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Scripture Reading: Matt. 1:23; John 14:20-23; 17:21-23; 1 John 3:24; 1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 8:9-10; Eph. 3:17a, 19b; Col. 2:9-10a; Rev. 21:1-3
Everyone who pursues and serves the Lord should have a basic spiritual vision, a basic spiritual seeing. A person who pursues the Lord should not serve the Lord according to his natural feeling, his natural insight, or his natural view.
All those who serve God according to their natural insight cannot truly serve or touch God. Saul of Tarsus was one who served God fervently, but he served God in a natural way, not according to revelation. Thus, his service could not truly serve or touch God. One day on his way to Damascus his eyes were opened to see a vision. Then he began to bring forth genuine service, service that reached God. Formerly, he had served God, but his service could not touch God. This may be likened to boxing. In the past he had been beating the air, but then his eyes were opened to see how he should box. It is the same with the matter of pursuing the Lord. Some people pursue but fail to obtain what they are pursuing. Some may even shed tears in their desperation, but they still fail to obtain what they are pursuing. The reason is that they are pursuing according to their naturalness, their own feeling, and their own insight. They are pursuing for their own interests and by their own inclination, without any revelation, seeing, or vision. They are running in vain and laboring fruitlessly because their eyes have not been opened.
Hence, we cannot say that pursuing the Lord is good enough. The pursuits of many people are empty pursuits, their prayers are empty prayers, and even their shedding of tears is in vain, because they pray according to their own inclination, pursue according to their own insight, and shed tears according to their own feeling. Everything they do is natural, without any revelation. Thus, their pursuit is a waste of effort because they have not pursued what they should pursue and have not obtained what they should obtain. Therefore, in spiritual matters, we must have sight, vision, and revelation.
The first spiritual vision we need to see is the vision of the mingling of God and man. God has a desire to mingle Himself with man. Although we cannot find such a statement in either the Old or the New Testament, this fact is clearly revealed from Genesis all the way to Revelation.
The first mention of man in the Bible is in Genesis 1, which speaks of how man was created in the image of God. Why did God create man in His image? God created man in His image because God’s purpose is to mingle Himself with man. Thus, when He created man, He created man just like Him. We can play with a dog, but that dog cannot be our intimate friend because it is different from us. We simply cannot become close friends with a dog. In the beginning God created man in His image and made man just like Him because His intention is that man would be a vessel to contain Him.
The last mention of man in the Bible is in Revelation 21, which describes the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. In this chapter three different titles are used to depict man. First, man is called the New Jerusalem; second, he is called the wife of the Lamb; and third, man is the tabernacle of God in which God dwells (vv. 2-3, 9).
Revelation is the last book of the Bible. Many of the important types that are mentioned in Genesis to Jude are fulfilled in Revelation. When God called the children of Israel and formed them into a nation, He raised up something special among them—the building of the Tent of Meeting. The Tent of Meeting in the Old Testament refers to the tabernacle. This tabernacle was erected in the midst of the children of Israel, and God dwelt in it. After the children of Israel entered Canaan, the tabernacle became the temple. The tabernacle in the wilderness was mobile, but when it became the temple in the land of Canaan, it became stationary. The tabernacle and the temple are of the same nature. The tabernacle was a type, typifying the dwelling place of God among men and His mingling with man. In Revelation 21 the New Jerusalem, typified by the tabernacle, is accomplished practically. Although the New Jerusalem is a city, it is the dwelling place of God among men throughout the ages and is typified by the tabernacle. Hence, the New Jerusalem is the totality of God’s dwelling place among men.
In the New Jerusalem the Lamb is the temple of God because God is in Christ the Lamb (v. 22). Christ with God dwells in the New Jerusalem, which is the eternal dwelling place of God among men. Hence, on the one hand, the New Jerusalem is a city, and on the other hand, it is a group of people. The city as the dwelling place of God is a group of people—the bride of the Lamb and the wife of the Lamb. The city matches God. Therefore, the last time the Bible mentions man, it says that man as God’s counterpart matches God. When the Bible first mentions man, it says that man bears the image of God, but when the Bible mentions man at the end, it says that man is God’s counterpart. This shows us that God is working continuously for the purpose of working Himself into man to make man one entity with Him. The first step of this work was the incarnation of the Lord Jesus. When the Lord was incarnated, He was called Emmanuel, which means “God with us” (Matt. 1:23).
There are two aspects of God’s being with man. God was not only among men, but He also came into man. When the Lord Jesus was in the flesh, He was with the disciples, but this kind of presence was not sufficient. It was objective and outward, not inward. Therefore, one day the Lord Jesus told the disciples that He was going to the Father who had sent Him. This made the disciples sorrowful. Then He told them that it was expedient for them that He go away, because if He went, He would come again (John 16:5-8). Before He went away, He was with the disciples by being in their midst, but when He came back, He would be with the disciples by being in them.
In the evening of the Lord Jesus’ resurrection, He came into the midst of the disciples and breathed Himself into them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (20:22). This was an extremely great matter. From that time on, the Lord Jesus dwelt in His disciples. He was not bound by time or space; for instance, the Lord was able to enter into the midst of the disciples even though the doors were shut (v. 19), and after He talked with the two disciples who were going to Emmaus and reclined at table with them, He suddenly disappeared from them (Luke 24:30-31). Thus, we must see that from the day of the Lord Jesus’ resurrection, His presence with the disciples progressed from being merely outward to being inward, from being visible to being invisible, and from being limited by time and space to being outside of time and space.
In John 20 the Lord breathed into the disciples (v. 22). This fulfilled what He had spoken earlier: “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (14:20). This was also the fulfillment of what He had prayed to the Father concerning being in the disciples—“that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me” (17:23). The Gospel of John mentions several ins. In chapter 14, verse 10 reveals that the Father is in the Lord. When Philip asked the Lord, “Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us” (v. 8), the Lord answered, “Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me?” (v. 9). Outwardly, the Lord was a Nazarene, but inwardly, He was the Father. God was in Him. Not only was the Father in the Lord, but in verse 20 we see that on the day of resurrection the disciples would know that the Lord was also in the Father. The Lord is in the Father, we are in the Lord, and the Lord is also in us. On the day of resurrection the disciples saw and realized these three ins. These three ins tell us that God, we, and Christ are mingled as one entity.
When the Lord came to the earth, He entered, with God, into man in order to be united with man as one. Hence, Romans 8 clearly reveals that Christ’s being in man is not only God’s being in man but also the Spirit of God being in man (vv. 9-10). Then Ephesians 3 shows that Christ makes His home in our hearts through faith that we may be filled unto all the fullness of God (vv. 17-19). When all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in us bodily, we will be one with God completely. God’s purpose in us is to work Himself into us. We have to ask God to open our eyes so that one day we would see this. This is the first vision in the Bible, and this is also the first vision concerning the relationship between God and us.
God created us as His vessels so that He could put Himself into us. God also redeemed us for the purpose of working Himself into us. Suppose a house is built for us. If the inside of the house is not too messy, we can simply move in, but if it is messy, then we must put things in order before we can move in. If man had not fallen or been corrupted, God could have simply moved into him, but because man became corrupted and fallen, he needed redemption. Redemption was the clearing procedure God used to make us clean and tidy so that He could come live in us. God was also gracious to us in causing us to believe in Him and be saved so that He could enter into us. Our confessing, repenting, keeping morning watch, reading the Bible, praying, listening to messages, and attending special edifying meetings are for the purpose of allowing God to come into us further. We need to see this great vision.
The purpose of God’s work in man is this one thing—to work Himself into man. He desires to dwell in man, to be joined to man as one, and to take man as His dwelling place. This is God’s work in us. If we repent, yet we do not have God dwelling in us, our repentance is futile. If we confess, yet we do not have God dwelling in us, our confession is in vain. In the same way, if we do not have God dwelling in us in our morning watch, our morning watch means nothing. If God does not enter into us in our Bible reading, our Bible reading is worthless. If God does not enter into us in our prayer, our prayer has no value. If we attend a meeting, yet God does not enter into us in that meeting, that meeting is meaningless. If we listen to messages and attend special meetings, yet God does not enter into us, all these things are futile. The most important matter in our Christian life is that God would be brought into us so that He would enter into us to gain a dwelling place. Everything is for this purpose. All our activities, whether preaching the gospel, repenting, confessing, or pursuing the Lord, are for the purpose of allowing God to enter into us to gain the dwelling place He desires.
The Bible reveals that the crucial matter in the relationship between God and man is that God wants to work Himself into man, and the way this purpose is accomplished is through His mingling with man. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” Our being joined to the Lord as one spirit means that God is joined to us in our spirit. God is Spirit, and He also created a spirit for us. The reason God created a spirit for us is so that we would have an organ to receive Him. Only our spirit can receive the Spirit of God, which is God Himself.
If man had only a mind, emotion, and will but not a spirit, he would have no way to contact and receive God. This is why the more a rational and intelligent person thinks, the more he feels that there is no God. After pondering over this matter very much, many highly educated people say that there is no God. They do not realize that we cannot contact God in our mind. We can contact God only in our spirit. Whenever we disregard our mind, ignore our thoughts, and use our deepest part to touch God and to pray to God, we are filled with God. The more we pray, the more we are filled with God, and the more we pray, the more we have the presence of God.
I hope that all of us would see that God’s presence with man is not in his soul—his mind, emotion, and will—but in his spirit. It is only in the spirit that man can be joined to God as one spirit. Our spirit is our innermost part where we may contact God and mingle with God. When we see the vision of the mingling of God and man, we will have the way to be mingled with God. May God be gracious to us that we may despise all other matters and simply seek to be joined and mingled with God in spirit.
Question: One time shortly after I had been saved, I was at home feeling very depressed within. Because I felt so depressed, I asked the church to pray for me. Then I met a brother on the road. After I had fellowship with him, I felt much better, but after I walked ten or twenty steps farther, the inner feeling came back again. Why did that happen?
Answer: First, we must be clear about the way of experience. When you have a feeling, you should not immediately go to fellowship. Rather, you should shut your door and pray to God wholeheartedly from deep within. You may say, “O God, I feel very depressed within. Please come to relieve my depression.” After you pray, you must discern what your inner condition is and then decide whether or not you should go to a brother for fellowship. If you do not pray before you go to other people for fellowship, your inner being certainly will not be satisfied. Every feeling of depression within us is a call for us to pray to God. If we still have the feeling of depression after praying, then we should go to the brothers for fellowship.
Testimony: When I was young, I did not obey my parents, but after being saved, the Lord enlightened me and showed me my flesh. I even quit smoking and drinking. Not only so, before I was saved, I had a bad temper, but the Lord has been dealing with me little by little. This is how I have changed since the Spirit of God entered into me. I have received God, and He fills, regulates, keeps, and comforts me.
We all have to learn to touch the presence of God from our innermost part in silence. The dealings between God and man are the dealings of the Spirit with our spirit. God is Spirit, and He created a spirit for us so that we may contact and receive Him. From the day of our salvation, we should learn not to pay attention to our mind, emotion, and will but to exercise our spirit to contact God and to allow the Spirit of God to come into us. This is the fellowship of the Spirit with our spirit, the echo of the Spirit in our spirit, and the feeling of the Spirit in our spirit. In this way our spirit will be strengthened, bright, and living. Because our spirit is strengthened, bright, and living, its demand will spontaneously increase, and our dealings with God in spirit will also increase and broaden. Hence, we all must learn to touch the feeling of the spirit from our deepest part.
Testimony: I have had many failures, particularly in my experience concerning this matter of our being joined to God in the spirit. It is very hard for God to reign in me because most of the things I like are frustrating to the spirit. I am one who has fallen deeply in my mind, emotion, and will. I long to be delivered from this, but practically it is not that easy. I have been trying to submit to the spirit, but I have failed every time. My wife just gave birth to our fifth child, so basically I have no way to attend the meetings. However, inwardly I felt that this kind of thinking was out of the flesh, and I had no peace in my heart, so I came. I put my self aside. May the Lord have a free way in me.
This kind of experience is very precious and accurate. It clearly shows us how our mind, emotion, and will need to cooperate with the spirit. Many times we do not touch the feeling of our spirit. Our will is unyielding, and our emotion and mind are not cooperative. We must realize that God’s work of breaking and tearing down in us, who have received mercy, is to deal with our mind, emotion, and will. He wants us to be subdued. Hence, as long as we have a feeling in our spirit, we should ignore what we are thinking in our mind, what we are feeling in our emotion, and what we are deciding in our will. Those who are able to ignore their mind, emotion, and will are those who have been strongly enlightened by God, smitten by God, broken by God, and torn down by God. If we set our heart on God and desire that He would gain the ground in us, we have to be prepared for Him to strongly shine on us and smite us with His hand sooner or later.
Our mind, emotion, and will need to cooperate with the spirit. When we pursue God, He works in our spirit and requires us to submit to the ruling of the spirit and the demand of the spirit. When we meet a person who has much spiritual experience and who knows how to touch the spirit, we will find that he is not thoughtless, having no mind. Rather, his mind is spiritual. Although his mind is not the spirit, his mind is in submission to the spirit. We will also find that we can touch his emotion. He can easily sympathize with people, being full of love, yet we will find that his emotion is also controlled by the spirit. As for his will, he may be very strong, but once he touches the spirit, he is submissive. We may say that he has a strong but spiritual will. This kind of person is truly a spiritual man. We need this kind of spiritual reality so that our mind, emotion, and will may all be subdued to live under the spirit.
Question: How can we tend toward the center? In one of her books, Madame Guyon talks about a tendency toward the center. One who tends toward the center can see that he is opposing God, and after he has tended toward the center, he will confess and repent outwardly. What is it to tend toward the center?
Answer: This question is actually a question of what and where the human spirit is. We have said before that the spirit of man is man’s innermost part. For us to allow the Lord to mingle with our inner man, our spirit, we first need to see that it is useless for us to only know teachings. We may have heard the teaching of living in the spirit several times, even to the point where we are able to speak it to people. But if we remain unchanged and continue to do things the way we used to do them, this teaching will not profit us. One day the Holy Spirit will give us the light and open our inner eyes to show us that the most important matter in the universe is that God wants to mingle Himself with us. From that time on, something within us will move us and change our direction. Then we will learn to touch the presence of God and to fellowship with God, and we will clearly realize that the dealings between God and man are in the spirit.
The dealings between God and man occur in a place deeper than man’s mind, emotion, and will. They occur deep in man’s spirit. Sometimes the dealing is silent, and at other times it is vocal. Sometimes it is without form, and at other times it is with a form. Sometimes it is an explicit word, and at other times it is merely a groaning. In such a way we learn to fellowship with the Lord, not in our mind but deep in our spirit. We begin to realize that the demand in our spirit is something that our will cannot subdue, our emotion cannot answer, and our mind cannot agree with. Our innermost being is in a certain condition, but our soul is in another condition. It is as if we are two men, living a life of contradiction.
Many times within us there is a demand, yet our will refuses to submit to it, our mind does not incline toward it, and our emotion does not like it. Conversely, sometimes there is an inclination in our mind, emotion, and will, but our innermost part, our spirit, has no peace. At times like these we find that we are divided people. On the one hand, we are in the spirit while, on the other hand, we are in the soul. Moreover, our spirit is in conflict with our soul, which means that God is in conflict with us. The spirit represents God, and the soul represents man. If we tell God, “God, I want You, and I choose to be on Your side,” then the Holy Spirit will break forth from our spirit. Once our heart chooses God and stands on God’s side, the Holy Spirit breaks forth from our spirit. However, do not think that the Holy Spirit is that strong. Many times the Holy Spirit is not as strong as our will. This is why many people, even though they have been moved by the Holy Spirit numerous times, still refuse to repent and believe in the Lord.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit is able to break forth from within us, but because our mind, emotion, and will are too strong, even the Holy Spirit cannot conquer us. Because of this, God’s hand arranges an appropriate environment to smite our being. God knows that it is only through endless smiting that our mind, emotion, and will can be subdued and controlled by the spirit. I hope that from now on in our fellowship meetings or daily conversations we would all rid ourselves of fellowshipping about blessing and peace, or matters such as receiving healing from sickness and prospering in business. Rather, we should share our testimonies of submitting to the spirit. Through this kind of mutual encouragement everyone will desire to live in the spirit and enter into a deeper union with the Lord.
However, we must remember that merely listening to messages will not help us to have these experiences. We need the Spirit of God to open our eyes so that we may see this, know this, and live in it. To receive more exhortations and doctrines is useless. After hearing the messages, the Spirit of God must one day open our eyes to show us that the unique way in this universe that God wants to take in us is to mingle Himself with our spirit. When we see this, our inner being will turn, and we will have a longing and prayer from within. At that time we will reconsecrate ourselves. We will say to God, “God, here I am—a person who has received Your mercy, whose eyes have been opened to see the way that You desire to take. God, I am willing to answer this revelation, this calling, to surrender my mind, emotion, and will into Your hands. From now on I will no longer struggle in my mind, emotion, and will. I desire to yield to You my entire being.” This consecration is a different kind of consecration, a renewed consecration.
This is the first vision concerning the relationship between God and man. The first vision those who pursue and serve the Lord must see is that God wants to enter into man. To merely see that we are sinners is too shallow, and to merely see that our sins have been forgiven is too superficial. We must see that God’s intention is to come into us and that within us we have a spirit as a vessel to receive Him. From the time we see this vision, we will surrender to Him. Then we will be joined to Him in our spirit and will no longer live in our mind, emotion, and will but in our spirit.
