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There are two aspects of our knowledge of God: one is inward knowledge and the other is outward knowledge. Both Hebrews 8:11 and 1 John 2:27 speak of our inward knowledge of God. Hebrews 8 speaks of the law of God’s life, that is, God’s life, which enables us to know God inwardly. First John 2 speaks of the anointing, that is, the revelation of the Holy Spirit, which also enables us to know God inwardly. Knowing God through the law of life is to know God through His life; knowing God through the anointing is to know God through the Spirit.
John 17:3 and Ephesians 1:17 also speak of our inward knowledge of God with a difference in emphasis on life and the Holy Spirit. John 17 says that life enables us to know God. Ephesians 1 says that God gives us a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may know God; this means that the Holy Spirit dwells in our human spirit. Both Hebrews 8:11 and John 17:3 speak of the life in us that enables us to inwardly know God, and 1 John 2:27 and Ephesians 1:17 speak of the Holy Spirit in us that enables us to inwardly know God.
God’s nature is fixed and unchangeable; it cannot be changed by time or human events. His nature is the same in one person as it is in another; His nature fifty years ago was the same as it is today. First John 4:8 says that God is love. Since God’s nature is love, there is a commandment according to this nature: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). This commandment of love is based upon the unchangeable nature of God. Like the unchangeable nature of God, this commandment is also unchangeable. Whether in Jerusalem or in Samaria, whether five hundred or fifty years ago, whether five hundred or fifty years from now, whether in male or female, whether in young or old, this commandment is the same; it cannot be altered because of space, time, or human events. Since the law according to God’s nature is fixed and unchangeable, the knowledge that this law gives us is also fixed and unchangeable; it cannot be altered because of space, time, or human events.
Since God’s nature is fixed, the law derived from God’s nature is also fixed. Man’s knowledge of God through the law, that is, through the law of Moses, is altogether unchangeable. However, the prophets, who represent God Himself, are living, and the commands they give can be changed. A prophet may tell someone to take a wife, but later another prophet may tell the same one not to take a wife. This is entirely different from the command or the knowledge given by the law.
The law is fixed, whereas prophets are flexible. Yesterday the law instructed us to love others; today it still instructs us to love others; and a hundred years from now, it will still tell us to love others. The law is fixed and unchangeable. But what about the prophets? Yesterday the prophets may have told someone to get married, but today they may tell him not to get married. The prophets are flexible. The law represents God’s nature, and the prophets represent God Himself; God’s nature is fixed, but God Himself is flexible and living.
Our knowledge of God through the law is rigid and fixed, but our knowledge of God through the prophets is living and unpredictable. Yesterday God might have said that we can do a certain thing, but today He may say that we cannot. Sometimes the prophets may give guidance that seems to contradict the law. The prophet Hosea received a command from God to take a wife of harlotries (Hosea 1:2). According to the law, this is not what God desires man to do, but the prophet received a command from God because He had a special purpose for him. This shows that the law is fixed but the prophets are flexible. The law enables us to know God’s nature, and the prophets enable us to know God Himself.
Today the law of life within us has replaced the law of the Old Testament, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit has replaced the prophets of the Old Testament. Although we still keep the law, we are keeping an inward law, not an outward law. God’s life is the law in us, and the Holy Spirit, as the anointing ointment, is the Prophet in us. Today we not only have the law within us, but we also have the Prophet.
Can we be a prophet to others? For example, if a saint wants to go to a certain place, he may come to us for fellowship, asking, “Should I go to a certain place? Would you seek an answer from God for me?” Concerning this matter, should he not ask himself? Should he not first seek an answer for himself? It is not right for him to ask us, because we are not his prophet, but it is also not right for him to only ask himself, because he is not a prophet only in himself. Instead, he should seek the leading of the Spirit as the anointing ointment within him; the Spirit anointing within him is the Prophet. The responsible brothers in the church are not our prophets, the co-workers are also not our prophets, and we, needless to say, are not others’ prophets.
In the New Testament there are no “individual” prophets. The Spirit who inspired people to be prophets in the Old Testament is now the Spirit as the anointing ointment within all of us. Since the Spirit is anointing us from within, we no longer need an outward representative to be our prophet. The anointing Spirit has entered into us to be our living Prophet. In the Old Testament the Spirit of God came upon certain people and moved only them. But now the Spirit has entered into all of us to be our Prophet. The Spirit who inspired people to be prophets has entered into us today as the anointing to be our Prophet personally and directly. Hence, we no longer need representatives to be a prophet to us outwardly.
All the prophets in the Old Testament typify the Holy Spirit as the anointing ointment in the New Testament. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit, the anointing ointment, has entered into us personally and directly to be our Prophet. The law in the Old Testament represents and declares the nature of God’s life, which is love, light, holiness, and righteousness. Today the nature of God’s life has entered into us directly, so there is no longer any need for an outward law to declare it to us. In the Old Testament everything was a shadow, a type, a representation, but in the New Testament the reality has come. The sacrificial lamb in the Old Testament typified the Lord Jesus; in the New Testament the Lord Jesus has come, so there is no need for a type. Similarly, the law in the Old Testament declared the nature of God’s life; in the New Testament the nature of God’s life has entered into us directly so that the outward law is no longer needed. In the Old Testament the representatives through whom the Holy Spirit gave revelations were the prophets. Today the Spirit of revelation, typified by the prophets, is in us, and the Spirit gives us revelations directly. There is no need of any representative.
Everything in the Old Testament, in principle, is also in the New Testament, but there is a difference. For example, the Old Testament required the shedding of blood for the expiation of sins; the New Testament also requires the shedding of blood for the redemption of sins. This is a principle. However, in the Old Testament the blood that was shed for the expiation of sins was through a type, whether it was a lamb or a bull. But in the New Testament the reality of the type, Christ, has come. In the Old Testament the law, as the declaration of the nature of God’s life, regulated man. In the New Testament the principle is the same, but we are regulated by the law of God’s life in us. In the Old Testament the law was a representation; in the New Testament God’s life in us is the reality of what is represented by the law.
The principle of God’s giving revelation to people is the same in the New Testament as in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament the prophets, as the representatives of the Holy Spirit, gave revelations to people; in the New Testament however, the Holy Spirit has entered into the believers directly to give us revelations, so there is no need of prophets. The principle in the Old Testament is the same as in the New Testament. Those who carried out the principle in the Old Testament, however, were not the reality but were merely types. In the New Testament the reality — Christ — has come, so there is no need of types, such as bulls or lambs. When life comes, there is no need of the law of letter; when the Holy Spirit comes, there is no need of prophets.
This kind of knowledge is not a small matter. It is difficult to find a book in Christian bookstores that says that the purpose of the law is for us to know the nature of God’s life and that the prophets are for us to know God in His infiniteness. Hardly any book speaks of the Holy Spirit in us replacing the prophets of the Old Testament. The light concerning the law of life replacing the law in the Old Testament was seen by God’s children one hundred or even two hundred years ago, but the light concerning the Holy Spirit replacing the prophets of the Old Testament has not been seen until today. This kind of spiritual light is not that easy to see.
The knowledge that the law of life gives us is different from the knowledge that we receive from the anointing. Everything related to the nature of God’s life is made known to us through the law of life; everything related to God’s infinite self is made known to us through the Holy Spirit as the anointing ointment. For example, when we purchase some fabric, the colors and patterns we choose are related to our Christian conduct, which is a reflection of God’s nature; hence, this is a matter of the law of life. However, we may also have a sense within us as to whether we should buy one or two pieces of fabric or whether we should buy five or twenty yards of fabric. This is made known to us by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, not the law of life.
The Holy Spirit as the anointing is absolutely related to the Holy Spirit as the law of life. For example, a brother may want to see a movie, but he does not know which movie to see. He may seek the anointing to get a sense of the Holy Spirit. Since he wants to see a movie, he prays, “O Lord, I do not know which movie is good. Please give me a sense. Lord, the anointing teaches me concerning all things, and I have no need that anyone teach me, so please give me a leading, that I may know which movie to see.” The Holy Spirit will never give him a sense in response to such a request, because the anointing is based on the law of life. The Holy Spirit will not act as the anointing if we desire to do something that is against the law of life. The knowledge that we receive from the law of life is always strengthened by the anointing. These two interact as both cause and effect.
