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Only three books in all of the New Testament deal with the matter of meeting. We have seen that Matthew, the first book of these three, tells us that we must meet in the name of the Lord Jesus (18:20). This means that we must meet in the Spirit, for the reality of the Lord’s name is the Spirit. Then in 1 Corinthians, as we have seen, the first of all the items listed as functions in the meeting is a psalm (14:26). In other words, praising is the first among all the things we need in the meetings. For the meetings we must learn not just how to sing but how to sing praises. The third book, the book of Hebrews, tells us that we should not forsake the meetings. The Christian life or the church life is a meeting life; if we do not have the meetings, it is impossible to have the church life. In this book we see also that the way for us to meet is by praising, and the way for us to praise is by the Lord Jesus singing hymns of praise unto the Father in the midst of our meeting. When we really sing praises to the Father in the spirit, Christ sings within us. The Lord Jesus today as the life-giving Spirit is indwelling our spirit and is one with our spirit. Unless we sing in the spirit, the Lord has no way to sing.
The best way to meet, therefore, is to praise with Christ singing in our praising. The Lord has shown us that after such a long book as the book of Hebrews, the last counsel we are given is that we all must praise. But the word is not so simple: it says, “Through Him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise continually to God” (13:15). “Through Him then...” Then here is not a small word. Many things have been mentioned, many things concerning the riches of Christ have been unveiled; “then...” Since we have been made partakers of Christ, since we have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and since we have enjoyed Christ so much, then, let us offer up a sacrifice of our praise. It does not say, “Let us offer up praise,” but, “Let us offer up a sacrifice of praise.” There is something within our praise as a sacrifice to God. It is so strong; it is Christ-filled praise after Christ-filled praise unto God, confessing His name.
Many of us have been Christians for years and have heard many prayers and praises in the so-called Christian churches. When I recall these praises, I can only say, “How poor!” How very little of Christ there was in those praises, and even less of the experience of Christ. When I was young, I heard a pastor begin his prayer in this way: “Holy, Holy, Holy, O God, the God of holiness...” I was deeply impressed and thought it was a marvelous prayer. But when I recall it now, I can only say, “How poor! There is no little Benjamin, no Judah, no Zebulun and Naphtali.” There is almost nothing of Christ there, and there is no experience of Christ.
What is the meaning of, “Through Him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise continually to God”? It means that we must pass through Christ, we must experience Him, we must partake of Him and enjoy Him in order to have the adequate praises of Him. Then what we will have as praise to the Father will not be according to our nature or any religious concept, but something composed from the subjective experiences of Christ. In the praises of today’s Christians it is really difficult to hear anything concerning the experiences and enjoyment of Christ. In the praise of Psalm 68 so much is said regarding Christ in figurative language. If we praised Christ today in the language of Psalm 68, with “little Benjamin, Judah, Zebulun, and Naphtali,” we would sound to others as if we were speaking in a foreign language. If we entered a Christian service today and began to say, “Oh praise the Lord, here is Benjamin, the Son of sorrow, the Son of the right hand! Oh, the conquering Lion, the scepter, Hallelujah!” people would say, “Where did he come from? What is he talking about?” Is this kind of praise strange to you? In these days we have prayed, “Oh, make the church in Los Angeles a haven of ships. Make us all a hind let loose. Oh, the beautiful words of Naphtali! Oh, the men of Galilee! Oh, make us all men of Galilee.” Now we all can follow.
I earnestly hope that the Lord will one day bring His church to spend more time for praising and less for teaching. I do not have much trust in teaching. Today’s Christianity is full of teachings, yet it is so poor. The more teachings we have, the more problems will arise and divisions occur. All the divisions are based upon doctrinal matters. Do you think we could be divided by praising? I tell you, the more we say Hallelujah, the more we will be united. It is exceedingly easy to be divided in the mind, but in the spirit it is so easy to be one in Christ.
In the United States there are many, many Christian bookstores. There are certainly thousands upon thousands of Christian books — good books, sound books, fundamental and spiritual books. I have traveled widely throughout this country and have noticed in nearly every Christian home many books — books about the Bible, Christ, and the Christian life. Some had read through the books concerning the subjective work of the cross. But that cross was just in their mind; that cross did not cross out their mind. It was just a matter of knowledge to them, not of life. Christianity today is full of knowledge and teaching. How many expositions there are on Romans and other Epistles! But where is the life, the power, and the impact? If we would spend as much time in praising as we have for teaching, how powerful we would be! If we would learn to praise more and more, we would have the impact, and we would have the oneness. The more we discuss on the basis of knowledge and doctrine, the more we will be divided, but the more we praise together, the more we will be one.
The Lord must recover the matter of praise. Sometimes just the singing of a hymn as praise to the Lord will edify people more than a message. The message mainly touches the mind, but the singing, the praising, touches the spirit. The best edification, the best comfort, and the best encouragement are all in the singing of praises. The best weapon for us to fight the battle is praise. When we begin to sing and to praise, God sends the help. But to have this kind of meeting, a meeting with Christ singing within our singing, we need the adequate experiences of Christ.
I wish again in a simple way to point out to you the riches of Christ unveiled in this book of Hebrews. It is a book of Christ as so many better things, things which we must know in a way of experience and enjoyment.
Chapter 1 tells us that this Christ is the Son of God; He is even God Himself, far better than the angels. He is such a Christ. Chapter 2 tells us that this One, the very God, was made the Son of man, a real man, who for a little while was inferior to the angels because of the suffering of death. He partook of our nature; He made Himself the same as we. Now He is crowned with glory and honor; yet He is still here on earth, moving and singing in the midst of the church; He is still here with God’s children; He is still here putting His trust in the Father. He is the very God, and He is a real man. As the Son of God, He is there today on the throne at the right hand of God. As the real man, He is here today in the midst of the church among the children of God.
Then chapter 3 tells us that such a One, so qualified as God and as man, is the Apostle sent from God to us. He is much better than Moses; He is our better Moses. With the double qualification of the divine and human natures, He is the sent One from God, not only taking the lead among us but building us together as the house of God. We all have been made partners of this One. The word partners in verse 14 of this chapter also means “partakers” in Greek. On one hand, Christ is our enjoyment; so we are partakers of Him. But on the other hand, He is our Companion, helping us to enter into the enjoyment. On the one hand, He is the good land, and on the other hand, He is Joshua, the companion of Caleb, helping Caleb to enter the land. Therefore, we are not only His partakers but also His partners, His companions. He is not only our enjoyment but also our Companion, helping us to enter into the enjoyment. We need to experience all these things.
Chapter 4 tells us that He is our real Joshua. The word Joshua is a Hebrew title, which when translated into Greek is Jesus. The name Jesus is exactly equivalent to Joshua. Christ is our real Joshua, the One who brings us into rest, the One who brings us into the good land which is Himself. He is the good land, and this good land is in our spirit; so we must discern our spirit from our soul. We should no longer live in the soul; as long as we are in the soul, we are in the wilderness. When we turn to the spirit, we are in the good land, the Holy of Holies. Here is the very Christ whom we enjoy. He is the Ark and He is the good land, and He is also Joshua who brings us into the good land.
From the end of chapter 4 to the end of chapter 7, there are more than three chapters telling us that Christ is the High Priest, better than Aaron. He is a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. He is able to sympathize with us; He can and He does care for all our needs. Therefore, we have the boldness to come to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace for timely need. He is a High Priest who continually ministers the riches of God to us just as Melchizedek ministered the bread and wine to Abraham. He is continually interceding for us, and He is able to save us to the uttermost. He ministers Himself to us not according to the letters of the law but according to the power of an endless life. He is such a Priest!
From chapter 8 through 10:18, we are told that the new covenant formed by Christ is much better than the old. Christ is the Mediator of this covenant, the Performer of this covenant, and the Testator of this covenant, the One who gives this covenant as a testament to us. He is the Executor of this testament, this will, and He is also the very sacrifice which made it possible. This covenant is so high, so rich, so much more excellent than the old. He is such a One with such a covenant, and now we all have been made partakers of Him. Where is He? The Holy Spirit today is the very reality of this wonderful One. To be made partakers of Him means that we have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, the reality of Christ. Now day by day we partake of this Spirit, the Spirit of grace (10:29).
We all must taste this heavenly gift; we all must taste the good Word of God; we all must taste the power of the age to come, though we have not entered into that age (6:4-5). Some versions use the word tasted, and some tasting. In a sense we have tasted, but we are still tasting. Some say the heavenly gift is this, and some say it is that, but the book of Hebrews does not say this or that; it just says the heavenly gift. The heavenly gift is something heavenly in contrast with earthly things. This is a book written to Jewish believers, to people who were so concerned for earthly things. The writer says that they have tasted something heavenly, something with the nature of the heavens. They have not just received this gift; they have tasted it. Have you not tasted something heavenly? Perhaps it is eternal life, heavenly peace and rest, or a kind of comfort and inner strengthening. We all have tasted something heavenly. Hallelujah, we have tasted! We have tasted the heavenly gift through pray-reading. By pray-reading, the Word becomes so tasteful to us. If you merely read the Word with your mentality, it may be sweet, but it could never be so sweet as it is by pray-reading. The more you pray-read, the more you taste and enjoy the tasting of the heavenly gift. The good word here is not the word as established doctrine but the living word, the up-to-date word. It is the living word that meets the need of the present time, and it is something for us to taste, not just to know or learn. Infants know very little, but they taste a great deal. They taste many things without knowing what they are. I hope that we all may taste more than we know. If so, we will be filled with experiences which are so adequate and suitable for composing praises to God about Christ. Christ is the sacrifice in our praise, not in an objective way but in a subjective way. Who can stop us from bubbling over like the psalmist in Psalm 45:1 when we are so full, not with knowledge in the head but with experience in the spirit. We will be filled with praises not only in the meetings but also in our daily life.
Psalms and hymns are like the cream of the milk. If you do not have milk, you can never have cream. The cream comes from the milk, the milk comes from the cattle, the cattle feed on the grass, and the grass grows on the ranges. So we need the range to grow the grass, the grass to feed the cattle, the cattle to produce the milk, and then from the milk we get the cream — the psalms, hymns, and songs. Do not think that to write a hymn is so easy. A proper hymn can never be composed by mental knowledge; it is the cream of the experiences of Christ. The church is the ranch: much grass is growing there, and we have many cattle feeding all the day. The cattle produce the milk, and out of the milk we have the cream, the praises. If we would have adequate praises, we need the adequate experiences of Christ. We need the ranch, we need the grass, and we need so many living cattle feeding on the grass to produce the milk. Then we will have an abundance of praise. If you are void of Christ in your experiences, it is impossible to offer praise when you come to the meetings; you are simply flat and empty. If you experience Him daily, if you are filled with the subjective experiences of the sweet enjoyment of Christ, you will have the milk, and out of the milk it is so easy to obtain the cream. When you come to the meeting, and even while you are coming, you will be singing, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah, praise the Lord! Oh, little Benjamin! Oh, the man who was inferior to the angels and crowned with glory and honor! Oh, Judah, the conquering Lion!” You will be singing all the way. You will certainly make a joyful noise.
The proper way for us to meet is with the cream of praises which issue from the adequate experiences and enjoyment of Christ. It is not a matter of learning, knowledge, sound teachings, or scriptural doctrines.
The Lord Jesus said to the Jewish leaders in John 5, “You search the Scriptures...Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (vv. 39-40). Undoubtedly there is no teaching better than the Bible. But even the Bible can be just the written code which kills. Who crucified the Lord Jesus? The Jewish leaders who knew the Old Testament so well. They knew all the doctrines; they not only searched but researched the Scriptures; yet they would not come to the living Christ for life. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. What we need today is the Spirit, the life-giving Spirit.
I do not say that we have no need whatever of proper teachings. But I do say that we need to be balanced: we need a sound mind and a strong spirit. The mind needs to be taught, but more than that, the spirit needs to be strengthened. We need the strengthening in our inner man, our spirit. This is the urgent, desperate need today. We are not today in the age of doctrine, but the age of the Spirit. What the church needs today is the living Spirit, the life-giving Spirit, and the best way to enjoy this Spirit is to praise. Learn to praise, learn to sing the praises; then you will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and we will have the proper meetings with the rich enjoyment of Christ.
