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In the previous chapter we saw that only when we have a thorough knowledge of life, the church, and the kingdom can our work meet the need of this age. Both the church and the reality of the kingdom depend on life. The content of the church is life, and the reality of the kingdom is also life. If we have the truth concerning the church but do not have life, we cannot have the testimony of the church. Neither can we have the reality of the kingdom if we have only the truth concerning the kingdom but do not have life. Therefore, we must have life. Then we will have the content and the testimony of the church, and we will have the reality of the kingdom, which is the authority of the kingdom. This does not mean that the truth is not important. The reality of anything related to life must be matched by truth. But truth without life is empty, superficial, and outward. Truth must contain life. The content of reality is life.
We are concerned, because the believers who serve God do not seem to know God as life. We often speak about life, and we know that God is life and that life is God. Moreover, we frequently speak of God becoming our life and of His being our life. Nevertheless, we are still short of knowing God as life.
During the past two thousand years of church history, only the apostles clearly saw the truth concerning God as our life and God’s desire to be our life. This does not mean that believers did not know that God is their life, nor does it mean that they did not experience and enjoy God as life. However, for the past two thousand years no one emphasized the truth of God as man’s life or of God’s desire to be man’s life.
For example, the truth concerning justification by faith was seen by the apostles in the early church. However, this vision was “hidden” after the time of the apostles. It was not until Martin Luther was raised up that the truth of justification by faith was declared. This does not mean that the believers who lived before Martin Luther did not experience this truth. We believe that even during the darkest period of Catholicism many believers genuinely experienced being justified by faith. However, it was not until Luther was raised up that the vision and revelation of justification by faith was as clear as a scientific law.
People also know that they need to eat nutritious food, but it was not until a few years ago that the various vitamins found in food were identified. Similarly, the fact of justification by faith has existed for a long time, but the truth of justification by faith was clearly defined by Martin Luther. Since then this truth has been shining brightly among Christians.
Another example is the assurance of salvation. Just as people know that there are numerous kinds of vitamins, believers can know that they are saved and can be assured of their salvation. Before George Cutting wrote the pamphlet Safety, Certainty, and Enjoyment, countless believers had the assurance of their salvation. However, the truth concerning the assurance of salvation had not been clearly presented. If the believers who lived before George Cutting were asked whether they knew they were saved, they may not have said with assurance that they were saved. They may have had some assurance of their salvation, but this truth was not spoken. It was not until the 1800s that George Cutting declared the truth concerning the assurance of salvation. Since then this truth has shined brightly and clearly in the West.
When Christianity spread to China, the missionaries took the gospel to China, but they did not take the truth concerning the assurance of salvation. Thirty years ago the Lord raised us up as a group of young brothers, and He used Watchman Nee to recover the truth of the assurance of salvation. This does not mean that before Brother Nee none of the Christians in China had the assurance of their salvation. Many Christians truly had the assurance of their salvation. However, prior to Brother Nee the believers did not teach this truth. It was not taught among Christians.
During the past two thousand years countless believers experienced God as their life, but they did not speak this truth; this truth was not clearly and thoroughly expounded. Madame Guyon knew God as life, but she spoke only about loving God, desiring God, and being “lost in God.” We speak of God being mingled with man, but Madame Guyon did not have this utterance. God used Brother Nee to say that God is constituted into us, but today we say that we should absorb God so that He can become our constituent, and we also say that the divine nature and the human nature are mingled together. We are even bold enough to use the expressions eating God and drinking God. Madame Guyon may have had many experiences of this, but she did not use these words. The truth concerning these matters was not released at that time.
Andrew Murray lived after Madame Guyon, and he enjoyed God. In his book The Spirit of Christ it seems as if he wanted to use the words eating God and drinking God. We almost expect to read these words when we read his book. Although Andrew Murray saw these truths, he did not have the words to express them.
In these last days the recovery has intensified. This recovery has given us a vision, a revelation, and the utterance to speak clearly concerning God’s intention to be man’s life. When we first heard the expressions eating God and drinking God, they sounded raw and wild. However, I believe that in eight or ten years these will be common words in our daily life and even in Christianity.
Thirty years ago one did not ask a person if he was saved. In those days no one even dared to say that he was saved. A person who said that he was saved seemed proud. In particular, pastors and elders opposed such speaking. Now, however, the truth concerning the assurance of salvation is common among Christians. Christians not only experience this truth, but it is also common knowledge, just as vitamins are common knowledge. Today many Christians no longer say that they are going to Sunday service; instead, they say that they are going to a meeting. Furthermore, the schedule posted at the entrance of many church buildings uses the word meetings and not Sunday worship. In a short time many Christians will say, “I rise up early every morning to eat, drink, and enjoy God. I absorb God every morning.” These words will soon be common among Christians.
A message concerning God as our life may initially be criticized, but eventually it will be accepted. This is what happened with the assurance of salvation. However, the truth concerning the church ground is a different matter, and it has been opposed by many believers. Christian groups acknowledge the truth concerning the assurance of salvation, because by so doing, they gain more members; they do not suffer loss. Similarly, if Christians accepted the truth of God as man’s life and man’s food, they could have a revival.
For the past one hundred years the writings of Andrew Murray have been the most popular books published among Christians. This is because Christians can touch something and can taste God when they read these books. Therefore, I believe that soon all of God’s children, even those who oppose us, will not only receive our messages concerning how to enjoy, eat, drink, and absorb God, but they will also speak these very things. In less than ten years these messages will spread among Christians in the Far East. In these last days God will accomplish this.
Hence, we need to be alert so that we do not become “dropouts” in the Lord’s recovery. We need to catch up with God and see what He wants to recover. We should ask ourselves why God placed Adam and Eve in front of the tree of life after He created them. I have considered this matter many times. If I were God, after I made Adam and Eve, I would tell Adam why I created him. Then I would tell him what to do because I have a purpose in creating him. Finally, I would tell him what he should not do.
After God made Adam and Eve, He did not tell Adam why he was created or what he should do. Instead, God placed man in the garden that He had planted. In the middle of the garden there was the tree of life. There was also a river that watered the garden, and there were gold, bdellium, and onyx stone (Gen. 2:8-12). Everything was wonderful, except one item. Therefore, God said to Adam, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of it you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (v. 17).
This simple description from Genesis 2 reveals God’s mysterious intention. According to our natural concept, we think that God wants us to worship and serve Him, that is, to do things for Him. It is difficult for us to drop this concept. But the Bible reveals that God wants us to take Him as food. Genesis 2 presents the first vision in the entire Bible. This great vision controls all the visions in the Bible.
God wants us only to eat Him. He does not want us to do anything else. As long as we assimilate God into us, we have everything, and everything is accomplished. Nothing in the universe is more crucial than this. The Bible shows that after God created man, He placed man in front of Himself as the tree of life so that man would take Him as food. God presented Himself to man as food for man’s enjoyment. God’s unique intention, His desire, is for man to eat and drink Him daily.
We would never have this thought in our natural concept. We think about how to serve God and how to do things for Him. It is difficult for us to drop this concept. We do not know that God wants us to enjoy Him. Christianity needs to see this vision. All of God’s children need to see this vision. During the time of Martin Luther Christianity promoted the practice of asceticism and doing good in order to please God and be justified by Him. However, a hidden group of believers experienced justification by faith and not by good deeds, but the truth concerning justification by faith was not taught.
Today the atmosphere in Christianity is for man to zealously serve and worship God. Even people in the world have the natural concept that Christians are people who worship God and zealously serve Him. Almost every person has this concept. Even though some believers enjoy God as life in a hidden way, most believers do not have the concept that God can be enjoyed. When Luther was alive, he declared that man is justified, accepted, by God not by works but by faith. God needs some to stand up in these days and cry out, “Brothers, God does not intend to ask us to do something for Him. God wants to be our food. He wants us to eat Him and enjoy Him.”
God wants us to eat Him as food. God does not want us to worship Him or to be zealous for Him. God’s desire is that we eat and enjoy Him. We need to speak this in order to turn the concept of Christianity. This is the purpose of Genesis 2. Moreover, the Bible ends with God’s desire to be man’s food. At the end of Revelation we see the tree of life and the river of water of life.
The first thing that God showed Adam was food. God wanted Adam to eat. This has been God’s intention for the past six thousand years. God wants man to eat Him as the tree of life. God does not want man to do anything else. God’s relationship with the children of Israel in the Old Testament reveals this matter of eating. The passover lamb and the unleavened bread were for God’s people to eat. Manna was for them to eat, and the daily peace offering was also for them to eat. After the children of Israel entered the land of Canaan, all the produce of the land was for them to enjoy.
When God rescued the children of Israel out of Egypt, He did not ask them to do this or that. Instead, God wanted them to eat the passover lamb and unleavened bread. As the children of Israel journeyed through the wilderness, God wanted them to eat manna and to drink the water that flowed out of the smitten rock. God wanted the children of Israel to enter into the land of Canaan by faith. Canaan was a rich land flowing with milk and honey; it was a land where they could eat and drink. However, the Israelites did not understand God’s desire. They wanted to do things for God. This forced God to give the law in order to show them that they could not do anything to please Him. It is difficult for the human mind to drop the concept of doing things. No matter what God says, man still wants to do something for God. Therefore, God gave the children of Israel the law for them to see that they could not please God. After God decreed the law, the children of Israel were unable to keep it.
When God became flesh and dwelt among men, the questions people asked Him were mainly concerning what work they should do (John 6:28). The people thought that the Lord came from God to be their teacher. Hence, their questions were related to doing and working. But the Lord said, “I am the bread of life” (v. 35), and “I am the living bread which came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever” (v. 51). The Lord came to earth as the bread of life. He did not come to teach people what they should do; rather, He came for people to eat Him. He came that man may have life (10:10). The Lord came in the form of food to enter into people and give them life.
When we come to the Lord, should we ask what we should do, or should we eat Him as our food? We daily need to eat Him and enjoy Him. This must be our vision. Our living and work should be controlled by this vision. In the past our work was controlled by our natural concept. We constantly directed people to do things for God. We hardly ever dispensed God, that is, ministered God, into people for them to enjoy Him. We seldom led others to eat God.
At the end of Matthew 21 there is the parable of the vineyard, and in chapter 22 there is the parable of the wedding feast. The parable at the end of chapter 21 signifies the labor of people under the Old Testament law to plant, take care of, and prune the vineyard so that they can give the harvest to God. The parable at the beginning of chapter 22 is about a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son and invited people to the feast. The parable in chapter 21 is about people laboring, and the parable in chapter 22 is about a feast. The one parable refers to the Old Testament, which is under the law, and the other parable refers to the New Testament, which is under grace.
God did not originally intend to give the law; grace is His original intention. God’s original intention is not for us to do things for Him but for us to enjoy Him by eating and drinking Him. In the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, the son’s work after he left the father was to feed hogs. When he returned to his father, he said, “I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants” (v. 19). To be a hired servant is a matter of working. But the father said, “Bring the fattened calf; slaughter it, and let us eat and be merry, because this son of mine was dead and lives again; he was lost and has been found” (vv. 23-24). The fattened calf signifies God in the Son for man to enjoy. The believers who serve God need to let this vision control their work.
We need to see this basic vision: God does not want us to do anything for Him. God has only one intention—He wants to give Himself to us as food in order to be our life. Let me repeat: God wants to give Himself as food to be our life. God wants us to enjoy Him. If we do not see this vision, we will not have a clear knowledge of life. If we want to know life, we need God to open our eyes so that we can see that God has come to be our food.
The Bible begins and ends in the same way. The vision of eating and drinking God begins with the tree of life in Genesis and ends with the tree of life at the end of Revelation. In the beginning of the Bible God is food to man, and at the end of the Bible God is still food to man. At the end of Revelation is the New Jerusalem. In the middle of the street in the city is a river of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. On both sides of the river is the tree of life (22:1-2). In the city there is no work and no zeal; rather, we take God as the fruit of the tree of life and as the water of life. The issue of enjoying God and letting Him flow through us is the expression of God.
The last two lines of Hymns, #210 in Chinese read, “Breath by breath I live upon Thee, / May Thou be expressed through me.” God expressed through us is the New Jerusalem. There is no need for us to do anything for God. We only need to enjoy God. We need to be filled and saturated with God so that He can flow out of us and be expressed through us. This is what is manifested at the end of the Bible, and this is what God wants to accomplish.
In the New Jerusalem the believers are not zealously working, nor do they resolve to do good and endeavor to improve themselves. In the center of the New Jerusalem God is on the throne. Within the believers a river of life is flowing continuously. They also have the fruit of the tree of life. The glorious God is continuously flowing within and supplying His people. As a result, the glory of God is expressed through them. In the New Jerusalem there is no work and no zeal. This is what God desires.
Have we truly seen this vision? Are all our activities controlled by this vision? I am afraid that we have not yet seen the vision of the garden of Eden and the New Jerusalem. Instead, we speak as though we are on Mount Sinai and say that we should do this and that. May the Lord have mercy on us and show us this vision. Everything we do and all our labor should be the outflow of life. Christians who live according to the concept of revering, serving, and working for God do not live as genuine Christians. If we want to live as genuine Christians, we must see that God does not want us to do anything for Him. God wants us to eat Him as food and to digest and assimilate Him into us so that He can transform us, be mingled with us, and eventually be expressed through us. Such believers are genuine.
If we see the vision in Genesis 2, we will drop our methods of studying the Bible and the reference books, because they do not supply us; they do not fill our hunger and quench our thirst. The methods and the books do not give us God. If we see this vision, whenever we give a message, we will not speak about anything else. This is the only light that we will see when we read the Bible. We will want to touch God in every chapter, every verse, and every word in the Bible.
Many preachers like to speak from Psalm 23, but few see that everything in this psalm is God. The green pastures signify God, the waters of rest signify God, the paths of righteousness signify God, the rod and the staff signify God, and even the valley of the shadow of death signifies God. Some may wonder how we can say that the valley of the shadow of death signifies God. Nevertheless, our experience confirms this word. May God open our eyes to see that the whole Bible points to God. Sadly, many people today speak about the Bible, but they do not speak about God. Even the messages that we give do not contain much God. Therefore, the saints do not receive much supply. They listen to the messages and receive teaching, but they do not gain much God. Messages of this nature are what Ephesians calls “every wind of teaching” (4:14).
Winds of teaching refer to teachings that do not cause people to be mingled with God, to gain Christ, to be joined to Christ, or to grow with the growth of God. Such teachings are winds of teaching. For the past five years, from 1953 until now, I have listened to the messages that the brothers have given from the podium. Most of the messages were teachings that did not give God. We need to see the vision in Genesis 2. May the Lord have mercy on us in these days that we may see this vision. Then we will receive much grace.
