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Scripture Reading: Rom. 9:21, 23; Zech. 12:1; Gen. 2:7; Prov. 20:27
There are many mysteries in this universe. If you do not believe this, I would like to ask you a few questions, which I believe none of you can answer. What is the purpose of the universe? What is God? What is man? What are you?
The universe is a mystery. The scientists, physicists, and great philosophers cannot tell us the purpose of the universe. We can see many things in the heavens and on this earth, but what is the universe? It has been a mystery to all the generations.
Undoubtedly, God is also a great mystery. God is here. He is in the universe, but no one has ever seen Him, and no one can explain Him. No one can give us a definite, full, thorough, absolute definition of God.
Man is also a mystery. No one can define man to the uttermost. What is man? Why is man here? You have to realize that you are a mystery. If you do not believe me, I would ask you how many hearts you have. If you say one, you are wrong. You have more than one heart. Actually, you have two hearts. The Bible says that the heart of man is corrupt to such an extent that it is incurable. The heart of man is deceitful above all things (Jer. 17:9). A medical doctor might examine you and tell you that your heart is healthy. Yet the Bible says that your heart is corrupted because the Bible is talking about your psychological heart. Are you clear that you have two hearts? One is your physical heart, and the other is your psychological heart. Physically, our heart may be healthy. But psychologically speaking, our heart is corrupted. One heart is visible, physical; the other heart is invisible, psychological.
You are so mysterious. You have a mind, but can you tell me where it is? You may say that it is in your soul, but what is the soul, and where is the soul? And what is the difference between the mind and the soul? This is a mystery. What is the emotion, and where is the emotion? You have a will, but where is the will? The heart, the mind, the emotion, the will, plus the soul and the spirit of man are all mysteries. This shows that you are so mysterious. I do not know you; neither do you know me. Even you do not know yourself. Not only is God a mystery, but you are too.
Now we need to see what the Word says that we are. The holy Word tells us clearly that we are vessels. Man is a vessel (Rom. 9:21, 23). Not many Christians have paid adequate attention to the fact that we are vessels of God. Christians talk about men being God’s creatures or men becoming God’s people. Some even go to the highest point by saying that man can be a child of God. But in Romans 9 we are told that man is a vessel of God. A vessel is a container. It is different from a utensil or an instrument. A vessel is not used to do something but to contain something.
We are not supposed to do something for God. Forget about your doing. We are destined to contain God. We were made to be containers of God. The human concept is that we have to do something for God. Even in Christianity many teachers tell people again and again that they need to do something for God, to work for God. I do not say that this is wrong, but it does not touch God’s central thought. We have to realize that we are vessels unto God. God, strictly speaking, does not need us to do something for Him. God needs some containers. According to Romans 9, God desires that we be vessels unto honor, vessels unto glory, and vessels of mercy to contain Him. Brothers and sisters, you have to realize that you are vessels unto God!
The age today is the age of recovery. The Lord’s recovery today is to bring back the young generation to His purpose. Mankind, the human race, has continually been falling away from God’s purpose. Now at the end time the Lord is going to bring the human race back to His purpose. God’s purpose with man is to have man as His container.
In the United States the young people are enjoying and tasting all the material things. After the enjoyment of all the material things, after the experience of all the things invented in human culture, they get nothing. There is an emptiness, a vacuum, within them. This is because they were made to be vessels of God. Nothing can fill you up but God. Education, religion, science, physics, marriage, and all the things in human culture cannot satisfy man. Nothing can fill man up and satisfy him but God Himself. Now is the end of time, the end of all the ages. God is going to do something in a fast way to bring back this generation to His purpose.
Romans 9:21 indicates that when God created man, He formed man as a vessel. Man is a vessel of clay, but he was destined unto honor and unto glory. So Paul says that we are vessels unto honor and vessels unto glory. Of course, we are vessels of mercy (v. 23). God had mercy upon us because He has destined us to be His containers.
A Coca-Cola bottle is a vessel made to contain Coke. Man is not a Coca-Cola bottle. Man is a “God-bottle.” Man is a bottle made of clay, but this bottle is different from the Coca-Cola bottle. This bottle has something wonderful within it. Genesis 2:7 says that when God created man, He formed man’s body from the dust of the ground and breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life. The Hebrew word for breath in Genesis 2:7 is the same word for spirit in Proverbs 20:27, which refers to the “spirit of man.” This proves that the breath of life breathed into the nostrils of man is the spirit within man. God breathed into man the breath of life because man needs a spirit in order to contain God.
A radio has a receiver within it so that it can receive, contain, and express the radio waves from the air. The outward box of the radio is not good enough. It needs an inner recipient, an inner receiver. Within us there is also a receiver, and this receiver is our spirit. Man has a human spirit (Job 32:8).
Darwin tells us that men are the descendants of monkeys. Of course, that is nonsense. Eventually, as Darwin was dying, he repented of his devilish teaching about evolution. Man is not the descendant of a monkey. A monkey does not have a spirit, but every man has a spirit.
Nearly all the Christians have neglected Zechariah 12:1. This one verse in the Bible ranks the spirit of man with the heavens and the earth. It says that the Lord is the One who stretched forth the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him. The heavens, the earth, and the spirit of man are three great items. Do you realize that you have something within you which is as important as the heavens and the earth? Oh, the heavens! Oh, the earth! Oh, my spirit! I have a spirit that is as important as the heavens and the earth!
According to Zechariah 12:1, it seems that God created only three prominent things: the heavens, the earth, and the spirit of man. This shows that only these three things are important and vital in this universe. The heavens are for the earth, the earth is for man, and man has a spirit for God. Here you have the purpose of the universe, the meaning of the universe. The heavens with all the stars and planets are for the earth. The earth is not for the heavens but for man. Without the earth, man could not exist. The earth is just right for us to live to fulfill our purpose. Man is not for education, for clothing, for food, for housing, or for entertainment. Man is good only for God. Man is a God-bottle, a vessel to contain God.
We should not think about doing something for God. We have received many wrong impressions from fallen Christianity. We think that we have to worship God, serve God, do something good for God, glorify God, and be nice, loving, and humble. I would ask you to forget about all this. God has no intention to have you be so humble and nice. God’s intention is to have you filled up with Him.
No one would teach a Coca-Cola bottle to worship the Coca-Cola, serve the Coca-Cola, and do good to please the Coca-Cola. If the Coca-Cola bottle could speak, it would say that this is nonsense. It would say, “I was not made for this. I was made just to be filled up with Coca-Cola. I don’t know anything else. I know just one thing: to be filled up with Coca-Cola! As long as I am empty, I am nothing! When I am filled up with Coca-Cola, that’s wonderful!” In the same way, when we are filled up with God, that is wonderful. We are God-bottles who were made to be filled up with God. I do not care for being either humble or proud. I care just for one thing — I have to be filled with God! I am a container of God! To contain God is my destiny!
Some may argue with me by saying that there are verses in the Bible which tell us that we have to serve the Lord. I agree with you, but what about Romans 9:21 and 23, which say that we are vessels unto honor and vessels of mercy unto glory? What about 2 Corinthians 4:7, which says that we have this treasure in earthen vessels? In this chapter I am not emphasizing the fact that we are servants of God or children of God. I want to hear you declare, “Hallelujah! I am a vessel of the Lord! I am a vessel of God.” As a vessel, do you need to bow down and worship? We need to be filled with Christ because we are His vessels.
As God-bottles, we need a God-receiver. God is Spirit (John 4:24). Since God is Spirit, we need a spirit to receive Him. Only our spirit can receive the Spirit. Only our spirit can touch the Spirit. Only our spirit can contain the Spirit. Thus, God created the heavens and the earth and then man with a spirit.
Proverbs 20:27 tells us that man’s spirit is the lamp of Jehovah. A lamp is a container. It contains the oil that gives the light. We have a human spirit, and our human spirit is a vessel. It is the container of God as the oil to give the light. The Christian life is not a matter of outward doing but a matter of inward containing. It is not a matter of how much we do, work, and act outwardly. It is a matter of how much oil we are containing today. We do have a container within us. That is our human spirit. The human spirit is the lamp of Jehovah.
Then Ezekiel tells us that in God’s salvation the first thing God does is to renew our deadened spirit, to make our spirit a new one. He puts a new spirit within us, and then following this He puts His own Spirit, that is, Himself, into our spirit (36:26-27a). Then the Bible says clearly, “The Lord be with your spirit” (2 Tim. 4:22). Who is the Lord Jesus? He is God. He is the treasure. Second Corinthians 4:7 says that we have this treasure in earthen vessels. Now we all can declare, “We have this treasure in our earthen vessel.” I am earthen, yet I have the treasure because I have a spirit within me as a recipient to receive the Lord Jesus. Now He is here within me, and He is my treasure. You have to exercise your spirit to release your treasure, to share with others the treasure you have in your spirit.
