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We have seen that God’s eternal intention is to express Himself in Christ. Furthermore, the expression of God has been enlarged to be the church. The church has been produced because the only begotten Son of God, who expressed God, has been enlarged to become the many sons of God. Previously, the Son of God was God’s only begotten Son, but now the only begotten Son has become a corporate son. Previously, the expression of God could be seen only in Christ, but now the expression of God has become a corporate expression. This corporate expression of God is the testimony of the church. If we know the expression of God, we will know the testimony of the church, the function of the church. Therefore, we need to see the function of the church in relation to Christ.
The function of the church is to express Christ, to testify of Christ. We have repeatedly said that God expresses Himself through Christ by putting Himself into Christ. In the same way, Christ puts Himself into the church to be expressed through the church. Therefore, the function of the church is to be Christ’s expression. When the church expresses Christ, the church testifies of Christ in the universe. Therefore, the function of the church is to be a testimony expressing Christ.
On the evening before His death, the Lord Jesus told the disciples, “When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you..., the Spirit of reality,...He will testify concerning Me; and you testify also” (John 15:26-27). The Lord meant that we should outwardly testify of the things that the Spirit has inwardly revealed to us concerning Him. When the Lord was about to ascend to the heavens after His resurrection, the disciples wanted to discuss several matters with Him, but He told them that these matters were of no concern to them. Instead, they were told to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. The Holy Spirit would come to testify concerning the Lord. The Lord said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses...unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). We need to understand that this witnessing is carried out not only by preaching Christ in words but even more by people living out Christ. Moreover, the saved ones should live out Christ, not as individuals but as a corporate entity—the Body, which is the church. To live out Christ in this way is to express Christ, to testify of Christ. This is the function of the church concerning Christ. Now we will look at the testifying function of the church in detail.
According to the Bible, being God’s testimony involves speaking forth God, declaring God, and expressing God. Even if no humans were serving in this manner, there would be some things or some words that would testify of Him. Whether there are certain words, certain matters, or certain individuals or groups of individuals, whoever or whatever speaks forth God, declares God, and expresses God is a testimony of God. This is the meaning of testimony in the Bible.
We have already seen that Adam, the patriarchs, the tabernacle and the temple among the children of Israel, the prophets, and all the men of God in the Old Testament were expressions of God. Since they were expressions of God, they were also testimonies of God. Adam was a testimony of God, as was Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the positive persons and things among the children of Israel. Since these people and things expressed God to a lesser or greater degree, they were part of the testimony of God.
In Exodus 25:16, 21, and 40:20 the word testimony is translated as “law” in the Chinese Union Version. God told Moses to put the law into the Ark, but the Hebrew word used in these verses is actually the word for testimony. This shows that in God’s eyes the law was His testimony. Therefore, He called the law “the testimony.”
According to the context of Psalms 19:7, 78:5, and 119:2 testimony and testimonies also denote the law. In these verses the law is also called “the testimony” or “testimonies.”
The law—the Ten Commandments—was written on two tablets. In Exodus 31:18 the Chinese Union Version speaks of “the two tablets of the law,” but the Hebrew text actually refers to “the two tablets of the testimony.” Since the law is the testimony, the two tablets on which the law was written were called “the tablets of the testimony.”
The Ark in Exodus 40:21 of the Chinese Union Version is called “the Ark of the Law,” but it is actually “the Ark of the Testimony” according to the Hebrew text. This is because the law of God was in the Ark. Since the law was the testimony, the Ark was called “the Ark of the Testimony.”
The law is a testimony of God because the law reveals the attributes of God and explains the kind of God He is. When we read the law, the Ten Commandments, we see that the God who enacted the law is so holy, full of light, loving, and righteous. The Ten Commandments show us the attributes of God, enabling us to know God’s nature. Since the law explains God and reveals His attributes, it is a testimony of God.
If a person is wasteful and unruly, he will surely make laws that are lax and wild. If a person is serious and righteous, he will make laws that are strict and just. When we look at a law, we can know the kind of person who enacted it, because a law always shows the character of the law-giver. In the same way, the laws of the Old Testament are holy, full of light, compassionate, and righteous because this is the character of the God who enacted them. Since the law testifies of God, the law is the testimony of God.
Although the law is the testimony of God, it is still a law to man. The law consists of all the requirements that God places upon man according to what He is. On one hand, these requirements are a testimony of God, revealing what God is, and on the other hand, they are a law to man, requiring man to do certain things. For example, God is a jealous God; thus, He commands man to not make idols and to not worship idols (20:3-5). Because God is also absolutely loving and pure, He commands man to not kill and to not commit adultery (vv. 13-14). Furthermore, God is absolutely true and honest; for this reason, He commands man to not testify with false testimony, that is, to not lie (v. 16). Therefore, on one hand, these laws declare what kind of God He is, and on the other hand, they require man to conduct himself according to what God is. Since these laws are the explanation of God, they are a testimony of God; since they place requirements on man, they are the law to man.
The law requires man to have the divine attributes and be like God. Therefore, the Scriptures say, “I am Jehovah your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44). God requires man to be like Him. This is the law. In this respect, however, there is no way for man to fulfill the requirements of the law. Indeed, man has absolutely no power to keep the law of God; only God Himself can keep the law and fulfill the law. This is because the law of God requires man to have the divine attributes and be like God.
Some may ask why God would give such requirements if it is impossible for man to meet the requirements of the law. God gave these requirements for three reasons. First, they show us the kind of God He is. Second, we will see that we have absolutely no power and no way to fulfill the requirements. We are unable to fulfill the requirements of God, and there is no way we can fulfill them by ourselves; only He can fulfill them, and only He has a way to fulfill them. With man this is impossible, but with God it is possible. Only He can meet His requirements. This points to the third reason. He wants to be received into us, and by contacting and touching Him, we allow Him to fulfill His requirements within us and through us.
The requirements of the law of God compel man to receive God. If man could fulfill the requirements of God, man would have no need to trust in God and no need to receive the Lord as Savior. Since man cannot meet the requirements of the law, however, he needs to seek refuge in God and receive God. When God comes into man and becomes the power of life within man and which passes through man, He meets the requirements of His law. Romans 8:4 speaks of the Spirit of life fulfilling the righteous requirement of the law in those who walk according to the spirit.
Therefore, the reality, the substance, of the law is God Himself. If a person touches God Himself, if he touches God’s being, then he is able to spontaneously fulfill the requirements of the law of God. However, if a man wants to keep the ordinances of the law merely because of the requirements of the law, his efforts will be in vain.
The Old Testament saints who wrote the Psalms were godly men who lived in God’s presence. As such, they touched God and God’s being and, therefore, spontaneously lived according to the law. It was easy for them to keep the law because they touched the reality, the substance, of the law, which is God Himself. Others, however, did not live in God’s presence, and, in New Testament terminology, they were not in fellowship with God. They tried instead to keep the law by their own effort. Since God gave them commandments and requirements, they felt that they could fulfill them. They accepted God’s requirements and tried to keep them as laws, but they could not. On the contrary, they broke every law. If anyone tries to keep the law as a set of regulations apart from God, his efforts will be to no avail. If a person has seen that the law is a testimony of God and that the reality of the law is God Himself and if he contacts God often, touching God Himself and living before God, it will result in an ability to fulfill the requirements of the law. This applies especially to those who are in the New Testament age. Although we are not under the law, if we live in God, we will spontaneously fulfill the requirements of the law, because the law is a testimony of God, and the reality, the substance, of the law is God Himself.
Just as the law is the word of God, the entire Bible is the word of God.
In John 5:39 the Lord said that the Scriptures testify concerning Him. Since the Scriptures are a testimony of Christ, they are also a testimony of God. If we really touch the spiritual meaning in the Bible when we read it, we cannot help but see Christ. Furthermore, once we see Christ, we cannot help but see God, because the entire Bible is a testimony of God.
All Scripture is a testimony of God because all Scripture is the word of God, revealing the kind of God He is. Just as the law reveals God, the Scriptures fully reveal God. Therefore, the Scriptures are the real and full testimony of God. The reality, the substance, of the Scriptures is God Himself, just as it is with the law.
When a person comes to read the Bible, he needs to contact God to be able to touch the reality and the substance of the Bible. If he reads the Bible apart from God, the Bible will be either dead letters or vain doctrines to him. This is really true. If we do not read the Bible while touching God and being in God, the Bible will be merely dead letters or vain doctrines.
I talked to someone concerning the Gospel of John and told him that this book is too mysterious, that it speaks of the word of life, the Word that was from the beginning. He said to me, “Mr. Lee, why do I not get anything meaningful out of the Gospel of John when I read it? When I read it, all I see are words like us, you, and them. When I read further, all I see are many phrases like in Me, in You, and in Him, and their plural forms like in Us, in You, and in them. What is so mysterious about these simple words?” O brothers and sisters, the mystery is precisely in these simple words and phrases. The mystery lies in the various pronouns and also in the word in. When a person reads John 17 without touching God, he will find words such as “You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us” and “I in them, and You in Me” (vv. 21, 23). Thus, he may feel that these words are too shallow. But if he touches God, he will see the mystery. The Father is in His Son, and His Son is in us. Not only so, we are also in His Son, and the Son is also in the Father. These words tell us that God and man are completely united and have become one; therefore, they reveal the mystery in the universe.
When we read the Bible, we need to touch God, meet God, and live in God; only then can we touch the reality and the substance of the Bible. Otherwise, we will feel that the Bible is tasteless, having only dead letters or vain doctrines. We have often said that some read the Bible and find only dead teachings, such as being humble, patient, meek, and peaceful. But can we really be humble? Can we be patient? Is it possible for us to be meek or peaceful? The more we try to be humble, the prouder we become; the more we try to be patient, the quicker we are provoked; the more we try to be peaceful, the more contentious we become; the more we try to be meek, the hotter is our temper. As a result, we see that such teachings are simply dead letters and vain doctrines which are completely useless. But when we contact God in the Scriptures, the reality of humility will be worked into us and the power of being meek will operate in us. We do not need to decide to be humble, nor do we need to determine to be meek. The reality of humility which causes us to be spontaneously humble is within us; the power which enables us to be spontaneously meek is within us. The Scriptures are living and real because God Himself is the reality of the Scriptures; the Scriptures testify of God. Those who have not touched God can touch only the letter in the Scriptures. At the most they can touch only the doctrines in the Scriptures, but they cannot meet the God of reality, concerning whom the Scriptures testify. We must see that the Bible does not consist of doctrines. Rather, the Bible is a testimony; it is the testimony of God, and God Himself is the reality of the Bible.
Revelation 1:5 and 3:14 show us that Christ is the testimony, that is, the testimony of God. Christ is the testimony of God because He is the Word of the living God. Whereas the Bible is the written word of God, Christ is the living word of God. John 1:1 says that in the beginning was the Word and that the Word was God. One day the Word became flesh and tabernacled among men so that men were able to behold the glory of God. This Word is Christ, who is the declaration of God, the expression of God. Therefore, Christ is the testimony of God.
We have already spoken in the previous chapter concerning how Christ expresses God. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily. When Christ lived on the earth, He lived out God. Hence, Christ is the living testimony of God. Apart from Christ, man can neither know God nor find God. God is in Christ, and Christ is the embodiment of God, the testimony of God.
John 14:6-11 shows us this matter. Philip said to the Lord Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us.” The Lord was surprised and said to Philip, “Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (vv. 8-9). In other words, the Lord was saying, “When I live before you, God is living before you; I am the living out of God.” In verse 6 He said, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” It is difficult to translate this sentence. This could be translated as, “No one can reach the Father except through Me.” This means that no one can contact God or touch God except through Him. In order for man to contact God, to touch God, and to reach God, he needs to do it through Christ and in Christ, because Christ is the embodiment of God, the testimony of God expressed.
The Holy Spirit is also the testimony of Christ.
John 16:5-7 and 14:16-18 show us that after the Lord Jesus passed through death, resurrection, and ascension into the heavens, He would descend as the Spirit. Just as He is the incarnation of God, the Spirit is the transfiguration of Christ. God is in Christ, and Christ is in the Spirit. After His ascension, He came as the Spirit with all His elements. These elements include all that He is, all that He has, all that He has accomplished, and all that He has experienced; all of these elements are in the Spirit. Therefore, John 16:13-15 tells us that when the Spirit comes, He will declare Christ to us and glorify Christ. Furthermore, John 15:26 also says that when the Spirit comes, He will testify concerning Christ.
Let me give an illustration, even though it is not completely adequate. Sulfur is often present in the waters of a hot spring. The water is like the Spirit, and the sulfur in the water is like Christ in the Spirit. Before the sulfur was present in the water, there was no element of sulfur in it. But when sulfur is added to the spring water, the water has an element of sulfur in it. Thus, wherever the water flows, sulfur also flows. In like manner, the Spirit now contains all the elements of Christ. The various elements of Christ—all that He is, all that He has, all that He has accomplished, and all that He has experienced—are contained in the Spirit. For example, because He is God, He has the element of divinity; because He became a man, He has the element of humanity; because He passed through incarnation, He has the element of incarnation; and because He passed through death, He has the element of death; He resurrected and thus has the element of resurrection; He ascended and was exalted, so He also has the elements of ascension and exaltation. All of His elements are in the Spirit. When the Spirit with all these elements comes into us, the element of God comes, the element of uplifted humanity comes, and the elements of incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, and exaltation all come into us. Therefore, we are united with God, and we have died, resurrected, ascended, and been exalted with Christ. This is similar to drinking a glass of grape juice. When we drink the juice, all of the elements of the juice come into us. It contains the element of grapes, the element of sugar, and various other elements. Once the juice comes into us, all of the elements in the juice come into us. In like manner, because the Spirit has all the elements of Christ, when the Spirit comes into us, He brings all the elements of Christ into us and testifies concerning Christ within us, letting us know the kind of person Christ is. When the Spirit comes into us and touches us within, we “taste” Christ. If there is sugar in water, we will taste the sweetness of sugar when our tongue touches the sugar in the water. In like manner, when the Spirit enters into us and touches us within, we feel glorious, holy, bright, and transcendent. What are these elements? They are Christ, because Christ is glorious, holy, bright, and transcendent. People may ask us, “What kind of person is Christ?” We can say, “Although I cannot explain, I have tasted Him within me.” People may ask, “Where is Christ?” We can say, “Although I cannot show you, there is a taste within me. I have definitely touched Christ. But I do not need to go to heaven to touch Him; He came down from heaven and He touched me within in the Spirit.” The Spirit, as Christ’s transfiguration, reveals Him within us. Therefore, as the testimony of Christ, the Spirit glorifies Christ.
Apart from the Holy Spirit, there is no way for man to know Christ. Man must be in the Holy Spirit to be able to touch Christ. First Corinthians 12:3 says, “No one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.” Those of us who are saved truly have this experience. Often when we touch the Holy Spirit within through fellowship or prayer, we spontaneously say, “Jesus is Lord! Jesus is the Lord of all!” When we say this, we feel glorious, bright, sweet, and peaceful. This indicates that we have touched Christ in the Holy Spirit. Once we are in the Holy Spirit, we touch Christ, because the Holy Spirit is the transfiguration of Christ and the testimony of Christ.
Christ is the testimony of God, and the Holy Spirit is the testimony of Christ. When the Holy Spirit brought Christ into the believers and constituted them as the church, the church became the testimony of Jesus. This is referred to in John 15:26-27; Acts 1:8 and Revelation 1:9; 2:13; 12:17; and 19:10. Before His death and after His resurrection, the Lord Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would come upon them and that they would be His witnesses. Since the Holy Spirit has wrought Christ into us, we should live out and express the Lord. This is to testify of the Lord.
First Corinthians 12:12 and Ephesians 4:12-13 show us that the church is the Body of Christ, the embodiment of Christ. Therefore, the church is the testimony of Christ. Nothing expresses a person and testifies of the person more than his body. Our body is our most expressive aspect of our being to other people. Similarly, the church, the Body of Christ, expresses and testifies of Christ the most. Without the church, the Body of Christ, no one can know Christ. Christ is a mystery; He is abstract. But with the church, He is no longer abstract; He is very real. Instead of being a mystery, He has an expression. The church is the testimony of Christ. This is very clear in the books of 1 Corinthians and Ephesians. If the condition of the church is right, when a person touches the church, he touches Christ.
The church testifies concerning Christ. Simply speaking, there are two important aspects of Christ. First, there is the aspect in relation to God. As the embodiment of God, Christ is absolutely related to God. Second, there is the aspect in relation to Satan. As the One who destroyed Satan, Christ is absolutely not related to Satan. Not long after he was created, the first Adam was corrupted by Satan; he was alienated from God on the one hand and united with Satan on the other hand. Due to the union of Satan with the first Adam, Satan brought in sin, death, the world, idols, and the authority of Satan, which is Satan’s kingdom. These five items along with Satan himself constitute a total of six items. When the first Adam was cut off from God and united with Satan, he also was united with the items that belong to Satan. In the first Adam there was Satan, sin, death, the world, idols, and the authority of Satan, which is Satan’s kingdom.
When Satan entered in Genesis 3, sin also entered. In chapter 4, death entered, and the world also entered. In chapter 5, death entered in a full way, and in chapter 6, the world was completely corrupted. Then in chapter 11, idols came in at Babel, as did the authority of Satan, Satan’s kingdom. At that time, mankind was filled with Satan and the things of Satan; God and the things of God had no place within fallen human beings. Fallen man was separated from God and completely united with Satan.
When the Lord came to the earth, His situation was exactly the opposite. On the one hand, He was completely united with God. God was in Him, and He also brought God into man, causing God to be united with man. On the other hand, He was completely separated from Satan, and Satan had nothing in Him. Satan had no ground in Him at all. Concerning sin, He knew no sin and even was without sin. He was One who set Himself far apart from sin. Concerning death, He overcame death and could not be held by death. He did not have even the precursor of death, that is, weakness. He had no weakness of the body, nor weakness of the mind, nor weakness of the spirit. This is because in Him there was no death or even the shadow of death. He was One who transcended death. He is the resurrection and the life. Wherever He is, there is resurrection; wherever He is, there is life. Death had no ground in Him at all. He also did not have the world. The world could not defile Him, much less usurp Him. The world had no ground in Him; He was completely transcendent over the world. He was in the world but not of the world; He was in the world but not defiled by the world. Moreover, He did not have idols. Satan even placed the kingdoms of the world and their glory before Him, trying to entice Him to worship him, but He refused. Idols had no ground in Him at all. He also was not defiled by Satan’s authority and had no part in Satan’s kingdom. He was completely separated from the things of Satan. None of these things could be found in Him. Then through death and resurrection He brought man into God. He entered into glory, and He manifested God, completely expressing God. He was such a One.
When the Holy Spirit wrought such a Christ into the church, the church lived out Christ. The church testifies that Christ is altogether the mingling of God and man. God is in man, and man lives in God. God is mingled with man, and man is also mingled with God. Sin, death, the world, idols, Satan’s authority, his kingdom, and his own self, have no place in the church. This is the proper condition of the church. This was the situation of the early church in Acts chapters 2 through 4. The church was filled with God’s presence; within it there was nothing of Satan, sin, death, the world, idols, or the authority and kingdom of Satan. Satan and everything of Satan had no place in the church. The early church was a complete and full testimony of Christ, manifesting Christ before the people and completely living out Christ.
John 15:26-27 shows us that the church carries out the testimony concerning Christ by and with the Holy Spirit. Human beings do not have this power. Only when the church gives ground to the Spirit, depends on the Spirit, follows the Spirit, and obeys the ruling of the Spirit can the Spirit testify concerning Christ in the church. Then by the Spirit, the church can also testify concerning Christ to the world.
The testimony of the church concerning Christ is one and corporate. Although there are millions of saints, their testimony is one. It is not that saved ones testify concerning Christ individually in a scattered manner; rather, all the saved ones are constituted into one Body and bear the testimony corporately. Therefore, their testimony is not divided but united; it is not many and scattered but one and corporate. At the time of Pentecost, even though three thousand and later five thousand were added to the church, they were still one. They moved and lived together as one. Their testimony was the testimony of the one Body.
Through the testimony of the church, His Body, Christ is expressed before men, lives before men, and testifies to men concerning Himself. John 13:35 and 17:21 and 23 show that it is easy for men to recognize Christ and to see the kind of person He is when the church testifies of Him, that is, when the church is completely one with Christ and when all the saints are completely one in Him. However, today men see contentions, jealousy, criticisms, and judging in the church instead of Christ because the church has lost its testimony and the presence of Christ. But whenever and wherever a group of Christians live in the Lord and are one with the Lord, having been delivered from individualism and living in the Body of Christ, loving one another and being one with one another, the presence of the Holy Spirit, the presence of Christ, and the presence of God will surely be among them. When we come into the midst of such ones and contact them, we would surely say, “Christ is here! God is here!” This is what it means to be a living testimony of Christ, an expression of Christ. This is the church’s testimony.
May the Lord have mercy on us! If these were merely doctrines, then we would be too pitiful. If the Lord grants us His visitation, we will see that in the last days of this age among the Lord’s children, the Lord’s desire is to recover the church as a living testimony, as a testimony for the expression of Christ and of God, and as a testimony of the complete union of God with man. Not only are believers united to be one, but even more they are united with the Triune God to be one. If the church has such a oneness, people will be able to see Christ in the church. The church in such a condition is the expression of Christ, the testimony of Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, only when we are united with the Lord can we be united with the believers. If we are not living in the Lord and do not let the Lord live in us, then we have no way to be one. If we live in the Lord and let the Lord live in us, then we will all be united into one. When we all live in the Lord, we do not even need to be united, we are already one. When we live in the Lord, there will be a situation of oneness among us; this oneness is Christ and it is also God. Such a oneness is the expression of Christ, which is the testimony of Christ. This is the testimony of the church. May we again hear the Lord’s speaking: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem...and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8); “when the Comforter [that is, the Spirit] comes,...He will testify concerning Me; and you testify also” (John 15:26-27).
