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Now we come to the fourth section, the audience. Speaking involves not only the minister but the audience, that is, those who listen to the word. Whether or not the ministry of the word is strong depends also on the audience. The minister of the word has much to do with the speaking, but the audience has something to do with it also. While the minister of the word bears more than half of the responsibility, the audience bears at least some of the responsibility also. Whether or not the word can be released depends largely on the ministers, but the audience has its responsibility also. The audience can become a hindrance to the release of God’s word, and it can also become a strengthening to God’s word. A few examples in the Bible show us how an audience should behave. We hope to learn something from these passages.
First let us consider Matthew 13. The Lord Jesus spoke in parables because God could not reveal Himself to the “wise and intelligent” (Matt. 11:25). The wise and intelligent cannot expect to see God’s revelation. For the same reason, they cannot expect to receive supply from the word. A wise and intelligent man cannot receive direct revelation from God, and he cannot receive revelation from the ministers of the word. Whenever the ministry finds wise and intelligent ones among its audience, God’s word is immediately frustrated. It can be so frustrated that it is completely blocked, or it can be frustrated to the extent that it is released only in a mild or weak way. The more a man considers himself to be wise, the harder it is for him to receive light from God. The more a man trusts in himself, the more God’s word is closed to him. We should remember that, according to the Old Testament, God sometimes seals up His prophecy to men (Dan. 12:9). This shows us that the word can be opened up, and it can also be sealed up after it is released. We are not here to explain the meaning of sealing up or the number of years the word was sealed up. We are pointing out a spiritual principle. A man can hear God’s speaking and yet find the word sealed up to him. A man can touch God’s word and yet find this word sealed up. Daniel shows us the fact of the sealing, while the Lord Jesus shows us the reason for the sealing — being wise and intelligent. The Lord shows us how the word was hidden. God wants to hide things from the wise and intelligent so that they cannot get through. Once a man becomes wise and intelligent, the Holy Spirit, in accordance with God’s counsel, hides the word from him.
The Bible gives us a basic principle: After man ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the way to the tree of life was blocked. From that time forward, the tree of life was sealed up by the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every way (Gen. 3:24). Once man acquired the knowledge of good and evil, he could no longer touch life. This separation is related not only to man’s own inability but also to God’s prohibition. This is the meaning of sealing. It has nothing to do with man’s ability. Even if man were able, God would seal it up anyway. This is a serious matter. Whenever man pays attention to knowledge, life flees from him. Whenever man boasts of his own wisdom and intelligence and takes pride and glory in himself, he has to remember that the revelation of God’s word is hidden from him. He will not see anything; what he sees will only be clouded forms. This is God’s sealing. The Lord said, “I extol You, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants” (Matt. 11:25). God does this purposely.
In the ministry of God’s word, we must pay attention to the condition of the audience. When we speak to new believers, we may not have to exercise our spirit that much; there may not be that much need for light and words. But in preaching the gospel, we find that we have to exercise much spirit and use many words. Sometimes we have to touch the higher revelations of God, things that are spiritually higher and more real. At these times, we find that we need more words, more light, and more spirit. Suppose a man thinks that he is wise and intelligent. God will hide Himself from such a man. He will not give him any direct revelation. When such a person is present, even the minister of the word cannot function properly. If the need for the release of the spirit is not too demanding, the frustration may not be that serious. But if the demand for the release of the spirit is great, the frustration is also great. If there is a big demand for the release of the spirit, such a person will become a great frustration to the ministry of the word. God’s high revelations are blocked because God has hidden these things from such men.
In previous discussions we have seen the responsibility of the ministers. We must also see that, in addition to the qualifications of the ministers, there is the condition of the audience. If a man is in a condition that blocks God’s blessing, his presence will bring the speaking down. It does not matter how strong the minister is; his speaking will be brought down. Even if the minister is very powerful before God, and even if he wants to impart revelation to others, his ministry of the word will be void of revelation in the presence of such wise and intelligent ones. At best it will contain little revelation. We are not altogether clear how the audience affects the speaking, but it is a fact that the audience does affect the speaking. Some people are never subdued by God. The intelligent ones are never subdued. In the presence of such ones, the speaking rarely can be high.
In learning to be a minister of the word, we have to remember that sometimes the problem is with us; the word is withheld in us. But there are times when the problem is not with us. We have dealt with all the hindrances, but the revelation, the spirit, and the word are still not released. During these times, the problem may be with the audience. When a man first learns to be a minister of the word, he does not have much revelation and light, and any hindrance probably is not related to the audience. But when a man has considerable experience in speaking, and he is called upon to release some strong and potent revelations, a mere brush with one or two unworthy or proud persons is enough to block off his delicate feelings; his words will not be released, no matter how hard he tries. The feeling of the spirit is very tender. One characteristic of the word is that it must be directed toward men. The word has to go out, the spirit has to go out, and the Holy Spirit has to go out. But when there is a person who thinks highly of himself or who is a critical bystander, the speaker cannot release the word in a pure way even if he has the word. Sometimes we have to lead a brother into God’s light to know himself. At other times we have to lead another brother to the Lord to acknowledge the glory of the Holy of Holies. We should remember that in God’s light there is pure revelation. There is no doctrine or teaching; there is pure revelation, nothing but revelation. This is a time of pure shining and pure breaking. If three or five brothers are just spectators trying to find out what is going on, having closed spirits, and feeling no need to touch or receive God’s word or to prostrate themselves before Him, the word will be frustrated. It will be so frustrated that it will be bound completely. The more spiritual the things we try to impart to others are, the easier it is for our speaking to be affected by men. The less spiritual the things we have to give to others are, the less likely our speaking will be affected. The one thing that threatens the ministry of the word is an air of being wise and intelligent. The Lord will never bless the wise and intelligent. It is most foolish to think of oneself as wise and intelligent.
The Lord said in the last part of Matthew 11:25, “[You] have revealed them to infants.” The gentler the audience is, the stronger the word will be released. The more humble the audience is, the easier it is for the word to bring someone to his knees. The more willing the audience is to receive the word, and the more obedience we find, the more light will shine through the listeners and open them to revelation. The harder it is for a person to receive help, the harder it is to help him. The easier it is for a person to receive help, the easier it is to help him. This is a basic spiritual principle. It is difficult for many people to receive help. They have resistance to the word, to the thoughts presented, and to the Scripture. As a consequence, it is hard for them to receive God’s light. It is hard to penetrate all their criticism to reach their inner being. When the word suffers so much criticism, it is screened out and blocked. The more childlike a person is, the more he is ready to receive help from the Lord. The gentler he is, the less prejudice he has before God. The more he opens his heart to the Lord, the more his spirit is open to the Lord as well. God gives such ones a powerful supply of the ministry of the word. He gives them great revelations. God resists the stubborn. This is the reason we have to be seeking, humble, simple, and gentle. This is the meaning of being an infant. The more we become like an infant, the more grace we receive from God. The more arrogant and stubborn we are, the less grace we receive from Him, because God destroys the wisdom of the wise and sets aside the understanding of those who understand. The Lord has to bring us to the point of acknowledging the futility of our wisdom and understanding. If God leads us on for another three or five years and grants us mercy, we will look back and realize how much our own wisdom actually killed us. There will be times when we would have received grace, yet our own wisdom stopped us. Many people have not realized how their own wisdom has harmed them. When the Lord grants them mercy, they will see how much harm their wisdom has done to them.
First Corinthians 1:19 says, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of those who understand I will set aside.” The purpose of doing this is that “no flesh may boast before God” (v. 29). Simply put, God does not want us to be proud. God does not want anyone to be wise or understanding. On the one hand, we have our own wisdom; on the other hand, we need power. Man has wisdom, but at the same time he is weak. Today God is turning things around. He is turning our wisdom into foolishness. The result is that our weakness becomes our power. This is a wonderful thing, and it is a very difficult thing to achieve. Man is wise, but he is also weak. Today the Lord is turning our wisdom into foolishness with the result that our weakness becomes our power. God is breaking man’s wisdom. At the same time, He is giving us power.
This may be difficult to understand. What is the relationship between power and wisdom? Why is power established when wisdom is destroyed? How does a man become strong when his wisdom is destroyed? How does power come when human wisdom is removed? How does God destroy man’s wisdom, and how does He give power to man? First Corinthians 1:30 says, “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God.” The Lord has become our wisdom. Following this phrase there is a colon, which indicates that this wisdom is “both righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” This wisdom includes righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. How does God make Christ our wisdom? When our own wisdom goes away and we no longer hold on to any wisdom and understanding of our own, and when we become foolish instead, God will make Christ our wisdom. This wisdom includes Christ becoming our righteousness, Christ becoming our sanctification, and Christ becoming our redemption. Three manifestations of power are found in this. We need power to be a righteous man, we need power to be sanctified, and we need power to be redeemed. (Redemption here refers to the redemption of the body.) It takes exceedingly great power to do all these, and all of these are included in the Lord Jesus as our wisdom.
In other words, all of God’s grace is given to us through revelation. God has made Christ our revelation. In the end Christ becomes our righteousness, Christ becomes our sanctification, and Christ becomes our redemption. We first receive the revelation, but as a result we get righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Therefore, once the problem of wisdom is solved, the problem of power is solved. In other words, once the matter of revelation is settled, everything related to spiritual riches is settled. Spiritual poverty ceases, and poverty in the word also ceases. Everything in the spiritual realm involves our seeing; once we see, we have. If we do not see, we do not have. We cannot deal with righteousness directly; but we can see the revelation. Once we have the revelation, we have righteousness. We can only acquire righteousness through revelation. We do not need to find righteousness apart from God’s revelation. This may explain the reason that the Lord does not want us to have wisdom. Once our own wisdom comes in, the Lord’s wisdom leaves, and revelation leaves. Once revelation is cut off, all spiritual blessings are cut off. Once spiritual vision is gone, spiritual power is also gone. If we purge out all spiritual foolishness, spiritual power will increase. These two things are linked together.
A man cannot appropriate the work of the Lord directly; all of His work is preserved in the realm of revelation. When we have the revelation, we have everything. If we try to lay hold of the Lord’s work apart from revelation, His work will be dead to us. Some sinners want to accept the Lord. They know that they are sinners and that the Lord is the Savior. Yet when they pray to the Lord, they do not seem to have understanding. They can even tell others of the teaching of salvation, but they are cold and unresponsive to the truth. This is to appropriate the Lord’s work with the human mind. They do not have revelation. In another case, a man may be praying in his room or listening to a message in the meeting. When the Lord opens his eyes a little and he sees that the Lord has died for him, he receives the Lord’s death in that instant. Once he touches revelation, he gets Christ. Without touching revelation, he can never have Christ. It all depends on whether or not he has received the revelation. This is a basic principle. God has kept His work in the realm of revelation. No one can be related to His work apart from revelation. A man can only be related to His work through revelation.
If we understand this spiritual principle, we will realize that the ministry of the word is very much affected by the audience. Once a man becomes wise and intelligent, God hides Himself from him. If we are like infants, waiting simply, humbly, and meekly before the Lord, spontaneously He will become our wisdom. Once He becomes our wisdom, all problems associated with power are solved. When we take Christ as our wisdom before God, we will easily find righteousness, sanctification, and redemption as well. If we do not take Christ as our wisdom, we will not be able to find righteousness, sanctification, or redemption anywhere. Spiritual reality is kept in the revelation of Christ. Once a man touches revelation, he touches reality. If he does not touch revelation, he does not touch reality. Righteousness in the past, sanctification in the present, and redemption in the future, which are all the power that our whole being needs, are kept in this wisdom. When the Lord Jesus becomes our wisdom, this wisdom includes these three things. God has put these three things — righteousness, sanctification, and redemption — in revelation. Once we touch revelation, spontaneously we touch these things. Spiritual substance and reality are all contained in God’s revelation. If the audience of the ministry of the word is proud, self-assured, or closed in spirit, God will not be able to put any revelation into them. God will not give them anything. We have to learn to be humble, meek, and simple before the Lord. The more arrogant we are before the Lord, the farther we are from God’s revelation. Even a minister of the word will not be able to do anything about us; even he will be frustrated by us. God hides Himself from the wise and intelligent and reveals Himself to the infants. This is a very serious matter.
Romans 11:8 says, “As it is written, ‘God gave them a spirit of deep sleep, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, until this very day.’” This verse says that God has given the Jews a spirit of deep sleep. They have eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but they cannot hear until this very day. The situation in Matthew 13 is more serious than the situation in Matthew 11. In chapter eleven the Lord only spoke of hiding things. In chapter thirteen there is more than an ordinary kind of hiding; it is a hiding that is based on chapter twelve. It is an eternal rather than a temporary hiding. In chapter twelve the Lord Jesus cast out demons by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Jews who hated Him for no reason accused Him of casting out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons (v. 24). They hated the Lord so much that they closed their eyes and accused Him of casting out demons by the ruler of the demons. They clearly knew that the Lord Jesus cast out demons by the Holy Spirit, yet they hated Him for no reason at all. When they hated the Lord, they blasphemed the Holy Spirit and said that He cast out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. They were prejudiced. They knew that the Lord cast out demons by the Holy Spirit, but they were determined not to believe this. They were determined to reject the Lord, and they insisted that He did not cast out the demons by the Holy Spirit, but by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. They were so hardened in their hearts. This is the picture in chapter twelve. These ones will not be forgiven, neither in this age nor in the one to come. Clearly, the Holy Spirit was working, yet they insisted that Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, was working. The name Beelzebul means “the lord of flies.” The Lord Jesus was casting out demons by the Holy Spirit, but they associated Him with “the lord of flies”; they accused Him of casting out demons by “the lord of flies.” Such was the hardness of man’s heart! This is the greatest sin in the whole Bible. No other sin is as serious as this one. Man commits many sins, but no sin is as great as this one. This sin will not be forgiven in this age nor in the age to come.
Then in Matthew 13, the Lord Jesus spoke in parables. The disciples asked Him, “Why do You speak in parables to them?” He answered, saying, “Because to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it has not been given” (vv. 10-11). They heard about the sower, but they did not know what it meant. They heard about the rocks, the birds, and the thorns, but they did not know what they meant. They also heard about the good earth, but they did not know what it meant. The Lord Jesus shows us a basic principle here: When men commit a grave sin, God closes up His word so that in hearing they would not understand, and in seeing they would not perceive. “For the heart of this people has become fat, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed, lest they perceive with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart, and they turn around, and I will heal them” (v. 15). It seems as if God was preventing them from repenting. Once a man has his own inclinations, prejudices, reluctances, and fault-finding attitudes, even God’s light has to stop. Some people can preach outwardly, but they no longer have new revelations. What they see is passed on from one printed page to another mouth, and from that mouth to another printed page. The words pass on, but there is no new revelation and no new light. These ones are passing their days in darkness. We are afraid of committing sin, but we should be more afraid of committing sin without knowing that we have committed sin. Please remember that sinners could be saved at the time of the Lord Jesus, but the Pharisees could not be saved. God has a way to deal with the sinners, but He has no way to deal with those who are blind and in darkness. Seemingly, the Pharisees were not sinners. Actually, the Lord said that they were blind guides of the blind (15:14). The blinder a person is, the harder it is to deal with him.
Matthew 13 and Romans 11 show us a principle: A man can become so fallen that God’s light is completely sealed off from him. We call this God’s prohibition, or His sealing. Some people are in deep errors, not because they are foolish but because they are wise. A man who errs through foolishness is easily forgiven. But a man who errs through wisdom is not easily forgiven. Some people not only err; something is wrong with their heart. When a man errs through a deviation of his heart from God, God closes the door to him. This is a very serious matter. God has no desire for some people to see Him; He hides Himself from these ones. If God deals with us in this way, we are through. No loss is greater than the loss of vision! If God closes the door on us at any time, we are through. We should pray, “Lord, do not allow me to be so foolish as to say anything arrogant. Do not allow me to be so foolish as to reject the light. Do not allow me to fall to such an extent that there is no chance for me to repent.” Without revelation, there is no repentance. The sealing off of revelation means the sealing off of repentance, and the sealing off of repentance means the sealing off of forgiveness. The Pharisees blasphemed the Holy Spirit; they could no longer repent, which meant that they would no longer receive any revelation. They heard, but they did not understand. They saw, but they did not touch anything. In other words, they only had words; they did not have revelation. Some brothers and sisters are unwilling to submit to others and to accept many things. When a person is prejudiced against something, he will say that it is wrong even when it is right. In order for a person to receive revelation from God, he must always be afraid of making mistakes. He dares not make presumptuous judgments, because he is afraid of being wrong. In order to receive light, one must not be presumptuous. When a man is weak and meek, it is easy for the Lord to grant him light and revelation; such a one receives the basic revelations as well as the extraordinary revelations. We have to learn to open our hearts to the Lord and to continually receive from Him. Once God seals up anything, we will not see any light. If a minister of the word encounters a person sealed from God, it will be impossible for him to release any light to that person.
Light never waits for man! We should go to the Lord and beg like those who beg for bread. We should never presume that we have it already. This is a very serious thing. We have to see the seriousness of this matter before the Lord. We have to see that God has His work on earth today. The line of God’s work has never stopped; it is forever going on. Those who have eyes will see the line of God’s work; they will know what God is doing today. Once we stumble, we will fall behind and will not see. Once a man is prejudiced, he will not see. If twenty years ago we were behind in what God was doing then, we can only be further behind today. We should never allow ourselves to be left outside this line. This is the reason we have to humble ourselves. One thing is certain: God is going on now. He is going on step by step. We should be those who follow Him year after year. If the Lord will keep us in a spirit of humility and meekness, we will touch something. But if we are proud, arrogant, and self-justifying, we will find ourselves set aside by God. If we are willing to be a proper audience of the word, that is, if we are willing to receive the word and not give resistance to God’s word, we will touch something in the ministry, and God’s blessings and light will shine on us. Some, however, have already fallen by the wayside! May the Lord be merciful to us so that we will humble ourselves before Him.
Ephesians 4 tells us that the church will arrive at the fullness of perfection. It seems that God is raising up the standard of His own ministry today. Some have touched higher things; these are not ordinary things. But some have to wait for ten or twenty more years before they know or touch these higher things. Many things can only be seen after a period of time, and we are still quite a distance from them. We have to ask for God’s mercy so that we will see something solid and real. May the Lord grant His church the ministry, and may we learn the lessons that we should learn.
