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Scripture Reading: John 1:1, 4, 14; 6:63; 14:23; 15:7; 2 Cor. 3:17-18
Christ is the Head, and the church is His Body. Together they are one person. The Bible, from its first page to its last, reveals this person. The head and the body are not two separate entities. When the Lord said, “I am the vine; you are the branches” (John 15:5), He was saying that He and we are one living item. The stem and the branches are included in each other. The meaning of this oneness of the vine and the branches is the focus of the entire divine revelation in the Bible.
Human history has already passed through six thousand years. This is not a short time. All of history testifies to one thing. That one thing is the need of Christ. Why, for example, was religion invented? It was because man lacked Christ. He was short of God.
Genesis 4 makes this quite plain. When Cain was driven out of the presence of God and thus lost God, he and his descendants began to invent things (vv. 16, 20-22). Jubal, for example, “was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe” (v. 21). The invention of music includes entertainment, like dancing, singing, and sports. Why is it that people are so attracted to nightclubs, concerts, and such? It is because they lack Christ.
For us God is our entertainment. He is our joy. He is our enjoyment. The Lord is our song. Moses said, “Jah is my strength and song” (Exo. 15:2).
Another invention arising out of mankind’s loss of God was cattle-raising (Gen. 4:20). Jabal was a nomad, dwelling in tents. Because the land would not yield its strength to him, he was forced to be a wanderer and to keep cattle in order to make a living.
The making of weaponry was yet another invention to fill the loss of God (v. 22). Modern weapons may be more highly developed, but their beginning was soon after Cain “went forth from the presence of Jehovah” (v. 16).
In Genesis 11 another invention was brought in, that of religion. At Babel idol worship was introduced. All idols are a replacement of God. If you have God, you do not need idols. God wants man to have only Himself, a living person.
Another replacement for God is ethics. Even one thousand years before Christ was born, the Chinese people had the ethical teachings of Confucius. Ethics may be desirable from society’s point of view, but such teachings are simply one more invention to fill the shortage in mankind.
The jars of humanity are empty because God has been lost. All these inventions are attempts to fill that void.
Are you an empty jar? I am no longer empty because I am filled with Christ. I have no need of religion; I have a living person. I have no need of ethics; I have the living Christ.
This is not to say that we are unethical. If we are given too much change when we buy something, we return the extra amount. If we visit someone, we do not step over the threshold until we are first invited in; otherwise, we would be intruding. Such behavior is higher than ethics. The Lord said that our righteousness must surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, or we are not qualified for the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 5:20). What we have is higher than ethics. We have a person. To live ethically is merely a performance. Our stability, honesty, and faithfulness are not part of a code of ethics. They are Christ.
This does not mean that I am naturally a good person. When I was a teenager, I was working for a large company. One day the place caught on fire, and everything was in confusion. An inkpot on the manager’s desk attracted my attention. Amidst all the turmoil of moving things, I picked it up and slipped it into my pocket.
After I got saved and began to seek after the Lord, the trouble began! I would tell the Lord Jesus that I loved Him, but He seemed to say, “What about the inkpot?” When I closed my eyes to pray — inkpot! When I tried to read the Bible — inkpot! When I went to bed at night and tried to sleep — inkpot! I told myself that I must resolve this matter of the inkpot. I looked all over to see if I could find it, but I could not seem to locate it anywhere. After much prayer I found a way. I sensed within that what I could do would be to take the manager the money to pay for the inkpot. I was happy. I figured out how much it was worth and took the money with me to the manager.
On the way there I stopped to buy a calendar with beautiful pictures. (It was New Year’s time.) Then I went on to the manager’s office. He said, “My, we haven’t seen each other for a long time. What brought you to see me?” He had always considered me a fine young man. My face turned red. The Lord had told me I must not use polished words but confess directly. I answered him, “I came here because I stole from you.” I told him the story, then added, “Now here is the money for the inkpot. I am sorry I cannot return the inkpot, but I think this money will more than cover its cost.” He said, “No, no, no! An inkpot is a small thing. I don’t want your money.” I begged him to take it, telling him I would have no peace if he refused. Then he noticed the calendar and asked, “What is this?” I did not want to talk about the calendar, but I told him what it was. Then he said, “I don’t want your money, but I do like this calendar. I’ll take this instead of the money.” I did not like his proposal — I wanted the calendar! — but the Lord said that I should go along with what he said. I agreed, thanked him, and left.
To tell the truth, I was not happy. Yes, the inkpot problem was gone, but so was my beautiful calendar. On the way home, though, I met another acquaintance. He greeted me and then asked, “How would you like this calendar?” It was another calendar. I was so happy I wanted to jump.
We were not good people before we were saved. At that time we did not have Christ. But now we have this living person. We have no need of religion or ethics. Regrettably, we as Christians are still under the influence of today’s religious and ethical concepts. These concepts frustrate our seeing this living person, even when we come to the Bible. We must drop all such preoccupations and pray, “Lord, I come to You through Your Word. The Bible is Your word. I drop my concepts. I want only You.”
What a person is presented to us in this book! He was the Word. He was God. He became flesh. In Him was life, and this life was the light of men. Does this sound like religion or ethics? When I was young, I used to wonder how He could be both God and the Word and how I could take Him as my life. Over the years I have found out that this One is not only the Word but also the Spirit. “The Lord is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:17). Then, from John 6:63 we can see that the words of the Lord are also spirit. He is one person, called the Lord, the Word, and the Spirit. These three are one. The Lord is also life (14:6), as are the Lord’s words and the Spirit (6:63; Rom. 8:10). The Lord, the Word, the Spirit, and life are four in one.
We have the Word. The Bible is the word of God. For two thousand years among the human race, there has been this Word, saving us from confusion, mixture, and darkness. Without it we would have been deluded and led astray. We have this book, which we can read and understand.
We also have the Spirit. Suppose that all these years we had only had the Word in letter, without the Spirit. We would have been in deadness, even though we might not have been misled.
Hallelujah! We have the Word without and the Spirit within. Both are the Lord. Whatever is organic has two aspects. As a human being, for example, we have a physical body without and a human life within. Another example would be a little seed. There is an outward shell and an inward life. You may figure that if there is life, the shell is unnecessary; but without the shell the life would be gone. If, on the other hand, you sow an empty shell into the earth, it will not grow.
The Word is the shell. Without the Spirit it is empty. How wonderful that we have both the Word and the Spirit! Actually, the shell and the life are inseparable. If we open a seed to take out the life, there will be nothing there. Similarly, if we cut someone open to find his life, the life will be gone. Without the Spirit, the Word is lifeless. Without the Word, the Spirit is abstract and intangible. We must have both.
When we come to the Word, we are not coming to the letter. We must have the deep realization that we are coming to God. We must pray, “Lord, You are in Your word. You are in Your word, and You are the Word as well as the Spirit.” Where is God? Yes, He is in the third heaven. Yes, He is within us. These statements are true, but they are not solid. Solidly speaking, God is in the word. In the word are also life, love, and light. To receive God, Christ, the Spirit, life, light, and love, we must come to the Word. We must not turn aside from the Word and pray for something to fall upon us from the heavens; this is not the biblical way.
The biblical way is to take the word into you. Then you will be filled. The word is the embodiment of the Triune God, of Christ, of the Spirit, and of all the divine virtues.
Christians have the Bible, but many use it only when they go to their weekly “worship service.” The rest of the time it sits on the shelf.
There are other Christians who use the Bible like a science textbook. They think that they need to know Greek to understand it. They research words like logos and theos and try to figure out the real meaning. If only they had a theological education, it would be such a help! What is the result of this mental approach? “The letter kills” (2 Cor. 3:6). This is the wrong way to touch the Word.
When we come to the Word, we need to open four layers of our being. To begin with, we must open our eyes. If they are shut, we cannot read. Then we must open our mind in order to understand what we are reading. But reading and understanding are not enough. We must open our heart to receive what we read. Last, we must open our spirit to realize what we have received.
The way to be helped by the Word, then, is to read, understand, receive, and realize. This requires our opening of our eyes, mind, heart, and spirit. The Bible is not a simple book. Reading it profitably involves all four layers of our being.
To open these four parts takes an effort. Yes, keeping our eyes open to read is simple. Our mind, however, is another matter. As soon as we sit down to read the Word, our mind takes off on a 747! We must call it back and insist that it concentrate. To open our mind means simply to concentrate on what we are reading. If we do this, we will uncover what is hidden in the Word.
As to opening our heart, we do this by loving the Lord. We may open our mind and pray-read the Word in a superficial way, but if we do not love the Lord, we are drawn off by thoughts of other things we love. When our time in the Word seems dry and lifeless, it may be that our heart is not open to Him to give Him our love.
The way to open our spirit, the deepest layer, is by genuine prayer. Once our eyes see, our mind understands, and our heart receives, we can pray the Word into us. Then the Word will become our life supply, bringing to us God, Christ, the Spirit, and all the divine virtues.
The result of our opening to the Lord in this fourfold way is that this living One replaces religion, ethics, and our natural virtues. When He comes, all that is not of Him must go.
This is the reason it is so urgent that we come to the Word. With the reading, the understanding, the receiving, and the realizing, the Word becomes ours. It will grow and be formed in us. The Lord is both the Word and the Spirit. The Word also is the Spirit. Thus it is that in the Word we find the Lord, the Spirit, and life.
Time after time come to this Word, each time opening your eyes, your mind, your heart, and your spirit. Then you will be not only reading but also understanding, receiving, and realizing. You will grow, and the church will be built up by this way of life. All the substitutes for Christ will be replaced with Himself.
