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“There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God...Let us therefore be diligent to enter into that rest lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart...Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help” (Heb. 4:9, 11-12, 16).
“After the second veil, a tabernacle, which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar and the Ark of the Covenant covered about everywhere with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna and Aaron’s rod that budded and the tablets of the covenant” (9:3-4). These verses tell us that within the veil are the golden altar, which is the altar of incense, and the Ark.
Then let us read Hebrews 10:19-20: “Having therefore, brothers, boldness for entering the Holy of Holies in the blood of Jesus, which entrance He initiated for us as a new and living way through the veil, that is, His flesh.”
Now we must read Revelation 5:8-10: “When He [Christ the Lamb] took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which bowls are the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new song, saying: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slain and have purchased for God by Your blood men out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made them a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign on the earth.” In these verses we have the bowls, which are the prayers of the saints who are the priests.
Let us go on to read Revelation 8:3-5: “Another Angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and much incense was given to Him to offer with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of the saints out of the hand of the Angel before God. And the Angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and cast it to the earth; and there were thunders and voices and lightnings and an earthquake.” These verses tell us that the incense and the prayers of the saints are two different things.
Finally, let us read Ephesians 6:18: “By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit.”
We have seen that the priests must pass through three kinds of dealings: the dealing with sins, the dealing with the world, and the dealing with the flesh, or self. After all these dealings, the priests are spontaneously in the Holy of Holies. In this chapter we must see clearly that today, practically speaking, the Holy of Holies is within us. Today the Holy of Holies is our human spirit. As we have pointed out several times, Hebrews 10:19 tells us that we must enter the Holy of Holies today. If the Holy of Holies mentioned in Hebrews 10 is in the heavens, how could we enter it today? Therefore, we must realize that the present Holy of Holies mentioned in this verse must be our spirit. This makes it easy for us to enter.
This is why, in the whole New Testament, there is one verse telling us that we must discern the spirit from the soul (4:12). If we read the context of this verse, we will realize that the spirit, divided from the soul, is the very Holy of Holies where God’s throne of grace is today. Our spirit, divided from our soul, is the place of rest, the land of Canaan. When we are in the soul, we are just like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. A Christian in the soul is a wandering person. There is no rest for him until he enters into the spirit. The rest is not in our soul but in our spirit, and Christ today as the life-giving Spirit is in our spirit. It is only in our spirit that we meet Christ and enjoy Him as the rich land of Canaan.
But we must see the way to enter the Holy of Holies. In other words, how can we enter into our spirit? We have talked much about this matter in the past, but I still doubt whether many brothers and sisters have been brought into the reality of entering into the spirit. Let me ask this question: how long have you been in your spirit today? One thing is definite—it is very easy for us to be outside our spirit. Sometimes we are in the flesh, but most of the time we are in the soul.
Perhaps you may ask what it means to be in the soul. We are in the soul when we are thinking, considering, excited, decisive, or indecisive. According to this measure we can see how long we have been in the spirit throughout the whole day. I am afraid most Christians spend the whole day exercising their mind to consider this thing or that. Sometimes their mind jumps over to one brother; the next hour it jumps over to another brother. All the time they exercise their mind to think and to consider. All day they are just in the mind, traveling, visiting, and even talking with people. Sometimes they are excited, sometimes sorrowful, and sometimes they are just wondering whether to do this or that.
After eight hours of sleep, we have sixteen hours in which we are awake. But in those sixteen hours, how long are we outside the soul? I fear that most Christians are not outside the soul for even five minutes. In other words, throughout the whole day they are only in the spirit about five minutes. Some of us are not in the spirit for even thirty seconds! It is so easy for us to be in the soul and so hard to be in the spirit. Just get involved in a little thinking, and we are outside the spirit. Just touch a little excitement, and we are outside the spirit. Just exchange a little bit of conversation, and we are in the soul.
Therefore, the book of Hebrews tells us that we must press on to enter the land of rest. Where is that rest? That rest is in the regenerated human spirit. All the spiritual blessings and all the riches of Christ are in the spirit. But it is so easy for us to be spontaneously outside the spirit and in the soul. This is why the Bible, especially in the New Testament Epistles, tells us that we must walk in spirit, live in spirit, and pray in spirit. Everything must be done in the spirit. We must learn to exercise ourselves to be in the spirit.
But by what way can we be in the spirit? The answer is in the ninth chapter of Hebrews. For years and years I had a problem with this chapter, and it was not only a problem for me but also for many Bible expositors. The problem is in Hebrews 9:3-4. According to the Old Testament, only one thing was in the Holy of Holies—the Ark. The Holy Place had three things: the table of the bread of the Presence, the lampstand, and the incense altar. This is clearly told in Exodus. But Hebrews 9 tells us that the incense altar was behind the second veil. All the Bible scholars cannot solve this problem. Some say that there might be something wrong in the manuscript, and they insist that altar must be translated “censer.” They say that it is not the golden altar but the golden censer. However, all the Greek manuscripts have the word for altar. Some expositors say that the altar of the incense was brought inside the veil only on the day of atonement.
But after all these years of practical experience in the priesthood, I believe there is an explanation. That is, at the time of the New Testament, the altar of incense must be behind the veil, because to burn the incense is to pray. Prayer must be in the spirit—“praying at every time in spirit.” Even in the Old Testament, the altar of incense was not too far away from the Holy of Holies. It was very close to the veil. But according to the Greek manuscript of Hebrews 9, the altar of incense is now behind the veil in the Holy of Holies. This tells us that the prayers of the saints today must be in the spirit, not in the soul. They must be in the Holy of Holies, not in the Holy Place. We must believe in the authority of the Holy Spirit who composed the New Testament with the incense altar inside the veil.
The Old Testament had only the law within the Ark, but Hebrews 9 has the law plus the hidden manna and the budding rod within the Ark. It also tells us that the Ark, which typifies Christ, and the incense altar, which signifies our prayer, are both within the Holy of Holies. The only way to get into the Holy of Holies, therefore, is to pray. There is no other way to get into our spirit; we have to pray.
We have been talking about considering, thinking, being excited, and being decisive or indecisive as the real proofs that we are in the soul. If this is true, how can we get out of the soul and into the spirit? There is only one way, and that is by praying. We must forget about our thinking, our considering, our excitement, and our decisions. That is, we must forget about our mind, our emotion, and our will. This is just the soul. Instead, we must turn to the Lord and pray. We know that when we turn to the Lord in prayer, immediately we are in the spirit. The only way for us to get into the spirit is to pray, but not to pray according to our thinking, opinions, concepts, or understanding. We must pray according to what we sense deep within. Then we are in the spirit.
We must spend more time in prayer, because the more we pray, the more we are in the spirit. If we would pray two hours daily, we would be in the spirit for at least two hours. But because we are so used to thinking in our mind, even while we are praying we leave the spirit and get into the mind again. Even while we are praying, we are exercising our mind!
The Lord’s intention is that, after we are regenerated, we must be in the spirit and no longer in the soul. But on the contrary, after being regenerated we are still in the soul, exercising our mind, our wisdom, our knowledge, our understanding, etc. This is why we have so much trouble. The more clever we are, the more trouble we will have. I have noticed that those who are simple do not have as much trouble as the clever ones. The more capable, wise, and clever we are, the more difficult it is to be in the spirit.
In my whole Christian life, I cannot tell you how many clever sisters I have seen. When I was in the Far East, I came to the conclusion that every clever sister has a very hard-dealing husband. There is almost no exception. Every sister who is so clever, highly educated, and adequately cultured has a hard-dealing husband, plus some troublesome little children. So, I would advise the sisters to be simple and not so clever. Just be simple. If you would be simple, it would save you a lot of trouble. Why is this? When you are clever, you are too much in the mind; the Lord gives you a hard-dealing husband and two little ones to cross you and force you to pray. You are so clever and so much in the mind that no one can help you. Not even the Holy Spirit within can help you. You need a hard-dealing husband and two troublesome little ones. Then you will realize that your cleverness does not help. The situation will force you to pray. It will force you to forget about your clever mind and get into the spirit to contact the Lord.
In the Far East, I saw some simple sisters, and their husbands were so easy to deal with. We must believe in God’s sovereign hand. If we are too clever and too much in the mind, the Lord’s sovereign hand will prepare a proper husband or wife for us. The Lord will always cause us to be in a situation that will bring our cleverness to nought. It will force us not to exercise our mind anymore to meet the situation but to pray. We have been too much in the mind, so we need to be forced into the spirit.
It is only when we are in the spirit that we are in the priesthood. Only the ones who are in the Holy of Holies are the real priests. When we are outside the spirit, we are outside the priesthood.
Let us suppose that among us there is such a clever sister who loves the Lord, yet she is so capable and so much in her mind. Do you think she could be properly related and built up with others in the church life? Do you think that she could be coordinated with anyone? I am afraid that when she would get into the church life, she would say, “Oh, what poor elders and pitiful deacons!” She could never be built up with others. She would be good as a precious stone to put in the window of a jewelry store for display, but she could never be a precious stone set into the gold on the breastplate of the priest to be built up together with others.
In the church life we must be delivered from the soul, the natural man, and the natural cleverness. The church life requires brokenness. We all love the Lord, but how much have we been built up together? With some there may be a little building, but with many others there is not one bit of building.
Why is this? It is because we are too much in the soul. We are not at all in the spirit. When we pray, it is not to get into the spirit to contact the Lord but to ask the Lord to do something for us. That is all. That is our interpretation of prayer. But the Bible’s definition of prayer is to deny the soul and get into the spirit to contact the Lord. Whether the Lord will do something according to our prayer or not is quite secondary. The primary thing is to be out of the soul and in the spirit. Then we can be filled with the Lord. This is the true meaning of prayer.
To pray means to get into the spirit, and this is the only way to be in the priesthood. We are in the priesthood only when we are outside the soul and in the spirit contacting the Lord to be filled with Him. Only in this way can we be built up with others. The strong will must be broken, the clever mind must be crossed out, and the natural life must be dealt with. Then we will be ones who are seldom in the soul and much of the time in the spirit. Whenever things come to us, we will not simply exercise our mind to consider or think, but we will exercise our spirit to contact the Lord. This is to be delivered out of the soul, to be broken in the outward man, and to forsake and deny the natural life.
This is not just a kind of doctrine. If we do not exercise our spirit in this way, we can never be in the real priesthood, and we will be out of the church life. We may be a group of Christians meeting together, but we will always be fighting with one another. There will be no building up, no unity, and no real oneness because we are not in the spirit but in the soul.
When we are in the soul, we have many reasons to prove that we are right. I do not believe that there have been many persons who feel that they are wrong in the soul. Most people feel that they are right all the time. If we are not in the spirit, it is rather hard for us to realize that we are wrong. When we are in the soul, even if we are wrong, we will still argue and reason with others that we are right. “Everyone is wrong but me”—this is the feeling of the natural man.
Look at the situation of Christianity today. Where is the real building, the real relatedness, the real coordination, the real unity, and the real oneness? In the Christian bookstores you can find many books written about the unity of the Body, etc. But where is the oneness? It must be in the spirit, not in theory. This is why Ephesians 4 says that we must keep the oneness of the Spirit. When we are outside the spirit, we are outside the oneness; consequently, there can be no realization of the priesthood.
Now we have seen what the priesthood is. The priesthood is a group of saints who are continually forgetting the soul, denying the self, forsaking the natural life, and getting into the spirit to allow the Lord to fill them, saturate them, and flow out of them. This is the priesthood. Only with such a group of priests can there possibly be the real church life, the real building, the real oneness, and the real unity.
The urgent need today is not to try to solve problems by talking, teaching, or certain kinds of understandings. We may make things clearly understood today, but tomorrow something else will be misunderstood. We will always have certain opinions and concepts. What we need is to get out of the soulish, natural man in order to get into the spirit. When we get into the spirit and open ourselves to the Lord, all the problems will be solved, all the arguments will be gone, and all the different opinions will vanish.
The more we are in the soul, the more we have something to say. The more we are in the mind, the more we have some reason to argue. But praise the Lord, the more we are in the spirit, the less we have to say. There is no problem when we get into the spirit. All the quarrels vanish, and we have the unity, the oneness, and the priesthood—the real church life.
By all these lessons we have learned one thing. Whenever the brothers raise some problems, it is better not to argue. Arguing can never bring us anywhere. Instead, we must go into the Holy of Holies and say, “Lord, I am coming to praise You instead of arguing.” When we are in the mind, we are outside the priesthood.
I must repeat again that the priesthood is a group of people living in the spirit and opening themselves to the Lord to be filled with Him. This is the priesthood which builds up the Body, as seen on the breastplate of the garment of the high priest. All the brothers and sisters need to have this experience.
Revelation 5:8 tells us that the prayers of the saints are the bowls which contain the incense of Christ. In our prayers, which are the bowls, are the various precious aspects of Christ, which are like the incense. The rich, sweet, precious aspects of Christ are just like the incense added to the prayers of the saints. Then the following verses say that all the saints are priests. To be priests we must offer prayers, and when we do, something of Christ will be added to our prayers. Revelation 8 also says that the rich sweetness and preciousness of Christ are ready to be added to the prayers of the saints.
If we would pray, we would partake of the preciousness and sweetness of Christ. When we pray in the spirit, the riches of Christ are added to our prayer. In Revelation the saints are praying as priests. While they are praying, the sweetness, the preciousness, and the riches of Christ are added to their prayer. This means that while we are praying in the spirit, we will realize the richness and sweetness of Christ. We will enjoy all the different aspects of Christ by praying.
It is here, praying in the spirit, that we will obtain mercy and find grace to meet our timely need. This is the flow from the throne of grace, but we only touch it by praying. We must come into the Holy of Holies and unto the throne of grace by exercising our spirit to pray. When we pray in this way, we realize the mercy and grace and the living water flowing from within. Then we are watered, nourished, and strengthened. We will sense in our spirit the sweetness and richness of Christ added to our prayer. It is here, praying in the spirit, that we realize the priesthood and enjoy Christ.
Whenever we have a thought, immediately we must turn that thought into prayer in the spirit. Whenever we start to argue with others, we must immediately turn that argument into prayer. If we do, I can assure you that after a certain period of time we will realize that it is pointless to argue. Our concept will be changed. If we talk too much, we must learn to turn our talk into prayer. Even the reading of the Word must be turned into prayer. This is because in reading, we are in the mind; so we must pray-read to bring ourselves into the spirit.
Whenever we have some trouble with others, we must turn that trouble into prayer, because that trouble will keep us in the soul. The more we are in the soul, the more trouble we will have. As long as we are in the soul, our problem will never be solved. It is important to turn the problem into prayer. This means to turn ourselves from the soul to the spirit. It is not just a matter of solving our problems but of turning ourselves from the soul to the spirit.
As long as we are in the spirit, we are in the priesthood, and as long as we are in the priesthood, we have the enjoyment of Christ and are in the building up of the Body. Then we are in the church life. There is no other way. It is only in the priesthood that we enjoy Christ in order to have the proper and genuine church life. So we see that the building up of the church is dependent upon the priesthood.
