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Scripture Reading: John 10:10; 1 John 5:12; Col. 3:4; 1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Tim. 4:22; Gal. 2:20
Prayer: Lord, in coming to Your Word, we are coming before You. We bow down our heads and worship You. We open our entire being to You. Open Yourself to us, and open Your Word to us. We want to have open fellowship with You in which there is nothing between us and You and nothing between any of us. Lord, remove every veil and shadow so that Your light can shine brightly. Speak enlightening and clear words to us so that we may be brought into the light. We are fallen; we need Your continual salvation. We ask You to show us our inner condition, cover all our shortcomings, and fill up every lack. Give us the ability and the utterance to speak forth Your mystery, and grant us a spirit of wisdom and an open mind that we may understand Your Word and see the mystery in Your Word. We need revelation to see the eternal mystery in Your heart. Lord, we rely on the cleansing of Your precious blood; we take You as our sin offering and trespass offering. Under this cleansing we enjoy Your presence and eat of You. Lord, cover us against all the troubles and attacks from Your enemy. We thank You for sanctifying this time so that we can be gathered quietly before You and learn to know You, the truth, and the way of glory. We worship and exalt You. We love You. Amen.
In the previous chapter we saw that the fullness of God is the overflowing of the riches of God to become His expression. In other words, the fullness of God is the expression of the riches of God. The riches of God are all that God is, that is, God Himself, His attributes. God’s attributes are the nature, character, and characteristics that He possesses. For example, God is life, love, light, holiness, righteousness, and power. These are God’s attributes, His riches. God is also grace, kindness, and glory. When the riches of God overflow, they become the expression of God.
Furthermore, man was created for God’s expression. In explaining this point we need to see that man is created in God’s image. Image is a matter of expression. God created man in His image for man to express Him. But how can man express God? In order for man to express God, man must have God’s riches; that is, man must first have all that God is. This includes God’s life, love, light, grace, and other attributes. After man has gained, is filled, and overflows with God’s riches, these riches become the fullness enabling man to become God’s expression. In the beginning of the Bible, man was created in God’s image, and at the end of the Bible, man becomes God’s fullness, the very expression of God.
It is crucial for every Christian who is truly saved to know the wonderful truth that Christ is our life. Who can be someone else’s life? No one can be life for another person. In the six thousand years of human history no philosopher ever declared that he was life. Moreover, no one ever said that he would become man’s life. At the most they were able to say only that they were teachers or masters, but they never said that they were life or that they were life for their disciples. In the past six thousand years only one man, the Lord Jesus in whom we believe, ever said, “I am...the life” (John 11:25; 14:6), and only He said, “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly” (10:10). The Lord came that man would not merely have life but that man would have it abundantly.
Sixty years ago, before I was saved, I heard a famous traveling preacher quote John 10:10: “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly.” Although I did not understand what he was saying, I was impressed by this verse. After I was saved, I began to study this verse and to study the topic of Christ being our life, and I bought many books concerning Christ as our life. Although some of the books were concerning the overcoming life and also concerning the secret of taking Christ as life, none of them spoke clearly and thoroughly concerning Christ as life. I studied this matter for at least ten years after I was saved.
By 1935 I had been saved for ten years and was serving the Lord full time. From 1933 to 1935 I spent much time working with Brother Nee in Shanghai. During this time we fought the spiritual battle together. In 1935 I returned to Chefoo to spend the summer, and Brother Nee also went to Chefoo for some rest. Our original intention was to rest that summer, but we eventually held a conference. Brother Nee was burdened to speak concerning Christ in us as the overcoming life. When he spoke, many people’s minds were opened, and a revival was brought in.
Brother Nee had intended to stay in Chefoo that summer and then travel to Europe via Manchuria and Siberia. However, because his speaking about the overcoming life brought in a revival, he cancelled his trip to Europe and returned to Shanghai. This brought the revival to Shanghai, and then from Shanghai it spread to Amoy. In addition, from that time onward he began to gradually spread the work of the Lord’s recovery. Therefore, I left my hometown, Chefoo, and went to begin the work in Tientsin and Beijing. However, it was only when I was in Brother Nee’s conference in Chefoo that my mind was opened to understand the matter of Christ in us as life, but even that understanding was not thorough.
By the summer of 1939 Brother Nee had given many messages concerning Christ as life when he visited Europe. These messages were recorded and edited by a British brother and published as The Normal Christian Life. When Brother Nee returned from Europe, he called a conference. At that time I and three to four young brothers were working in the places near the Tsingtao-Tsinan Railway in Shantung Province. When I received Brother Nee’s telegram asking me to attend his conference in Shanghai, I immediately went to Shanghai. I was greatly helped in that conference.
Although Christians say Christ is life, few Christians can say “Christ our life” as Paul does in Colossians 3:4. There are even fewer Christians who go further and touch the secret of Christ as life, and still fewer live by taking Christ as life. Among those in Christianity, there are false Christians. We do not need to speak about these people. There are others who are seeking and who know that Christ is their life, but they may not necessarily touch the secret of Christ as life. Still others have touched the secret of Christ as life, but they have not entered into the stage of daily taking Christ as life and living Christ. Finally, some live by daily taking Christ as life just as Paul, who says, “To me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21), and “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).
In 1949, when we were working in Taiwan, we composed a short hymn for baptism: “Already dead! And buried too! / With the old man I am through! /...No longer I! No longer I! / Christ in me I’ll testify!” (Hymns, #938). On one occasion we baptized over seven hundred people. We baptized people on Saturday night and continued baptizing on the Lord’s Day. On those two days we sang this hymn with every person we baptized; we sang this hymn over seven hundred times. However, according to my observation, the people who were baptized were not “through” after their baptism. Although the hymn says, “I am through! / ...Christ in me I’ll testify,” none of them could say, “I am through,” nor could they say, “No longer I! Christ in me I’ll testify!” Rather, their condition was the opposite. Therefore, on the one hand, I am glad to see so many young people attending this conference and to know that two to three hundred of the young people have been saved for less than half a year. On the other hand, I am concerned that these young people might not live a life which testifies that “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.”
The Bible reveals that Christ wants to be our life (John 10:10). John says, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” (1 John 5:12), and Paul says, “Christ our life” (Col. 3:4). It is not easy to find the secret to taking Christ as our life. I sought in vain for this secret for many years. Eventually, as I experienced Christ and read the Bible, I discovered that the key, the secret, to taking Christ as our life is absolutely in the spirit.
Brother Nee once said that in order to experience Christ, we must enter into Romans 8, because this chapter speaks concerning the Spirit of life. The title the Spirit of life is used only once in the entire Bible, and that is in Romans 8:2. The Spirit of life is the Spirit of Christ in verse 9. Furthermore, verse 9 shows that the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of God. The Spirit of life is the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of God. In addition, this chapter also shows that the Spirit of Christ is Christ Himself (vv. 9-10).
When traditional Christian theology speaks of the Trinity, it emphasizes the aspect of three to avoid confusion by saying that God is the heavenly Father, Christ is the Son, and the Spirit is the Holy Spirit. This kind of traditional, theological teaching is harmful and has misled many people. For example, when I was young, I often heard people say that Christ is the Son, and the Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit. They said that the Holy Spirit and the Son should not be confused because They are two persons. This affected me and hindered me from finding the key to experiencing Christ as life.
Brother Nee helped us to see according to Romans 8 that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ and that the Spirit of Christ, who is Christ Himself, is the Spirit of life. We saw that the Spirit of life is life.
In addition, according to 1 Corinthians 15:45, the last Adam, Christ our Savior, became flesh, died, and was resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit. The life-giving Spirit is the Spirit of life, and He can give us life because He is the Spirit of life. The life-giving Spirit is Christ.
As the Lamb of God, our rich Christ accomplished redemption for us on the cross to take away our sin (John 1:29), and He is now living in us to be our life (Col. 3:4). He is living in us, and He is also on the throne in the heavens as the Lord and Christ, the One who is all-inclusive and omnipresent. He is both in heaven and in us. He is the Spirit of life in us who gives us life. Therefore, we need to see that the Spirit within us is the secret to our enjoying Christ as life.
Second Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit.” The Lord is the life-giving Spirit, and He abides in us in our spirit. The Lord as the life-giving Spirit abides in us. He has become one with our spirit, fellowshipping with our spirit and mingling with our spirit, so that His Spirit and our spirit become one spirit.
The fact that the Lord Jesus is our life means that He as the Spirit is our life. He is in our spirit as the Spirit. For this reason, 2 Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit.” The Lord is in our spirit; hence, living in our spirit is the secret to receiving and enjoying the Lord as our life. What kind of spirit do we have? We have a mingled spirit, a spirit that is the mingling of the life-giving Spirit — who is the Lord Jesus — and our human spirit. This mingled spirit is in every one of us. The secret to enjoying the Lord as life is to live in our spirit.
In general, as long as people are not saying anything wrong or not saying something negative about other people, they speak whenever it pleases them. However, because we enjoy the Lord as life, we should turn to our spirit and speak in our spirit whenever we speak. A person might lose his temper if his wife or a classmate makes him angry. If it would be embarrassing to lose his temper in a particular environment, he may exercise control but lose his temper later. What should we do if we are about to lose our temper, since we have Christ as life and enjoy Him as life? We should not lift up our eyes to heaven and say, “O Lord Jesus, if You want me to lose my temper, I will lose my temper, but if You do not want me to lose my temper, I will not lose my temper.” Instead, we should turn to our spirit and touch the feeling in our spirit by fellowshipping with the Lord and say, “I am about to lose my temper, but what are You doing?” Stanza 1 of Hymns, #403 says, “Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me, / For my very life art Thou; / Thee I take to all my problems / As the full solution now.” Whether or not we lose our temper is not for us to decide; the Lord Jesus should be our answer. If after asking Him in this way He is silent within us, we will not have any temper to lose. We can even ask Him if He wants to lose His temper. If we fellowship with Him in this way, we will have no strength to lose our temper. This is not a joke. This is the testimony of many believers. This is the way for us to enjoy the Lord as life.
Let us use buying things as another example. Whether people are in Taiwan or the United States, they like to buy things. When people from Taiwan go to the United States, they like to buy things in the United States, and when people from the United States come to Taiwan, they like to buy things in Taiwan. When I want to buy something, I turn to my spirit and ask the Lord to buy it. If the Lord does not respond, I may again ask Him to buy it, but He may remain silent. It is a great blessing to take Christ as life in this way when we want to buy things. Should the sisters go window-shopping? When we enter a department store, we should take Christ as life and experience “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” We should say, “O Lord Jesus, the department store is having a sale today. Can I buy something?” We should not ask the Lord in heaven; rather, we should ask the Lord in our spirit. He is the life-giving Spirit who abides in us. If we pray in this way, ninety-eight percent of the time we will not be able to buy anything. The Lord lives in our spirit; hence, we will have a feeling within.
These are negative examples. Let us now consider a positive example. Should we open our mouth and testify in a meeting? Some saints seem to be addicted to testifying in the meetings, just as some people are addicted to coffee. If such a believer can stop speaking in the meeting for three years, Christ will live in him and be his life. When he wants to speak, he should remember Hymns, #938: “Already dead! And buried too! / With the old man I am through! / ...No longer I! No longer I! / Christ in me I’ll testify!” When we testify, it should be Christ who testifies in us. If Christ does not testify, we should not testify. We should simply remain seated. This is how we take Christ as our life.
The new believers should not envy those who have been saved for many years, the so-called old-timers, because it is easy for people to rely on their seniority. I often remind myself of this, because I could also do this. Most of the elderly brothers and sisters rely on their seniority. Consequently, when they listen or speak in the meetings, they rely on their old age. The words that are spoken in the meetings should be sweet and fragrant to the new believers and should also be fresh to the saints who have been saved for many years. Therefore, we should all learn to live in our spirit and be in the newness of our spirit. Christ is our life, and it is no longer we who live, but it is Christ who lives in us. This should become our practical experience.
