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Scripture Reading: Heb. 8:10-11
After we receive the Lord Jesus as our life, we have three main things: the fellowship of life, the sense of life, and the law of life. In order to know the inner life, that is, to know and experience Christ as our life in a very practical way, we need to know these three related matters. According to the teaching of the New Testament, the law of life is even more important than the other two. Hebrews 8:10 and 11 say, “This is the covenant which I will covenant with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will impart My laws into their mind, and on their hearts I will inscribe them; and I will be God to them, and they will be a people to Me. And they shall by no means each teach his fellow citizen and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for all will know Me from the little one to the great one among them.” Verse 10 is a quotation of Jeremiah 31:33, but in Jeremiah law is single in number, but in Hebrews it is not one law but laws. In addition, Jeremiah 31 says that God will put His law “in their inward parts,” but Hebrews says that God puts His laws “into their mind.” The inward parts spoken of in Jeremiah must refer to all the parts of the soul—the mind, emotion, and will.
When Christians today speak of the law, we mostly have a bad impression. We may say of a certain matter, “That is just the law!” It seems that the law is something bad. This is wrong. Here we are speaking of the law not according to the human way, thought, and understanding but according to the scriptural meaning. It is hard to define what the law is in the Bible. To say that the law is simply the commandments from Moses is too common. This is what a child in Sunday school would say. In the ancient time God had Israel as His people. As a people, there was the need for regulation in their life and walk. If there is no law, there is no regulation for living. The law, therefore, is the regulation of the life of God’s people. This is the basic definition of the law.
Today, just as the people of Israel in the ancient time, the believers, who are the people of God, need to be regulated. By what are we regulated? It is not by Moses but by God Himself. As the people of God, we must be regulated by God in our life, our walk, and our daily living. God must be our law. Do not think that the law in the Scriptures is something bad. According to the proper understanding, the law is God Himself, or using the scriptural term, the law is the testimony of God. In the Old Testament the Ark was called the Ark of the Testimony, and the tabernacle was called the Tabernacle of the Testimony (Exo. 25:21-22; Num. 1:50, 53). The Ark was the testimony because within it were the two tablets of the law. As a Christian, for many years I tried to find out why the law is the testimony of God, but no one could tell me. I was not able to understand this until one day God Himself opened my eyes. According to human words, the testimony of God is the description of God. The purpose of the law is to testify, define, and describe God. As the people of God, our walk, living, conduct, and entire being must correspond to this very God.
What kind of God do we have, and what are His attributes? This is the purpose of the law. The law was given to tell us what kind of God we have. We may compare it to a document that describes a certain person, telling us his size, hair color, and other features. Such a document would be the testimony of this person. In the same way, the law is the description and definition of God, so it is His testimony. We as His people must be regulated in our walk and living by this description, this testimony. We may also compare the law to a photograph. If I take a picture of a young man, the picture becomes his testimony. We may say that it is the photograph of the man, or we may even say that the photograph is the man. Because the law is the testimony, description, and “photograph” of God, we can say that the law is God Himself.
The Ten Commandments described God to the people of Israel (Exo. 20:3-17). Many of us can recite the Ten Commandments, but we still may not know what kind of God the commandments describe. First, God is a jealous God. It seems that jealous is not a good word, but God is jealous because He is holy, separate, and not common. If He were common, He would not be jealous. He is the holy God. Therefore, the first attribute described by the Ten Commandments of the law is the holiness of God. Second, God is righteous. Of course, we do not have the words holy and righteous in the Ten Commandments, but if we know the spirit of the commandments, we realize that they describe the holiness and righteousness of God. The Ten Commandments also describe God as a God of love, which includes mercy and grace. Fourth, the Ten Commandments show us that God is a God in light. He is a God of holiness, righteousness, love, and light. We should write these four words as a heading over Exodus 20. Then as we read these commandments again and again, we will see their true meaning. The Ten Commandments describe the very God who is holy, righteous, of love, and in light.
God is also omnipresent, transcendent, and great, but these attributes are not the regulation of the walk of God’s people. There is no need to be regulated by God’s transcendence or greatness, so these attributes are not found in the Ten Commandments. Rather, the walk of God’s people must be regulated by four attributes of God—holiness, righteousness, love, and light. These are the very elements that regulate the walk of God’s people.
On the one hand, knowledge alone does not mean much, but on the other hand, we need the knowledge of the law. We need to know the law given by God as His very testimony. A particular kind of person will make a particular kind of law. A lazy person, for example, will make a regulation that breakfast is at 9:30 A.M. There is no need for a second commandment, for just by this one commandment we can realize that the maker, the legislator, of this law is a lazy person. If we read the Constitution made by the founding fathers of America, we can see what kind of people they were. When I read the Constitution, I realized that those persons at least had the fear and reverence of God. It is different from certain Chinese and Japanese laws, from which we realize that they were worshippers of idols. The law made by God is a description, definition, and testimony of God Himself, testifying what kind of God He is. He is the God of holiness, of righteousness, of love, and in light. In order to be the people of God, our walk and daily living must be regulated by and correspond to these four attributes. Our walk must be holy, righteous, of love, and in light. In principle, the law is God Himself being the regulation of the walk of His people.
The law of the Old Testament was the law of letters outside of the people of God. On the one hand, the law testified and described God, but on the other hand, it also demanded the people to correspond to God’s attributes. As to God, it testified, but as to the people, it demanded and eventually condemned. If one was able to correspond to God’s law, the law was only a demand, but if one could not correspond with the demand, the law was a condemnation. This is the old law, the law in letter.
The new law is still the law; in this sense it is the same. The law in letter was the testimony of God, and the law in life is still the testimony of God. However, this same law is now not in letter but in life. The law within us today is the very living God. This living God who is holy, righteous, of love, and in light, who in the ancient times was described by the written law, has come into us as the new law. Today God Himself is the law. We may prefer the old way of the law, because the new way is too bothersome. The old way is simply to write down all the commandments, and if we act according to them, we are all right. The new way, however, is a living person. There is no written commandment. Whatever we do, we must go to Him. We always need to contact Him and see His face. If there is a law that says that breakfast in a brothers’ house is at 7:30 A.M., everyone knows when breakfast is. But if we have to come to a certain brother to ask him when breakfast is, he may change the time each day. This is the way of the living law. This is why the New Testament does not have commandments in the old way. There is not even one such commandment. Rather, there is one God within us. This very God, who was described by the written law, has come into us as the living law. Therefore, the law is God Himself within us, regulating us by Himself. He is within us as the regulating element. Whatever we do, speak, or accomplish must correspond to this very God within us.
This very God in us becomes our taste. We do not like to eat bitter things because they taste bad. We were not taught this; rather, we have a taste of life within us. The holy, righteous God of love and in light is our taste, and this taste is the regulating factor and power. If we do something in the nature of hatred, we can taste it within. But if we do something in the nature of love, light, holiness, and righteousness, we have the taste from God that consents and agrees with us. The Lord told us that we have to love our enemy. When I was young, even after I was saved, I shook my head when I read that. I said, “Lord, I cannot keep this word. I cannot love my enemy.” Later, however, I experienced that if I even had the thought of hating, the taste within me would not go along. This taste is the law, and the law is God Himself. He is the very God of love; He is not a God of hate. With Him there is no hate. Hatred is one hundred percent against His nature. His nature is a nature of love, and His nature is love. This nature becomes our taste. Regardless of whether we are willing to love or willing to hate, the taste within us is a taste of love. When we love, the taste corresponds with us. Otherwise, the taste within us protests.
We have a taste within us. If we simply go along with the taste, it is easy. Because of our taste, it is easier to eat something sweet than to eat something bitter. As humans, we also like to sleep because it “tastes” good. Praise the Lord, we have the taste within us! Now it is so easy for me to love, and it is very hard to hate even my enemy. If I am about to hate my enemy, something within tastes bitter. The taste works within me. If, on the other hand, I love my enemy, the taste within encourages, confirms, and strengthens me to love. This is the living law.
To be a Christian is a matter of taste and not outward regulation or religion. We like to serve others because it tastes good. We like to sacrifice, even to sacrifice our life, for others. To them it seems that we suffer a lot, but to us it is a taste. When I sacrifice, I taste. This taste is the very law. Taste regulates. If we put something bitter into the mouth of even a small baby, he will spit it out, but if you put chocolate in his mouth, he will find it delicious. There is no need to teach him this, because he has a taste. The taste is the regulating, and the regulating is the law. Today God within us is the very law giving us a taste and regulating us by this taste. Whatever corresponds with Him gives us a good taste, but if there is anything against His nature, the taste protests. To take care of the taste is to take care of the inner law. This inner law is the divine life, and the divine life is God Himself.
Since God put Himself into us as the law, giving us a taste and regulating us in all things, there is no need for anyone to teach us. Teaching is mere outward knowledge, but we have an inward taste. By this inward taste we have the inward knowledge. In Hebrews 8:11 there are two Greek words for know. Verse 11 begins, “They shall by no means each teach his fellow citizen and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord.” This know is one word. The verse continues, “For all will know Me from the little one to the great one among them.” This second know is another Greek word. Darby’s New Translation translates this as “know...in themselves.” A note for that verse tells us that this know denotes the inner realization of certain things, the consciousness in oneself, the internal, inner knowledge. Teachings are outward knowledge, but the taste is the inner knowledge. By this inner knowledge we taste, we sense, what corresponds to God and what does not.
Hebrews 8:10 says, “I will be God to them, and they will be a people to Me.” God is God to us according to the inner law, and we are the people of God according to this law. In the ancient times God was God to the people of Israel, and they were a people to Him, according to the Ten Commandments. Although David the king did many good things, he killed a man and took his wife. At that time God was not God to Him, and he was not a person of God, because he acted against the law of God. That was why he needed expiation and reconciliation to God. Without expiation it was not possible for him to be a person of God nor for God to be God to him. One had to be a person according to the law of God, and God was God to him according to His law. Today it is the same in principle. The living law within us gives us the sense to love our enemy, but we may not be willing to go along with it. Instead, we may try to do many good things for others. In this case we will not have a right relationship with God. We may say, “Others bring one person to the Lord in one year, but I have brought two persons just this month.” However, God may say, “I do not reckon that. I only reckon one thing—the inner law. I am God to you not according to all the good things you do but according to the inner law.” We have to be a people to God according to the inner law, and this inner law is the living God.
Again I say, Christianity today has missed the mark. What is the mark? It is that God Himself, the living Spirit within us, is the very law. God can be God to us and we a people to God only according to this law, not according to the good things we do. Suppose that the inner, living law within me energizes and moves in me, giving me the taste or the sense that I must humble myself before a brother because I offended him. This law may give me the sense, the consciousness, that I have to come to him and make a confession. However, I may not want to lose my face. Rather, I tell the Lord, “Lord, I will do many things for You. I will shine everyone’s shoes and clean the dining hall.” Regardless of how many good things I do, the Lord may say, “No, I demand only one thing. Go to the brother, bow your head, tell him that you are wrong, and ask him to forgive you.” Still I may say, “Lord, I will do anything, but not this.” This means that I am still doing good things but breaking the regulation of the inner law. Many, many times we act in this way. I know many stories like this. It is especially this way with some wives. For a wife to make a confession to her husband is not easy. She may do many things, but she would not say, “I’m wrong; excuse me.” God can be God to us only according to His law, and we can be a people to Him only according to this law.
Where is this law? It is in us. And what is this law? It is God Himself. He Himself is the living law. He is holy, righteous, of love, and in light. Therefore, whatever we do, speak, or think, and however we act or walk, must be one hundred percent in correspondence with the very God who not only is holy but holiness, who not only is righteous but righteousness, and who is love and light. If we do this, we will have a sweet taste; otherwise, we will have a bitter taste. It is a matter of taste, and this taste is the very regulating element of the inner law that is God Himself. The law, which is God Himself, is within us as our life, nature, taste, and regulating element.
If we mean business and pay our full attention to this inner law, there is no need of teaching. We need a certain kind of teaching simply because we are not faithful and honest to this inner law. We do not pay our full attention to this inner law, so we need the teachings to help us. This is a poor situation. If we mean business and pay our full attention to this inner law, that will be glorious. Many times when people ask us a question, we point out, “Brother, you know the answer within yourself. There is no need for you to ask me. You know within.” Sometimes the brothers say, “Yes, I know, but I would like you to give me a confirmation.” To this I say, “Rather, I like to be confirmed by your inner feeling. I am not the confirmation; your inner sense is the confirmation. You know within.”
In the New Testament there are two passages that tell us that there is no need for others to teach us. Hebrews 8:11 is one, speaking of the inner law. The other is 1 John 2:27, which speaks of the inner anointing. In the Old Testament times there were the law and the prophets. The Jews themselves referred to the Old Testament as “the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 7:12; 22:40). This means that in the ancient times the people of God had two factors to guide them. The law was the first factor, and the prophets were the second. There was a difference between the regulation of the law and the guidance of the prophets. The regulation of the law was according to the attributes of God. Therefore, it could not change. For any person it was the same, and in any place and time it was the same. You have to love others, and everyone else has to love others also. In the morning you have to love, and at night you have to love; yesterday you had to love, and today you still have to love. Both in this city and in another city you still have to love. There is no need to seek the Lord’s guidance as to whether or not we should love a person, because this is something according to God’s nature. This is the regulation of the law.
The function of the prophets, however, was for guidance. From the regulation of the law we cannot know whether or not to marry a certain person, unless, of course, the marriage breaks the law; then the regulation comes. Again, we cannot find in the regulation of the law whether or not to go to a certain place and do certain things. Therefore, the law was for regulation, and the prophets were for guidance. In the same way, we have the law of life within as the regulation, and we also have the anointing of the Holy Spirit within as the guidance.
There is no need, for example, to seek guidance whether or not to cut our hair in a peculiar way, because the nature of God, the holiness of God, within us regulates us. We know that it is not right for a child of God to cut his hair in a peculiar way. There is no need to seek guidance, because we have the inner regulation. But as to which barber shop to go to or whether to let a brother cut our hair are matters of the inner anointing, not something of the inner law. The inner regulating law does not work in this matter. The law is the regulation according to the unchangeable nature and attributes of God, and the anointing is the guidance according to the move of God, which is very changeable. The move of God may let Peter go to a certain place but will not let Paul go to that place. The attributes of God never change, but the moving of God changes all the time. Therefore, as far as the attributes of God are concerned, we need the regulation, but as far as the move of God is concerned, we need the guidance. The regulation comes from the inner law, and the guidance comes from the inner anointing.
Whether or not a sister should go shopping is a matter of the guidance of the inner anointing. However, when she gets to a department store and tries to choose a dress, the inner regulating may come to her. Just as the people in the ancient times had the law in letters and the prophets, we have the inner anointing as the prophet and the inner regulating, the law of life, as the law. Again I say, the law relates to what God is, and the anointing relates to what God does. The law relates to God’s nature, and the anointing relates to God’s moving, God’s actions. With God’s move and actions, we need the guidance; there is no certain regulation. But with God’s nature and attributes, there is never any change; therefore, we have the regulation.
The three things that we have spoken about—the fellowship of life, the sense of life, and the law of life—are matters of the spiritual life. This spiritual life is in our spirit. In our spirit there are three functions—fellowship, intuition, and the conscience. The three matters of life correspond with the three functions of our spirit. The fellowship of life, of course, is a matter of fellowship, and it is related to the fellowship of the spirit. The sense of life is a matter of the inner knowledge, and this inner knowledge is related to the intuition of the spirit. The law of life is a matter of regulation, and this regulation is related to the conscience of the spirit. We need to learn these things in a practical way in our experience. Then we will know life in a practical way, and we will be able to help people to experience Christ as life in the spirit.
After we are saved, we have an inner sense from the light of life, the law of life, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Christ living within us, and God working and energizing within us. The life within us enlightens us as the light, the life regulates us as the law, the Holy Spirit anoints us, Christ lives in us, and God works within us. These five items always give us a certain inner consciousness, a certain feeling. Moreover, the fellowship of life, the sense of life, and the law of life are related one to another. In order to keep the fellowship with the Lord, we have to take care of the inner sense, and in order to take care of the inner sense, to be sure, we must go along with the inner law. To break the law of life means that we cast off the sense of life, and to cast off the sense of life means that we damage the fellowship of life. The main thing is to take care of the law of life. It is when we take care of the law of life that we have harmony with the sense of life, and when we have harmony with the sense of life, we keep the fellowship with the Lord. Then everything with us is right in the presence of God.
The main point is the law of life. The whole Christian life and walk hinges on the law of life, the inner regulating. Oh, this is so important! I am afraid that not many Christians walk day by day by being regulated within. We have to learn to be regulated by the inner law. Then God will be God to us, and we will be a people to Him. We will have fellowship with God in harmony with our inner sense, because we are always going along with the law of life. I hope that you will do some homework concerning these matters and fellowship with two or three others. Then you can put them into practice and learn more, and you will know the way of life. Many times when I hear people talking about the inner life, I shake my head, realizing that it is just talk; they do not know what the inner life means. If we do not know the law of life, the sense of life, and the fellowship of life, we do not know the inner life. We may know it in terms, in letter, in word, on paper, and in knowledge and teaching, but we do not know it in practicality. In practicality we need to know the law of life with the sense of life and the fellowship of life. This is very important, but we are not used to these things, so we need more practice.
