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Many Christians want to live in heaven, but in His wisdom God did not create man and then put him in heaven. In His wisdom God ordained that man should live on earth. Everyone who lives on the earth must endure innumerable problems. Even those who receive grace to serve God sometimes feel that life on earth is miserable. This feeling, however, does not come from our spirit. We may feel miserable simply because we are hot or sick. Although these conditions seem like small and insignificant matters, they are according to God’s wisdom and His plan.
God created man and placed man on the earth so that man would live a normal and proper life. For the past two thousand years of church history Christians have had a longing in their hearts to live a life that is transcendent, that is, a life without troubles or distractions, so that they could pursue and fellowship with God. Christians have longed to touch the Lord’s presence when they pray and to receive light when they read the Bible. Christians have desired to be effective when they preach the gospel, that is, to touch people’s hearts and bring them to tears. However, God does not seem to respond to these desires.
There have been two groups of believers who have tried to live a transcendent life, but neither group has been successful. The first group, the monastics, was composed of believers who felt that the world with its affairs was a source of trouble. So, like the religions of the East, they forsook their families and lived a secluded life far from others. They had a simple lifestyle and were freed from the mundane affairs of human life. They testified that they had God’s presence, but they did not gain a large following.
The second group, the mystics, is more recent in church history. The mystics were not ascetics. Ascetics left the world and lived in seclusion, but the mystics endeavored to turn away from outward things to touch the inner man.
Their practice met not only a spiritual need but also a psychological need that is common to all mankind. A Chinese scholar once said that all the literature related to Buddhism could be summarized with the words from the heart, meaning that Buddhism develops human virtues.
Confucian scholars say that a person who does not cultivate his virtues is like a tree without roots or a river with no source. The cultivation promoted by Confucian scholars stresses what is in the heart. Hence, seeking what is within man does not belong exclusively to spiritual Christians. It reflects a need that is common to man.
The mystics were prevalent for a time because other Christian groups were focusing on outward things and had become materialistic. Large chapels and cathedrals stress outward practices. Since the believers were not satisfied, the mystics were brought forth. This kind of inner pursuit, however, is not completely spiritual, because the heart is composed mainly of the mind, emotion, and will, along with the conscience in the spirit. Even Buddhists and Confucian philosophers practice a form of psychological cultivation. This principle was present among the mystics. Hence, the pursuit of the mystics was not entirely spiritual; it also involved a certain amount of psychological pursuit. Nevertheless, with the background of materialistic Christianity, the mystics became quite prevalent.
Monasticism and mysticism were popular for a period of time, but later they provided a negative contrast to the proper Christian life. Orthodox Christians are not monks who try to escape the mundane affairs of human life in order to live an ascetic life in seclusion. Orthodox Christians do not give up the responsibilities of human life. Rather, they live a normal human life in the environment that has been arranged by God. They do not drop their responsibilities nor leave their families, wives, husbands, and children. They learn to live in human society with proper occupations. However, they also have the presence of God. Orthodox Christians grow in the divine life and develop humanly.
It is good to be freed from every encumbrance, and it is good to focus on fellowshipping with the Lord, not outward activities. However, God did not arrange for us to be separated from our human responsibilities. God is balanced, and He puts us in different environments so that we may be balanced.
During the Sino-Japanese War, I was led by the Lord to labor in different places in the northwestern provinces in China. While I was laboring, I had the feeling that there was a veil separating me from God. Nothing I did was able to remove the veil. I also felt that the Holy of Holies was far away from me. I wanted to enter the Holy of Holies, but I always failed. Even when I returned to Chefoo, I continued to have this feeling. I felt that I was outside the Holy of Holies. Later, I realized that my understanding of the Holy of Holies was not accurate. It was something of my imagination.
I have not arrived at absolute spiritual maturity, and it seems as if no one can reach such a state. We will never reach a condition of complete sanctification. On the contrary, the more we receive grace, the more we will feel that there is an unholy element within us. We will sense an element of imperfection, a veil that cannot be breached, a weakness that cannot be put away. This sense is not abnormal. Quite the contrary, it is normal. I am not saying that it is normal for a Christian to be weak. Rather, there is a condition of holiness that we always desire to reach but cannot attain to. We desire to live in the Holy of Holies, but we do not fully succeed. There is a veil we want to remove, but we are unable to remove it. This sense will remain with us until we see the Lord face to face.
In His wisdom God created man and allowed man to fall repeatedly. He ordained that man would live on the earth, even though the earth had become dark and corrupt, in order to demonstrate His wisdom. In the midst of such a dark situation, God desires to produce many children to be the glorious counterpart of His Son. When the New Jerusalem is manifested, God will be fully expressed. Today, however, this glorious situation is not manifested. On the contrary, we often feel that we are unclean and impotent and that we have many weaknesses and failures. Although we yearn to shine as the stars in heaven, we need to be balanced. We may not be satisfied with our present condition, but we should not be distracted by it. On the one hand, we should learn to be humble and not think that we have arrived at a certain state of spirituality or have seen something. On the other hand, we should not be distracted by the thought that we have not seen or attained to something.
Some of the serving ones are single and do not have the burden of a family. It is easy for them to enjoy the Lord in the morning, and they can also go to bed at a proper time. Other serving ones have a family and children. When a child is sick, his mother may need to get up at night in order to give him medicine. As a result, the next morning she may not be able to rise up and have morning watch. If she can spend some time to enjoy the Lord during the day, her exercise will be genuine.
The lessons that we learn in our difficult situations are genuine. Abraham was led by God to pitch his tent between Bethel and Ai (Gen. 12:8). On one side was Bethel, which means “house of God,” and on the other side was Ai, which means “a heap of ruins.” This means that Abraham faced the house of God on one side and a heap of ruins, that is, desolation, on the other. In our daily life there are many situations that cause us to feel confused and desolate. A husband or a child often causes a sister to feel confused and desolate. Most parents feel that their children’s situation is chaotic and desolate, and the young people may also feel that their parents are in a chaotic and desolate situation. This is especially true when we do not have much spiritual pursuit. We often will feel confused and desolate. A brother may feel that his locality is desolate and that the messages are not satisfying him. Even though he knows that he is in Bethel, the house of God, he also has a sense of being near Ai, a heap of ruins. He senses the presence of God on the one hand and desolation on the other.
We cannot say that desolation is according to God’s creation, but in His wisdom He permits us to go through numerous desolate situations. A spiritual brother wants his wife to be spiritual, and a spiritual sister wants her husband to be spiritual. Likewise, parents want their children to be spiritual. However, the result is not always according to our desire. Throughout the two thousand years of church history it is rare to see a situation where children become spiritual simply in response to their parents’ expectations.
The Lord puts us in desolate situations because He wants us to recognize our situation. There are many examples of people who did not love the Lord but whose children did. There are also examples of parents who were spiritual but had worldly children. Madame Guyon was very spiritual, and she wanted her husband to love God and take the same way with her in the spirit, but her husband was her cross. God allows such situations for the cultivation of genuine growth in life.
Genuine spiritual life grows in desolate circumstances. We should not expect to always receive light when we read the Bible, to have the Lord’s presence when we pray, to save many sinners, or that our wife, husband, children, parents, and siblings will be spiritual. These expectations are unrealistic. Those who are genuinely spiritual pitch their tent between Bethel and Ai. God does not allow us to be free of desolate situations, that is, to become a monk or an ascetic, nor does He want us to become mystics. God desires that we remain in the status in which we were called (1 Cor. 7:20). Those who have a wife, a husband, children, or a family should remain where they are. They should learn to labor and work with their hands. If we can be normal human beings in our troublesome, complicated, and fallen situations, then we will have the genuine exercise of spirituality. Living between Bethel and Ai should be our normal experience.
We all want the church in our locality to be spiritual, free from problems, full of harmony and God’s presence, and in a glorious situation. However, no matter how much we try to maintain the situation, a storm may come, there will be discord, or the flesh surfaces. In other words, Ai always accompanies Bethel. Like Abraham who followed God, we must pass between Bethel and Ai. We will see God’s house on one side but a heap of ruins on the other side. No matter how we pray or labor, we should be prepared for desolate situations. The church may be Bethel today but Ai tomorrow. This is a picture of our true situation.
Our outward circumstances in coordination with the operation of God give us the opportunity to develop a genuine spiritual life. We should not expect to be in a situation that is heavenly and without any problems. God did not create us to be human beings in heaven. He ordained that we be human beings on the earth. His desire for us to be genuinely spiritual does not mean that we should break away from human relationships. Rather, we need to live and conduct ourselves properly in these relationships.
No matter how much we grow in life and no matter how many visions we see, there will always be a feeling of desolation in us, because we live on the earth, remain in our old man, and have the flesh. As long as we are on the earth, our circumstances will give us a sense of desolation, a sense of Ai. We are in between Bethel and Ai, and we seek progress. On the one hand, we have a sense of desolation, but on the other hand, we are in the house of God and have the presence of God. On the one hand, we are not satisfied with the ministry of the word, but on the other hand, we receive grace and are supplied. We have weaknesses and desolation, but we also have the Lord’s blessing. We must leave our spiritual longings and learn to experience God in our desolate situations so that we may have genuine growth in life.
We should not have unrealistic spiritual longings, but we should live and serve with a vision. Our vision is the central line of the Bible—Christ and the church.
At the beginning of Revelation there are seven golden lampstands, which refer to seven churches in different localities (1:20, 11). In chapter 12 there is a universal woman “clothed with the sun, and the moon underneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (v. 1). This woman refers mainly to the church. In contrast to this woman, in chapter 17 there is a great harlot, Babylon the Great (vv. 1-6). The harlot is produced by the union of religion and the world. The ultimate expression of the church, the New Jerusalem, is at the end of Revelation (21:2). The church reveals Christ. In the beginning of Revelation the Son of Man, Christ, is walking in the midst of the seven golden lampstands (2:1). At the end of Revelation the Lamb, Christ, is the center of the New Jerusalem (21:22-24). This shows that Christ is the center and the Executor of everything in Revelation. Hence, Revelation presents Christ and the church. For a clearer revelation of Christ and the church we must look at the rest of the Bible.
Ephesians 5:32 says that Christ and the church are a great mystery. The central line and the key to the revelation of the Bible are Christ and the church. Genesis 1:26 and 27 say that God made man in His image and according to His likeness. These verses imply Christ and the church. God made man in His image. Colossians 1:15 says that the Son “is the image of the invisible God.” Since the Son, Christ, is the image of God, when God made man in His image, He made man in the image of Christ. Christ was the model, the image, according to which God made man.
In Ephesians the man created by God is no longer Adam of the old creation but the new man of the new creation. God’s work in creating man did not stop with the old creation because God’s work was not completed in the old creation. God continues to work in man in order to produce the new creation out of the old creation. When the new creation is produced, God’s work in man will be completed.
Ephesians 2:10 says that the believers are God’s masterpiece. Verse 15 says that the believers are the new man. Verse 24 of chapter 4 says that the new man was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality. This word corresponds to Genesis 1:26, which says that God made man in His image. When we compare Genesis 1:26 with Ephesians 2:15 and 4:24, we see that the man created in Genesis ultimately refers to the church. The creation of man points to God’s central desire, which is for Christ to be the model for producing the church.
Although there are many believers, God’s work is not completed. The first step of God’s work is finished; that is, the work of creating the old creation has been completed. However, the second step of God’s work is not yet complete, because most believers have not allowed God to complete His work and produce the new creation. They have allowed God to begin His work of the new creation, but this work is still not complete. God is doing a work of further creation. This work is not the creation of the first man in the old creation but that of the second man in the new creation. The new creation is in the image of Christ.
Many verses in the New Testament refer to God’s work of the new creation. Romans 8:28-29 says, “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.” God causes all things to work together so that we may be conformed to the image of His Son.
Colossians 3:10-11 says that the believers “have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there cannot be Greek and Jew...but Christ is all and in all.” The new man is created in God’s image. In the new man there is no room for the old creation, for Christ is everything. God desires to work Christ into the believers so that they will have the image of Christ. The new man is the church.
Second Corinthians 3:18 says that we “are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” Transformation in this verse is not mainly for individuals but for the church, the corporate new man. Every saint is being transformed, and this transformation is corporate. Philippians 3:21 says that the Lord Jesus Christ “will transfigure the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory, according to His operation by which He is able even to subject all things to Himself.” First John 3:2 says that when the Lord “is manifested, we will be like Him.” When Christ returns, we will be like Him.
According to the above verses, Christ and the church are the central thought behind God’s creation of man in His image. Christ is the model, and the church is a corporate man, a new man, created by God according to Christ and in Christ. This new man, which is not of the old creation but of the new creation, is the church, the Body of Christ.
In the beginning of Revelation God has the appearance of a jasper stone (4:3). At the end of Revelation the New Jerusalem has the glory of God; her light is like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal (21:11). The New Jerusalem, the ultimate expression of the church, is like a jasper stone, which is the appearance of God.
The center and goal of God’s work in the universe is to create a new man in Christ, according to Christ, and with Christ as the model. This new man is not the man in the old creation but the man in the new creation. The new creation is the church of Christ, and the church is the central meaning of God’s creation of man in His own image. God created man in His image, that is, in the image of Christ, for the new creation, not the old creation. God desires that we put off the old man of the old creation and be transformed into the new man of the new creation. This new man is not an individual but a corporate man. This corporate man is the church, the counterpart of Christ. This corporate man is also a city, the dwelling place of God, the habitation of God. This is what God intends to accomplish in us.
Genesis 1 speaks of man being created in the image of God. Chapter 2 speaks of the need for man to let God come into him to be his life. Hence, chapter 2 shows the tree of life (v. 9), which indicates that God must be received as food into man to be man’s life so that man can become God’s counterpart, the church. Chapter 1 presents God’s purpose and His image, but chapter 2 presents life. At the end of chapter 2 there is a couple (vv. 18-25). This picture points to Christ with the church. This is the vision of the entire Bible.
The rest of the Old Testament presents the relationships between husband and wife, between the priests and the tabernacle, between the kings and the people, and between the prophets and the people. These relationships point to Christ and the church. In the beginning of the New Testament God was conceived in the womb of a virgin and born of her through the Holy Spirit. People called this child Emmanuel, which means “God with us” (Matt. 1:23). Later, chapter 16 says that this Emmanuel-God will build His church on the rock, which is the revelation concerning Himself (v. 18). Christ and the church are a great vision in the Bible. I hope that we will spend time to study this item of the truth in the Bible and that we would have a clear and thorough view and understanding of this vision—Christ and the church. Then we will drop our spiritual longings and live and serve according to the central revelation of the Bible.
