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Scripture Reading: Acts 8:1, 4; 9:31; 11:19-23
In this chapter we will consider the matter of migration. The Bible does not mention the word migration, but it does contain the fact of migration. The gospel of God has often been spread through the migration of the believers. In this sense, migration is scriptural.
The words come and go are frequently used in the New Testament. Receiving grace and serving the Lord depend on coming and going. The Lord first calls us to come, and then He commands us to go. We were once far off from God because our sins and the world kept us at a distance from Him. However, God in Christ has now called us to come near to Him. He is calling us to come to Him for rest, life, the living water, and salvation (Matt. 11:28; John 5:40; 10:10; 7:37). Receiving grace depends on coming to Him. The more we come to Him, the more grace we will receive.
After we have received grace by coming to the Lord, He commands us to go and preach the gospel to all the nations, to go and disciple all the nations, and to go and be His witnesses unto the uttermost part of the earth (Matt. 24:14; 28:19; Acts 1:8). We come to the Lord to draw near to Him and receive His grace, and we go to serve the Lord and be His witnesses. We should not come to receive His grace without going to be His witnesses. We cannot be Christians who come without being Christians who go. We cannot be half Christians.
In order to be complete Christians, we must be Christians who come and go. We first come to the Lord, and then we go and testify of Him. We first come to receive salvation, and we then go to preach salvation. We come by being forgiven of our sins, and we take grace with us when we go. We come by forsaking the earth, and we take heaven with us when we go. We come by forsaking people, and we take the Lord with us when we go. We are supplied when we come, but we supply others when we go. As coming-and-going Christians, we allow the Lord’s grace to flow freely in and through us. This flow should not be hindered or stopped in us.
Instead of remaining in one place, Christians should move all over the earth. The Lord’s will is that we continually move so that we can take His gospel to every place. Unless it is the Lord’s special arrangement, we should not remain in a place for a long time. When we remain in a place for a long time, we hold back the gospel, and it does not spread to other places. If we would live before the Lord according to His will, we would not be able to stay in one place for a long time. The Lord might want a brother to reside in Tainan for two years, and then He might lead the brother to reside in Taichung for a while. Perhaps the Lord wants a sister to reside in the western part of Taiwan for a period of time, and then He may want her to reside in the eastern part for a few years. The Lord may want another brother to continually move from place to place. If we love the Lord and live to Him, we will take the gospel with us wherever we go. This is the meaning of migration, and this way is scriptural. The Lord wants His gospel to reach every place on earth through our migration.
At the time of Pentecost many people were saved in Jerusalem (Acts 2:41). Although these new believers received multiplied grace while they met and served the Lord together, the Lord charged the disciples before His ascension to be His witnesses “both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (1:8). The disciples were the Lord’s witnesses when they remained in Jerusalem, but the gospel was not being preached in all Judea or Samaria, much less in the uttermost part of the earth. Therefore, the Lord allowed persecution to arise in Jerusalem so that the disciples would be forced to leave Jerusalem and would be scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria in order to preach the gospel and testify for Him (8:1, 4). As soon as there was persecution, the disciples could no longer stay in Jerusalem peacefully; they were forced to move.
Jerusalem can be compared to the center of a large pond, and persecution can be compared to a huge stone. The Lord allowed persecution to be thrown into Jerusalem, just like a huge stone is thrown into the center of a pond; as a result, waves spread outward from the center of the pond. The disciples, who were pushed out like the waves, were able to take the gospel to many places. Eventually, churches were established in numerous places, such as Judea, Galilee, Samaria, and even Antioch, a Gentile city (9:31; 11:19-23). These churches were not established by apostles, who were sent by the Lord; rather, they were raised up by the disciples, who were scattered from Jerusalem. The scattered disciples took the gospel wherever they went. A church was raised up when some in a locality received the gospel and were saved. Before Acts 13 all the churches apart from Jerusalem were formed in this way. The church in Rome was not an exception.
We cannot find a verse in the Bible that says an apostle established the church in Rome. However, we can infer from the clues in the Bible that the sojourners from Rome, who received the Lord’s salvation at the time of Pentecost, took the gospel with them back to Rome and raised up the church (2:10). Hence, we can say that the church in Rome was raised up through the migration of the believers. These examples show that it is very easy to spread the gospel and raise up churches through the migration of the believers.
God desires the gospel to spread and churches to be raised up through the migration of His believers. Therefore, He has prepared the environment. God has prepared many things to facilitate the move of the believers, because there is a great need for the spreading of the gospel in this final age. The Gospel of Matthew says that the gospel should be preached in the whole inhabited earth and then the end will come (24:14). The book of Daniel also says that many will go here and there at the time of the end (12:4). There are presently more communication and traffic in human society than ever before, and the means of transportation, such as cars, trains, ships, and airplanes, is unprecedented in quantity and convenience. However, communication and the means of transportation are not merely for our convenience. God wants believers to use various means of transportation in their moving so that His gospel may spread to every place. This is not a small matter.
God uses every mode of transportation—by land, water, and air—for the move of the believers in the spreading of the gospel. For example, the many flights between Taiwan and the Philippines make it convenient to travel to Manila to testify for the Lord and to help the church there. I believe that God has prepared every means of transportation between Taiwan and the Philippines so that we can conveniently go forth to spread the gospel and establish churches. Hence, we should enjoy and use this aspect of God’s preparation to increase our move for the gospel.
The numerous and convenient means of transportation makes it easy for people to move. There is also a trend for people to be busy and move to many places. Whoever can travel farther and reach more places will have an advantage. Those who are away from home are better off than those who stay at home, and those who go abroad are better off than those who remain in their homeland. People who do not go abroad tend to be unrefined, and those who do not move tend to be simple. This applies to every class in society and to every country in the world. Those who want to have the upper hand must move. God allows this trend so that believers can follow it and take the gospel to every place. This trend to move is part of God’s preparation in the environment for the believers to migrate. This trend is often a powerful current that forces the believers to move.
Even though there is a trend that causes people to move, and the means of transportation makes it convenient for people to move, many people still will not move. Our lack of willingness to move forces God to change our circumstances. For example, He may allow us to be transferred, to lose our job, or to experience an economic recession. He may allow our business to suffer a financial loss. We may even suffer opposition and attacks or various changes in our personal situation or in our family. These items may force us to move. God even uses wars to force us to move. Even a brother who has no desire to move will flee for his life and move when war comes. Wars change environments, and when the environment changes, many people are forced to move.
If the war had not changed many people’s situations, who would have been willing to move from mainland China to Taiwan? However, when the environment changed, people had to move. Even though people suffered loss during the move, this was according to God’s good pleasure. Many people would not listen to the gospel or receive the Lord when they were in mainland China, but they were willing to open their hearts, listen to the gospel, believe, and receive the Lord after they moved to Taiwan. Many saints did not love the Lord and were indifferent to spiritual things when they were in mainland China, but since they have moved to Taiwan, their spirit is burning, and they are willing to pursue and serve the Lord.
We must realize that the things that happen to us are allowed by God’s sovereign hand; they are not coincidental. God wants us to move, but because we are unwilling, He stretches forth His hand to allow certain things to force us to move and to compel us to go. After God gives a command, His hand will act. He first prepares the environment so that it is easy for us to move and also allows a trend that inclines us to move; He even allows troublesome incidents that force us to move. God desires that His children would move frequently in this age. Therefore, He prepares all kinds of environments to make it convenient for us to move, and He allows all kinds of troublesome things to force us to move.
We need to understand God’s intention and know His acts. Jeremiah 8:7 says, “Even the stork in the sky / Knows its appointed times, / And the turtledove and the swallow and the crane / Keep the time of their coming; / But My people do not know / The ordinance of Jehovah.” We have received God’s salvation, and we have His life; as such, how can we be inferior to the birds? We should be those who know the times, know events, and know God so that we can match what God is doing in this age. Otherwise, we will fall behind in our service to God, and we will be unable to catch up with this age.
Although God has made many preparations in the environment in order for us to migrate, we still have problems practicing migration. Such problems include our nature, habits, family relationships, relatives and friends, work factors, geographic factors, and property. There is also the inability to adapt to different languages, different customs, and new environments. In addition, there are hardships, costs, and losses suffered when we migrate. These matters cause us to hesitate. Furthermore, according to our natural disposition, Chinese people do not like to move. It is difficult to leave our native land. In general, migration is relatively easy for Caucasians but difficult for the Chinese. Unless we are forced to move, we are unwilling to go even to a nearby region, let alone to a faraway land. Our natural disposition, habits, environment, and human relationships make us inclined to stay in one place. Hence, we need the Lord’s deliverance in relation to migration.
We do not have to move for our sake or for the sake of our family, but we do need to move for the Lord’s sake and for His gospel. If we do not move, the gospel cannot go forth; if we stay in one place, the gospel will be held back. In order for the gospel to go forth, we have to move. In order to move, however, we must overcome the problems that hinder us. We need to be delivered from these problems by allowing the Lord to break our natural disposition and our lack of desire to move. We must also ask the Lord to enable us to overcome every factor that restrains us from migrating.
We need the Lord to break our natural disposition and habits in relation to migration. We ask the Lord to enable us to overcome sin and the world, but we must also ask Him to enable us to overcome all the things that restrain us from migrating. Most people would rather stay in one place than suffer moving to different places. We need the Lord to deliver us from this preference. We need the Lord’s grace to make us willing to move so that we would not be half Christians, ones who come but do not go. By the Lord’s grace, we need to be sojourners on earth who follow the footsteps of Abraham.
When Abraham was called, he obeyed and went from his land to Canaan, the land that God promised to give him. Abraham dwelt in Canaan as a foreigner; he was a sojourner who moved from place to place in a tent, thus confessing that he was a stranger and a sojourner on the earth (Heb. 11:8, 13). Wherever Abraham went, he pitched a tent and built an altar to Jehovah; he also called on the name of Jehovah and maintained God’s testimony on the earth (Gen. 12:6-8; 13:3-4, 18). The tent and the altar were inseparable in the life of Abraham. The tent was a symbol of his life of sojourning on earth, and the altar was a testimony of his calling on the name of Jehovah. Abraham built an altar only after he pitched a tent. He had the testimony of calling on Jehovah only when he lived a sojourning life. Likewise, if we want to serve God, declare His gospel, and maintain His testimony, we must live as sojourners; that is, we must move. If we stay in any place for a long period of time, we will lose the characteristic of a sojourner and the life of the tent. When we lose the life of the tent, we also lose the testimony of the altar. Hence, we cannot maintain God’s testimony when we lose the characteristic of being sojourners.
Whenever we stay in a place for a long time, we will be in danger of being rooted on earth. When we received salvation, the Lord uprooted us out of the world. However, some saints have not allowed the Lord to pull their roots out of the earth. Abraham obeyed God’s command immediately after he was called by going from the land of his birth, that is, from Ur of the Chaldeans (11:31). Some brothers and sisters have been called to be God’s children, but they have not obeyed God’s command to go out from their “Ur,” the place where their roots are in the earth. If they would be willing to migrate, the Lord would pull their roots out of the earth.
Migration pulls our roots out of the earth and preserves us from being rooted again into the earth. The first time that we migrate, our roots are pulled out of the earth. Afterward, our further migration will keep us from being rooted in any place. Our first migration is our going out of Ur, and our further migrations are our sojourning in the land of Canaan. If we merely have a first migration but no further migrations, we will eventually be rooted in Sodom, just as Lot was rooted in Sodom. Lot followed Abraham out of Ur until he got to Canaan, but he did not follow Abraham to live a sojourning life. Lot stayed permanently in Sodom and became rooted there; hence, he no longer needed a tent, and he lost the testimony of the altar.
As soon as a believer is rooted in the earth, he will spontaneously lose the life of the tent. When the life of the tent is lost, the testimony of God is also lost. This is the difference between Abraham and Lot. Many believers today are like Lot, and many have not even gone out from Ur. Many of those who have left Ur were later rooted in Sodom. I hope that we would not remain in Sodom until the judgment day of the Lord comes. May we follow the example of Abraham, the father of faith, by always moving, living the life of a sojourner who pitches a tent and builds an altar as a testimony of God.
We should have the desire to migrate. God has ordained that we would live our life as sojourners. Migration is a necessary outlet of the gospel of God and the best outlet of His gospel. If we settle down in a place, the gospel will not have an outlet, and it will be held back. Hence, we have to migrate in order for the gospel to have an outlet. If we want the gospel to spread throughout Taiwan, the saints must migrate to every city. It is not sufficient to merely have a few preachers who go out to spread the gospel. We must have many saints who migrate to every place. May more saints be willing to seek the Lord’s grace in this matter so that they would have the inclination and the desire to migrate for the gospel and to be sojourners, people who are always moving.
If we love the Lord and desire to live for Him and please Him, we will choose to migrate. This is the type of life that the Lord wants us to live, and this is also the way to please Him. We must be determined to travel throughout Taiwan and to live in every town. Although migration is difficult, it is the way to spread the gospel and to raise up the churches. Hence, such difficulty is worthwhile. May we be those who look to the Lord for His grace to have such a determination.
Judges 5:15-16 says, “By the watercourses of Reuben / There were great resolves of heart. / Why sattest thou among the sheepfolds, / To hear the pipings for the flocks? / At the watercourses of Reuben / There were great searchings of heart” (ASV). As Jacob’s firstborn, Reuben should have been preeminent in dignity and power. However, he committed a gross sin when he defiled his father’s concubine (Gen. 49:3-4). His descendants were children of a sinner, but there were watercourses among them. According to Psalm 23:2 and Jeremiah 17:7-8, watercourses signify God and His grace. This means that God’s grace came upon the descendants of Reuben. Some of his descendants were sitting beside the watercourses, beside God, and by the grace of God, they had great resolutions of heart and great searchings of heart for the kingdom of God. Some of Reuben’s descendants, however, enjoyed sitting among the sheepfolds to hear the pipings for the flocks. This means that they rested and did not move, because they desired a life of ease, comfort, and amusement. Likewise, many saints are not willing to receive the grace of God in order to have great resolutions of heart and great searchings of heart, because they desire a life of ease and comfort.
Human life is wicked and corrupt, but we have watercourses of God’s grace by which we can have great resolutions of heart and great searchings of heart. Many saints do not make resolutions, because they yearn for a life of ease and comfort. To settle down is to live a life of ease, comfort, and pleasure, but to migrate is laborious and difficult. However, settling down will not enable us to enjoy God’s grace. Migration is the way for us to enjoy the grace of God. Do we want to ignore God’s grace by settling down to enjoy ease and comfort? Or do we want to be supplied by His grace to go out and enjoy more grace? Do we want to sit restfully among the sheepfolds and listen to pleasant music? Or do we want to be at the watercourses of God’s grace to have great resolutions of heart and great searchings of heart for the Lord? May we be willing to flee the enjoyment of our own ease and comfort in order to draw near to the grace of God.
We will now consider the steps to take in order to practice migration.
The saints in the churches should go before God and seek whether they should migrate.
Those who are touched and willing to migrate should fellowship with the responsible brothers in their locality and decide on what action to take.
The saints should migrate to places based on their desire and on the condition of their living and employment.
In the first stage of migration we should go to places where there are saints but not established churches. Places such as Hualien, Taitung, Changhua, and Taoyuan need to be strengthened so that churches may be established.
If this is the work of the Lord’s grace, some brothers should migrate to Tainan, Taichung, and Chiayi in order to strengthen the brothers who bear responsibility in these localities.
Some brothers should migrate to places where there is a prayer meeting and strengthen the saints to have the bread-breaking meeting. There are places where there is a bread-breaking meeting, but the testimony is not strong enough. Some brothers should migrate to strengthen such places. Other brothers should go to nearby places in order to raise up churches. I hope that churches would be raised up in every place by migrating saints, not by preachers.
The churches should offer material gifts in order to take care of the needs of the saints who migrate from their locality. For example, a brother in Pingtung may have the desire to migrate to Taitung. When he is in Pingtung, he has no worries concerning his livelihood, but when he migrates to Taitung, he may have a problem related to his livelihood. The church in Pingtung should take care of his need and help him solve such a problem. All the churches should do their best to supply the saints who desire to migrate. This will enable the migrating saints to go out, family by family, for the Lord.
Migration is an important matter because it is the way for the gospel to go forth and for churches to be raised up. Migration enables us to supply others with the grace that we have received and to fellowship with others concerning what we have experienced. We will bring our spiritual experiences to the places where we migrate, and we will also bring what we have learned in administrating and serving the church. After we migrate, we will spread out further. In this way churches will be raised up quickly in every place. Migration will enable us to proceed step by step and thereby avoid wasting our time and manpower. Furthermore, those who migrate out will receive fresh experiences of grace to become fresh, living, and useful.
As those who love the Lord, we should care for His desire and migrate to every place. We have been commissioned with the Lord’s gospel because we have received His grace; hence, those whom we contact will also be commissioned with the gospel by receiving His grace. The more we migrate, the more we will be commissioned with the gospel and receive grace. May the responsible brothers in every locality stir up the saints with the desire to migrate so that many more saints will practice migration.
