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Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:17-23
In Ephesians 1 the main thing the apostle Paul prayed for is for us to be given a spirit of wisdom and revelation. This spirit is not the Holy Spirit but our human spirit. For centuries Christianity has missed the mark of God’s economy (1 Tim. 1:4-6) simply because they have neglected this basic matter—the human spirit. Some may speak often of the Holy Spirit, yet they do so in an objective way as if the Spirit were something far away from us. The apostle Paul knew that the problem is not with the Holy Spirit but with the neglect of the human spirit. Today many neglect their spirit, and some do not even realize that they have a human spirit.
Let me illustrate in this way. Suppose you know all about ice cream, yet you do not realize that you have a mouth. There is no problem with the ice cream. The problem is that you do not realize you have a mouth with which you can receive and enjoy the ice cream. This may seem like a childish illustration, but this is the situation in Christianity today. They may talk a lot about the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but they do not realize the organ with which we must contact and receive the Holy Spirit. If we are going to receive the air, we need to use our lungs. If we are going to listen to something, we have to use our ears. We must use the right organ. God purposely created only one organ to receive and contact Him—our spirit (John 4:24; Rom. 1:9).
We may know about our spirit, but we may still not be so clear that we need to exercise our spirit. We may exercise our mentality too much and neglect our spirit. When some hear the young people shouting and calling on the name of the Lord, they may be bothered. They may think, “I don’t like this kind of church.” Eventually, they will be kept away from the meetings by their reasoning mind. We must realize, however, that the church is a matter in our spirit, not in our mind. Only by exercising our spirit can we discern matters clearly in the church.
Although the church is a great subject in the Bible, the apostle Paul’s Epistle concerning the church is very short with only six chapters. If we are going to know the church, the main thing is not to exercise our mind to know the teachings but to exercise our spirit. Thus, Paul prayed for all of us, that God, the Father of glory, may give to us a spirit of wisdom and revelation (Eph. 1:17). For the church, we need such a spirit, and we all have a spirit, but we have to exercise our spirit. We need to use our spirit. If you are in your mind, you could never be clear about the church. The mind is the wrong organ with which to realize the church. However, if you exercise to enter into your spirit and stay there, you will see the church. The church is absolutely something in the spirit.
A sister once told me that I talked too much about the church life and asked if I ever spoke about the family life. When she said this, I realized deep within that she was just in her mind. Because she was in the mind, the family life was everything to her. If she would have changed her position by turning herself from the mind to the spirit, she would have contacted the Lord Jesus. She would have seen the church life. The church life is not in our mind. We should not exercise our mind to understand the church. The church life is in our spirit. We need a spirit of wisdom and revelation, not to merely understand the church but to see the church.
Some Christians have asked me, “Why don’t you agree with the denominations? Does this mean that only you are right and all the others are wrong?” We in the Lord’s recovery should never be so foolish as to argue with people. We may encourage them to turn to their spirit and wait in the presence of the Lord and see what the Lord would speak to them in their spirit. Simply help them to turn to their spirit. To know something about the church and to see something of the church, we have to be in the spirit. It is only by our spirit that we can realize the church.
Paul prays for a spirit of wisdom and revelation (v. 17). Wisdom is the ability to realize and understand things. For example, if you would give me a camera, I may not know how to put in the film or how to take a picture. I may not even realize that I have to take the lens cover off. I simply do not have the wisdom to know and understand how to operate a camera. Wisdom is to know and understand something, but revelation is to see something. Suppose there is a big factory with many machines. We may have the wisdom to know how to operate all the machines, but if the factory is not open to us, we cannot see anything. On the other hand, if the factory is opened, we can see everything, but if we do not understand the machines, our seeing means very little. We need both the wisdom and the revelation. Our spirit is a spirit of wisdom and revelation. We must turn to our spirit to get the wisdom to know and understand the things of the church and also to receive the revelation to see the things of the church.
First, we must have the proper base and foundation of being in the spirit. Then Paul prays that we “may know what is the hope of His calling” (v. 18). Because we have been called by God, we now have a marvelous hope. Paul’s concept is that this hope is our destiny and also our destination. We all must see the hope, the destiny, and the destination to which God has called us.
The hope of God’s calling is not that we would go to heaven. Although this traditional thought is held by many Christians, it is superstitious and completely off the line of the revelation in the Bible. In the New Testament and even in the entire Bible, you simply cannot find a verse where God says clearly that when we die, we will go to heaven.
Throughout the centuries many have held the concept that the Father’s house in John 14 refers to a mansion in the heavens to which the believers go after they die. The King James Version renders John 14:2: “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” But if you look into the Greek text, you will find that in the same chapter, the word translated “mansions” in verse 2 is the same as the word translated “abode” in verse 23: “If anyone loves Me,...We will come to him and make an abode with him.” The only difference is that in verse 2 the plural form of the word is used, and in verse 23 it is singular. According to the Greek, it is not mansions in John 14:2 but abodes: “In My Father’s house are many abodes.”
When I was young, I heard a respected Bible teacher say, “John 14 tells us that the Lord Jesus has gone to prepare mansions for us in the heavens. After He has prepared them, He will come back to take us there. Because He has not come back yet, this means that He has not finished the mansions. The Lord Jesus Himself has been building these mansions for over nineteen hundred years, and still He is not finished. Consider what marvelous mansions those will be.” At that time, I was really captured. I said, “Lord, thank You. I do not care what kind of poor cottage I may live in today. You are preparing a marvelous, gorgeous, all-splendid, big mansion in the heavens for me, still not yet finished!” I held this kind of teaching for many years. Then one day, after nearly twenty years, the Lord opened my eyes to see the truth concerning all these things, and I cast aside all these traditional and superstitious teachings.
The Lord’s word, “I go to prepare a place for you” (v. 2), does not mean that He has gone to the heavens to build a big mansion for us. God’s intention in the Gospel of John is not to build a physical mansion in the heavens and then bring us there. This is absolutely against the concept of this book. The main concept in the Gospel of John is that Jesus as the Word was God. Then He became flesh to die on the cross for us that we might be redeemed. In His resurrection He wrought Himself into His redeemed people so that they might be regenerated, born of God. As a result, God can be in us, and we can be in God. God’s intention is that He would abide in us and that we would abide in Him (v. 20; 1 John 4:13). As long as we are in the Lord and the Lord is in us, whether the abodes will be in the heavens or on earth should not matter. We are not for the heavens; we are for the Lord. The heavens are not our abode, but the Lord Jesus is. We abide in Him, and He abides in us.
We should not trust in the traditional and often superstitious teachings that we have received in the past. It is not so simple to understand and interpret the Bible. We need to ask ourselves what is meant by My Father’s house in this book. In the Gospel of John this expression is used twice: in 14:2 and also in 2:16. In chapter 2 the Lord Jesus said, “Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise.” Here the term My Father’s house refers to God’s temple. Then in verse 19 the Lord said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John tells us that the Lord’s meaning was that His body was the temple (v. 21). The Jews tried to kill Him, to destroy His body on the cross, but in three days He resurrected His body. Now in resurrection this body is not only the Lord’s own physical body but also His mystical Body, the church. In John 2 the Father’s house is God’s temple, and God’s temple is the Body of Christ, the church, produced out of the Lord’s death and resurrection. If the term My Father’s house denotes the church in chapter 2, it would not be logical for it to denote the heavens in chapter 14 of the same book.
In 14:2 the Lord said, “In My Father’s house are many abodes;... I go to prepare a place for you.” By this word the Lord reveals that in the church there are many abodes. Furthermore, His going to prepare a place for us was His going by His death and resurrection. By His death on the cross, He accomplished redemption to remove every obstacle between God and man, opening the way for us to have a standing, a place, in God. By His resurrection He was transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit so that He might regenerate His redeemed people, entering into them to dwell in them. As a result of His going through death and resurrection, we have become His abodes. God abides in us, and we abide in God. In chapter 15 this mutual abiding is clearly revealed by the Lord’s word, “Abide in Me and I in you” (v. 4). The Greek word translated “abide” in this verse is the root of the words translated “abodes” and “abode” in 14:2 and 23. The verb abide (Gk. meno) is the root of the noun abode (Gk. mone). Chapter 14 deals with the noun, the place, the abode. Then chapter 15 refers to the verb, the action, the abiding. Before you can abide, you need the abodes. The abodes are prepared through the Lord’s going in chapter 14. Then the mutual abiding is revealed in chapter 15.
In John 14:3 the Lord Jesus said, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, so that where I am you also may be.” The explanation of where I am in this verse is provided in verse 10: “I am in the Father.” Therefore, the Lord was revealing to His disciples that they would also be where He was, that is, in the Father. While the Lord was speaking this word, He was among His disciples, but it was not yet possible for them to be in the Father. He needed to go, to accomplish the work of redemption through His death on the cross, to take away sin. He also needed to be resurrected, to open the way that the disciples might be brought into the Father and that the Father might be brought into them. The Lord’s work is not to bring us merely to the heavens. The Lord’s work of death and resurrection is to bring us into God and to bring God into us.
In verse 20 the Lord said, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” In that day, the day of resurrection, the disciples would know that He is in the Father. Surely if He is in the Father, they will be in the Father, because where He is, there they would also be (v. 3). Since He is in the Father and the disciples are in Him, spontaneously, they also are in the Father. Because the Father is in Him and He will be in them, the Father also will be in them. Furthermore, verse 23 says, “We [the Lord and His Father] will come to him and make an abode with him.” This abode is one of the many abodes in verse 2. It is a mutual abode for the Triune God to abide in the believers and for the believers to abide in Him. We must drop the false, unscriptural, and leavened concept of going to a physical, heavenly mansion. We must care for Christ and for the mutual abode, the church.
We do have a hope as a result of our being called by God. This hope is that we will be transformed and transfigured, thoroughly conformed to the image of Christ. When we look at ourselves, we realize that we have many flaws. Physically, I have many wrinkles and spots. But one day we will all be the same as Christ, not only inwardly, spiritually, but even outwardly, physically. We will be absolutely like Christ in His glory (1 John 3:2; Col. 3:4). Today Christ in us is our hope of glory (1:27). But one day all my wrinkles and spots will be gone. I cannot tell you how wonderful, beautiful, and glorious we will be! Today, because we are still under corruption, we groan in ourselves (Rom. 8:23), waiting eagerly for that day of glory when we will be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (v. 21). We will be delivered out of groaning to enjoy the freedom of glory. This is our hope, our destiny, and also our destination. Day by day we are marching onward toward this destination. Our hope is that, one day, we will arrive. This destination is not the heavens but the freedom of the glory of the children of God. When we are all fully conformed to the image of Christ, we will be in glory. Today I am fully content to be in the church life. In the church we are on our way to glory, and this glory is the hope of our calling.
The second matter that Paul prays for us to know is “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Eph. 1:18). We have seen that God’s inheritance in the saints is the Christ who has been wrought into us. Actually, the Christ who has been wrought into us is the church, so the church is God’s inheritance. This matter is very deep and profound. Do not think that the church is an organization, a group of religious people, or any kind of social or religious entity. The church is simply Christ wrought into us in a corporate way.
The third matter that the apostle prays for us to see is “the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe” (v. 19). We must pay attention to the short phrase toward us in this verse. This great power is not something which is unrelated to us. This power is toward us. Continually, this great power is directed toward us who believe. We are the object of this power.
We should never forget the four items which constitute this power. First, it is the power that raised up Jesus from the dead (v. 20), the resurrection power. Second, it is the power that seated Christ at the right hand of God (vv. 20-21), the transcending power. It cannot be held down, suppressed, or oppressed; it transcends everything. Third, this power subjected all things under the feet of Christ (v. 22). This is the subduing power. Fourth, it is the power that gave Christ to be Head over all things (v. 22). This is the overruling power that rules over everything. We have to realize this power in all these aspects. This great power is the resurrection, transcending, subduing, and overruling power, and it is this power that produces the church.
In verse 19 this great power is “toward us who believe.” To receive God’s power there is no other condition than that of believing in the Lord Jesus. As long as you believe in the Lord Jesus, this power is toward you and even in you. Then verse 22 says that Christ has been given to be Head over all things to the church. This word to indicates a transmission. Here we have a divine transmission of all the power which God has wrought in Christ into the church. Although we may see this, it could be merely a doctrine to us. We must also see how to apply it.
To experience this power, the first thing we need to realize is that this power is in us already. It is just like the electricity that has already been installed into a building. But with most of us, our “amperage” is too low. Our capacity to receive the transmission of this power is too small. This power has been installed into us, but because our capacity is too small, many times in our experience “the fuse burns out,” and the power does not work. We must all look to the Lord that our capacity may be enlarged so that we may experience the power that is within us.
To experience this power within you, first, you need to have a strong desire to get completely out of death. If you cannot tolerate death within you, you will realize the resurrection power. Many Christians are indifferent toward death. As long as they can come and sit quietly and hear the choir sing and the pastor give a good sermon, they are content. They may love the Lord and fear Him. They may try not to do anything sinful or be worldly. They may save some money for the offering, and sometimes they may even pray for the church. However, whether the church meetings are dead or living, they would not care. Concerning death, they are altogether indifferent. Someone who is indifferent like this could never realize the power of resurrection. If you mean business with the Lord and if you hate death and are desperate to be delivered from anything dead, deadened, or deadly, you will see the power that is toward you. If you are genuinely grieved that your city is so dead, with nearly no one loving the Lord and standing for His testimony, and if you are desperate with the Lord, then the resurrection power will be manifested.
As long as there is any amount of death among us, the church is short. Death is a reduction of the church. The more death there is among us, the less church we have. The less death, the more church there is. Suppose we come together, yet we are all in a dead condition. That is not the church. That is just a religious community. The church is something so living and powerful that it swallows up all death. The church is something in the resurrection power.
Some may say that to have power you need the so-called baptism of the Holy Spirit. I have seen many who said that they experienced such a baptism. They spoke in tongues, but there was no power with them. In mainland China no one has ever been as prevailing in preaching the gospel as Dr. John Sung, yet he never spoke in tongues and was absolutely against the tongue-speaking movement. He was strongly opposed to speaking in tongues, yet he was so prevailing, so powerful, in the gospel.
Also on the island of Taiwan all the missionaries, even those who opposed us, had to admit to our brothers that no work of the gospel on that island could compare with the work among the “little flock,” as they called us. Yet among us we would never encourage people to speak in tongues, although we do not oppose it. The resurrection power is not with speaking in tongues. The power is right within us, but we have to be desperate. Then the resurrection power will be manifested.
Not only is the church in resurrection; it is also transcendent. If anything continues to suppress or entangle us, we are not in the reality of the church. The church is utterly transcendent. We must realize that all our problems are opportunities for us to experience God’s transcending power. In the midst of all our problems, we should say, “Hallelujah! Deep within me, there is the transcending power that seated Christ at the right hand of God, far above all.” Our wives may be opposing us, or our husbands may be bothering us, but we are sitting in the heavenlies, transcendent (2:6). All things are ours, even life or death (1 Cor. 3:21-22). All things are for the church. We need all the troublesome situations for God’s transcending power to be manifested.
As Christians, we may try not to make any mistakes. At times, we may have been in fear and trembling, looking to the Lord and praying, “Lord, save me from making any mistakes.” But regardless of how much you prayed in this way, you made a big mistake. It seems that the Lord did not hear or answer your prayer. Actually, however, He did hear your prayer and answered it. He knew that you needed that big mistake. In His sovereignty the Lord will allow us to make some mistakes.
Today in the church there are many young brothers and sisters who have recently been married. Every brother who loves the Lord looks to the Lord for a good sister to be his wife. Every sister who loves the Lord also prays that the Lord would prepare a good brother for her. Eventually, every brother gets a good wife, and every sister gets a good husband. Each wife is exactly what the brother needs, and each husband is exactly what the wife needs. The Lord has never made a mistake. Eventually, however, the honeymoon is over, and the wives and husbands begin to “grind” each other. Then the children that we have help in the grinding process that we need to pass through. As the many grains of wheat, we need to be crushed and ground to make the bread, the Body of Christ (10:17). If certain persons and situations are grinding us and we complain, that means we are not transcendent. Because we are all under the grinding stone, we need the transcending power. This power is within us. If we experience God’s transcending power in all our circumstances, the church life will be manifested.
Ephesians 1:22 says that God has “subjected all things under His feet.” This is God’s subduing power. All things have been put under Christ’s feet, and today it should be the same with the church. We only need to be desperate and pray, “Lord, all the things have to be under me. You are the subduing power, and You are within me.” The more that things are subdued under our feet, the more the church comes into being. The church life may not be so manifested in your locality because many things have not yet been subdued. Some may be subdued by bad or even unclean habits. Others may be subdued by the modern way of dressing. In their dress, they may follow the flow of this age, the present course of the world. How can we have the proper, adequate church life if we are subdued by many things? Paul said, “All things are lawful to me, but not all things are profitable; all things are lawful to me, but I will not be brought under the power of anything...All things are lawful, but not all things build up” (1 Cor. 6:12; 10:23). This shows that Paul had the real freedom and was not subdued by anything. We should not have outward regulations in the church life, but we need the subduing power to live a subduing life. Then when others come among us, they will realize that we are those who experience God’s subduing power. Nothing in the current of this modernistic age will subdue us. Rather, all these things will be under our feet. If we fully experience God’s subduing power, the church life will be fully manifested. God’s power is to the church, and this power issues in, produces, the church.
Then the fourth item of God’s power is the overruling power. Christ is the Head, and we are His Body. We are one with the Head. He is overruling all things, and we share in His overruling. When all things are under the rule of the Head and His Body, the church is manifested.
Now that we have seen the power that produces the church, our only need is to be desperate. We should pray, “Lord, I am desperate to be saved from anything of death and from anything that would suppress, subdue, or overrule me.” Then we will see the power that is within us. The word dynamo is an anglicized form of the Greek word translated “power” in Ephesians 1:19. A dynamo is a generator. We must realize that within us there is a generator, a dynamo. It is dynamic and powerful, but it needs our cooperation. We have to have our capacity enlarged by being desperate. Then we will see the manifestation of the church in our locality.
