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Scripture Reading: Rom. 1:9; 6:4; 7:6; 8:2, 4; 12:11; John 5:39-40
The Old Testament is full of types and figures, pictures given to man from God. In the New Testament God spoke to man in plain words. The Jews, however, did not understand that the Old Testament was merely a picture needing the plain words of the New Testament to bring in the reality of the picture. The Jews have the picture and want only the Old Testament; they do not have the plain words, nor do they want the New Testament. This desire for the Old Testament became a problem to the Jews because they have an empty picture lacking reality, a picture that gradually became ordinances. The many items in the Old Testament picture portray the facts in the New Testament, but each item has become an ordinance because it lacks plain words to bring in reality.
Each ordinance in the Bible is a brush stroke in the picture. When man has the reality that comes with plain words, the brush strokes are not ordinances. Without the reality that comes with plain words, every brush stroke in the picture is an ordinance that man sees and keeps. A picture of an ear is not a real ear, a picture of a nose is not a real nose, and pictures of two eyes and two arms are not real eyes or real arms. Every brush stroke is empty and dead if the picture lacks reality and life. Therefore, without the reality brought forth by the New Testament, the entire Old Testament is empty and dead, because without reality, life, and the Spirit it is a picture of ordinances.
John 5:39 and 40 show this principle. In verse 39 the Lord said to the Jews, “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life.” The Jews thought, or believed, that the Scriptures contained eternal life. Although such a thought is right, it is also wrong. The Scriptures contain pictures of life but not the reality of life. Hence, the Lord Jesus went on to say, “It is these that testify concerning Me.” The word testify can be understood as “portray.” Hence, the Lord seemed to say, “It is these that portray Me.” In verse 40 the Lord continued, “Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” The Jews searched the Scriptures, thinking that the Scriptures contained eternal life; however, the Scriptures were but a portrayal of the Lord. Therefore, the Lord wanted the Jews to come to Him for life. Scriptures in verse 39 refers to the Old Testament, and come to Me in verse 40 refers to the New Testament. The New Testament is Christ. People search the Scriptures, believing that the Scriptures contain eternal life. There is eternal life in the Scriptures, because the Scriptures portray, describe, and testify concerning the Lord. However, if we search the Scriptures but do not come to the Lord, we will obtain only the picture; we will not obtain the reality of life.
We must see a principle: the Old Testament is a portrayal, a picture, of Christ, and the New Testament can also become a portrayal, a picture, of Christ without the reality of life. It is possible for us to make the mistake of the Jews by searching the Scriptures but not being willing to come to the Lord in order to have life. To search the Scriptures is to open the Scriptures, to read them with our eyes, to apprehend them with our mind, and to admire them with our heart. This is right, good, and proper. However, if we stop with mere understanding and do not come to the Lord to have life, we will be one step short.
Since 1966 the Lord has been impressing us with the need to pray-read the Word. If we only read, think, understand, and apprehend when coming to the Word, then we will obtain only the picture. We need to pray-read so that in addition to reading with our eyes and apprehending with our mind, we also come to the Lord with our spirit and touch Him with our spirit.
A person may study and understand electricity, but unless he connects an electrical appliance to a power source and switches on the appliance, he will not have electricity. He may research books on electricity, but unless he is willing to receive electricity, he will not have electricity. Although the Bible speaks of life and explains life, we must come to Christ in order to have life.
The Lord Jesus spoke this word to the Jewish religionists. It should have been easy for the Jews to come to the Lord. They should have said, “Lord, now we understand. The Old Testament is but a picture; You are the reality of the Old Testament. We do not want to know only the picture; we want to worship You. You are the Lord, and You are God. We want to be like Peter, John, and Andrew to contact You, follow You, and walk with You.” Actually, Peter and John followed the Lord for three and a half years, but they did not have life during that time, because the Lord had not yet entered into them. Peter and John followed the Lord for three and a half years, but even what they had was only a picture, a portrait. Their walk with the Lord was an outward imitation. When the Lord went up to the mountain, they also went up. Nonetheless, no matter what they did with the Lord Jesus, He had not entered into them. The Lord was the Lord, and they were they. The Lord had not yet become their life.
Even though the disciples followed the Lord for three and a half years, they still had only a picture. One day the Lord said to them, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, even the Spirit of reality;...but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you...Because I live, you also shall live. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:16-17, 19-20). The Lord was going to accomplish something that would benefit the disciples. He was going to die, resurrect, and come in another form so that He would not be merely in the midst of the disciples; He would be able to enter into them. In that day the disciples would know that the Lord was in them and they were in the Lord, that the Lord lived and hence they lived, and that the Lord lived in them and they lived in the Lord. Then they would no longer have a picture; they would have reality.
On the night of His resurrection the Lord Jesus came into the midst of the disciples. This was a unique appearing. On the one hand, the disciples could see and even touch the Lord (20:20). On the other hand, His coming was the coming of the Spirit. The disciples were in a room with shut doors; nevertheless, the Lord was able to enter (v. 19). Previously, if the doors of the room had been shut, no one but the invisible Spirit could have entered, but the Lord was not limited by the doors, even though He could be seen and touched by the disciples. Science cannot explain this. The doors were shut, but the Lord could enter freely with a physical body for His disciples to see His hands and His side. This is wonderful.
After His resurrection the Lord came as the life-giving Spirit, breathed into the disciples, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22). This word is much greater than Genesis 1:1, which says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The Jews regard this opening word of the Scriptures as the greatest word in the universe. However, to the believers, the greatest word is John 20:22: “He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” This word is great because the Lord of creation entered into the man whom He had created. The creation of man is a great thing, but God’s breathing Himself into man is even greater.
In creation God formed man from the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7). Had God not breathed the breath of life into that lump of dust, the lump of dust would not have had much meaning. Therefore, the important thing in God’s creation of man was His breathing into man’s nostrils the breath of life in order to bring man to life. However, the creation of man is just a picture. The reality of this picture is with the Lord Jesus on the night of His resurrection when He entered into the disciples, the many lumps of dust. All the disciples were dust, but the Lord Jesus breathed into them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” This word is great because it concerns reality.
The Spirit is the ultimate manifestation of the Triune God. The Triune God has passed through incarnation, earthly living for thirty-three and a half years, death, resurrection, ascension, and descension to be ultimately manifested as the Spirit. This ultimate manifestation is for God to enter into man. The Lord Jesus said, “It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). Now that the Spirit has come, the Lord can enter into man. The coming of the Spirit is God mingling with man—the picture becoming reality. Thus, the coming of the Spirit enables man to have everything required by the Ten Commandments: love, light, holiness, and righteousness. The reality portrayed in every item in the Old Testament is in this Spirit.
The Triune God has passed through many processes. He created, He was incarnated as the man Jesus Christ, and He went through thirty-three and a half years of human living. He ministered for three and a half years and then went to the cross in order to enter into death. He stayed in death for three days to taste death, subdue death, and overcome death. Then He came out of death in resurrection. Every experience was a process that the Triune God has gone through to become the Spirit. For example, a watermelon in the kitchen passes through the processes of being cut, juiced, and poured into cups as delicious watermelon juice. The watermelon juice is the processed watermelon. Without being processed, a watermelon cannot be available or easily received. The Triune God has passed through many processes to become the Spirit. Therefore, on the night of His resurrection the Lord came to breathe into His disciples, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” In this step God and man were joined as one.
Without the Spirit’s entering into us, any method or teaching is an empty and dead regulation. Thirty years ago in Chefoo some sisters who loved the Lord read Sweet Smelling Myrrh, an autobiography of Madame Guyon, and wanted to be like her. Some of them learned to do things slowly, such as walking, sitting down, and talking. Some brothers also followed them. Their laborious and poor imitation was only a picture.
Some people say that the book The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis is helpful. However, an imitation of Christ is an imitation; seventy percent of this book consists of human effort. The Lord said, “You search the Scriptures...Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). If man only imitates and does not contact Christ, the writings of Madame Guyon and Thomas à Kempis or even the Bible will not help.
For many years I wondered why the words of the Bible often seem ineffective. The prophecies of the Bible were effective and fulfilled in history, but most of the words concerning sanctification and overcoming sin seem to be ineffective. For example, the Bible says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, they have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). However, in our experience there are not too many days in which the old creation has passed away and everything has become new. The seeming ineffectiveness of the Bible was puzzling to me. This “ineffectiveness,” however, was not related to the Bible itself but to my receiving of the Bible as regulations.
From a young age I have loved to read the Bible and spiritual publications. I did my best to buy and read every good spiritual publication, such as publications on how to pray and how to be holy. Even though I thought that these publications were quite good, what I learned was ineffective after several days. The Bible says, “I am crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20). About three months after I was saved, I read a spiritual publication on our co-crucifixion with Christ, but I could not die. Therefore, I read more publications until I read an article by Brother Nee. At that time, Brother Nee and other believers said that we must “reckon” ourselves to be dead (Rom. 6:11). Brother Nee even translated into Chinese a hymn by A. B. Simpson: “There’s a little word that the Lord has giv’n... / Let us reckon ourselves to be dead to sin... / Let us reckon... / Let us reckon, rather than feel; / Let us be true to the reck’ning, / And He will make it real” (Hymns, #692). According to this article, I reckoned for a long time without any result. This shows that methods do not work. Methods can be compared to pictures. Even the reckoning taught by A. B. Simpson is a picture.
The content of the Bible is just a picture, but the Triune God has passed through many processes to become the Spirit. When the Spirit comes, there is reality. Without the Spirit everything is a picture with no reality. In some trainings in 1953 and 1954 I spoke on many topics concerning the spiritual life. Afterward, we published two books, The Knowledge of Life and The Experience of Life. Many saints treasure these two books; however, if we live according to these two books without contacting the Spirit, we will still have only a picture. Understanding the Bible is not life. Imitating Madame Guyon is not life. Closely following the book The Experience of Life is not life. Life is the Spirit; hence, we must touch, contact, the Spirit. Theory, doctrines, and pictures cannot replace the Spirit.
We cannot boast of seniority in spiritual matters. I cannot say that because I have seventy-five years of breathing experience, I can therefore take a break from breathing. No one can take a break from breathing. In regard to breathing, a seventy-five-year-old man is like a newborn babe; if he does not breathe, he will expire. An elderly, experienced man and a newborn babe must breathe, that is, contact fresh air with their breathing organ; otherwise, they will not have life. This also applies to exercising our spirit.
We had a problem in the United States that affected some people. Later the Lord showed me the cause of the problem. The Lord told me, “You have the Word, but you do not have Me. You have light, but you do not have the Spirit. You have revelation, but you do not have life.” We may defend ourselves and say that we are living. However, we may merely have a way of being living to which we are accustomed. In the church we have a set way of having the church life, but this way is not the living out of life. In the churches in the Lord’s recovery we do not go to movie theaters, yet we do not live in the spirit and contact the Lord every moment to be one spirit with the Lord.
We may say that the Lord is our life, but we are probably far away from life for twenty-two hours every day. There are twenty-four hours in a day. If we subtract eight hours for sleep, we have sixteen hours. We would be top Christians if we would live in the Lord and be one with Him for one and a half hours out of the sixteen hours. The saints in the churches love the Lord and have a pure heart to pursue Him. But we must ask ourselves, How often are we joined to the Lord as one spirit in our eating, grooming, speaking, interacting with others, and handling of our affairs? Based on my calculation, we should bow our heads and say, “Lord, our church life is but a routine; it is a picture without reality.”
We have been meeting in the church for many years. After so many years our meetings have unexpectedly molded us into our current condition. Because we love the Lord and the church, we do not touch anything that would displease the Lord. However, our not touching things that would displease the Lord is just a way; it is not life. A picture does not have life.
A Chinese Christian once told me that American women always wear lipstick. The Lord has gained many Americans who love Him with a pure heart. The sisters who entered into the church life were touched by the Lord and do not wear lipstick or makeup. Although this is pleasing to the Lord, it is not the Lord Himself. It is one thing to love the Lord and another to live the Lord out. The Lord is pleased when a person loves Him and therefore does not go to movie theaters, does not wear lipstick, and does not care for fashion; however, these are not the Lord. In principle, this can be compared to Judaism. Those in Judaism fear God; therefore, they do not do certain things. We also do not do certain things because we fear God. Those in Judaism fear God, but they do not have God in their living. It is possible that this is also our condition.
Being scriptural in every aspect of our living does not mean that we are full of God. Being scriptural in our living is but a picture. God is Spirit; hence, our living should not be merely a way. We do not want a picture; we want the reality. We do not want a way; we want the reality. The reality is the Triune God, who has gone through various processes to become the life-giving Spirit so that we may be joined to Him as one spirit, contacting Him every moment and not being separated from Him. The Lord is our life. This speaks of our being inseparable from Him. Our relationship with the Lord is a relationship of life. We cannot be separated from our life; the moment that we are separated, we will die. The Lord is our life, and we are His living. Whenever we do not contact Him, everything becomes religion and rituals.
The Chinese highly regard self-control. Elderly people experience many hardships and have developed self-control so that they do not lose their temper often. Because we have been meeting in the church for a while, we too have developed self-control. However, self-control is not Christ. The church is the best furnace for refining people, but no matter how much we are refined, refining is not Christ. I am afraid that the lessons of the cross that we have learned were lessons of self-control. Forty years ago I did not have that much self-control, but I now have much self-control. After learning lessons of the cross for many years, my sharp “edges” have been “smoothed out”; that is, my habits of losing my temper and of being anxious have been dealt with significantly. However, this may only be asceticism, not Christ. Christ is the Spirit; hence, I do not need self-control if I have Christ, if I am joined to Him as one spirit, and if I live in the Spirit. The word self-control is not in our spiritual dictionary. In other words, we should not have self-cultivation.
Paul wrote the Epistle to the Colossians because the Jewish religion and Greek culture converged in Colossae and had entered into the church life to replace Christ. Therefore, the Epistle to the Colossians deals with culture, because culture is a replacement of Christ. Even the way we have our church life is a culture. We are very cultured people, but culture is not Christ. Culture is an enemy of Christ.
Christ is the Spirit (John 14:17-18). The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). The Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). The Lord Spirit is with our spirit (v. 18; 2 Tim. 4:22). We have been crucified, buried, and raised together with Him so that we might walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4). This is our living. Concerning our service, Romans 7:6 says that we “serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter.” Anything without the spirit is letter. The spirit is of the new man, but the letter is of the old man. The letter imitates and follows the old, but the spirit is new every day. Our living should be in newness of life, and our service should be in newness of spirit. The Bible does not ask us to walk according to teachings rather than the flesh but to walk according to the spirit (8:4). To be according to the spirit is to be in spirit and to be one spirit with the Lord in our speaking, handling of affairs, and interaction with others. In other words, when our union with the Lord as the Spirit of life is uninterrupted, we will be able to live out the life of the Lord. Then our living will not be a way but a living out of the life within us. Such should be our living and our service.
God does not want us to do things, nor does He want us to serve in a particular way. God wants to be lived out of us. A real tiger lives out the tiger life. The Bible is not for us to imitate but for us to see whether we are living the life of God. Whatever we do according to the picture is not real. A real Christian lives out Christ. It is one thing to be scriptural and another to live out Christ. Being scriptural is different from living out Christ.
The saints in the church life have been “drawing pictures” for a long time; therefore, our pictures resemble the real thing. The young brothers give strong messages, but these messages are pictures, because the brothers do not live out Christ most of the time. The messages are pictures of Christ that resemble Christ, but a picture that resembles Christ is still not Christ. The brothers need to live out Christ. To live out Christ is not doctrine, nor is it messages. To live out Christ is to be one spirit with the Lord. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” Our walk needs to be according to the spirit. The Lord is the all-inclusive Spirit who is with our spirit. Hence, we need to live out the Spirit. If we have the spiritual key and know how to set our mind on the spirit, turn our whole being back to the spirit, and speak and walk in the spirit, Christ will come forth from within us in every situation. There is another realm in the spirit. Only what is lived out from our spirit is Christ. If the brothers would live in the spirit, their messages would no longer be pictures of Christ but would rather supply Christ.
God does not want ways; He wants to be lived out of us. He is not concerned about whether we lose our temper, nor is He concerned about whether the sisters wear lipstick. He wants nothing but Christ lived out of us. Then what we do will be because Christ lives in us, not because of regulations; thus, for us to live will be Christ. A real tiger will always look like a tiger. Similarly, what Christ lives out of us will always match the picture portrayed by the Bible, for the Bible is the right picture.
It is difficult to find a person who has a living that matches the picture in the Bible, because our transformation is not complete. We may not do certain things, but we often still live by our natural man. We love or hate, we are proud or humble, and we are angry or meek in our natural man. Some saints, who have been broken by the cross, are still very natural; their living is not necessarily Christ.
Many criminals were crucified during the Roman Empire, but Christ was crucified so that the effectiveness of the cross could be applied in our spirit in order for us to live Christ by the divine life. Only that which is lived out of our spirit is Christ. We certainly need to be broken in order for Christ to be lived out of us, but the breaking of the cross is one thing and the living out of Christ is another. It is possible for a person to be broken by the cross but to not live out Christ. Living out Christ is a matter of resurrection and of the spirit; it is not a matter of only the cross.
We should not focus on methods, because only that which comes out of the spirit is Christ. We need the Lord’s grace in order to see that without contacting Christ, even reading the whole Bible will not benefit us. For this reason the Lord said that some searched the Scriptures, but they were not willing to come to Him to have life. This means that searching the Scriptures cannot replace our coming to the Lord. I encourage all the saints to search the Scriptures, but we must learn to come to the Lord.
Unlike Peter and John in the four Gospels, we cannot see the Lord face to face. Today we come to the Lord in spirit. We are joined to the Lord as one spirit, one life. He is the vine, and we are the branches (John 15:5). He and we have the same life. Christ is our life, and He abides in us and lets us abide in Him. Now we are one life, one spirit, with Christ.
From our experience we know that only one thing counts before the Lord: to be joined to the Lord as one spirit, to live in the spirit, and to walk according to the spirit. This does not mean that we should not do anything when we live in the spirit, for that would be to be “dead” in spirit. We still need to live, to move, and to serve, but everything must be in spirit. This requires our practice. It is not enough to shout about releasing the spirit in the meetings. We must live in the spirit and do all things, whether great or small, in the spirit in our daily life. We must abide in the Lord and let Him abide in us. He is our life, and we are His living. To live out Christ is a matter of the spirit and of life.
