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The Lord has raised up His recovery upon the truth. Over the past years the Lord in His recovery has completed the life-study of the entire New Testament and the life-studies of Genesis and Exodus in the Old Testament. This is the precious inheritance that the Lord has given to His recovery. We should enter into all the truths of the Bible by means of the Life-study messages. We should not merely obtain some enjoyment from them; rather, we should gain some practical knowledge and experience.
The Bible is a special work of literature. Although it does not focus on any particular topic, it has a central theme that is comprehensive, encompassing many matters. Over the ages the greatest difficulty for Bible readers has been the difficulty of seeing the Bible’s central light and the comprehensiveness of its light. Thus, their understanding of the Bible has been fragmented and peripheral. They may have understood a point here and a point there, but they have not been able to gain a complete understanding. If we want to have a complete understanding of the Bible, we must see that the Bible has only one center and that this center encompasses many matters; it is comprehensive.
Under this principle the Life-studies have a center. They also contain explanations and definitions of various matters, so they are comprehensive as well. Therefore, when we study the Life-studies, we are always able to obtain the life nourishment from them, and we are also able to gain some knowledge of the truth. However, because they are comprehensive and are not focused on one specific topic, it is difficult for people to see the center. This is why when we study the Life-studies with people, we must point out the central theme and present the main points to them.
Let us take the Life-study of Exodus as an example. All Bible students know that Exodus speaks of Christ and that Christ is the center of Exodus. However, to know this in such a simple way is insufficient. First, we must point out which aspects of Christ are spoken of in Exodus. Then we should point out how Exodus presents all these aspects of Christ. Some people say that Exodus speaks about matters such as the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ. This kind of answer is very general and does not reveal in a practical way the reality we see and enjoy in Exodus. For example, someone may ask you what you had for dinner, and you may answer in a definite way that you ate fish, shrimp, meat, tofu, and fruit. In the same way we must be able to point out how Exodus speaks about the death of Christ and His resurrection. Only by doing this will we be able to show forth all the aspects of Christ.
The central theme of Exodus is how Christ becomes everything to us. First, He became our Passover lamb. The blood of the passover lamb typifies the precious blood of Christ shed for the forgiveness of our sins (Matt. 26:28; John 19:34; 1 Pet. 1:18-19). There is also the meat, which typifies the generating life of Christ as our supply (John 6:53, 55). Then there is the unleavened bread, which typifies Christ Jesus who is our nourishment of life and who takes away all our sinful and evil things (1 Cor. 5:7-8). Finally, there are the bitter herbs, which indicate that we need to regret and repent, to experience bitterness in the matter of sinful things.
When we consider this picture, we can see that there is a relationship between eating and living. If we want to live, we must eat; if we do not eat, we cannot live. The Lord Jesus said, “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (John 6:57). The first “meal” presented to us in Exodus is the passover. This meal indicates that Christ shed His precious blood for the forgiveness of sins and that His life enters into us as our supply and nourishment to enable us to give up all sinful things. Moreover, when we sin, we experience a bitter feeling that causes us to repent of our sins.
Then, when the Israelites left Egypt, God gave them the heavenly food—manna, which typifies Christ as the heavenly life supply to be our daily nourishment and satisfaction that causes us to live by Him (vv. 31-35, 48-51, 57-58). Later, God led the Israelites to experience the water flowing from the cleft rock. Paul says that the Israelites “all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4). This living water typifies the Spirit, who flows from the crucified and resurrected Christ as the all-inclusive water to supply us (John 7:37-39; 1 Cor. 12:13). Christ is also the tabernacle of God, that is, the dwelling place of God and the dwelling place of us, the priests. We can abide in Him, enjoying the inward supply of the golden lampstand, the table of the bread of the Presence, and the golden incense altar. These are all types of Christ.
These items added together are comprehensive and not limited to one aspect. Furthermore, they can be checked with our Christian experience. First, we have the precious blood of Christ that washes us from our sins. The New Testament clearly says that the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from every sin (1 John 1:7). Next, Christ dispenses His life into us; in a sense this is for us to eat Him. The meat of the lamb was distributed to all the people, and if anyone did not eat, he did not partake of the rich supply of the lamb.
The matter of eating the Lord is truly a great gospel. Unfortunately, today’s Christians almost never speak of eating the Lord, and they may even oppose this matter because they think, “How can we eat the Lord?” The Bible, however, clearly says that the Lord wants us to eat Him (John 6:53-57). The Old Testament is a picture in which God wanted the Israelites to not only eat the meat of the lamb but also to eat the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs with it. This signifies that when we eat the Lord as our enjoyment, we must get rid of all our sinful things; this is the experience of the unleavened bread. Simultaneously, He joins Himself to us inwardly, causing us to feel that we are corrupted and to become inwardly sorrowful; this is the experience of the bitter herbs. These are all practical matters of enjoyment to us.
If we only read about the types and study the doctrines without comparing them to our own experiences, it will not be easy to understand Exodus. However, if we compare our experiences to these types, they are very easy to understand because they are descriptions of our normal Christian living. For example, when we Christians get up early in the morning to read the Bible and pray, this is our eating the manna. However, the manna cannot be eaten carelessly. The picture in the Old Testament shows that there were definite rules for gathering the manna. First, the manna had to be gathered every morning (Exo. 16:21). Some people might have been lazy and reluctant to rise early in the morning, so they did not gather the manna and were hungry all day. Second, the manna could not be kept until the next day (v. 19). Some people were greedy and gathered large piles of manna that they were unable to finish eating, and the next day the manna bred worms and stank (v. 20). According to our experience, the matter of gathering the manna indicates first of all that we must spend time every morning to read the Lord’s Word and to draw near to Him; otherwise, we will not be able to obtain each day’s supply of life. Second, the supply of life is for our enjoyment for one day only and cannot be kept over to the next day.
Through the principle of gathering the manna, we see God’s balancing hand. Even though God did not allow the people to gather a double portion of manna each day, He gave them two days’ worth of manna on the sixth day of the week in order to enable them to keep the Sabbath on the seventh day. That extra portion did not breed worms but provided them with fresh enjoyment. This indicates that the enjoyment of Christ is not according to our method or calculation; rather, it is according to God’s ordination and arrangement. Let us also check the type of the tabernacle with our experience of abiding in the Lord. Christ is the tabernacle of God, the dwelling place of God, and He is also our dwelling place. In the tabernacle are the golden lampstand, the bread of the Presence, and the golden incense altar. When we abide in the Lord, we obtain the supply of the bread of the Presence, receive the enlightening of the golden lampstand, and enjoy Him as our acceptable incense offered to God.
Exodus does not use any clear terms referring to Christ’s death. However, with the help of the Life-study messages we can clearly see that although Exodus does not use the word death to refer to Christ’s death, it does use the killing of the passover lamb to describe Christ’s death. In addition, while the passover lamb does not directly show the resurrection of Christ, the lamb actually implies the reality of Christ’s resurrection. The meat of the lamb eventually entered into its eaters to be their life supply. This implies the process of resurrection. Christ can be received into us to supply us inwardly and to live in us; this implies that He has gone through the process of death and resurrection. Therefore, the precious blood refers to the aspect of Christ’s death, and the meat of the lamb entering into the Israelites refers to the aspect of resurrection. The blood was spread on the doorposts and on the lintel, signifying the crucified Christ as our covering. The meat was eaten to get into the people, signifying the resurrected Christ entering into us as our spiritual supply. This is our experience of the crucified and resurrected Christ.
Moreover, Exodus does not use the specific term ascension to refer to the ascension of Christ, nor does it tell us where Christ went after He ascended, but this matter is implied in the manna. Manna came down from heaven to the Israelites, signifying Christ coming down from heaven as food for God’s people. Moreover, manna came from God and descended from heaven, implying that when Christ ascended, He ascended to God, that is, to the Father (John 20:17).
The passover is a very clear picture showing the killing of the passover lamb as a type of Christ’s death and the shedding of His precious blood that washes us of all our sins and becomes our covering. It also shows the Israelites eating the meat of the lamb and taking it into them as a type of the resurrected Christ as our life supply. Finally, it shows the manna coming down from heaven as a type of Christ’s ascending to the highest heaven and descending again to be our daily life supply. This is our experience of the ascended Christ.
Some criticize us, saying that we read the Life-study messages and not the Bible. Those who speak this way are completely misinformed. The goal of the Life-study messages is to bring people into the truths of the Bible. In the past when people read the Bible, they could not find the way to enter in, so they had no way to understand it. This is like having a house with no entryway, no door, and no windows to allow people to enter in. The Life-study messages do the work of paving a way, building a door, and opening a window so that people can enter the house and enjoy everything inside.
Another function of the Life-study messages is to bring people into life. The Life-study messages are not a set of philosophical or classical writings apart from the Bible. The Life-study messages do not merely expound the Bible and present the truth; rather, they also bring people into the truth to enjoy and experience its riches. Mere exposition of the Bible is just the impartation of knowledge, which causes people to know doctrines mentally. The Life-study messages bring us into the depths of the Bible to touch and enjoy the life within (cf. John 5:39-40).
After reading Exodus 12 many Christians only know that something happened on the night of the passover (v. 12); they do not know the meaning of what happened. However, today through the Life-study messages we can all understand the deep meaning of this matter and enter into the application of the precious blood, the enjoyment of the meat of the lamb, and the reality of the unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Therefore, the life-study of the Bible is a proper and accurate study of the Bible that ushers people into the Bible to obtain the life supply and enjoyment contained in it.
Today pastors and preachers in Christianity must search everywhere to find a good word for their sermons. Some pastors do not have anything to talk about, so they speak about things such as sanitary practices and personal hygiene. Some are a little better and speak about matters such as redemption, the washing away of sins, and justification. There are some who are even deeper and speak about things such as how to fellowship with the Lord and how to enjoy the peace given to us by the Lord. But even this is not enough. We have seen from our experience and our research that the richest meetings are those with the Life-study messages as their content. If every Lord’s Day we would take two Life-study messages as the content of our fellowship, the meeting would be very rich.
I have spent eleven years laboring to carry out the summer and winter life-study trainings. This year I have completed the life-study of the entire New Testament, and next year I will begin another eleven years to complete the study of the entire Bible. We should bring all the saints in the churches in the Lord’s recovery into the practice of carefully reading one or two Life-study messages each week. If we do this, over the long term—perhaps over ten, eight, or even just five years—the saints will make much progress in all areas, and the condition of the entire church will be reversed.
Nutritionists tell us that to eat healthily, we cannot eat just one kind of food. Fish is very nutritious, but if we ate only fish for three meals a day without eating anything else, we definitely would not be healthy. In order to eat healthily, we must eat all kinds of foods. For example, a salad contains not only one kind of vegetable but many kinds mixed together; thus, salads are rich and nutritious. The Life-study messages are like a salad that is made not with just one kind of vegetable but with all different kinds. However, we must have our staple food, our center. Christ as life is the center of the Life-study messages, so when we read the Life-study messages, they help us to grow strong and healthy in life.
Before 1974 we mainly emphasized releasing messages on one topic at a time through conferences. Later, we realized that we should dig out the matter of life because life is the center. So from that time on, we began to dig out life from the Bible, book by book through the Life-study messages. At present we have dug out life from each book of the New Testament and even the Old Testament books of Genesis and Exodus. Although the Bible was written comprehensively, speaking much on many topics, it always has life as its center to clearly point out the way.
Even the book of Ephesians with only six chapters is composed in a comprehensive way, speaking on many topics. For example, the book of Ephesians speaks of very high matters—matters that could not be any higher—such as God’s selection in eternity and His predestinating us (1:4-5). It also speaks of very low matters—matters that could not be any lower—as in the word that those who steal should steal no more (4:28). If today we were to choose a topic and speak of God’s calling and predestination, we would not also speak of such things as stealing. However, after the book of Ephesians speaks of such high matters, it suddenly inserts just such a sentence, telling those who steal to steal no more. It also tells the husbands to love their wives and tells the wives to be subject to their husbands (5:25, 22). This proves that the Bible’s way of speaking is comprehensive. Nevertheless, the Bible still has its center. When we use the Life-study messages, we must firmly grasp this point and see that the Bible has an intrinsic central lane and also speaks comprehensively on many matters.
Some people have said that in the Life-study messages there are many new, deep terms that are hard for ordinary saints to understand. In recent years American educators have discovered that as our era progresses, the knowledge of our children progresses along with it. The things that we thought children would not understand are now easy for them to understand. The things that children are able to understand according to their intelligence far surpass the contents of their textbooks. For example, computer classes are now beginning to be taught in elementary school, so many households are buying computers for children under the age of ten to practice on and use. This is worth our consideration.
The principle is the same in considering the development of Christianity in China. The first step was taken when the Western missionaries spoke messages about joy and peace in order to get people to accept their preaching. They told people that as soon as they believed in God they would be blessed, obtain profit, and enjoy peace. This kind of speaking at the very beginning matched people’s psychology because in this world the human life is mainly a life of suffering and troubles, and everyone wants blessings, prosperity, and peace. Actually, people can understand this kind of preaching without any explanation. It is preached for the purpose of lifting people’s hearts and producing a desire and willingness to believe in the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, the obtaining of peace, and the enjoyment of God’s blessing. However, if we stop there, after a long time man’s heart will become cold. This is why those missionaries gradually improved their speaking and spoke about some basic truths in the Bible, telling people that there is one God who is the holy and righteous One and that this One sent His only begotten Son to shed His blood and die for us to redeem us from our sins and to save us from eternal perdition into eternal life. Today this is where many Christians have stopped.
There are, however, many deep truths in the Bible. The fourteen Epistles of Paul alone have many deep and high truths. For example, Ephesians 1:10 says, “Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him.” It is very hard to understand this kind of word, but over the past twenty to thirty years the Lord has revealed to us these deep, high truths in the Bible. Our knowledge of the truth has not only been constantly progressing, but the younger we are, the more room there is for progress.
When computers first entered the homes, many among the older generation did not understand anything and could only listen to their grandchildren talk about computers. In the end they were still confused about things like software and hardware. Then one day the grandchildren turned on the computer in front of the older ones and demonstrated as they played, explaining what software is and what hardware is. Thus, the older ones were able to understand through the practical teaching of the grandchildren. In the same way we in the Lord’s recovery should have a change in our concepts about the truth. We must not remain stuck in our old ways.
God’s economy, God’s dispensing, the essential Spirit, and the economical Spirit are certainly very deep terms, but to the new believers, especially the young ones, they will not seem deep for very long. These new ones will gradually become familiar with the terms, and then they will clearly understand them. We must be willing to change our concepts and must encourage the young ones to learn the highest and deepest truths. I believe that if we do so, in the future when the saints speak to each other and even when they preach the gospel, their speaking will be of the very highest quality. We will not need to charge them to preach the high gospel instead of the gospel of prosperity and peace. As soon as they open their mouths, the high truths will spontaneously come out. Today we may feel that this is not so easy, but very soon they will be using the terms the essential Spirit and the economical Spirit when they preach the gospel to others. The saints just need to be able to simply say, “Friend, we all are sinners; we all need the essential Spirit to get into us and regenerate us, giving us an inward change in our element. Moreover, God will also give us the economical Spirit so that we may be full of power in our living and actions.” Do not think that people will not understand this word. Actually, we are the ones who do not understand it, so we think others will be just like us.
We all know that in a child’s learning process the child needs his parents to constantly give him input. For example, when he learns about love or smiling, the parents must keep telling him on the one hand and demonstrating to him on the other hand until he gradually understands the concept. Sometimes the parents must speak about things many times before the child can understand what they mean. Thus, learning comes from hearing. From now on, regardless of whether we are preaching the gospel or speaking God’s word, we should not be afraid that people will not understand when we speak the profound truths. We must realize that these truths are actually what touch people the most.
Moreover, in a way it does not matter whether we speak something deep or shallow. The most important point is that we must learn the secret, the practical technique, of speaking. If we do not have the technique or secret, people will not understand us even when we speak the shallowest truths. If we learn the secret, we will be able to use very simple words to speak the deepest matters, and we will be able to bring people into spiritual reality. For example, when learning to use the computer, we cannot just have empty knowledge but must also pick up the right techniques. Then, when a computer is placed before us, we will know how to set it up, operate it, use it, and even teach others.
The Lord’s recovery has the highest truths. Thus, if we learn the techniques, when we preach the gospel to people, we will be able to appropriately use the highest truths in the Lord’s recovery and say, “Friend, we are all sinners without God inside of us. We do not have the nature of God, but as soon as we repent of our sins and turn to Him, God’s essential Spirit enters into us, causing us to be regenerated and have God’s life and nature. This is God’s entering into us as our essence. Even more than this, after we are regenerated, if we are willing to deal with our sins and apply the Lord’s blood for a thorough washing, then God’s economical Spirit will be poured out upon us, making us full of power.” I believe that anyone who hears such a word will be able to understand it. When new believers enter into the church life, if they are taught in this way, they will be able to quickly understand the proper meaning of each spiritual term, and they will be able to apply each one practically in their daily life.
I hope that the standard of truth will be constantly raised higher among the churches in the Lord’s recovery. We cannot remain in the shallow gospel truths such as peace and prosperity, Christ’s incarnation to save sinners, His crucifixion to accomplish redemption, and God’s love for the world. Although these things are right, they are still elementary, basic, and beginning truths. We must go up to the high peak. It is just like in the elementary schools today, where what they are teaching is much higher than what was taught ten or twenty years ago. Yet the children are able to learn these things because the entire standard has been uplifted. Even in the daily conversation in the homes, we can find that the standard among the children has been raised; many of them use terms in a familiar way that we never understood when we were young. In the same way, when many people were young, they did not understand such truths as the essential Spirit, the economical Spirit, or the dispensing of the Triune God, but now the young people all speak about these things, and their speaking is true and logical. This is what it means when people say that the students can go farther than the teachers.
May we all be able to perfect the young people in the truth and encourage them to enter into the depths of the Word. This is why we have a burden to recommend and promote the Life-study messages. I hope that we would all be able to study and apply them and that we would teach the young people well so that they would receive the real help. If we do this, the Lord’s recovery will have a wonderful future.
