, D. L. Moody, A. B. Simpson, Watchman Nee, and today there is Billy Graham. All these brothers did not take the way of the so-called Pentecostal movement. Can we exclude them? Of course not. We must broaden our view to see the whole matter.
Now I would ask you, are we Lutheran? Are we mystics? Are we Brethren? Are we Presbyterian? Are we Methodists? No, we are not. Then what are we? Praise the Lord we are so small, but we are all-inclusive. We do not stress anything as “the thing.” Only one thing is “the thing.” In the next chapter we will see what the one thing is.
