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Scripture Reading: 1 John 2:13-17; 3:8; 4:4; 5:18-21; 2 John 9-11; 3 John 9-10
We have now finished the seven mysteries mentioned in 1 John: (1) life; (2) fellowship; (3) abiding; (4) the anointing; (5) the divine birth; (6) the divine seed; and (7) the water, the blood, and the Spirit. If we are in the reality of these mysteries, there will be seven things that characterize us.
There should be growth in the church life. It is all too common for Christians to remain the same year after year. If we are still the way we were ten years ago, all of us will be on the same level as far as life is concerned. This is a poor situation and indicates a lack of growth. Among us there should be fathers, young men, and young children.
If you were saved some years ago, you should not still be a babe, only able to call, “Abba, Father.” You should be strong, having the word of God abide in you and overcoming the evil one (1 John 2:14). By the nourishing, watering, enlightening word in the Bible, you should be able to testify how you have been strengthened and that all worldly things are under your feet. Have you reached such a stage?
In the church life we should be able to see three stages of growth. New ones should be born in our midst—young children, who know the Father (v. 13). As in a family, we love, care for, and protect these little ones, who are lively and even sometimes naughty. But we need also those on another level—young men, strong enough to fight the enemy and guard the church against any attacks. They should be strong in the Word and able to resist the world, the satanic system that frustrates people from God’s purpose and from enjoying Him. Finally, we must also have those on the highest level—the fathers, who keep going back to the beginning.
That which was from the beginning is the eternal life. The Son of God as the life-giving Spirit is the origin of all things. The origin of the church, of holiness, of our new birth, and of our growth is life. Because of their experience, the fathers in the church have learned to stay with life. When others go to them to argue about doctrines or to get help with a problem in their family relationships, the fathers always bring these inquiring ones back to life.
To have these three levels in the church life is one issue of the seven mysteries we have been considering. We shall see in the church some lively and living new ones, some strong, vigilant young men, and some fathers rich in life.
Another issue will be a strong testimony that the One who is in us is greater than the one in the world. We shall hear testimonies of victory, which declare to the whole universe that the Triune God who is within us is greater than the evil one, Satan, who is in the world. These victories in our family life, in our school life, and among the older ones are the outcome of the seven mysteries. We shall all realize that the dear One who abides in us far outweighs Satan. This victorious testimony could not be if the church is merely for doctrine. We can testify that our God is the greatest because we have experienced Him in these seven ways.
Third, there will be no place for the world. Without being exhorted not to love the world, the church will nonetheless find that the world has no hold on it. Because it contains the divine seed of life, the church will have no part in the world. The distinction goes further than not loving the world.
“Everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world...He who has been begotten of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him” (5:4, 18). The keeping or guarding mentioned here is mainly from the world. The world is a satanic system that has ensnared everyone, including Christians. The only way out of this trap is by the life germ within us.
There was a pastor of over twenty-five years’ experience who was helped by the ministry and began to know life. Some of the sisters in the church talked with his wife and tried to be of help to her. One of them gave a testimony of being restrained by the Lord when she went shopping. She picked up one item and then another, and both times she had a sense within that she should put them back. On hearing this testimony, the pastor’s wife was troubled. Although she had been a Christian for many years, she had never heard of such an experience. She concluded that the sisters must have been told by Brother Lee that they should not buy certain things!
I tell you this story to illustrate that you may pastor a congregation for years and preach sermons to them out of the Bible, yet after all your labors they may still know very little about life. Is not such a congregation trapped in the world, even as secular people are?
If the church is practicing the seven mysteries, on the other hand, they will be filled with life. They will hear the little word no time after time. When they go for a haircut or when they go shopping, a voice within will say no to what they want. One of the most common words the Lord says to them is no. When they eventually agree with this no and go along with the inner constraint, they will have an Amen within. Then their response will be, “Praise the Lord!”
This inner speaking comes from life. There is no outward regulation, but Someone is within. This life is the substance of these mysteries. As the life grows, we shall be rescued from the world. Yet rescue is not the best word here. We shall rather rise above, or grow out of, the world. We are the calamus plant, shooting out of the muddy situation into the clear sky. This is resurrection. When we look down from the heavens, we shall see how small, how pathetic, and how unlovely the world is. We shall wonder how we could ever have thought it attractive. Thus, the whole church will rise up from the world.
Fourth, Satan cannot touch such a church. He is out to make gain, but he finds out that whenever he touches that church, he suffers a loss. Even if he is invited, he will stay away!
First John 5:18 concludes, “The evil one does not touch him.” This is the only verse in the Bible that contains such a declaration. Our fallen concept is that Satan will always bother us, that he is too much for us, and that we cannot overcome him. We must pay attention to what this verse says. If a poker is heated white-hot in a fire, no one dares to touch it for fear of being burned. Today, on this earth, the church can be that threatening to Satan! Even in an evil city like New York there can be a church that the evil one does not touch. He will tell his demons to stay away, lest they get burned because the fire is so hot. What a glory to the Lord and what a shame to Satan when a church is so on fire!
If in our prayer meetings we pitifully beg the Lord to deal with our enemy, we are short of life, short of these seven mysteries. If we are filled up with them, Satan will stay away to avoid disaster.
“Little children, guard yourselves from idols” are the closing words of 1 John (v. 21). It seems like a strange conclusion, after the mention of the wonderful matters of life, fellowship, abiding, the anointing, the divine birth, the divine seed, and the water, the blood, and the Spirit. What are the idols? Notice the previous verse: “We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we might know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (v. 20).
Idols, we can see from the context, are whatever is not the true God. What is the true God? It is the Triune God experienced by us as our life in a practical way. This life is a seed within, a life that overcomes the world and that Satan dares not touch. This life is in us and is the true God. Do you say that the God you worship is in the heavens? The God in 1 John is in us as our life, overcoming sin, the world, and Satan. This very life is the true God; whatever is not this true God in our experience is an idol.
Suppose, for example, the life within you says that you should get your hair cut. You cannot bear to go along, and beg the Lord to tolerate your hair the way it is for a while longer. To do this is to have an idol. The same may be true in regard to your shopping. If you bring home something from your shopping that the Lord has said no about, you are bringing home an idol. It might even be a leather, gilt-edged Bible. If the Lord within you says no, yet you insist upon buying it, even this Bible has become an idol to you. Whatever is against this inner life, in His eyes is an idol.
Our God today is not only the Creator, living in the heavens. He has come through the water, the blood, and the Spirit and is now the seed, living within you. This is the true God and eternal life. Anything other than this is an idol. Children, keep yourselves from idols. To have an idol, there is no need for you to go to a heathen temple. Whatever you take when He has said no is an idol. An idol in principle is anything that substitutes for God. The true God is simply eternal life. Anything that takes the place of this life is an idol.
The sixth issue of the mysteries is found in 2 John 9: “Everyone who goes beyond and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God; he who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.” What does it mean to go beyond and not abide in the teaching of Christ? The teaching of Christ is that Christ, the Son of God, was incarnated and, after thirty-three and a half years of living on this earth, was crucified in our stead, shedding His blood to redeem us; He was buried and arose from the dead to become the life-giving Spirit; today we have His blood and His Spirit. Those who have gone beyond and do not abide in this teaching do not believe that Christ is the Son of God, that He came as a man for our redemption, that He shed His blood for our sins, and that He rose from the dead to impart Himself as life into us. What they teach is that Christ is simply a man who lived a good life and set an example for us to follow.
Notice how the apostle John says that such people should be treated: “Do not receive him into your house, and do not say to him, Rejoice! For he who says to him, Rejoice, shares in his evil works” (vv. 10-11). People like this are the ones John calls antichrists. They may call themselves Christians and consider themselves part of Christianity, but they deny Christ’s deity, His redemption, His resurrection, and even His virgin birth. They are actually blaspheming Him. In this category of those who have gone beyond and are not abiding in the teaching of Christ are Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Mormons, and the modernists. All these are antichrists.
If the church practices these seven mysteries, it will not tolerate such people. There will be a clear line drawn, because the church will recognize that these have no anointing. The living Body cannot take the presence of corpses, anymore than we would be able to sleep in a room where there was a dead body!
The last issue is found in 3 John 9-10: “I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not receive us. For this reason, if I come, I will bring to remembrance his works which he does, babbling against us with evil words; and not being satisfied with these, neither does he himself receive the brothers, and those intending to do so he forbids and casts out of the church.”
Whether Diotrephes was a real Christian, I do not know, but he was one who loved to be first in the church. He was one who dominated the church in which he was, rejecting the apostles and some good saints and even casting out of the church those who received these saints. You may think he is an extreme case, but the same thing is still existing today.
What is the cause of division? It is mainly because of the rivalry for the leadership. “I want to be the head. I will not be under you. If I am not number one, I will set up another group so that I can be in charge.” No one, of course, will openly make such a declaration. He will wear a beautiful cloak and hide behind it if accused of causing division. But as a church, full of life, we can see through his outward pretense. Thus, we reject both antichrists and Diotrephes. If we refuse to follow self-appointed leaders, there will not be any division. Christ is our only Head.
These, then, are the seven issues that result from the seven mysteries. First, there will be the growth that brings in the distinctions in life between the little ones, the young ones, and the fathers. Second, there will be a strong testimony of victory over the evil one. Third, the church will rise up out of the world. Fourth, Satan will not dare to touch the church. Fifth, we shall keep ourselves from idols. Sixth, we shall have nothing to do with antichrists. Seventh, we shall not give a following to divisive ones.
These issues are the outcome of life. They cannot be brought about by regulations. They result from our being in the reality of the seven mysteries: life; fellowship; abiding; the anointing; the divine birth; the divine seed; and the water, the blood, and the Spirit.
