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Scripture Reading: Matt. 1:23; 3:2; 15:30-31; John 6:57; 19:34; 20:22; Acts 2:1-4
If we look carefully into the New Testament with much spiritual insight, we will realize that the twenty-seven books it contains are divided into three groups. The first part consists of five books including the four Gospels and Acts, which tell us the history of a universal man. The first four books reveal the Head of this universal man — Christ, and the last book in this group shows us His Body. Altogether, these five books give us a full portrait, a full picture, of a universal man.
The second part of the New Testament comprises twenty-one Epistles from Romans through Jude. These twenty-one Epistles are a full description, definition, and explanation of this universal man. The first five books of the New Testament give a portrait, or history, of the universal man but not much definition or explanation. The full definition and explanation of the universal man is found in these twenty-one Epistles.
The last section of the New Testament contains one book, Revelation, which reveals the ultimate consummation of this universal man.
The entire New Testament deals with this universal man. The first group of five books gives us a history of this man, the second group of twenty-one Epistles gives us a full definition of this man, and the last part of the New Testament gives us the consummation of this man. Therefore, the subject of the New Testament is the universal man with his history, his definition, and his consummation. If we keep these four terms in mind — universal man, history, definition, and consummation — we have the entire New Testament. These four key phrases are a great help in understanding the New Testament.
In the first four books of the New Testament we first see the Head of this universal man. This Head, Christ, is God the Father in the Son by the Spirit mingling Himself with man and becoming man. Therefore, He is a God-man, God mingled with man, a man who is one with God. Such a wonderful One is the Head of this universal man.
The first matter mentioned in the first chapter of the New Testament is Jesus Christ, who is called Emmanuel (Matt. 1:1, 23). Emmanuel means “God with us.” This is God with us not only in an objective way but in a very subjective way, not only outside of man but within man. The name Emmanuel was first prophesied by Isaiah (Isa. 7:14). Emmanuel is the name of the child born of a human virgin. This child is called Mighty God, and although this child is a son, His name is called Eternal Father (9:6).
By means of chapter 1 of Matthew, we can see that the significance and importance of Isaiah 7 and 9 are that God Himself came into man to be a little child. The Almighty God came into man to be born of a human virgin (Matt. 1:20, 23) as a little child called Emmanuel, who is God with man and God mingled with man as one. This is the first item mentioned in the New Testament and the first thought in it. In order to understand the New Testament, we must first be impressed with this thought. If we do not have this understanding, we can never get into the real meaning of the New Testament. The beginning of the real meaning of the New Testament is that the Almighty God came into a small man to mingle Himself with man and become a man.
On the first page of the New Testament there is the genealogy of Christ. This genealogy is a very brief sketch of the entire Old Testament. To understand the genealogy in the first chapter of Matthew requires an understanding of the entire Old Testament. All the names found in this genealogy serve to remind us of the histories and stories of the Old Testament. A new, unlearned believer who reads in Matthew 1:1 that Jesus Christ is the son of Abraham must refer to the first book of the Old Testament in order to find out who Abraham is. In addition, the end of this genealogy also brings us to the end of the Old Testament. In this way, the introduction to the New Testament provides a brief sketch, or review, of the Old Testament. In order to understand the New Testament, we must study the Old Testament and remember the stories in it. It is from this point of view that we can understand the New Testament. No human mind or hand could have written such a record. Only the almighty, wise God could have done this.
The Old Testament types and prophecies point to Christ and the church. In the types and prophecies concerning Christ there are two elements: God and man. The thought of God mingling with man is in the tabernacle, for example. The Ark and the boards of the tabernacle were all made of wood overlaid with gold (Exo. 25:10-11; 26:15, 29). Gold typifies God’s divine nature, and wood typifies the human nature. This is a picture of Christ, the Head of the universal man.
In the Old Testament types and prophecies we can also see the church as something issuing out of Christ as the wonderful Head, being the same as He is. Because the church is out from Him, it can match Him and be one with Him. Eve as the wife of Adam typifies the church as the wife of Christ, who comes out of Him (Gen. 2:22-23). In the Bible children also typify that the church is exactly the same as Christ in life, nature, and element, because the church is born of God and is out of Him (Isa. 8:18a).
As we have indicated, the first crucial point mentioned in the New Testament is that God Himself came to mingle Himself with man to be a man. This thought is in Matthew 1:18, 20, and 23 and Luke 1:35, which speak of Mary conceiving a child by the Holy Spirit, and it is also in John 1, which tells us that the Word, who is God, was incarnated to become a man (vv. 1, 14).
The first matter in the New Testament is the incarnation, including the birth and growth of Christ. Following this, the second thought, the second matter, revealed is the kingdom. Following the matter of incarnation, the first word proclaimed, announced, and declared in the New Testament is the kingdom. Matthew 3:2 says, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” Repentance is necessary because the kingdom is here. The first message of the New Testament gospel is the kingdom. After John the Baptist announced the kingdom, Christ repeated the same thing (4:17), and He instructed His disciples to repeat it again (10:7).
Instead of telling people to repent because the kingdom is here today, Christianity mistakenly asks people to repent in order that they may go to heaven. However, the reason we repent of our sins and receive God’s gospel concerning Christ is that the kingdom has drawn near. Our rebirth, our regeneration, is not for going to heaven but for entering into the kingdom of God today (John 3:5). The first word of the New Testament is concerning incarnation, that God became a man as Emmanuel. Then the second word of the New Testament is the kingdom. Through incarnation, Emmanuel brought the kingdom of the heavens to people. Now every human being has to deal with this kingdom.
What is the kingdom? Some may answer that it is the rule of the King, but this matter is hard to understand merely by our human mind. The proper definition of the kingdom is found at the close of the prayer that the Lord told us to pray, which says, “Do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” (Matt. 6:13). The word power also indicates authority. According to its proper meaning, the kingdom of God is a matter of authority and glory. God’s authority is for dealing with His enemy, and God’s glory is the very manifestation and expression of God Himself.
This is the reason that two crucial matters are mentioned in the creation of man (Gen. 1:26). The first is that man was created in the image of God for His expression, and the second is that God committed His authority to man for man to rule over all things on this earth, especially over the creeping things. Among the creeping things there is the serpent, which is a symbol of Satan, God’s enemy. By reading Genesis 1 carefully, we can realize that God created man with the authority to rule over the earth, upon which there is the creeping one, the serpent.
Moreover, man was created in the image of God. God’s image is His expression, which equals the glory of God. First Corinthians 11:7a says, “A man ought not to have his head covered, since he is God’s image and glory.” Man is the glory of God because he is the image of God; he was made in the image of God for God’s expression, that is, for the glory of God. Furthermore, God committed man with His authority to rule over His enemy. This reveals what the kingdom is. On the negative side, the kingdom is for subduing and ruling over God’s enemy, and on the positive side, it is to glorify and express God. Hence, God’s kingdom is to subdue, conquer, defeat, and overcome all His enemies and also to express His glory.
Incarnation is the mingling of God with man, and along with this incarnation, God’s kingdom was brought in to subdue, overcome, conquer, and defeat all His enemies by His divine authority and to express Him in a full way for His glory. We need a heavenly vision of this, not merely a mental understanding.
While the Lord Jesus was on this earth, the kingdom was here already. When the Pharisees asked Him as to when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, Behold, here it is! or, There! For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:20-21). In Matthew 12:28 the Lord also said, “If I, by the Spirit of God, cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Wherever the Lord Jesus went, His enemies were subdued. On the negative side, sin, sickness, demons, evil spirits, and Satan himself were all conquered, subdued, and defeated by Christ. On the positive side, God was expressed and glorified. In His human living on earth, people saw the glory of God, that is, God expressed through Him and in Him. Therefore, wherever He was, there the kingdom was also.
Many people do not have the proper thought concerning the kingdom. It is possible to read the four Gospels by our human mentality and understand them merely in word. However, we need the heavenly vision to have the proper insight. To be sure, we must understand the words, but we must understand them by the heavenly vision. The teaching concerning the kingdom by the Brethren, for example, is too technical, too much in letter, and too dispensational, lacking light and impact. Before God and in the Lord, I have the full assurance to speak the real truth concerning the kingdom, not in doctrine in dead letters but in the way of living revelation. The kingdom is a matter of God’s authority and God’s glory, which was brought to man by His incarnation.
When the Lord Jesus was incarnated as a man to live, walk, and work on this earth, He brought the divine authority and God’s glory with Him. Thus, wherever He was, there was God’s kingdom. All God’s enemies were subdued, conquered, defeated, and overcome, and God’s full glory was expressed through Him. This is the full meaning of the kingdom of God. When Christ as the Head comes into us, all the enemies of God within us are also subdued by Him, and the full glory of God is expressed in us. In this way we have the kingdom of God within us.
The principle will be the same when Christ comes back the second time. On the negative side, Christ will come with the full authority of God to subdue all things. On the positive side, He will express God in a full way as God’s glory. This will be the kingdom in its manifestation in full. That is something in the future, but today the same principle is already here. The principle of the kingdom is of two aspects: divine authority to deal with the enemy of God and God’s glory to express God Himself.
In order to understand the Scriptures fully, we must first grasp the principles and not the details. In order to understand the map of a big city, for example, we must first know the main streets. If we are clear about the main streets, then we can go anywhere without getting lost or confused. To grasp the main principles and treat the details as secondary is the best way to study any matter. Here, therefore, we are presenting a sketch without getting into many technical details. We must be impressed with the principles. As we have seen, the first principle of the New Testament is incarnation, God mingled with man and becoming a man. The second principle, or main item, of the New Testament is the kingdom. God’s divine authority with His full glory was brought to man by His incarnation.
With the kingdom there is a demand, or requirement, which is much higher than the requirements of the Mosaic law (Matt. 5:17-48). The requirements of the law of Moses are that we be just, right, good, kind, and holy, whereas the requirement of the kingdom is that we be the same as God. The Lord Jesus told us in Matthew 5:48, “You therefore shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Not only must we be just, right, good, kind, and holy, but we also must be the same as God. This is the requirement of the kingdom, which far surpasses the requirements of the law.
In order to enter into the kingdom, there is a condition. Merely to be good and just is not sufficient. The term, the condition, for entering the kingdom is that we be born again, that is, born of God (John 3:5; 1:13). Regardless of how good we are, we are still not qualified to enter the kingdom, because we need another birth; we must be born anew (3:3). To be born anew means to be born again.
Even if we were as good as Confucius or even better, we still would have no qualifications to enter into the kingdom. No matter how good we are, we must realize that we are only created by God, not born of God. Therefore, in order for us to enter God’s kingdom, we must be born of God, that is, we must have the life of God, God Himself within us as life. Merely by our natural life, we can never fulfill the requirements of the kingdom; this is beyond all possibility. We need another life, the divine life, which is God Himself. We must have God Himself within us in order to fulfill the requirements of the kingdom. This is why the opening word of the New Testament tells us to repent for the sake of the kingdom.
Because we must be born again in order to enter the kingdom, the gospel is called the gospel of the kingdom. We ourselves must preach this gospel of the kingdom (Matt 24:14). The gospel of the kingdom requires human beings to receive God as life to fulfill His kingdom requirements with authority to subdue all God’s enemies and with glory to express Him. It is impossible for our natural human life to subdue God’s enemies and glorify God in a full way. To do good is the most that our created life can do. If, on the negative side, we are to subdue all God’s enemies and, on the positive side, glorify God in a full way, we must have God Himself in us as our life. This is the extract of the teaching of the entire New Testament.
If we consider the four Gospels and Acts, we will realize that the gospel preached by John the Baptist, by Christ Himself, by the disciples sent by Christ, and by the apostles after the day of Pentecost was the gospel of the kingdom, which brings people into God’s kingdom with His authority to overcome all His enemies and express Him in His full glory (Matt. 3:2; 4:17, 23; 9:35; 10:7; Acts 8:12; 19:8). This gospel, which was preached by John the Baptist, by Christ, by the disciples, and by the apostles, must also be announced by us (Matt. 24:14). However, most Christians today preach a low gospel, telling others, “You have no peace or joy, and you will perish in hell, but God loves you and has been merciful to you. Now you must believe in Him to have peace and joy and to go to heaven.” This is today’s poor, low gospel, a gospel without any glory. However, the gospel preached by John the Baptist, Christ, His disciples, and His apostles was full of glory and authority. It is a gospel of God Himself as our life within for us to subdue, conquer, and overcome all God’s enemies and express God in His full glory. This is the gospel of the kingdom, which is the second main item, the second thought, of the New Testament.
The third matter that the New Testament unveils in the four Gospels is the real condition of man. When God was incarnated as a man and brought His kingdom to man, man was in a poor condition. Every case in the four Gospels reveals the condition of man. Man is sinful, full of lusts, sickness, weakness, and death, and he is filled with evil spirits, possessed by demons, and ruled over by Satan in his kingdom of darkness (John 8:7, 11, 21; Matt. 14:14; 15:30-31; Luke 7:12; John 11:11-14; Matt. 8:16; 12:22-28).
Wherever the Lord Jesus went in His ministry on the earth, He encountered sin, sickness, weakness, death, sinful things, demon possession, evil spirits, and the rule of the darkness of Satan. Furthermore, the condition of mankind is also one of hunger, thirst, dissatisfaction, and disappointment (Matt. 14:14-21; John 7:37). Therefore, the four Gospels show us a full picture, not only of the incarnated God with His kingdom but of man’s fallen condition. Many pages in the four Gospels reveal the real condition of man as the third item, a negative item, of the New Testament.
The fourth thing that the New Testament reveals to us is that this very Christ meets all of mankind’s needs. He is the full answer to all our needs. The first four books of the New Testament testify that whatever man needs, Christ is. If we need life, He is life (John 10:10b). If we need light, He is light (8:12). If we are sick, He is the Healer (Matt. 8:14-16). If we are weak, He is the strength (John 5:8-9). What do you need? If you need redemption, He is also redemption; if you need regeneration, you have it in Christ. Those who were blind came to Him and received sight (Mark 10:46-52; John 9:4-13). The dead were resurrected by Him (11:41-44). Those who were sick met Him and were healed (Luke 4:38-40). He filled the hungry ones, satisfied the thirsty ones, and released the demon-possessed ones (John 6:32-35; 7:37; Mark 1:23-28; 5:1-20). There is not one case in these books of a man who had a need that Christ could not meet. Rather, these books show us that Christ is the very answer to all the needs of mankind. This is the fourth item that the New Testament reveals. If we keep these principles in mind when we read the New Testament, we will understand it in a better way.
The fifth thing that the New Testament shows us is the living of Jesus. Since the beginning of human history, there has never been such a living as the one lived out by this bountiful One, the living of the divine life through a human with the human nature. The daily living, the daily walk, of Jesus was wonderful. On the one hand, such a living conquers all the enemies of God, and on the other hand, it expresses God, manifesting Him in a full way. Thus, this living is the very reality of the kingdom of God.
When we read the four Gospels, we should have a deep impression of the living of this man, a living of the divine life through a human being. He was a genuine man, yet He lived not by Himself but by God as life (John 6:57). Therefore, He possessed the power and authority to conquer and subdue all God’s enemies. At the same time He was able to express God, manifesting Him in His full glory. Such a living of the bountiful One was the reality of the kingdom of God.
The sixth main item revealed in the New Testament is the impartation of God’s life by the Lord’s death and resurrection (John 19:34; 20:22). By Christ’s living of the divine life through the human nature, He conquered the enemies of God and expressed God in full glory. In order for such a life and living to be ours, He had to pass through death and enter into resurrection. By His death and resurrection He imparted Himself into us as life in order to meet all our needs and fulfill the requirements of the kingdom.
The requirements of the kingdom can be fulfilled only by Christ Himself as life to us. The first three Gospels — Matthew, Mark, and Luke — give us the requirements of the kingdom. The Gospel of John supplies us with the life that fulfills the kingdom’s requirements. The kingdom is a matter of requirements, and life is the fulfillment. The first three Gospels show us what the kingdom requires, and the last Gospel tells us how life fulfills the requirements of the kingdom. This life can be ours only through Christ’s death and resurrection.
After the Lord’s resurrection, the disciples were filled with the Spirit as breath within (John 20:22), and after His ascension, they were filled with the Spirit as power, as the rushing violent wind, without (Acts 2:1-4). The breath is for life, and the rushing wind is for power. At this point, man was brought into God. By incarnation God was brought into man, and by resurrection and ascension man was brought into God. The Lord’s coming in incarnation brought God into man, and His going through death, resurrection, and ascension brought man into God. This is the seventh main item revealed in the New Testament.
By His incarnation Christ brought God from heaven into man on the earth. At that time there was a man on the earth with God in Him. However, man was not yet in God. Not until Christ died, resurrected, and ascended did Christ bring man into God. Therefore, today in heaven there is a man in God. In incarnation Christ brought God into man on the earth; in His resurrection and ascension He brought man into God in the heavens. What God desired to have was accomplished, for there was then a real mingling of God and man. God is in man and man is in God. God came into man by incarnation, and man is brought into God by Christ’s resurrection and ascension.
On this earth there was a man with God in Him, but there had never been a man in the heavens in God until Christ died, resurrected, and ascended. By His incarnation He brought His divine nature into man, and by His resurrection and ascension He brought the human nature into God. Now God is in man, and man is in God. God is in us on the earth, and we are in God in the heavens. We are hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). Through the Son of God, the Father is in us on the earth, and through Christ, we are in God in the heavens.
