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Rom. 8:2; Heb. 8:10; 10:16; Jer. 31:33; Ezek. 36:23-28; Rom. 8:29; Phil. 2:8; John 1:4; 8:12; Psa. 36:9; 119:105, 130; 2 Cor. 4:6; 3:16
I. The law of life
А. The definition of the law of life
B. The function of the law of life
C. God’s desire is accomplished by the law of life
II. The light of life
А. Life is from light
B. Light is in the Word of God
C. Light is the inner sense of life
D. The way to be enlightened
Although we have talked about the law of life in the last lesson, we must spend more time on this subject, because the law of life is crucial to our experience of life. Without a clear understanding of the law of life, we may try to be a good Christian without the power of life, or we may do nothing and wait for God to do everything for us.
The term “the law of the Spirit of life’’ in Romans 8:2 is used only once in the Bible. Nevertheless, it is revealed in other verses such as Hebrews 8:10; 10:16; Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:25-28. The law of life in us began at regeneration. Regeneration is the receiving of God’s life into our spirit. This life has the law of life.
[A law is a natural regulation, a constant and unchanging rule. A law of life is the natural characteristic, the innate, automatic function of a certain kind of life, and the higher a life is, the higher is its law. The law of the divine life is then the natural characteristic, the innate, automatic function of the life of God, and since the life of God is the highest, its law is the highest. This highest law of life is the function, the working, of the divine life. This function and working are innate, spontaneous, natural, and automatic.
With any kind of life, whether it be vegetable, animal, human, or divine, there is a function. Anything that does not have a function must not be life. Consider the example of a peach tree: its function is to blossom and to bring forth peaches. Likewise, a dog has the function of barking, and a cat has the function of catching mice. Every life has an automatic and innate function, and this innate function is the law of that life. Bringing forth peaches is the law of the peach tree. There is no need for a farmer to teach a peach tree, saying, “Little peach tree, you must know my desire is that you produce peaches. I don’t want anything else.’’ If that peach tree could talk, it would say, “Sir, go home and rest. You don’t need to teach me. Don’t you know that in my peach-tree life there is the peach-bearing law? There is a law in my peach-tree life that keeps me from bringing forth any other kind of fruit. It causes me to bring forth peaches, just the fruit that you desire.’’ In like manner, a cat catches mice because in its life is the mouse-catching law, and a dog barks because in its life is the barking law. What is the law of life? It is the innate, automatic function of the divine life. The divine life is living, active, and aggressive. This life is always acting, and whenever it acts it functions according to the automatic law of life.]
We must remember this life is a person — the Triune God, so is this law. [The law of the Spirit of life is just the Triune God working, operating, moving, and anointing within us. He is the law.]
The law of life is not there to regulate us from within, telling us what to do and what not to do. Rather, its main function is to free us from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2) and to conform us to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29) so we may express all that God is in our daily living. As we are daily captured by the law of sin, we need to be set free, saved. Before we became a Christian, we had no way to free ourselves. The harder we tried not to sin, the more the law of sin was activated. As Christians, the law of life frees us from the law of sin as we activate our spirit. Dealing with the negative things is one aspect of the function of the law of life. On the positive side, the law of life shapes us, that is, conforms us to the image of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). As we turn to our spirit every day, the Spirit transforms us in our being. We might have been rebellious towards our parents before, but, Christ is not rebellious toward His Father (Phil. 2:8). As we realize that we are rebellious, we must repent to the Lord to be forgiven. Then we should continue to pray and stay in our spirit. The law of life spontaneously will work in us, bringing all the elements of Christ into us. One such element is submission. By this work we are transformed into His image.
The law of life is a wonderful gift that we have received from God our Father. It will work out in us all that God wants to accomplish.
[God is not only our God but also our Father. Hence, He desires to be our God in the law of life. We are not only God’s creatures but also His children. Hence, He desires us to be His people in the law of life. God does not desire only to be our God according to the outward law of letter; He desires to be our Father according to the inward law of life. Nothing of the keeping of the outward law of letter can satisfy God’s desire. He can only be pleased by our living according to the inward law of life. And He does not desire to have us only as His creatures without His life but also as His children with His life. Hence, He wants us to be His people in the law of life, living not according to the outward law of letter but according to the inward law of life. Both His relationship to us and ours to Him should be a relationship maintained in the law of life. With the law of letter there was nothing but death. With the law of life there is no death but life. Only life can satisfy the divine desire.]
Praise the Lord that we have had a new birth, a divine birth. In this new birth there are no weak points. There is only the divine life with the divine nature and the divine law which shapes us and conforms us to the image of Christ. However, this shaping requires the growth in life, for the law of life only functions as life grows. The law of life does not regulate us from sin, because it is not in the realm of sin; it is in the realm of the divine life where there is no sin, world, flesh, or self. As life grows, its law works, not mainly to regulate or correct us, but to shape us, to conform us to the image of the Firstborn Son of God. Eventually, through the function of the law of life, we all shall become the mature sons of God, and God will have His universal, corporate expression.
John 1:4 tells us, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.’’ And in John 8:12 Jesus said, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’’ We see that light is very much related to life.
[The whole Bible reveals that life comes from the shining of light. When light enters, life follows. Where light is, there life is. The amount of life is in direct proportion to the amount of light. Genesis chapters 1 and 2 say that before God began His recovery work, the entire earth was void and dark, which means that it was filled with death, for darkness is the symbol of death. Therefore the first step of God’s work was to command that there be light. When light came, it destroyed the death which belongs to darkness and began to bring in life. Thus, life follows light, and life begins from light.
There is a line in the whole Bible which continuously speaks of life and light together. Where light is, there is life. This is a great principle in the Bible. Psalm 36:9 says, “With thee is the fountain of life; in thy light shall we see light.’’ This also clearly speaks of the relationship between life and light. Life always follows light, and only light can bring forth life.]
[Since life rests with light, with what then does light rest? From the Bible we see that light rests with the Word of God. This is also a great principle in the Bible. Psalm 119:105 says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.’’ And verse 130 says, “The opening of thy words giveth light.’’ These verses show us that light rests indeed with the Word of God. Therefore if we want to obtain light, we must obtain the Word of God. Whenever we obtain the Word of God, we obtain light. The reason we do not have light is that we lack the Word of God.
The Word of God we speak of here does not refer to the written word in the Bible, but to the word the Holy Spirit speaks to us from within. The Bible is God’s written Word; this is certainly correct. But such a Word, composed of mere fixed letters, does not have the power of shining light and cannot be light to us. However, when the Holy Spirit reveals anew the word of the Bible, opening and quickening it to us, the Word then has the power of shining light and can be our light.]
In the old creation God commanded the light to shine outwardly, but in the new creation, God Himself has shined into our hearts (2 Cor. 4:6). When we talk about light, we are not talking about the light outside of us, but we are speaking of God as light shining inside of us. This light actually is the sense of life.
What we are in our self is different from what He is. He loves, while we hate. He is holy, while we are worldly. He is righteous, while we are unrighteous. He exposes us for what we are, which is not what He is. This is the inner sense of life. For example, you may say something to criticize or joke about your brother. The Lord did not say it, but the law of sin in your flesh made you say it. Right away, you may feel that was wrong. That sensation is light, the inner sense of life. What do you do now? All you have to do is to say, “O Lord Jesus, forgive me. That was not You speaking. Fill me up with Yourself.’’ As you are praying according to the light, the Lord forgives you, cleanses you and grows in you so that you are more conformed to the image of Christ.
Firstly, we must want the shining. Since God is already in us, He is always shining. If we do not want the shining, we ignore it or argue with it, but as we accept and receive the shining, we are enlightened.
Secondly, we should be open to the Lord and turn to Him. Second Corinthians 3:16 says, “Whenever it (our heart) shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away.’’ As we call on the Lord, pray or read His word, we are turning to Him, and we will definitely have His shining. If our heart is distracted by other things, we enter into darkness and we may do things against the Lord and not express Him.
Thirdly, we should not argue with the light. The more we argue, the more we stay in darkness, and the feeling of death pervades. If the Lord shows you that you argued with your mother, do not say that she was too much. Just confess by agreeing with the light. Then the Lord will forgive you and grow in you.
If we learn to experience life by the light, that we will grow up into Christ in all things, and God will be expressed through us.
