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Scripture Reading: Luke 24:47-49; Acts 1:8, 14; 4:8; 13:9; 6:4, 7; 12:24; 19:20; Rom. 1:16
In the last two chapters we saw the commission of the gospel. In this chapter we will go on to see the power of the gospel. God has not only given us a commission to preach His gospel; He has also given us power to accomplish the commission He has given us. The New Testament reveals that the Lord sends us to preach the gospel, as those who go to do business. Since this is the case, the Lord has to give us the capital, and this capital is our power. Therefore, the Lord has not only commissioned us with the gospel, charging us to preach it; He has also given us the power that enables us to preach the gospel.
In Luke 24:47 the Lord charged the disciples to go “that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” This is very similar to the word in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. Matthew 28:19 says, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations.” This indicates that the authority the Lord received was for His disciples to go and disciple all the nations. Mark 16:15 says, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all the creation.” These three verses indicate that the believers have been sent to preach the Lord’s gospel. However, if we do not read carefully, we will not see that within this charge there is a support, which is the power of the Lord.
Matthew 28:18 says, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” The Lord’s authority is mentioned here, but how this authority is related to the disciples is not mentioned. It is in Luke 24:49 that the Lord charged the disciples, “Behold, I send forth the promise of My Father upon you; but as for you, stay in the city until you put on power from on high.” This means that the disciples had not yet received the power as their capital. Therefore, they had to stay and wait in Jerusalem and not go anywhere else. The Lord sent the disciples to go and do business, so they had to wait for the Lord to give them their capital, that is, to pour down what had been promised by the Father. This was to be the power of the gospel.
This power includes the Triune God—the Son as the Pourer poured out the Spirit promised by the Father. The Father promised, the Son poured, and the Spirit was poured out. This promise that was in the Old Testament in Joel (2:28-32) was fulfilled in Acts 2. In Acts 1 the Lord said that in His ascension He would fulfill what the Father had promised by pouring down the Spirit of power. When the disciples received this power, they would start from Jerusalem, go on into Judea and Samaria, and then go unto the uttermost part of the earth (vv. 4-5, 8).
When the Holy Spirit descended, the disciples were filled with the Spirit outwardly. They were like those who were filled with new wine, and all became “crazy.” When others saw them and said, “They are full of new wine!” (2:13), Peter and the eleven disciples stood up and said that they were not drunk but that they had the Spirit who was poured upon them. Then they began to preach the gospel, and as a result, three thousand were saved.
Two centuries ago, the truth concerning the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was neglected by organized, formal Christianity in its degradation. The result was a lack of attention to this truth by Christians. For this reason, two hundred years ago almost no one talked about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Nonetheless, in church history there have always been believers who experienced the power of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
In my study of church history and the biographies of earlier saints, I discovered that after the Reformation with Martin Luther, the Catholic Church remained apostate and dead, while the Protestant churches eventually became dry and weak. It was in such a situation of dryness and deadness that God raised up the so-called inner-life people, the mystics. Madame Guyon was one of these. Their sole emphasis was on how to experience the Lord inwardly and take Him as life. However, because of their neglect of the work of the Holy Spirit, there was no spread of the gospel.
In the same period as the inner-life seekers, God raised up the “brethren” in Bohemia. (The Puritans, who are well known in history, were influenced by them.) They devoted themselves exclusively to studying the Scriptures, neither following the Catholic dogma nor caring for established practices. Consequently, because they were oppressed by the Catholic Church and rejected by the other established churches, they fled to Moravia. Later, in the eighteenth century, Count Zinzendorf of Saxony, North Germany, was touched by the situation of the descendants of these brethren, and he received them, providing them a place of refuge on his estate. These believers were determined to recover the testimony of the church that their families of old had previously had in Bohemia. This latter group was called the Moravian Brethren.
Later, those who loved the Lord with a pure heart gradually came from different places to join them. Then they began to have disagreements among themselves and were constantly engaged in debates concerning doctrines and practices. One day Zinzendorf asked the leaders of the different groups to come together, and he exhorted them to discontinue their arguments over trivial matters and to turn their attention to the crucial matters such as experiencing the Lord and receiving the Spirit. Those brothers were moved, and they agreed to everything Zinzendorf said. They signed an agreement to immediately stop any unnecessary arguments and to practice being in one accord. When the next Lord’s Day came, while they were breaking bread in one accord to remember the Lord, they experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and all became “crazy.” However, there is no record in history telling us that they spoke in tongues, cast out demons, and healed the sick. Rather, there are clear records telling us that they were filled with the Holy Spirit outwardly—that is, they received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit—and consequently, they consecrated themselves and all that they had to the Lord and also prepared themselves to migrate to other countries for the preaching of the gospel.
That was already two hundred years after the discovery of the new continent. Many of the Puritans had migrated to the new continent from Europe to escape persecution. A good number of the Moravian Brethren also moved there, and they greatly affected the spiritual condition of the Puritans in America. Furthermore, John Wesley, who was raised up around that time in England, was invited to come to preach in America and was on the same boat as a group of Moravian Brethren. When the boat encountered a storm on the sea, almost everyone on board was exceedingly fearful. Wesley saw a group of people who were not afraid at all; instead, they sang and prayed calmly in a corner. Greatly impressed, he went over and joined their fellowship. It was then that he found out that they were Moravian Brethren.
Upon returning to England, John Wesley became a powerful evangelist. He rejected all the things of the Catholic Church and renounced the practices of the state Church of England as well. He did not preach in church buildings or in the sanctuaries of the Church of England. Rather, he preached the gospel on the streets to the coal miners. I once saw a picture of people with black faces but with two white lines running down from their eyes. They were miners who had just come out of the coal pits. They heard John Wesley’s preaching and could not help shedding tears, producing two white lines on their black faces. It was truly touching.
From that time on, Christians in England were no longer bound by the old religion. While John Wesley was preaching, some were crying while others were laughing. Their shouts of Amen! reverberated through the sky. Later on, this practice spread to America. However, some people could not tolerate this, so an “Amen Corner” was reserved in the Wesleyan chapels for the “Amen shouters.” The Quakers were influenced by them. The founder, Mr. George Fox, shook whenever he gave a sermon. In Taiwan there is a chair-shaking group. This proves the great influence that John Wesley had on England and Christianity.
Not only so, the upheaval of the French Revolution in 1789 spread through continental Europe. England was also affected by this revolutionary storm. However, because of John Wesley’s great evangelistic power, the storm was calmed down, and the effect of the French Revolution on England was annulled. Because the royal family was very grateful for this, Wesley is commemorated at Westminster Abbey, thereby affirming his contribution to England.
Due to the influence of John Wesley and George Fox, the Pentecostal movement quickly sprang up. This movement was mainly to break through the old rules and to use the way of shouting to be released. Compared to the early days, the present Pentecostal movement is more orderly. Once, Brother Nee and I went to a Pentecostal meeting. We saw that some of them were jumping, some were shouting, some were yelling, some were laughing, and some were rolling. Each one did as he preferred without caring for others. When the pastor was about to speak, no one paid attention to him. It was not until the pastor beat a gong a few times that the congregation calmed down. After the meeting, I was walking home together with Brother Nee, and I said to him, “What way of meeting was that, with shouting, jumping, and rolling?” Brother Nee’s response shocked me. He said that the New Testament does not have rules telling us how to have a meeting.
Now fifty years have passed. These movements, from the mystics to the Pentecostals, were all originally reactions by God. Because the church did not pay attention to the Holy Spirit, these reactions came forth. However, these reactions went overboard, eventually producing the Pentecostal movement with shouting, speaking in tongues, interpreting of tongues, predicting, healing, and casting out of demons. I have seen all these things. Because many of these practices were false, people gradually stopped believing in them. Nonetheless, this was originally God’s reaction with the intent that His children would rise up and pay attention to the power of the Holy Spirit.
What is the power of the gospel? The power of the gospel is the Holy Spirit. I am concerned that even the saints in the Lord’s recovery have not paid adequate attention to the Holy Spirit. Doctrinally, the Holy Spirit is a mystery, just as the Triune God is a mystery. Simply speaking, the Holy Spirit is the third of the Divine Trinity and the ultimate expression of the Triune God. We cannot thoroughly explain the Triune God. He is not the Father apart from the Son; nor is He the Son apart from the Father and the Spirit. This is the wrong traditional doctrine taught in Christianity. According to the Bible, the three of the Triune God are always together.
The Lord’s speaking in Luke 24:49 indicates that the Son would pour out the Holy Spirit as the promise of the Father. When we read the Bible, we often accept everything as a matter of course and therefore do not study to find the reasons behind it. This verse reveals that the Father promised and that the Son poured out. Since the Father could make the promise, could He not also do the pouring out? Since the Son could do the pouring out, could He not also make the promise? Of course, They could do so. This simply shows that the One who promised and the One who poured out are actually the same person, yet with a distinction. The Father promised, and the Son poured out what was promised. According to Acts 1:8, what the Son poured out was the Spirit. However, Luke 24:49 tells us only that what would be sent forth, or poured out, was power and that this power was to be put on as a mantle by the disciples. According to the utterance, it seems that there are three: the Father who promised, the Son who poured out, and the Spirit who descended. Actually, They are not merely three but triune: the One who promised is the One who poured out, and the One who poured out is the One who descended. The three are one. Therefore, the Spirit as the descending One is the Triune God.
Before incarnation the Triune God did not pass through any processes. In eternity past He created the universe without going through a process. He spoke, and it was; He commanded, and it stood (Psa. 33:9). He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Gen. 1:3). He said there were to be the heavens and the earth, and the heavens and the earth were produced. It was not until two thousand years ago when He became flesh that the Triune God began to go through various processes. He first entered into the womb of the virgin Mary, where He was conceived, and then He was born as “the holy thing” (Luke 1:35). In the past we may have thought that the One who became flesh was only the Son. However, Isaiah 9:6 clearly says that the child born in the manger was the mighty God, the Triune God. This is the first process that the Triune God went through.
Since God is almighty and whatever He says comes into being, why did He not become a man instantly? Instead, He came to be in the womb of a virgin for nine months and then was born. Then He grew from a babe to become an adult, just like any normal human being. Moreover, the process of His growing up was not simple. For thirty years He lived in a poor carpenter’s home and did the work of carpentry. The foolish Jews thought that God was in the temple, so they went there to worship and serve God by burning incense and offering sacrifices. Actually, God was not in the temple; He was a carpenter in Nazareth. The almighty God became a lowly carpenter named Jesus. This was hard for the Jews to believe, and they were stumbled by it.
At the age of thirty, as the Lord Jesus began to minister, the Spirit of God descended upon Him to be His power economically. As the Triune God, He already had the Holy Spirit within Him. However, for His ministry, His work, He still needed the Spirit to descend upon Him as His power. In His three and a half years of ministry, He lived an extraordinary life in which God was expressed. Afterward, He was crucified on the cross, entered into the tomb, and descended into Hades. He stayed there for three days and accomplished something further, and then He came out in resurrection. The Bible tells us that in His resurrection, the last Adam, the lowly carpenter, became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Therefore, on the night of His resurrection, when He came to the disciples, He was actually the Spirit. In Greek Spirit and breath are the same word—pneuma. When the Lord breathed into the disciples, He was actually breathing Himself as the Spirit of reality into them.
Afterward, He spent forty days to train the disciples to live by this wonderful and mysterious One and to practice His invisible presence. It was hard for the disciples to see Him come and go and not know what was happening. Actually, His going was His coming, and His coming was His going. He was with the disciples in a hidden way. When there was the need, He would reveal Himself to them. This was to train them to realize His invisible presence. After forty days He told the disciples “not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, He said, You heard from Me” (Acts 1:4). He then ascended to the heavens from the Mount of Olives before their eyes.
According to the Lord’s word, the disciples waited and prayed for ten days, after which the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them. Who was this Holy Spirit? He was the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. At this point the Triune God was no longer simple. Thirty-three and a half years before, He was only God; He did not have humanity. He had not entered into the womb of a virgin, and He had not become flesh. Moreover, He had not passed through the processes of death, resurrection, and ascension. Now, however, the Triune God is different. He has divinity with humanity, and He has passed through death and resurrection, entered into ascension, and descended. He passed through a complete process to become the ultimate expression of the Triune God.
What we received when we were saved was this Spirit. He is the Spirit of life within us for our living. He is also the Spirit of power upon us for our work. According to the truth, on the night of the Lord’s resurrection the Spirit of life was breathed into the believers as breath (John 20:22). Fifty days later, on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of power descended like a great wind upon the believers. Now both matters have been accomplished and have become history. It is at this point that Peter spoke with reference to Joel that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Acts 2:21). Therefore, God had to pass through the necessary processes in order to pour Himself down so that when men call on the Lord’s name, they can be saved. If God had not been processed to such an extent, it would not be possible for man to be saved.
Now we want to see what it is to be saved. To be saved is ultimately to receive the Spirit. On the day of Pentecost those who were touched by Peter’s preaching asked, “What should we do?” Peter said, “Repent and...be baptized...for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (vv. 37-38). Repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit—this is to be saved. The Holy Spirit we received through salvation is the Triune God. He is to be not only our life but also our power.
Doctrinally, there are two aspects to our receiving of the Spirit. Experientially, however, the two aspects are not in sequence. That a person is saved does not mean that he first has the experience of John 20 to receive the Spirit of life breathed into him and then has to wait for another day to have the Spirit of power descend upon him. In doctrine, this is a sequence of two steps, but today in our experience it is not as complicated. This is because the Spirit is a complete Spirit—He is the Spirit of life and also the Spirit of power. When we believe in the Lord and call on His name, immediately we are saved, and the Lord as the Spirit comes into us to be our life and also descends upon us to be our power.
The chorus of hymn #212 in our Chinese hymnal says,
The wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum are the content of chapter 1 of Ezekiel. In 1961 I had a study with the church in Taipei on the book of Ezekiel. I gave many messages just on chapter 1 alone. Ezekiel begins with a storm wind from the north (God’s dwelling place). The wind brings a great cloud, and as the cloud covers, the fire begins to burn. Then once the fire burns, the electrum begins to appear. This section of the Old Testament is a prophecy with a type. The Spirit we have received today is a great wind, a great cloud, and a great fire, and within there is also the electrum. He is the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum.
Therefore, when we receive the Spirit today, we become people who are always of wind, cloud, and fire. These three things—wind, cloud, and fire—are constantly creating events in the universe. Whenever wind and clouds are stirred up in the world’s political situation, war breaks out, and fire begins to burn. However, the fire’s burning always brings out something good—the electrum. Therefore, do not be afraid of war. History proves that whenever there is war, the electrum is produced. This is the doing of the Lord Jesus. When the situation is suitable and the opportunity comes, He will blow the wind from the throne. When the wind blows, the cloud follows. Then there is shaking in the world situation: war breaks out, and fire is burning everywhere. After the burning, the electrum is produced. This is what is meant by the Chinese proverb: “When the snipe and the clam fight, they both become captives of the fisherman.” The Lord Jesus is the “fisherman” who “captures” much electrum as a result of wars.
In 1950 the church in Hong Kong was considering to buy a piece of land in Tsim Sha Tsui to build a meeting hall. At that time Brother Watchman Nee first helped to form a group to carry out acquisition and construction and then charged the brothers, saying, “Whatever Brother Witness tells you concerning the land, listen to him and quickly buy it.” The brothers then took me to see the land. At that time it was still a vegetable garden. When I saw it, I said that Tsim Sha Tsui would become the center of Hong Kong and Kowloon because it was conveniently located near the ferry. Therefore, we bought the land in a short time. It was just as I had predicted. When the brothers asked me how much land they should buy, I said they should buy at least twelve thousand square feet. The brothers lost faith when they heard this, because the total cost of the land was approximately fifty thousand U.S. dollars. That amount is insignificant at the present time, but at that time it was exceedingly high. Because of this, they asked me if they could reduce the purchase by one-half. I laughed and said, “This is your business; do not ask me for a reduction. Still, I have to say that if you do not buy it now, you will regret it later, and when you do want to buy it, you will not be able to.” They thought they had my approval, so they went and bought six thousand square feet. Once they started to build, however, they realized that they had bought too small a portion of land. Therefore, they went back to buy more but were able to buy only another three thousand square feet.
I relate this story to illustrate that the world situation is ever changing to produce the electrum. However, the Lord will not gather the electrum Himself. He wants us to do it. If we hesitate and delay, we will suffer loss. We have been “blown” to America by the great wind. Some may have thought that they came just to study for a degree or to make a business investment. It never occurred to them that they would settle here permanently. This was their view; it was not the Lord’s view. He sent us here by the wind and carried us here by the cloud. He did this so that we could preach the gospel here to gain the electrum.
Let us not listen to what Christianity teaches nor care for what Pentecostalism practices. We need to come back to the Bible itself. The New Testament clearly reveals that this One who became flesh, passed through human living, entered into death, was buried, resurrected, ascended, descended, and became the life-giving Spirit is the mysterious and marvelous One. He is our Lord, our God, our Redeemer, and our Savior. Moreover, He is the Spirit of life and the Spirit of power. He is the wonderful One.
Today the electrum is in the Spirit, and the Lord is this Spirit. This Spirit passed through the breathing in John 20 and the blowing in Acts 2 to be the complete Spirit with both divinity and humanity. Today you and I are saved; we have received the complete Spirit. There is no need for us to experience the process of the breathing and the blowing. However, the problem lies in that even though we have the Spirit, we may not enjoy or experience Him. Children who are foolish and lazy do not eat good food when it is available and do not put on good shoes when they have them. What we have received today is the all-inclusive Spirit. He has immeasurable riches, so we must enjoy Him.
Our power for the preaching of the gospel depends on our enjoyment of this all-inclusive Spirit. We all know that before we preach the gospel, we should pray to contact God and to enjoy Him. This is to “wait.” By praying and waiting, we enjoy God. Then when we go out, we have the power of the gospel. On the other hand, we also need to learn and understand the truths. Peter said in Acts 6:4, “We will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.” To pray is to contact God, and to be in the ministry of the word is to release the Lord’s gospel to others. When the apostles did this, the result was that the word of the Lord grew, multiplied, and prevailed (v. 7; 12:24; 19:20).
In order to receive the power of the gospel, we have to enjoy the Lord. Once we enjoy the Lord, the Lord becomes breath and a storm wind to us. The storm wind brings the great cloud, and the great cloud brings the consuming fire. This is power. The wind, the cloud, and the fire are the power in the universe, and the issue is the electrum. Not only so, we also need to speak the truth of the gospel. When we open our homes and invite people to come, we cannot be silent. Rather, we have to speak boldly. We may not understand technology, astronomy, or geography, but we know the gospel and are clear about the biblical truths. This is enough; we need to spread the Lord’s word to others.
Therefore, dear saints, the power of the gospel is in these three things: God Himself as the consummated Spirit, our prayer, and our preaching of His word. God is the Spirit of life and of power, and the Spirit is in us as our life and upon us as our power. When we enjoy Him, wait on Him, pray to Him, and learn His word, we receive power. The result is that electrum is produced.
However, we should not forget that the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). The gospel is the word of God with God Himself becoming our power through our enjoyment and prayer. Before we open our homes to receive guests, we need to enjoy God in His word and receive power. We need to have the capital before we do the business. When we pray to Him and wait on Him, the wind will start to blow, the cloud with the fire will come, and the electrum will be produced.
When we came to Anaheim ten years ago, there were not many Chinese here. Up until three or four years ago, the Chinese population had increased to more than ten thousand. Now it has even doubled. Recently, the newspaper reported that the largest number of Chinese in California is in San Francisco; the second largest is in Los Angeles, and the third largest is in Orange County. Among these three, Orange County is the highest newly developed area, and the church in Anaheim is located in the center of Orange County. Thank the Lord for giving us this land for us to build the big meeting hall. Now we must receive the burden to actively do the Chinese-speaking work and to fill this big meeting hall.
Dear brothers and sisters, our Lord is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. He changed the world situation and rearranged everything not for America and not for China but for His own gospel. Many who do not believe in the Lord have been blown by the wind to America without understanding why. They do not realize that if they had stayed in their homeland, they would be worshipping idols and would not be able to believe in the Lord by any means, and that because of this, the Lord blew them here to give them this opportunity to receive the Lord. When the wind blows, the heart is moved. Not only did they come to America, but many have been willing even to come to our meeting hall. Now we have gospel candidates, and we also have the meeting hall. The question is whether or not we will receive the burden to open our homes for the work of the gospel.
At Corinth, two to three years before Paul went to Rome, he wrote the book of Romans to the church in Rome. This must have touched and benefited the saints in Rome. Therefore, in Acts 28, when he and his companions came to the Market of Appius and Three Inns, the brothers in Rome came to meet them (v. 15). Rome is about forty miles from the Market of Appius and thirty from Three Inns. The transportation in the ancient days was not convenient, but the saints still paid the price to host them. Today the Lord does not ask us to pay a big price. He has already blown the Chinese to our front door and has prepared the meeting hall. We should cooperate by consecrating our homes and our time so that our homes can each become the Market of Appius and Three Inns. At Paul’s time there was only “Three Inns”; today we should have “One Hundred Inns.”
I hope that you will make a solemn decision before the Lord today to reconsecrate yourself for the move of His gospel and to consecrate your time to the best of your ability for His gospel. Then open your house to make it a gospel station. We all are weak and need the help of a binding consecration. Even when the people of the world discuss business, nothing is accomplished if no decision is made at the end. Today we cannot merely listen to the gospel and be excited for a while. We have to make an agreement before the Lord by consecrating ourselves to Him in a practical way.
This is our responsibility, and it is also our opportunity. Our advancement on this earth and all the material wealth we have received will become vanity in the end. Only the souls we have gained for our Lord will have real value and will last until eternity. Therefore, saints, do not be afraid that you will not have food to eat. The more you are for the Lord and for His gospel, the better your food will be. I myself have countless testimonies in this matter. Fifty years ago there was a saying in Chinese that if a person becomes a preacher, he will live a simple life in poverty. On the day I was saved, I was clear that I had been called by the Lord. I was determined that if I were to be poor, so be it, but I would still preach the gospel for Him. Eventually, in these fifty years the Lord has not made me poor. On the contrary, the food He provides has been better and better. My former classmates all thought that I was superstitious, but later on, one by one they were convinced that the more I served the Lord, the more blessed I was.
To the young people I would say that you should not be afraid. Right now it seems to not be easy, but ultimately you will be blessed by the Lord. If a person is not for the Lord and for His gospel, he will have many misfortunes. I am not speaking a curse, nor am I advising you not to study and work. I simply want you to be clear that the Lord has blown us here not so that we can live here in peace, having a good job and sleeping well. His goal is that we would save souls to offer to Him for His building. I hope that you all will see this clearly and will truly consecrate yourself and your time for the Lord’s gospel.
Prayer: Lord, thank You that You have opened our eyes. We truly understand the world situation. We have seen Your doings, we have clearly recognized the way, and we have found the direction. Lord, it is You who have brought us here for Your gospel. You have prepared everything for us so that we have no lack in anything; we are abundantly rich. We do not want to be foolish, we do not want to be blind, and we do not want to fail You. We consecrate ourselves wholly for You, and we consecrate our time, our homes, and our family members to You. Lord, may You accept and bless our consecration. Glorify Yourself and greatly use us so that each one of us may be filled with the Holy Spirit, have the power of the Holy Spirit, and have the word to contact others. Lord, we pray that You would open the door of the gospel so that those whom we have contacted can come to believe in You and to receive You. May You answer our prayer. Amen.
