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Scripture Reading: Matt. 4:4, 7, 10; Rom. 1:17; 3:4, 10-18; Matt. 22:31-32; Heb. 2:5-9; Acts 13:33; Gal. 4:22-26; Eph. 4:8-10; 1 Cor. 14:26; Rev. 1:11; Eph. 1:10; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4; Rom. 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9
In this chapter we will consider the basic constituents of a prophecy.
The first basic constituent of a prophecy is the personal knowledge of the Scriptures. To gain such a knowledge, we need to get acquainted with the Word of God literally. We should even memorize many crucial verses in the Bible. For example, we should memorize the first verse of books such as Genesis, Psalms, Matthew, John, and Hebrews. We should also memorize verses such as John 3:6, 16, 36; 14:26; 16, 15:26 and Romans 15:16. In addition, we need to devise a particular way that will enable us to remember the book, chapter, and verse number of the crucial verses.
According to Matthew 4:4, 7, and 10, the Lord Jesus was acquainted with the Word of God literally. When the Lord rebuked Satan in Matthew 4, He recited three verses from Deuteronomy (8:3; 6:16, 13). This indicates that He was well acquainted with that book.
The apostle Paul also was acquainted with the Word of God literally. Romans 1:17 and 3:4, 10-18 are quotations from the Old Testament. Whether Paul had the Old Testament before him or he memorized these verses, he was well acquainted with them.
To have the personal knowledge of the Scriptures, we must know not merely the text of the Scriptures in letters but the deep denotations and spiritual significances of the Word of God. Many people can understand certain verses such as John 3:16 superficially, but they do not know the deeper denotations in these verses. Nearly everyone can understand a verse literally, in the black and white letters, but one must have the insight, the deeper sight, to see the deeper denotations. Nearly all the verses of the Bible bear a deeper denotation. Verses such as John 3:16 not only bear a denotation on the surface, but they also contain something deeper. The Bible is deep, and no one can understand it completely. Underneath its surface are many secrets and mysteries. If we attempt to understand the Bible in a superficial way, we will not arrive at an adequate understanding. The depth of the Bible is endless.
The Lord’s understanding of Exodus 3:6, revealed in Matthew 22:31-32, is an illustration of knowing the deep denotations of the Word of God. Exodus 3:6 says, “I am...the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” It is easy to see the superficial denotation of this verse, but no one was able to see the deeper denotation until the wisest One, the Lord Jesus, came. In Matthew 22:31-32 the Lord said, “Concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken to you by God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” According to the Lord’s interpretation of this verse, God is the God of the living and not the God of the dead; therefore, although Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob died and were buried, they will be resurrected. They are living ones, and God is their God. By this short word we can see that the Lord Jesus understood the Word of God in its deep denotation.
The apostle Paul’s understanding of Psalm 8:4-6, revealed in Hebrews 2:5-9, is another illustration of knowing the deep denotations of the Word of God. Psalm 8:4-6 says, “What is mortal man, that You remember him, / And the son of man, that You visit him? / You have made him a little lower than angels / And have crowned him with glory and honor. / For You have caused him to rule over the works of Your hands; / You have put all things under His feet.” We may think that we understand these verses. However, the phrase crowned him with glory and honor implies something very high and very deep that is difficult to comprehend. God gave dominion over all things to Adam, but He did not crown Adam with glory and honor. Furthermore, God did not subject all things under Adam’s feet. These verses speak of One upon whose head is a crown of glory and honor and under whose feet all things are subjected. Paul understood these three verses more deeply than the Jewish teachers did. The Jewish teachers might have said that these verses refer to Adam, but Paul realized that they must have a higher and further meaning. Thus, in Hebrews 2 he interpreted this portion of the Word of God according to its deeper denotation. According to Paul’s interpretation, these verses refer to Christ in His ascension, in His second coming and kingdom of a thousand years, and in eternity. In His ascension Christ was crowned with glory and honor, and in His kingdom and in eternity God will subject all things under His feet. Paul understood this portion of the Word of God in its deeper denotation.
We can also see Paul’s knowledge of the deep denotations of the Word of God in his understanding of Psalm 2:7, as revealed in Acts 13:33. Psalm 2:7 says, “I will recount the decree of Jehovah; / He said to Me: You are My Son; / Today I have begotten You.” Apparently, this was the word spoken by God to David, the king of Israel. However, Acts 13:33 says, “God has fully fulfilled this promise to us their children in raising up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son; this day have I begotten You.’” According to its deep denotation, Psalm 2:7 refers to Christ’s resurrection. Paul tells us clearly that Christ’s resurrection was His birth. Christ was begotten by God in His resurrection. Christ was the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16) when He came to be incarnated, but He was born the firstborn Son of God in His resurrection. Christ’s being born as the firstborn Son indicates that many others would follow Him to be born of God and become the many sons of God (Rom. 8:29). By this interpretation we can see how deep the apostle’s understanding of the Bible was. Compared to his, our understanding of the Bible is very shallow.
The deep denotation of the Scriptures can be found also in John 3:16, which has been understood superficially by many believers for centuries. John 3:16 is one of the deepest verses in the Bible. To understand any verse of the Bible, we must take care of the context of that verse. John 3:16 is in a chapter of thirty-six verses. Thus, in order to understand this verse, we must take care of the entire chapter.
The subject of John 3 is regeneration. In order to be regenerated, we need two things—the cross and the Spirit. Verses 14 and 15 of this chapter say, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life.” We can be regenerated because the Lord Jesus was crucified for us. Because we had become serpents by being bitten by the old serpent, the devil, Satan (Gen. 3:1, 13-15; Rev. 12:9a), the Lord Jesus died on the cross in the form of a serpent, that is, in our form. He died as our replacement so that we may have eternal life. Verse 6 of this chapter says, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The Spirit mentioned here is the life-giving Spirit. Thus, we are regenerated through Christ’s crucifixion and through Christ Himself becoming the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b).
John 3 also tells us clearly that regeneration is for the increase of Christ. The verses before verse 16 tell us the way in which we can be regenerated, and the verses after verse 16 tell us that the regenerated ones are the increase of Christ and that this increase is Christ’s counterpart, His bride. Thus, these verses reveal that the Lord Jesus came in the form of a serpent, that is, in the “likeness of the flesh of sin” (Rom. 8:3), in order to die for us, and after dying and being resurrected, He is now the Bridegroom waiting to have us as His bride. The marriage of the Bridegroom and the bride will take place in Revelation 19, but the preparation for the marriage is seen in John 3.
John 3:16 says that God gave His only begotten Son not to man but to the world. This verse says that God loved the world, not that He loved man. The world is composed not of men but of “serpents.” Every nation on this earth is a nation of “serpents.” The world mentioned in John 3:16 signifies not the earth but fallen man, who has been swallowed up by Satan, the serpent, and has been made a satanic system. This is why the Lord Jesus said that He would be lifted up and would die as a serpent, as our Substitute. Thus, God loved the “serpents,” and He gave His Son to these “serpents.” Furthermore, His Son became a serpent so that all these dying serpents could be made alive by having the eternal life. This eternal life produces the believers in Christ and forms and builds up the Body of Christ as His bride.
John 3:16 indicates further that the God who loved the serpentine world is triune. The fact that the Son is mentioned in this verse is an indication of the Triune God. The simple God does not have a Son; it is the Triune God who has a Son.
This is the deeper denotation in John 3:16. In brief, this denotation is that the Triune God, revealed in Genesis 1, so loved the serpentine people of the satanic world that He gave His only begotten Son, the second of His Divine Trinity, to them in incarnation to die for them in the form of a serpent as their Substitute and become the life-giving Spirit, that those who believe into Him as their Redeemer might be regenerated with His eternal life by Himself as the life-giving Spirit, to be the many sons of God (John 1:12; Heb. 2:10) and His many brothers (Rom. 8:29) to constitute His Body, the church (Eph. 1:23), as His increase and His bride, to satisfy and express Him. This will be consummated in the New Jerusalem, as revealed in Revelation 21—22, to manifest the processed and consummated Triune God for the fulfillment of His eternal economy. Thus, such a denotation is not only deep but also profoundly wide in its span, a span that covers the entire Bible from the first chapter, Genesis 1, to the last chapter, Revelation 22.
To have the personal knowledge of the Scriptures, we must also know the spiritual significances of the Word of God. Paul’s knowledge of the spiritual significances of the Word of God can be seen in his interpretation of Genesis 16:15 and 21:2, as revealed in Galatians 4:22-26. According to the letter of Genesis 16:15 and 21:2, we can see two women: Sarah, Abraham’s wife, and Hagar, his concubine. However, in Galatians 4:22-26 Paul says that these two women are figures: Hagar signifies the old covenant, which produces children unto slavery, whereas Sarah signifies the new covenant, which produces children who are free. With these two women there is a deep significance.
Paul’s knowledge of the spiritual significances of the Word of God can also be seen in his interpretation of Psalm 68:18 in Ephesians 4:8-10. Psalm 68:18 says, “You have ascended on high; You have led captive those taken captive.” Superficially, this verse says that someone who is mighty ascended on high and captured the captured people. The spiritual significance of this verse, however, is more difficult to see. In Ephesians 4:8-10 Paul interprets Psalm 68:18 as referring to Christ’s ascension to the highest peak of the universe, the third heaven, symbolized by Mount Zion (vv. 15-16). Furthermore, in His ascension Christ captured all of Satan’s captives and made them His captives. The Amplified New Testament renders Ephesians 4:8, “He led a train of vanquished foes.” This means that Christ vanquished, defeated, and captured His foes and led them away to the heavens as His captives. In the heavens He offered these captives to His Father as a gift, an offering. The Father was pleased and returned them to Christ as gifts. Then Christ gave these gifts, including all of us, to the church. What a deep significance the apostle Paul saw in Psalm 68!
In gaining a personal knowledge of the Scriptures, we also need to receive spiritual enlightenment and see spiritual vision in the Word of God.
More than fifty-three years ago, Brother Watchman Nee received spiritual enlightenment on the meeting of mutuality in 1 Corinthians 14:26, and he stressed this truth very much. He saw that according to 1 Corinthians 14:26, when we all come together, each one must have something. In January 1937 in Shanghai, Brother Nee shared this in a special conference of a small group of co-workers, and those messages were compiled into the book The Normal Christian Church Life. Almost every Christian who reads 1 Corinthians 14 sees nothing in that chapter regarding the meeting of mutuality. However, Brother Nee received spiritual enlightenment. He also received spiritual enlightenment concerning the local ground of the church in Revelation 1:11.
We must also see the spiritual vision in the Word of God, such as the vision of God’s economy, God’s dispensation, in Ephesians 1:10; 3:9; and 1 Timothy 1:4. The Greek word oikonomia in these three verses indicates a household administration in a large family for the distributing or dispensing of daily necessities to the members of the household. Joseph carried out such a distributing or dispensing for Pharaoh. Joseph was a steward appointed to carry out Pharaoh’s economy in dispensing the rich store of daily supplies to his people (Gen. 41:55-57). We began to see the vision of God’s economy fewer than twenty years ago.
In April of 1989 we saw the spiritual vision of the priests of the gospel of God. This is mentioned in Romans 15:16 and is confirmed and strengthened in 1 Peter 2:5 and 9. We have read these three verses in the Bible for many years, and we have expounded them many times, but we never saw the priests of the gospel of God until this time. This is a spiritual vision.
In reading the Bible we must always keep ourselves open to see the deep denotations and spiritual significances and to receive spiritual enlightenment and spiritual vision. This may be difficult, but with everything significant there is some difficulty. We must do our best to learn and not be disappointed in our present condition. We should not forget that we are in the Lord’s recovery. Many truths in the Bible have been lost, but since the second century the Lord has been recovering what was lost. We must believe that today the Lord is still going on to recover more truths. Our translation of the New Testament is called the Recovery Version because in the translation and footnotes of this version more truths from the Word of God have been recovered. The young people among us, especially, should be encouraged to go on to receive further spiritual enlightenment and spiritual vision in the Word of God.
The second basic constituent of a prophecy is the personal experience of life. We must have the experience of life personally. Knowledge by itself is empty; our knowledge should be filled with our experience.
In the Christian life there are two categories of experience. The first is the personal experiences of the Lord’s doings and blessings in physical things and environmental occurrences. In the Lord’s Day morning meeting, many of the testimonies given are related to this category of experiences. Many saints experience the Lord’s merciful doings and the Lord’s blessings to them in physical or material things. These merciful doings and blessings, however, are not grace. Grace is not something in the physical realm. Grace is the Triune God Himself embodied in Christ and given to us as life for our enjoyment.
We need to have the second category of experiences, which are the personal experiences of God’s redemption and salvation, Christ and the church, preaching the gospel, nourishing the new believers (feeding the lambs) in the home meetings, perfecting the saints in the group meetings, prophesying for the building up of the church, and other experiences, by the exercising of our spirit in faith. We should have many testimonies concerning this category of experiences, the experiences in life. Even the healing of our physical body is something in the physical realm. It is better to hear a testimony of a brother who was in spiritual deadness for many years but got revived in the holy Word, became bubbling, and went out to visit people to get them saved. Such a brother may testify that before he was revived, he could not help others to be living, but since he has been revived, everyone he contacts is revived also. This is a prophecy according to the personal experience of life.
In speaking forth a proper prophecy, we should not adhere to personal experiences, testimonies, feelings, thoughts, opinions, affections, and reactions to any persons, matters, and things. When we prophesy, we should reject our personal feelings, thoughts, opinions, and even affections. We should also stay away from our reactions to our spouse, our neighbors, the elders, and the brothers and sisters. To prophesy, in principle, is not to speak for oneself, not to speak forth oneself, and even the more, not to dispense oneself into people. Often we may dispense ourselves to people in our speaking in order to impress them with our experiences and affections. This kind of speaking is not to speak the Lord but to speak ourselves, and it is not related to Christ but to ourselves. This is not to prophesy but to promote ourselves.
To prophesy is mainly to speak for God and Christ, to speak forth God and Christ, and to dispense God and Christ into people for people’s nourishment and supply. Sometimes we may use our experiences to illustrate what we are speaking. In actuality, to prophesy is to release some spiritual vision as a revelation and some spiritual enlightenment as a light to shine over others, either to bring certain things of God to light, that is, to make certain things known to people, or to bring people into the enlightenment of God. These are the main principles that govern our prophesying. We should do our best to speak for God and Christ, and the less we speak of ourselves, the better.
The basic constituents of a prophecy constitute a very high standard for our prophesying. This is why there is almost no Christian group today that practices prophesying according to 1 Corinthians 14. However, if we cannot practice prophesying, it is a shame. We are the New Testament believers in God’s New Testament economy. Elizabeth, Mary, and Zachariah were saints in the final part of the Old Testament age, yet they prophesied in a marvelous way. Their prophecies in Luke 1:42-45, 46-55, and 68-79 had all the proper constituents of a prophecy. Also, in the prophecies of the saints in the Psalms, we can see the proper constituents.
To prophesy with the basic constituents of a prophecy is difficult. However, we should do our best to speak. The messages released through this ministry are printed in publications and recorded on tapes. I believe that all these messages will remain and that one day Christians will practice what we are speaking here. Before the 1960s people laughed at the idea of landing men on the moon. However, by means of their manpower, time, knowledge, technology, money, and patience, the Americans landed on the moon in 1969. In the same way, we too must have patience and do our best. Eventually, we will come up to the standard of prophesying with the basic constituents as revealed in the holy Word.
