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Scripture Reading: Eph. 6:17-18; 1:17-18; Acts 26:16-19; 16:9-10; 1:8; 10:17-20
In this chapter we want to see the way to receive revelation from the holy Word and see vision through revelation.
To receive revelation from the holy Word, we must read the Word and apprehend its contents in facts. If we want to receive revelation from Genesis 1, we first have to read this chapter with our understanding and with our memory to apprehend the contents. We have to know that Genesis 1 is a record of God’s creation. Eventually, God created man and put this man in front of the tree of life. These facts are very important.
To apprehend the facts we need the help of the original text in Hebrew and Greek. No translation of the Bible is perfect. This is why, if possible, we should study Hebrew, the Old Testament language, and Greek, the New Testament language. We can also use the help of certain word studies of the Old and New Testaments.
We also need to learn to know the types—figures and shadows—in the Bible. The Old Testament is full of types. Nearly everything in Genesis 1 is a type of Christ. Romans 5:14 tells us that Adam is a type of Christ. The Song of Songs, a short book of eight chapters, is full of figures and shadows. In this book Christ is the henna flower (1:14), the myrrh (v. 13), and the apple tree (2:3). Eventually, Christ came to be the vine tree (John 15:1) and ultimately the tree of life (Gen. 2:9; Rev. 22:2).
First, we need to read the holy Word to apprehend its contents. We read by using our mind. Then we need to receive the divine revelation, not by exercising our natural understanding ability but by exercising our spirit to contact the Lord through pray-reading (Eph. 6:17-18). When I came to the United States to minister the word in the early sixties, many people told me that they had never before heard about the human spirit. That shocked me. If we do not know that we have a spirit or how to exercise, to use, our spirit, we cannot receive revelation from the holy Word. Without the exercise of the spirit, the holy Word remains only in letters, in facts, but it cannot be a revelation to us. But if we exercise our spirit, the written word becomes the spiritual word, the word that is the Spirit, to be received not by our mind but by our spirit.
We have to exercise our spirit to contact the Lord because the Lord Himself is the Word (John 1:1). The Word, which is God, is God’s breathing, the Spirit (2 Tim. 3:16; Eph. 6:17). We must exercise the spirit to contact the Lord through pray-reading. Exercising our spirit, contacting the Lord, and pray-reading must be added together.
The term pray-read is based upon Ephesians 6:17-18, which says that we are to receive the word of God, which word is the Spirit, by means of all kinds of prayer, praying at every time in spirit. In these verses we have the word, the Spirit of God, and our spirit exercised in pray-reading. Revelation comes from receiving the word, not just by the mind to understand it but by the spirit exercised to contact the Lord through pray-reading it. When we pray-read, we have to exercise our spirit. Then we will receive revelation.
We receive the divine revelation not by our natural understanding ability or by our fanciful imaginations. Some Christians, especially those who are Seventh-day Adventists, understand parts of the Bible by exercising their imagination. Mrs. White, who established the Seventh-day Adventists, told people a specific date on which Christ would return. Some of them prepared to receive Christ on that date, but He did not come. She also wrongly taught that Christians should keep the Sabbath day of the Old Testament.
We cannot receive the divine revelation through such fanciful imaginations. Instead, we receive it by the spirit of wisdom and revelation, spoken of in Ephesians 1:17. The spirit here is the mingled spirit, the divine Spirit mingled with the human spirit. Thank God that today in the universe there is not only the divine Spirit or only the human spirit but also the mingled spirit. God and man can be mingled together as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). Basically, the way to receive revelation is by the mingled spirit, that is, by the divine Spirit indwelling the human spirit. This mingled spirit is called the spirit of wisdom. This is for our understanding. If we have a revelation, we need the wisdom to interpret and understand it.
To receive revelation from the holy Word we also need much prayer in contacting the Lord. Just as walking is the best way to exercise our legs, prayer is the best way to exercise our spirit. Nothing exercises our spirit as much as prayer does. The more prayer we have over the Word, the more the light comes. Through prayer we touch the Word, the Spirit of God, and our spirit. The Spirit of God is Christ, and Christ is God. God, the Word, the Spirit, Christ, and our spirit are blended together through prayer so that we can receive revelation.
We must have the revelation first. Then that revelation, under the enlightenment of the divine light (Eph. 1:18b), becomes a vision.
In order to illustrate this, let us consider the vision in chapters 5 and 6 of Song of Songs. In this book we can see that the lover of Christ, through living in Christ’s ascension as God’s new creation in resurrection, becomes mature and rich in life to be a garden to Christ (5:1). She also becomes the sanctuary of God in the heavens (6:4). Thus, she is a garden to Christ on the earth and a sanctuary of God in the heavens. The garden stresses the riches of Christ’s life with all kinds of beautiful trees and fragrant spices. The sanctuary of God in the heavens indicates that Christ’s life also has a building element.
The sanctuary in the heavens has a veil separating it into two parts; the outer part is the Holy Place, and the inner part is the Holy of Holies, where God Himself is. We may live in the sanctuary of God yet still not be living within the veil, in the Holy of Holies. So there is a calling of Christ asking us to live within the veil where God is. The Holy of Holies is both God Himself and our spirit.
When the seeker enters within the veil, she becomes like the heavenly bodies, the moon and the sun, to be the shining of God’s light in the universe (v. 10a). She also becomes a terrible army (v. 10b) to fight the spiritual warfare seen in Ephesians 6. Ultimately, she becomes a Shulammite (S. S. 6:13). The name Shulammite is the feminine form of Solomon, indicating that she has become Solomon’s duplication. Thus, the seeker and lover of Christ becomes five things: the garden, the sanctuary of God, the heavenly bodies, the terrible army, and the Shulammite. The New Jerusalem is the real and consummate Shulammite. This is the vision we can receive through being enlightened by the divine light.
We have to become a garden with the riches of Christ’s life for His enjoyment. Then we must become a sanctuary of God to be God’s building. We also have to pass through the dealing of the cross so that we can live within the veil in God’s Holy of Holies. Then we become like the shining heavenly bodies. We are not only sanctified but also heavenly like God is. Such ones are God’s overcomers. These overcomers are a terrible army to fight down all the enemies of God as seen in Ephesians 6. This will usher in the New Jerusalem, typified by the Shulammite. The New Jerusalem, on the one hand, is God’s dwelling place and, on the other hand, is Christ’s wife, the Shulammite. The wife of Christ and Christ are joined together to be the New Jerusalem for God’s expression. That is the consummated Shulammite. By this we can see that Song of Songs covers the entire New Testament.
I received the vision in Song of Songs 5 and 6 through reviewing the divine revelation again and again by contacting the Lord. We are one with the Lord in our spirit, so we must review the divine revelation in our spirit with the Lord. Then the light shines to bring us the vision. Otherwise, at most we can have only revelation but no vision. After we review the divine revelation again and again in our spirit with the Lord Himself, more light comes, and the vision is here for us to see.
We need the ability to see the vision, and the seeing ability is the sight. Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:18 that the eyes of our heart would be enlightened that we might see. We need not only the light but also the sight. There may be some wonderful scenery in front of us, but without the light we cannot see a vision of this scenery. When the light comes, the vision is here. But if we do not have the sight, we will still not be able to see. We need the revelation plus the light plus the sight. The light comes from God; the sight is within us. The revelation plus the divine light with our sight brings us the vision.
The book of Acts shows that the divine vision is mostly concerning God’s move. Paul saw a heavenly vision, and in this vision God charged Paul to move to preach the gospel to the Gentile world (26:16-19). Paul also saw a vision of a Macedonian calling him. Right away he moved from Asia across the sea to Macedonia, the southeastern part of Europe (16:9-10). That was a move. In Acts 1 the Lord told the disciples that they would receive the Spirit to witness for Him from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria to the uttermost part of the earth (v. 8). Acts 10 records the vision that Peter received while he was praying (vv. 9-16; cf. 17-20). In that vision God charged Peter to move to the Gentiles through an Italian centurion named Cornelius. This shows that the vision we receive from the Lord will cause us to move. We move according to the vision that we have seen.
