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Scripture Reading: Acts 9:1-17; 22:6-16; 1 Cor. 12:13; Luke 24:49; John 7:37-39
In the previous chapters we saw seven main points relating to the content of the four Gospels. These are incarnation, the kingdom, the condition of man, Christ meeting every man’s needs, the divine living in humanity, the imparting of Christ as life, and man being brought into God. Although these matters may seem brief and simple, they are very profound. Therefore, we need to spend more time to pray over these points and to ask the Lord to reveal something further in order that we may thoroughly understand the spiritual content of these four books.
Now we may come to the book of Acts. As we have mentioned previously, Acts should not be separated from the four Gospels. Acts should be included with the Gospels because these five books together give us a full picture of a universal man. The four Gospels give us a picture of the Head, and the book of Acts shows us the Body.
The books of the Scriptures were not originally given their titles by their writers. The titles were given by others many years later when they arranged the books of the Scriptures. In some versions of the Bible the book of Acts is simply called The Acts, but in the King James Version it is called The Acts of the Apostles. Strictly speaking, however, this book records not merely the acts of the apostles but the acts of Christ by the Spirit in the church. The acts of the apostles and of all the believers, that is, of the church, are the acts of Christ in the church by the Holy Spirit.
In the four Gospels there is one man, Jesus of Nazareth, living in a divine way by the divine life. In Acts, however, there are thousands of persons living in a divine way by the same divine life. In the four Gospels there is a single Jew who lived divinely, but in Acts there are thousands of Jews and Gentiles living exactly in the same way as He did. Moreover, these thousands of people lived, acted, walked, and worked not by themselves but by that one wonderful person. After the Lord Jesus died, resurrected, and ascended, He continued to live, act, walk, and work on this earth in thousands of people because He imparted Himself into them through His death and resurrection. By His death, resurrection, and ascension, He made a mass reproduction of Himself. Originally, He was one Jesus, one Christ, but now He was reproduced in thousands of Christians. Originally, He was one grain, but now He became many grains, a mass duplication, a mass reproduction (John 12:24). Every one of us is also a part of this mass reproduction.
We may illustrate this duplication by the printing of a newspaper. There are three main steps in the printing process. The first step is the thought of what we want to print. The thought is the very source; without a thought there is nothing to put into black and white. However, the thought is invisible, unexpressed, unknown, hidden, mysterious, and secret. The thought may be compared to the Father in the Triune God (John 1:18a; 2 Cor. 13:14).
Following this, the thought becomes the word, which is written and composed as the logos in a particular language, that is, into literate, expressed writing. This is the second step, which includes many items. After the word is written and composed into expressed writings, it is typeset and put on a printing plate. Everything that is in the thought is now visible with a definite form. This may be compared to the Son in the Triune God as the expression of God (John 1:1, 14, 18b).
The third step is the duplication, in which the plate is placed on the press with the ink. Millions of copies can then be reproduced from the one plate. What is printed on the copies is identical to what is on the plate. In the evening there is only the thought, but by the next morning millions of people can read what is in the newspaper as the reproduction of the thought. The printing with the ink may be compared to the Holy Spirit, and we are the many sheets of paper (2 Cor. 3:3, 18).
This process points to the person and work of Christ. First, He is the Word of God to express God. By His incarnation, His human living on this earth, His sufferings, and His death and resurrection, all that He is was “typeset” and put on the “printing plate.” In printing, the plate is a real treasure. If we intend to print a book, we must finish the plate first. After it is finished, we can keep it and use it to duplicate many copies whenever we need them. In this way it is easy to reproduce millions of copies. The thought to be printed can be compared to the Father, the plate signifies the Son, the duplicating illustrates the Holy Spirit, and we, the believers, are the copies.
When Christ died, resurrected, and ascended, the plate was made. Following this, many copies were reproduced by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit printed the image on the plate onto Peter and John and onto us today. We are like blank pieces of paper onto which the Holy Spirit prints whatever is on the plate. From the day of resurrection until today millions of copies have been printed by the Holy Spirit with Himself.
Whatever Christ is, is the printing plate as the expression of the thought, that is, of the Father. Therefore, on the plate, which is Christ, we can read the thought of the Father. On Christ, in Christ, and with Christ, we can see the expression of the Father. Moreover, others can read the same thing in us, the many pieces of paper, that they read in Christ, because whatever is on the plate has been reproduced in us. We are the reproduction of Christ.
In brief, in the four Gospels, there is the printing plate, and in Acts we find the duplication, the reproduction. Therefore, the book of Acts contains the acts of Christ, not Christ acting in Himself alone but acting in His reproduction and duplication, which is the church, the Body of the universal man. This universal man is the fullness of Christ (Eph. 1:23); therefore, it is a part of Christ, even Christ Himself.
We may now examine two portions from Acts. Acts 9 has ministered much life to me. Verses 1 and 2 say, “Saul, still breathing threatening and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked for letters from him to Damascus for the synagogues, so that if he found any who were of the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” It is noteworthy how the Holy Spirit uses the term the Way in verse 2. The disciples were not in a doctrine, a teaching, or a religion but in the Way. Saul bound not those in a certain mentality but those in a certain living and walk.
Verses 3 and 4 say, “And as he went, he drew near to Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And he fell on the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” We must emphasize the word Me in verse 4. Someone from heaven came to ask Saul, “Why are you persecuting Me?” Verse 5 continues, “And he said, Who are You, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, whom you persecute.”
This word from the Lord surprised the young Saul very much. Saul could have argued, “I never persecuted anyone in the heavens, but now You are speaking from the heavens that I persecuted You. Who are You? I persecuted Stephen and many others, but I never persecuted a man by the name of Jesus.” At this time, however, Saul did not argue. Rather, he received the truth concerning the Body. From the first time that he met the Lord, he received the vision of the Body. He saw the vision that all those who believe in Jesus are a part of Jesus. Therefore, to persecute them is to persecute Jesus, because they are one with Jesus and He is living in them. In this way, Saul of Tarsus received the revelation that the Body of Christ, including all His members, is Christ Himself (1 Cor. 12:12).
To persecute the disciples of Christ is to persecute Christ Himself, because all the disciples of Christ are the members of the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ is Christ Himself. For someone to hit a part of my body is to hit my body, and to hit my body is to hit me. While Saul was persecuting so many believers, he never realized that he was persecuting Jesus. But when the Lord came to him, He pointed out that Saul was persecuting the Lord Himself, because it was He who was moving, living, and acting in all those believers.
When Paul recounted this incident in Acts 26, he added that the Lord said, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (v. 14). A goad is a sharp-pointed stick used to subdue and prod an ox yoked to the plow. The Lord’s word here signifies that even before Saul was met by the Lord, he was under His yoke. For this reason, Paul later said that he was set apart unto the Lord from his mother’s womb (Gal. 1:15).
In Acts 9:6 the Lord said, “But rise up and enter into the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.” The Lord did not tell Saul directly what he should do. Rather, the Lord told him indirectly through a member of the Body. From the first day the Lord met him, Saul was made to know the Body. Saul was put into the Body and made to realize that whatever he did to the Body, he did also to the Head, and if he was to do something from the Head, he must know it through the Body. It seems as if the Lord was saying, “Saul, I will not tell you what to do directly. You must go to the city where My Body is. There, a member of the Body will come to you and tell you what to do.”
Verses 7 and 8 say, “And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. And Saul rose from the ground; and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. And they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.” Formerly, Saul led other people. Now he was led by others. Verses 10 through 17 continue, “There was a certain disciple in Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said to him, Rise up and go to the lane called Straight, and seek in the house of Judas a man from Tarsus named Saul; for behold, he is praying; and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands on him so that he may receive his sight. But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many concerning this man, how many evil things he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon Your name. But the Lord said to him, Go, for this man is a chosen vessel to Me, to bear My name before both the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how many things he must suffer on behalf of My name. And Ananias went away and entered into the house; and laying his hands on him, he said, Saul, brother, the Lord has sent me — Jesus, who appeared to you on the road on which you were coming — so that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” For Ananias to lay hands on Saul was to receive Saul into the Body. Moreover, Ananias called Saul “brother.”
Acts 22 contains a similar account of Saul’s calling and provides more details. In verse 8 the Lord said to Saul, “I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you persecute.” Here the Lord told Saul in a definite and specific way that He was Jesus of Nazareth. Verses 11 through 16 continue, “As I could not see because of the glory of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus. And a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well attested to by all the Jews dwelling there, came to me, and standing by, said to me, Saul, brother, receive your sight! And in that very hour I looked up at him. And he said, The God of our fathers has previously appointed you to know His will and to see the righteous One and to hear the voice from His mouth; for you will be a witness to Him unto all men of the things which you have seen and heard. And now, why do you delay? Rise up and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on His name.”
By this account we again can see that from the first day that Saul met the Lord Jesus, he was enlightened to know the Body, that the Body is one with the Head, and that whatever the Lord does must be through His Body. The Lord did not call him in detail in a personal and direct way. Rather, the Lord told him to go to one of the members of His Body. It was through that member of the Body that the Lord’s calling was made known to Saul in detail. Saul was called in such a way that he was made to know the church as the Body.
In principle, many of us have had a similar experience. It is difficult to know the meaning of the Lord’s calling by ourselves alone. Many times we need the members of the Body to interpret the significance of the Lord’s calling. This shows us that the Head Himself lives, works, and moves in the members of the Body. In this way the work or acts of the believers, the church, are actually the acts of Christ Himself. The members of Christ live and act not by themselves but by another One, by Christ as the Spirit. They take Christ as the Spirit to be their life, strength, power, and everything, and they live by Him.
Many Christians today have a wrong understanding concerning the baptism in the Holy Spirit (1:5). The real meaning of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is that we as human beings are immersed in God. When we are baptized by immersion, we are put under the water and buried in it to be terminated. In the same way, to be baptized in the Holy Spirit is to be immersed in the Spirit, so that whatever we are, whatever we do, and the way we live and work are not out of ourselves but by the Lord Christ as the Spirit.
There are two aspects of the Holy Spirit. On the one hand, the Holy Spirit enters into us as the indwelling Spirit; this is the inward aspect. On the other hand, we are baptized into the Spirit; this is the outward aspect. In other words, we are filled with the Spirit inwardly and immersed in the Spirit outwardly. First Corinthians 12:13 speaks of these two aspects, saying, “Also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.” To drink water is to take the water into us, and to be baptized is to get into the water. To get into the Spirit and to take the Spirit into us are to be completely mingled with the Triune God. The Triune God fills and occupies us within, and He covers us without. Within and without, everywhere and in everything, there is the Triune God.
In Luke 24:49 the Lord likened the Holy Spirit as power to clothing, saying, “Behold, I send forth the promise of My Father upon you; but as for you, stay in the city until you put on power from on high.” To put on the Spirit is to be clothed with the Spirit. On the other hand, in John 7:37-39 the Holy Spirit within us as life is likened to water for drinking. We must be filled with the Holy Spirit as the water of life. If we are thirsty, we need to come to the Lord Jesus to drink of Him as the Spirit. Water is something we take in, whereas clothing is something we put on. We have to be filled with the Triune God within, and we must put on the Triune God without. The Triune God within is our drink, and the Triune God without is our uniform.
With the uniform comes the authority. If a policeman stands on the street without a uniform, who will respect his authority? His authority rests in his uniform. If anyone puts on a police uniform and stands on the street, he can command the same respect; everyone will obey his orders. Even for doctors and nurses to carry out their responsibilities, they must wear their respective uniforms. The uniform carries with it the power, the position, and the authority. We need the baptism in the Holy Spirit because the Spirit is our uniform. We may drink something and be filled within, but if we have no uniform, no one will respect us or listen to us. People do not recognize our infilling; they only recognize our uniform. However, if we have only the uniform without the inward life supply, we are weak and have no strength to stand.
Both the inner filling and the outer clothing are God Himself. All those disciples mentioned in the book of Acts were filled with God within and clothed with God without. Everything within them and upon them was God Himself, and they were lost and buried in God. Later on in the New Testament, the apostle Paul tells us, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). The secret and principle of the disciples’ living are found in this verse. They did not live, work, or do things in themselves. Rather, they lived and did everything by another life, by Christ Himself. They were filled with Christ within, and they were clothed with Christ without; that is, they were clothed with the Spirit.
The real meaning of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is that we are immersed in God and put God on as our clothing. As Christians and members of Christ, we must be filled with Him inwardly and clothed with Him outwardly. This is what we need, and this is exactly what He is doing with us. We must be clear about this, claim it by faith, and receive it. Then we have it; we are filled within and clothed without, and in this way we are persons who are fully mingled with Him. We can live and walk by Him as life, as power, and as everything.
The book of Acts shows us that none of the disciples did anything according to rules, regulations, or orders. They did not live or act by organization or directions from man. Neither did they live or act according to knowledge or doctrine. Even the more, they did not live according to tradition or anything old. In this book of twenty-eight chapters there is no record that the believers acted, lived, worked, walked, or did things according to regulations, rules, organization, man’s orders, doctrines, knowledge, tradition, or anything old. Rather, they lived, acted, worked, and did things according to the present guidance of the Holy Spirit. Every day they lived and moved according to the living guidance of the Holy Spirit; that is, they lived by this living One.
The disciples did not have such a thing as Christianity. They even may not have known the term sanctification, although they had the fact of sanctification. Today, however, we may have regulations, rules, organization, man’s orders, doctrine, knowledge, traditions, and old matters, but we may not have the present, living, and fresh guidance of the Holy Spirit. We cannot have the living guidance of the Holy Spirit merely by learning doctrines. Let us forget about what we know and abandon those old things. We must have the present, living, fresh, new, up-to-date guidance from the living Lord.
Many people are still too much under the influence of the old, traditional teachings of Christianity, and they hold on to their rules, regulations, doctrines, and knowledge. Sometimes people do not agree with our messages, but I do not argue with them; arguing never works. I simply say, “If you would humble yourself before the Lord, you will see what we are speaking.” It is not a matter of agreeing or not agreeing; it is a matter of seeing. Do not exercise your mind merely to agree, and do not consider everything according to rules, regulations, organization, and old doctrine and knowledge. Rather, you must see something in a deeper way.
Recently, a brother showed our hymnal to a certain missionary. When that missionary looked into the table of contents, he asked, “Do you have a category for songs about heaven?” This exemplifies how much we have been influenced by the traditional teachings, such as the traditional teaching of going to heaven. We do not know how much we have been deceived by such traditional teachings. We certainly believe that there is a heaven and that the Lord Jesus today is in the heavens, but there is no verse telling us that after we die, we will go to heaven, as is taught in the traditional way. Many people pay their attention to the deceitful, traditional teachings, but they neglect the most central matters of the revelation of the Scriptures.
The book of Acts presents a picture showing us that all the members of Christ are completely one with Him. Inwardly we must be filled with Him, outwardly we must be clothed with Him, and every day we must live, walk, work, and do things not by ourselves but one hundred percent by Him. We do not live by ourselves but by Him. At all times we must reject ourselves, deny ourselves, and repudiate ourselves, and we must depend on Him for our living, doing, walking, working, and everything. We should not care for the traditions, and we should not be affected by what people say about us, whether they criticize or appreciate us. We should not fear man’s “face of clay.” Rather, we must take care of one thing only: we must take Christ as our life and depend on Him.
As living members of Christ, we are filled with Him within and clothed with Him without. We do not live by ourselves or for ourselves; we live by Him and for Him, and in everything we depend on Him. If we live in this way, we will be in the “twenty-ninth chapter” of Acts. We will be in the flow of the Spirit. We should forget lesser matters, such as speaking in tongues and healings and simply be filled with Christ and clothed with Christ. We must reckon ourselves as dead and depend on Him for everything. If we need healing or a certain gift, we will receive it at the right time. However, the main point is not the gift but to take Christ as everything to us and to depend on Him. We must have a clear vision that we are Christ’s members, who are filled with Him within and clothed with Him without. We are baptized in Him, and now we are learning to take Him as our life and depend on Him for everything. This is the proper way for us to take.
