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Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:9-12; John 14:6a; 1 John 5:12; Col. 3:4a; Gal. 2:20a; Rev. 21:2, 18-19a, 21; 22:1-2a
By reading the above verses, we can see life and building. Many of us have been Christians for years and may have heard about life, but may have never heard anything about building. Life is for building. Life is the content, and building is the corporate expression of this content. So if we have life, normally speaking, we should have building; and if we would have building, we must have life. God purposes to express Himself through a corporate Body. Therefore, God must be life to a group of people who must be built up to express God in a corporate way.
Life is just God Himself, and building is simply the expression of God as life in a corporate Body. Life and building are the basic and central revelation of the Bible. Genesis 2 shows that after God completed His creation, especially the creation of man, He put man into a garden in which the central item was the tree of life. Here we must underline the word life. As it is very difficult to define life, so it is also difficult to define the tree of life. You know what a peach tree is and what an apple tree is, but you may not know what the tree of life is. From other books in the Bible, we can realize that this tree of life is nothing less than God Himself. The Triune God is the tree of life to us.
Then we see some precious things that come out of the flow of this life. Near the tree of life is a flowing river, and at the flow of the river there is gold, bdellium (a kind of pearl), and onyx stone (Gen. 2:9-12). Life produces the flow of life, and out of the flow of life come these three kinds of precious materials: gold, pearl, and precious stone. To know what these are for, we must read the Bible through to the end where we see a city that is built with gold, pearl, and precious stones (Rev. 21:2, 18-19a, 21; 22:1-2a). Therefore, these three precious materials indicate building.
So, we see that the Bible opens with life for the building. Life is the source, and the building is the issue of life. Many Christians know that the Bible is a book of life, but not many Christians realize life in a proper and adequate way. We need to see some of the wrong views that Christians have concerning life. However, from these verses in Genesis and Revelation, we can see clearly that life is for building and that building comes out of life.
Life has nothing to do with knowledge. Instead, knowledge is versus life. In Genesis 2:9 there are two trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. By this picture we can understand that knowledge is contrary to life and even versus life. Why must I mention this? Simply because in any kind of religion, and especially in Christianity, people always pay attention to knowledge. After we were saved in Christianity, we were told to give attention to knowledge. Yet the Bible shows us that knowledge is contrary to life and versus life. If we are going to know what life is and realize the experience of life, we must first of all be very clear concerning the difference between life and knowledge.
For example, if you drink a glass of milk, you get life. If you do not drink it, regardless of how much you know about it, you have mere knowledge. To know about milk is just knowledge, but to take it into you is nourishment, and that is life. Life is not knowledge, and knowledge can never replace life. Instead, knowledge contradicts life.
If we would care for life, we must, in a sense, repudiate knowledge. We should not care for knowledge. We should only care for taking something into us to nourish us. Knowledge will bring us death instead of life. Furthermore, knowledge causes not only death but also division. If knowledge is the main emphasis among us, I fear that after a short time we will be divided into several sects. So we must take off the crown of knowledge and put it under our feet — then we will have oneness. Knowledge divides, but life unites.
Because spiritual gifts are mentioned in the Bible, Christians may have the misunderstanding that gifts are something of life. But gifts are different from life. Genesis 2:9 proves strongly that knowledge is contrary to life, and 1 Corinthians proves that gifts are not life.
First Corinthians 1:7 points out that the Corinthian believers did not lack in any gift. The context of this verse reveals that they had all the gifts and all knowledge and utterance. We would think that surely they must be full of life. But we must read the first four verses of 1 Corinthians 3: “I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshy, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it. But neither yet now are you able, for you are still fleshly. For if there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and do you not walk according to the manner of man? For when someone says, I am of Paul, and another, I of Apollos, are you not men of flesh?” Paul told them that they were not spiritual but fleshly and babyish. He could not feed them with solid food but with milk because of their condition. They had all the gifts, yet they were still infants in Christ. This proves strongly that you may have the gifts and yet not have much life.
Many times I have used the illustration of Balaam’s donkey in the Old Testament. A Gentile prophet by the name of Balaam had a donkey that suddenly spoke in a human language (Num. 22:28-30). For a donkey to speak a human language is a real gift of tongues. It was not the result of human manufacture, and it was not artificial or superficial. It was a genuine tongue given by divine power; otherwise, how could a donkey speak with the human language? But did that donkey receive the human life? It received the gift to function but not the life. No matter how much it spoke the human language, it was not a human; it was still a donkey. A donkey is still a donkey, even though it may speak the human language better than I do. I am a human being, and it is not; I do not have its gift, but I have the human life. It has the gift but not the human life.
To know life, we must clearly discern the difference between life and knowledge and between life and gifts. Do you still consider gifts as life? Suppose we have a person who speaks in tongues often and another person who has a powerful healing gift. Do you consider these gifts as life? If you do, you misunderstand life. Life is different from knowledge, and life is different from gifts.
We must also see that life also differs from power. Electricity is a kind of power; we even call it electrical power. But there is no life in that power. Thus, we may be powerful and still be short of life. We can see this especially in one person in the Old Testament. Samson was very powerful, yet he was short of life (Judg. 16). We can never take him as an example of life. He might be an example of power, but he was short of life.
Many Christians today also have this misunderstanding — they think that if you have power, surely you must have life. But power is power, and life is life. You may be exceedingly powerful and still not have much life. The Lord Jesus said in Luke 24:49, “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.” The Lord told the disciples to wait until they put on power, which He likened to an article of clothing. We all know that an article of clothing does not have life. If a policeman were to take off his uniform, he would lose his power, but he would still be living. This power is not related to life. If you were driving a car, and a policeman signaled you to stop, you would stop immediately. This is because he exercises power. But that power is not life.
We must be clear that life is different from knowledge, gifts, and power. Today in Christianity there is a very serious trend. Many Christians give their attention either to knowledge, gifts, or power, but very few give their full attention to life. Can we find any power or gifts in Genesis 2? We can only find knowledge mentioned in a negative way, and there is no mention of gifts or power. Can we find them in Revelation 21 and 22? All we see in that holy city is life, life, life! There is the tree of life and the river of water of life. Only life is for eternity.
We must come back to the pure Word in the Lord’s recovery. The Lord’s recovery brings us back to the beginning. We must tell others that the Bible shows us in Genesis 2 and Revelation 21 and 22 that life is the main emphasis. According to the Bible, we can clearly see that life is different from knowledge, gifts, and power.
Then what is life? Life is God Himself. Life is Jesus! In John 11:25 and 14:6 Jesus said, “I am...the life.” Colossians 3:4 speaks of “Christ our life.” Life is a wonderful person!
Simply to say that life is a person is quite easy, but it takes time for us to get into the experience. The very life that we received when we believed in the Lord Jesus is a person! Do you know the difference between a person and a life? With a person there is a personality with a will, desires, intentions, and emotions. But a life may not have all these aspects. A tree has life, but this life has no personality, no will, no intention, and no desire. But the life that we have received of the Lord Jesus is not a mere life; it is a person! It is a person with a divine and a human personality. This person has a will, an intention, and a desire. This is the life that we have received of the Lord.
According to the Greek New Testament, there are three different kinds of lives: the bios (physical) life, the psuche (psychological) life, and the zoe (eternal) life. We must realize that the zoe life is not merely a life; it is a divine-human person. The Lord Jesus is the unique person with both the divine personality and the human personality. The zoe life that you received when you were saved is a person. Hallelujah!
But with such a person there is a problem. If zoe was merely a life, it would be easy to deal with it. But since the zoe life is a person, we have some problems. Simply to take life is easy, but to take a person is not so easy. If I were just a mere life, it would be easy for you to deal with me. But in fact it is really difficult for you to deal with me because I am a person.
The main problem between husbands and wives is that they are persons with different personalities. A man has a male personality, and a woman has a female personality. When two personalities are put together, there really is a problem. If all the brothers’ wives had no personality, it would be wonderful! But the problem is that each of our wives has a unique, strong personality. And the brothers’ personalities are just as unique and strong. The problem always arises from the matter of personality. This is why life is a problem.
The Lord Jesus, who is our life, is a person. If we do not take Him as a person, then we do not have life. If we take life, we must take Him as a person. First John 5:12 says, “He who has the Son has the life; and he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” The Son is a person. This verse does not say that he who has the life of the Son has life. It says that he who has the Son has life! The person is the life. If we do not take this person, it will be rather difficult for us to get the life. The life is the person! If this vision could be wrought into us, it would be wonderful. We all must be clear that the zoe life is a person.
Moreover, Christ is a person with the strongest personality! We can be assured that His personality is much stronger than ours, and that it can never be subdued by ours. He is waiting continually to subdue our personality with His.
Zoe is not merely a life without a personality but a person as life. If we take zoe as our life, then surely we must take Jesus as our person, because this life is a person.
We do praise the Lord that many have been turned to the Lord and attracted to the church life. This is really wonderful. Several are also having many outward changes, and this too is wonderful. Our basic need, however, is not just an outward turn but a turn within that we may see what God desires. It is not what we are but what Christ is within us. We must learn by the help of the Lord to repudiate and hate ourselves. Regardless of whether our self is good or bad, we must hate the self, because it is an enemy and adversary to Christ. We not only have the outward enemy but also the inward adversary to Christ. So we must say to the Lord, “Lord, I hate myself. Whatever I do, whatever I am, whatever I speak is hateful. I hate what I do, I hate what I am, and I hate what I speak. I hate it because it is an enemy to You.”
We all need such a basic turn so that Christ can become our life. It is not just an outward turn but an inward turn. It is not sufficient to turn from Babylon to the church. This is wonderful, and I praise the Lord for it. It is good to turn from Babylon to Jerusalem, but this is still just an outward turn. We all need a deeper, inward turn within to realize that Christ, as a person, is our life. We not only have another life but also another person. Jesus, the unique person, the divine and human person, is now our life. To take Him as our life, we must take Him as a whole person. This is why Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). It is no longer I, but it is Christ. I was the old person, and now Christ is the new person. The old person has been nullified, crossed out on the cross. Now it is the new person, Christ, who is living in me. Paul does not say that it is the life of Christ that lives in me. No, he says that it is no longer I, but Christ who lives in me. It is no longer the old person but now a new person who is wonderful and unique. This new person is divine as well as human, and this unique, strong person lives in me as my life. Oh, may the Lord open our eyes! We must go to the Lord and say, “Lord, show me something deeper; show me something higher so that I may have such a basic inward turn.”
Many times I have seen things in the churches that were not so good. Yet I never dared to correct or regulate, because I realized that outward correction and regulation mean nothing. The most precious thing is an inward turn. We must forget our old person, who is our self, and turn to our new person, who is Christ. If we take this new person as our life, we will see the result. There will be the flow of life. To take Christ as our life releases the flow of life. Later on we will see that by this flow of life comes transformation. Pieces of clay are transformed into precious stones. But this is not by any outward doing. I thank God for our turn from Babylon to Jerusalem, yet we all need a basic inward turn from our old person to the new person. This is life. Life is not knowledge, it is not gifts, neither is it power. Life is a wonderful, unique, and strong person.
Since this life is such a person, we must contact Him. He is not a teaching to learn, and He is not some kind of faith to believe in. Life is a living person to contact and deal with. If I am staying with a certain brother, I must continually contact him as a living person. If he is away, I still must call him frequently; otherwise, I cannot say that I know this brother very well. I may have considerable knowledge about him, but how much I know means nothing. To really know him as a person, I must contact him all the time. I cannot say that, because I have known him for twenty years, I have no need to contact him now. If so, I will miss his presence. I constantly need a personal contact with him.
Since Jesus as our life is a person, we must contact Him. Do not tell others that you have known Jesus for twenty years. That means very little. You may have known Jesus for over twenty years and yet today miss His presence. Perhaps I came to know Him just five minutes ago, but I am in His presence. Thus, I get Him, and you miss Him. We must forget about our knowledge and past experiences. We even need to forget all that we know about Jesus. It means little. We need the present presence of Jesus. We need His presence at this very moment and day by day. We need the present person all the time, no matter how much we have known Him and experienced Him in the past. We need a new contact with Christ all day, moment by moment. He is a living person within us, so we must contact Him. We must tell Him, “Lord Jesus, I love You! O Lord Jesus, I love You! I hate and repudiate myself. I put myself aside so that I may take You as my life, moment by moment and day by day.”
Thus, we can see that life is not knowledge, gifts, or power. I appreciate these things in their proper place, but I can tell you from my experiences that nothing but life can build up the church. And this life is just Christ as the unique, living person. When we take Him as our life, we are in the process of being built up. Praise the Lord! This is all we need.
