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In the first chapter, entitled “Vision in God’s Economy,” we read how God’s servants and the Lord’s followers must see a vision. In this chapter we will continue with this burden by speaking about the vision of those who serve the Lord.
According to the revelation of the entire Bible, the Lord began showing men a vision from the time of Adam. When Adam was first created, God showed him a clear yet relatively simple vision before he fell; he was placed in front of two trees in the garden of Eden and was told, “Of every tree of the garden you may eat freely, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of it you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17). This is the vision that God gave to Adam.
A vision is a scene that God unfolds to man. When God gave Adam the command in the garden of Eden concerning the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam saw a scene. That was the vision that God wanted to show him. That vision indicates something; it shows that God’s intention is for man to eat the tree of life and to reject the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For man to receive the tree of life means that he is living under this vision. It also means that he is serving God according to this vision. However, the devil, Satan, disguised as the serpent, seduced Eve through his speaking and turned her eyes from the tree of life to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, against which God had warned her. Had Eve’s vision been clear and had her heart closely followed the vision, she would have ignored the serpent when he spoke to her about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and would not have talked about it or gazed upon it. Genesis 3:6 says, “When the woman saw that the tree...” The minute Eve looked, she was distracted from the vision that God had given to man in the beginning.
The vision that God gave to Adam is the first vision in the entire Bible. The last vision is the New Jerusalem in the last two chapters of the book of Revelation. Between these two ends, God gave vision after vision to man.
After the first vision, Adam saw a second vision. After he and Eve fell, they knew that they were naked. As soon as they heard God’s voice, they hid themselves among the trees of the garden to escape God’s face. However, God did not give them up. Rather, He looked for them and gave them a vision. He said to the serpent, “I will put enmity / Between you and the woman / And between your seed and her seed; / He will bruise you on the head, / But you will bruise him on the heel” (Gen. 3:15). This means that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent and would inflict upon him a death blow. The serpent, on the other hand, would bruise the heel of the seed of the woman and would frustrate His move. After this, God prepared a sacrifice—possibly a lamb—and made coats of skin to clothe Adam and Eve.
If we put all these acts of God together, we have a clear vision. It shows that man is sinful and that there is an evil one who is trying to hurt him, but the seed of woman will come and will solve the problem of sin for him. He will bruise the head of the evil one. This vision also shows that man needs redemption; he needs the killing of the sacrifice and the shedding of the blood. He needs coats of skin to clothe him. This was the second vision that Adam saw. It is the second vision that God gave to man.
From that time onward, Adam began to live by this vision. He named his wife Eve (v. 20), which means “living.” This indicates that he had heard and received the gospel. The judgment of death had passed over him, and he lived. Eve was also living by this vision, because when she bore a son, she called him Cain, which means “acquired.” This indicates that in her concept, Cain was the acquired seed of the woman that God had promised. She believed in the seed and was waiting for the seed. We have to believe that Adam and Eve not only lived by the vision, but they also told their children about this vision.
According to the Scriptures, the children of Adam were of two kinds. Those who lived under their father’s vision were the first kind, and those who did not live under their father’s vision were the second; they took another way to serve and worship God. Abel belonged to the first kind; he lived under his father’s vision, and his father’s vision became his vision. Hence, he was serving God according to a vision. Cain belonged to the second kind. He did not take his father’s vision, and he did not live by it. On the contrary, he invented another way of serving and worshipping God. He was absolutely not serving by a vision. By the second generation of mankind, it came to be that, although all men were serving and worshipping the same true God, only Abel’s service was carried out according to a vision. Cain was not worshipping idols; he did not serve other deities. Yet his service was one that was detached from the vision. He did not oppose God. On the contrary, he was also offering sacrifices to God and worshipping God. Yet his sacrifice and worship were done apart from the vision; he was serving without a vision. This is the reason that Abel was accepted by God, but Cain was rejected by Him.
The time of Enosh was the third generation of mankind. Here we see a further advance in vision. The fallen man discovered that he was a frail being, that he was nothing, could do nothing, and had nothing. He was as vain, frail, and empty as a puff of air. He needed reality, and reality is only God Himself. Hence, Enosh began to call on the name of Jehovah in hope of receiving reality from Him. In Exodus 3:15 God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial from generation to generation.” This indicates that the name of Jehovah is the name of the Triune God. Therefore, for man to call on the name of Jehovah means to receive the Triune God into him to be his enjoyment and supply. For Enosh to call on the name of Jehovah meant that he saw a greater vision. He realized that not only must the fallen man seek covering in God’s righteousness through the shedding of the sacrificial blood, and not only must he trust in the coming One for the destruction of the enemy according to His revealed way, but this same fallen man must call on the name of Jehovah out of his vanity, nothingness, destitution, and impotence and live by the enjoyment of God’s riches and supply. This indeed is a further advance in vision.
Then came Enoch. He inherited Adam’s vision, Abel’s vision, and Enosh’s vision, but he went on to see that he could not be separated from God. He needed to walk with God moment by moment. This is another vision. Enoch walked with God and did not see death (Heb. 11:5). He not only escaped the punishment of sin and the snare of transgressions but was spared of death itself. In other words, by walking with God he was walking with the tree of life and was able to enjoy the tree of life because God is the very tree of life. Hence, we see a further progression of vision in the case of Enoch.
We have to believe that Noah at his time inherited Adam’s vision, Abel’s vision, Enosh’s vision, and Enoch’s vision. In addition, he received a further vision himself. In Genesis 6 God showed him clearly that the age was altogether evil. God wanted to give up and destroy that generation, and He wanted Noah to build an ark. Noah was living not only under the visions of Adam, Abel, Enosh, and Enoch; he was not only the heir of all these visions but was living, working, and serving under a greater vision, which he saw with his own eyes. For this reason we can say that Noah’s life, work, and service were totally governed by the vision.
We can believe that at the time of Noah, there were more than his family of eight people who were fearing God. Although the Bible does not say anything about this, we can deduce it from history. Surely there were other people who were worshipping God and serving Him. However, no matter how many people were worshipping God at that time, according to the record of the Bible, they were worshipping and serving apart from any vision. Only Noah and his family of eight were serving under a vision. This is very clear.
At the time of Abraham we see a more expansive and far-reaching vision. Abraham saw that one of his descendants would rise up and become a blessing to the nations. We can believe that Abraham did not drop the visions of Adam, Abel, Enosh, Enoch, and Noah. He inherited all these visions and was living under them. Yet he went on and saw a more expansive and far-reaching vision. After Abraham we have Isaac. In Isaac we see a person who fully inherited Abraham’s vision. Jacob was also an heir. After these three persons we have Joseph. In Joseph we have another vision. Through Egypt the entire earth was blessed. Joseph was a type of Christ. He was a descendant of Abraham, yet he became the chief minister who managed all the food supply in Egypt. During the seven years of famine over the whole world, everyone came to Egypt and to Joseph for food. Hence, in Joseph we see a person through whom the entire earth was blessed. This is a picture of Christ ministering to and blessing the whole earth.
Moses also saw a vision. He saw the tabernacle and the ordinances regarding the offerings and other matters, which we cannot describe here in detail. Joshua inherited from Moses and saw something further in the way of a vision. He led the Israelites into Canaan and inherited the good land. During the time of the judges, there were visions after visions, until the time of Samuel. Samuel was also a man of vision, and he served according to the vision that he saw. Through him the age was changed from the confused age of the judges to the age of the kingdom. At the same time that Samuel was on earth, another person appeared on the scene—Saul. He was a king anointed by Samuel, yet he was not living by the vision. Another person who inherited from Samuel was David. He was a man living under the vision.
Beginning from the time of his reign, Solomon and his descendants gradually departed from all the visions. Nearly none of the kings during the age of the kings served according to a vision. Instead, they followed the custom of the nations. Under such circumstances God raised up the prophets. These prophets were not only living under a vision; they actually received visions. For this reason the prophets were also called seers. Not only did they prophesy and speak for God; they saw vision after vision in a definite way and served according to these visions. At that time the kings had all departed from the visions that God had imparted to His people; as a result, the prophets were raised up to correct and adjust them. They turned the kings back from the things contrary to the visions to a service that was once again under the visions. This is the story of the kings in the age of the kings.
The last two books of the Old Testament are Zechariah and Malachi. Both have certain rich utterances concerning Christ. They are the conclusion of the revelation concerning Christ in the Old Testament. There are three ways by which the Old Testament speaks about Christ—clear declarations, types, and prophecies. All these revelations concerning Christ come to a conclusion in the books of Zechariah and Malachi. They conclude everything. These two books speak much concerning Christ. This is the conclusion of the Old Testament.
At the time that the Old Testament era ended, the earthly system of service was still in place. In Jerusalem of Judea there was still the temple, and there were still priests offering sacrifices, worshipping, and serving God according to the God-ordained institutions. Then suddenly John the Baptist appeared. He was not in the temple, and he was not a priest. He did not wear a priestly garment but instead lived in the wilderness, eating locusts and wild honey and wearing a garment of camel’s hair. He was serving the Lord totally apart from the traditional rituals and ordinances. Please tell me who was serving according to a vision at that time: Was it the priests who were abiding by the traditions, or was it John the Baptist who had dropped all the traditions? The Gospel of John shows clearly that the priests, the elders, the scribes, the Pharisees, and all the other Jewish religionists were serving God fully according to their religion, traditions, ordinances, knowledge, and doctrines. They were not under any vision. Only one man was serving under a vision—John the Baptist.
The ministry of John the Baptist was a kind of termination. It was for the purpose of ushering in a new beginning. The baptism of John the Baptist initiated the Lord Jesus into His office for the accomplishment of His ministry. John the Baptist clearly indicated that his ministry was a pioneering and initiating ministry (John 1:23, 28-30), but his disciples did not understand this. They thought that John was a great man and that his teaching was unique. This was why they followed him and his teachings. Unconsciously, they began to compete with the Lord’s ministry. Beginning from Matthew 9, we see the disciples of John questioning the Lord Jesus. Their questioning put them in the same category as the Pharisees (v. 14). According to Luke 5:33, it was the Pharisees who questioned Him, but Mark 2:18 seems to say that it was the disciples of John and the Pharisees together who questioned the Lord. Before this time the Pharisees were the only questioning party. After Matthew 9 John’s disciples became another party.
At this point we see three parties: the Jewish religion, John’s religion, and the Lord Jesus. All of them were serving God. Please tell me which of them were serving under a vision. No doubt those who followed the Lord Jesus were the only ones serving under a vision. Not only were the Jewish religionists not under the vision; even the followers of John the Baptist were not under the vision. God had set the Jewish religion aside and had used John the Baptist to bring in a new beginning, but when the Lord Jesus came, John’s religion still remained on the scene competing with the Lord. God was forced by the situation to send John to prison. However, John still sent his disciples from his prison to the Lord Jesus to ask Him questions. On the one hand, the Lord commended John’s ministry. On the other hand, He encouraged John to take the way that the Lord had ordained for him and to experience the blessing in that way. Soon after this, John was martyred. In this way God sovereignly ended the ministry of John.
However, John’s religion did not stop with his death. In Acts 18 and 19 this line reappeared and caused a problem. Apollos only knew the baptism of John, and he preached this when he went down to Ephesus (18:24-25; 19:3). This brought in the decline of the church. In the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, Ephesus shows the beginning of the degradation of the church. John’s religion was the source of this problem, and Apollos was the one who sowed the seed of this problem.
While the Lord Jesus was fulfilling His ministry on the earth, those who were following Him were the only ones who had inherited the visions of the previous ages and who were at the same time catching up with the vision that matched that age. Not only had they inherited the visions that went before them, but they were caught up with the vision of that age when they followed the Lord Jesus. This group of people consisted of men like Peter, James, and John. None among the disciples was as foolish and uncouth as Peter. However, he was not foolish in one thing. While the Lord Jesus was shining on him as a great light and calling him by the Sea of Galilee, he together with Andrew, James, and John responded to the light and was attracted by the Lord to drop everything to follow Him (Matt. 4:15-16, 18-22). Andrew was first a disciple of John the Baptist (John 1:35-40). Now he and Peter, James, and John forsook the Jewish religion and John’s religion. They even forsook their fishing career, leaving behind their fathers and their nets, and followed the Lord single-heartedly.
Outwardly speaking, Peter was following blindly. He was blindly following for three and a half years. Every day he was speaking nonsense. However, once, and only once, he spoke a clear word. When the Lord took the disciples up to the region of Caesarea Philippi and asked them who the Son of Man was, Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). This was a word full of revelation. Regrettably, he only spoke one clear word. After this he spoke many foolish words again. When the Lord indicated to the disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem to suffer under the hands of the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and would be killed and then resurrected after three days, Peter took Him aside and rebuked Him, saying, “God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You!” (vv. 21-22). But the Lord turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (v. 23). This shows that Peter was indeed following blindly. He did not know what he was doing. He followed blindly but rightly. Sometimes when a person is too clear, he ends up doing the wrong thing. When he is a little foolish, he ends up in the right place. At that time all those who were following the Lord Jesus, male or female, including such ones as Mary, were all foolish. Today we may appear foolish, but we can follow the Lord faithfully.
From the Bible we can see that not too many who followed the Lord were clear. Even the Lord Jesus’ own mother, Mary, was not so clear; she was somewhat muddled. She spoke some foolish words a few times and was rebuked. Although they were all foolish, they were foolish in the right direction. Men like Nicodemus who were so “clear” were not doing better in any way. Although they were clear that the Lord had the vision, they were not absolute in following Him. They were following Him only in a halfhearted way. Actually, they were only trailing behind Him and not following Him. I believe that among those who were “following” the Lord, Nicodemus was the clearest one, and Peter was the most foolish one. Yet the one who was the most foolish was the one who followed in the most genuine way. Although sometimes he failed, he was the most absolute one in following. When the Lord told the disciples that they would all be stumbled because of Him, Peter responded by saying, “If all will be stumbled because of You, I will never be stumbled.” The Lord told him, “Truly I say to you that in this night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” Peter then said, “Even if I must die with You, I will by no means deny You” (Matt. 26:31-35). Of course, he did not keep his promise. On the contrary, he denied the Lord three times as was foretold by Him. Although Peter was such a person, he took the right path, and he followed the vision.
The One whom the disciples followed eventually brought them to the cross. They were crucified with Him, died with Him, were buried with Him, and resurrected and ascended with Him (Eph. 2:6). On the day of Pentecost, Peter saw the vision. Formerly, he only identified himself with the vision through the Lord Jesus. Now at Pentecost, he saw the vision himself. When he stood up to speak, he was no longer foolish. He was very strong and clear in everything. In Acts 2 through 5 we find him caring for nothing other than the Lord’s ministry. He did not even care for his own life. The vision did not find any resistance or hindrance in him at all.
When we come to Acts 10, however, we find that his strong Jewish background stood in the way and caused the vision to suffer a setback. In Matthew 16 the Lord told Peter that He would give him the keys of the kingdom. The keys are plural in number, indicating that there are at least two keys. On the day of Pentecost, Peter used one key to open the door for the Jews to enter God’s New Testament kingdom. At that time the vision did not suffer any setback in him. However, by the time God wanted to use him further to exercise the second key to open the door to the Gentiles and to spread His New Testament economy among the Gentiles, Peter was lagging behind. This became a problem to God; He was forced to revert to the Old Testament means of visions and dreams. Peter saw a vessel like a great sheet descending from heaven to the earth. In it were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth and birds of heaven. A voice came to him: “Rise up, Peter; slay and eat!” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common and unclean.” And a voice came to him again a second time: “The things that God has cleansed, do not make common” (Acts 10:13-15). This went on three times. By this we can see that Peter had a problem in following the vision.
If we study Acts 10, Galatians 2, and Acts 15, we will find that, in those cases, Peter was no longer as absolute and strong in following the vision as he was in following the Lord during the first three and a half years. He became somewhat weak. The vision had come into conflict with his tradition, and he could not quite go along with it. He remained to a certain extent in that tradition. It frustrated him and hindered him from going on. We see a falling behind in his case with respect to the vision. We have to pay attention to this matter and be warned by it.
By the time of Acts 13 another person appeared on the scene. In Acts 7 through 9 he was Saul of Tarsus, a person who was in the Jewish religion and had received the highest education. He had also studied the best Greek culture and was an endeavoring man. At that time Judaism was under attack. The followers of Jesus Christ, the so-called “Nazarenes” (24:5), were getting stronger and stronger. Saul could not bear to see his ancestors’ religion being destroyed, and he became very zealous, being determined to wipe out the Nazarenes and to uphold his fathers’ religion.
We cannot deny that Saul of Tarsus was serving God. After he was saved, he told the believers, “You have heard of my manner of life formerly in Judaism, that I persecuted the church of God excessively and ravaged it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries in my race, being more abundantly a zealot for the traditions of my fathers” (Gal. 1:13-14). As to zeal, he was a persecutor of the church (Phil. 3:6). He was so zealous that he consented to Stephen’s death (Acts 7:58—8:1a). He also put many believers into prison, cast votes to condemn them to death, and persecuted them even as far as foreign cities (26:9-11). Saul was indeed serving God, but he was serving without a vision. While he was being zealous for his fathers’ traditions, who was serving God under a vision? It was Peter. Peter was under a vision, and those who were following him were also under the same vision. Saul, however, was not under the vision, yet one day on his way to Damascus the Lord met him and showed him the vision.
I truly believe that the vision Saul saw on the way to Damascus was more advanced than the one Peter saw. In the New Testament records concerning Peter and in his own Epistles, we do not see any mention of the Triune God working Himself into us to make us His duplication. We do not see anything about the believers being built up into the Body of Christ to be one with the Triune God as His organism. But on the way to Damascus, Paul saw a vision. The Lord said to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). The “Me” here is a corporate Me; it includes the Lord Jesus and all His believers. Although the word Me is a small word, it speaks of a great vision. Paul in Galatians 1 says that “it pleased God...to reveal His Son in me” (vv. 15-16). In the Bible we do not find that Peter saw the same clear vision.
Paul’s vision was indeed profound. At the beginning of Galatians, he refers to the Son of God (1:16). When we speak of the Son of God, we have to realize that this involves the Triune God. The Triune God was revealed to Paul, and Paul became one of His members. All the members together with Paul were constituted to become His Body and were joined to Him to become an enlarged “Me.” Although the vision Paul saw at the beginning was so high and profound, he did not take up his ministry immediately. In Acts 13 a few prophets and teachers were serving the Lord and fasting together in Antioch. It was then that the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (v. 2). It was not until then that Paul became clear concerning the vision he had received earlier and was sent to fulfill the ministry that he had received.
Both Barnabas and Saul were Jews, yet they were sent to preach the gospel throughout the Gentile lands. This was not a small vision. In his own time Peter was only sent to make a brief contact with a Gentile and to visit his home. Here Paul received a serious commission: “Go, for I will send you forth far away to the Gentiles” (22:21). This means that he was to go to the Gentile lands, nation by nation and city by city. This is a great vision: “That in Christ Jesus the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the Body and fellow partakers of the promise through the gospel” (Eph. 3:6).
Many of us have been affected by Christianity; we read the Bible in a superficial way. We think that Paul was sent merely to preach the gospel and to save sinners from hell. In reading the book of Acts, many believers come away with the impression that the Lord’s desire is to spread the gospel to the uttermost part of the earth. They see the great number of sinners in the Gentile world and consider that they cannot be saved unless the believers go out to preach the gospel to them. In their understanding, this was the reason Paul was sent on his evangelistic journey to preach the gospel. However, if we carefully study the book of Acts and Paul’s Epistles, we will discover that this matter is not that simple or shallow. Paul was sent to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8) in order that the Triune God could be dispensed into them to transform them into the members of Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ. At this time Paul’s vision became fully clear.
Here we have to ask, while Paul was fulfilling his ministry, who on earth was clear about God’s vision? At that time there were still many God-fearing people in the Jewish religion. For example, Gamaliel feared God; he understood the Old Testament and was familiar with the teachings of the Old Testament, yet he was not in Paul’s vision.
At that time Peter and John were in Jerusalem. There was also a very pious James. These were the leading ones in the church in Jerusalem (Gal. 2:9). At the time Paul was fulfilling his ministry, it seems that James and Peter were one with his vision. However, they were not one with it. The best we can say about them is that they did not oppose Paul. They were going along in a general way but were actually not in the same company. They received the same grace as Paul did, and they were apostles together. They should have belonged to the same group and the same company. Yet they were not of the same company, though they were of the same general group. Galatians 2:9 says that James, Peter, and John gave to Paul and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship that they should go to the Gentiles, and James, Peter, and John would go to the circumcision. It seems as if they were shaking hands with Paul and saying to him, “Okay, Paul. Go to the Gentiles to fulfill your ministry, but we will not go with you. We are apostles to the Jews, and you are an apostle to the Gentiles.”
I do not believe that many Christians have detected this flavor when they read the Bible. Faced with this situation Paul surely must not have had a sweet feeling. It was good that Barnabas was with him, but not long after this, the two had an argument. In the end Barnabas left. This shows that even Barnabas could not catch up with the vision of that age, the vision which Paul saw. Although he was the one who ushered Paul into the service, when Paul saw the up-to-date vision of the age, Barnabas was left behind.
Not only were men like Gamaliel and Barnabas falling behind in the vision; even apostles such as Peter and James were in danger of missing out on the vision. They were of the same general group as Paul, but they were not co-working together. When Paul went up to Jerusalem for the last time, James said to him, “You observe, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed; and all are zealous for the law” (Acts 21:20). Before this time Paul had said clearly in Galatians that the law is over. But here, James, the leading apostle in Jerusalem, was exhorting him to keep the law. This shows that even a person as renowned in the church as James could be short in the vision. James did not walk according to the flesh; he was not a light person in any way. From history we know that he was quite a pious person. Yet he was not serving under the vision. We can say that even Peter did not catch up with the vision; even he was not in the vision.
The record of the Jerusalem conference in Acts 15 shows that the decision was full of Judaistic influence. James’s word was saturated with a Jewish and Old Testament overtone. I do not believe that decision could have satisfied Paul. Yet in order to keep the peace, he tolerated the decision, for without such a decision, there would have been unceasing arguments between the Jewish and Gentile churches over the matter of circumcision, and the churches would forever be in turmoil. However, things did not turn out as he had hoped. That decision did not solve in a clear and accurate way the problem of the Old Testament law. This proves that the church in Jerusalem did not come up fully to the vision of the age; instead, it made a compromise.
In Acts 18 Apollos appeared on the scene. He was “powerful in the Scriptures” (v. 24b). We have to realize that the Scriptures here refer to the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament. Apollos was powerful in expounding the Old Testament, but he was not in Paul’s vision. At that time Aquila, Priscilla, and Timothy joined Paul’s ministry one after another. No doubt they were in Paul’s vision. They were walking with Paul and working together with him.
Paul worked throughout the Gentile world, but he never stayed in one place for as long as three years except in Ephesus. Acts 20:31 clearly shows that Paul stayed in Ephesus for three years. His preaching affected the entire region of Asia, of which Ephesus was the center. Paul was teaching there, and his teaching affected all those who were in Asia, but at the same time in Ephesus a negative seed was sown, and Apollos was the one who sowed it. This is one of the reasons that Paul had to work and minister in Ephesus for three years. In Acts 20, after Paul finished traveling to all the places to exhort the believers, he passed by Ephesus, called the elders together, and charged them, saying, “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock...I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock” (vv. 28-29).
After this Paul went up to Jerusalem, and soon he was bound and sent to prison. He was imprisoned in Caesarea for two years (24:27), after which he was sent to Rome. In Rome he was imprisoned for at least another two years (28:30). After he was released from prison, he wrote the first Epistle to Timothy, in which he began by saying, “Even as I exhorted you, when I was going into Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus in order that you might charge certain ones not to teach different things” (1:3). This word shows a trace of some kind of problem in Ephesus. A little more than a year after Paul was released from prison, Nero, the Roman emperor, began to persecute the church again, and Paul was sent back to prison. While he was in prison, he wrote the second Epistle to Timothy. In 1:15 he says, “All who are in Asia turned away from me.” Among these churches who had turned away from Paul, Ephesus was the leading one. Hence, in Revelation, the first of the seven letters to the seven churches was to the church in Ephesus.
The seed that Apollos sowed in Ephesus eventually became the basic factor for the decline of the church. The reason that the church in Ephesus degraded was that it had taken the lead to depart from the teaching of the apostles. To depart from the apostles’ teaching is to depart from the apostles’ vision. With the departure of the apostles’ teaching came the teaching of Balaam (Rev. 2:14), the teaching of the Nicolaitans (vv. 6, 15), and the teaching of Jezebel (v. 20). These three teachings represent the heresies in Christianity.
Paul tells us in Colossians that the ministry he received from God was to complete the word of God (1:25). After Paul completed his ministry and finished his Epistles, the church in Ephesus took the lead to bring all the churches in Asia away from the teaching of the apostle Paul. By the time the book of Revelation was written, we find the apostle John continuing the Lord’s commission and following Paul in fulfilling his ministry. John continued from where Paul had left off in his ministry. While Paul was on earth, he dealt with the problem of decline. The last church he dealt with was Ephesus in Asia. Thirty years later, at the beginning of the book of Revelation, in writing to the seven churches in Asia, the first church that was addressed was the church in Ephesus. John rebuked Ephesus for having left its first love. The reason it had left its first love is that it had left the apostles’ teaching.
The book of Revelation, which the apostle John wrote, begins with the seven churches. It covers this age and extends to the coming of Christ, the judgment of the world, and the advent of the millennium, and it concludes with the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. This constitutes the ultimate consummation of the divine revelation. After this there is nothing left to be said or seen. Everything is said, and everything is seen. This is the ultimate consummation of God’s economy. Once the New Jerusalem appears, we have the final scene. For this reason the end of Revelation says that nothing can be added to or deleted from this book (22:18-19). From that time onward, no one could add anything to the Bible. If anyone tries to add anything, his portion will be the punishment of the lake of fire. No one can delete anything. If anyone tries to cut off anything, he will be cut off from the blessing of the tree of life, the water of life, and the city of life. This shows that at the end of Revelation, God’s vision is consummated. No one can see more, and those who see less will, of course, suffer loss.
From the time the apostle John completed the book of Revelation until today, nineteen centuries have passed. During the past nineteen hundred years, countless numbers of Christians have been serving God. Added to this great number of Christians serving God are the Jews, who also are serving God. Of course, the Jews serve only according to the vision of the Old Testament. Some Christians are serving according to the vision revealed in the New Testament Gospels, which has to do only with the earthly ministry of Jesus. Some serve without any vision at all. In order to serve God according to the up-to-date vision, we need to come up to the level of Paul’s very last Epistles. In fact, we need to come up to the level of the epistles to the seven churches in Revelation as well as the revelation that covers all the ages, including the kingdom, the new heaven and new earth, and the ultimate consummation of the church—the New Jerusalem. Simply put, in order for us to serve God today, our vision must extend all the way from the first vision of Adam in Genesis to the ultimate vision of the manifestation of the church, the New Jerusalem. This and this alone is the complete vision. It is not until today that this vision has been fully opened to us.
In the National Palace Museum in Taipei, there is a painting on a long scroll called “The River Scene at Ching-Ming Festival.” It describes in detail the culture, life, and way of the Chinese people at the time of the painting. It is not enough to see only the first few portions of that long scroll. One has to go all the way from one end to the other end before he can have a clear picture, or “vision,” of the entire spectrum of life in China. In the same way we have our own painting, our “River Scene at Ching-Ming,” in our service to God. It begins from Adam’s vision of the tree of life in the garden of Eden and extends all the way to the New Jerusalem with the tree of life. The New Jerusalem is the last scene of the vision. After that there is nothing more to be seen.
The problem today is, who has seen this complete vision, and who is living in this vision? During the past nineteen hundred years many people have been serving the Lord, but how have they served? Can we say that five hundred years ago Martin Luther saw this vision and was serving according to this vision? Throughout the ages many people were serving the Lord only according to the first few scenes. I wish that all the brothers and sisters would have an enlarged and far-reaching view. I hope they will realize that all the books that we have put out cover the entire spectrum from the first scene to the last scene. We are not serving God based on the first few scenes alone. We are serving God according to the last scene, which includes all the previous scenes.
Today many people have not seen what we have seen. They are merely serving according to the first few scenes, and they are even arguing with one another. The Jews are pious people; they are zealous in expounding the Scriptures from Genesis to Malachi, but they have only the Old Testament. Many Christians love the Lord and are zealous for the gospel. Yet they preach only the story of Jesus Christ. They have never progressed beyond the four Gospels. Some have seen only the vision of the book of Acts. Others have seen the vision of the Epistles. All these are fragmentary, but we should serve God according to the entire spectrum, from the first scene of Adam to the last scene in Revelation. It is for this reason that we face so much opposition. Many people say that we are wrong. They criticize us for “stealing sheep.” It is not that they do not love the Lord or serve God; it is that they love the Lord and serve God only according to the vision that they themselves have seen. Today we must be clear about the standing that we take. The goal of all our services, including preaching the gospel and edifying the believers, must be ultimately consummated in the New Jerusalem. Only then will we be unshaken in the face of any criticism.
Since we have the up-to-date and ultimate vision, we should closely follow after it. We are absolutely not following a man; rather, we are following a vision. It is grossly wrong to say that we are following a certain person. We are following a vision that belongs to the present age. It is God’s consummate vision.
The Lord’s recovery was brought to us through our dear Brother Nee. Because of this he became a target of attack. In 1934 he was married in Hangchow. Some took this opportunity to stir up a storm. He became very sad, so one day I went to him to comfort him, saying, “Brother Nee, you know that between the two of us, there is no natural relationship. I do not take the way that you are taking or preach what you are preaching out of a natural friendship with you. The two of us are widely separated from one another. I am a northerner, and you are a southerner. Today I am taking the same pathway not because I am following you as a person. I am following the way that you are taking. Brother Nee, I would like you to know that even if one day you do not take this way, I will still take this way.” I said this because the storm affected some, and they decided not to take this way anymore. In other words, many people were following a man. When the man seemed to have changed, they turned away. But I told Brother Nee, “Even if one day you do not take this way, I will still take this way. I am not taking this way because of you, and I will not leave this way because of you. I have seen that this is the Lord’s way. I have seen the vision.”
Fifty-two years have passed. Today I do not regret at all what I have done. During the past fifty-two years I have seen the same story repeat itself again and again. Some people came and left. One scene changed, and another scene came along. Since the beginning of our work in Taiwan, during the past three decades we have witnessed some major crises. Even brothers whom I led to salvation and who went through my own training have left the Lord’s recovery. The vision has never changed, but the persons have indeed changed, and those who follow the vision also have changed. I would say a sober word to all of you from the bottom of my heart. By the Lord’s mercy I can stand here today to bring you this vision. I hope that you are not following me as a person; I hope that by the Lord’s mercy you are following the vision that I have shown you.
I have no intention to be proud. America is the leading country in this world. It is also the top Christian country. There are many theological professors there. When I went there, I spoke boldly about the vision that I saw. At the beginning their ears were pricked, but by now, some are speaking what we have seen. Up until today they are not able to put out a proper book to refute the truth that I have released. In order for them to write a book to refute me, they must first read my books, but once they read my books, they are convinced and subdued. They cannot refute anymore. Rather, they have to admit, “If you carefully and seriously read what this old Chinese man has written, you will discover that he has a solid basis for what he is saying. It is best not to challenge him in any matter. If you do, he can come back and ask you ten questions, none of which you can answer.” They are very clear about this.
I would like to relate to you one fact. It is the Lord’s mercy that He has revealed to me the vision. I advise you not to follow me but to follow this vision, which Brother Nee and all the servants of the Lord throughout the ages have left to us and which I have handed to you. This is indeed the vision that extends from the first scene of Adam to the last scene of the New Jerusalem. More than fifty years have passed. I have seen with my own eyes that those who take the way of the Lord’s recovery for a while and then leave do not come to a proper ending. There is only one way. All spiritual things are one. There is one God, one Lord, one Spirit, one church, one Body, one testimony, one way, one flow, and one work. If you do not take this way, you will have no way to take.
Some who left us once shouted and boldly declared that they had seen the vision. Today where is their vision? After so much shouting, the vision is lost. They have lost the way. To start a war one must have a proper cause. With a proper cause we have the boldness to say what we say. If we do not take this way today, what other way do we have? I speak this for myself also. What other cause can we take up? Between 1942 and 1948 there was a great storm, and Brother Nee was forced to discontinue his ministry for six years. At that time some saints who appreciated Brother Nee very much said, “Let us start another meeting.” Brother Nee said, “You must never do this. The church is the church; if it agrees with me, it is the church. If it does not agree with me, it is still the church. We can never set up another meeting apart from the church.”
Paul told Timothy, “All who are in Asia turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1:15), but Paul did not authorize Timothy to have another beginning. In the same way, at the time when almost everyone in China forsook Brother Nee, he did not try to make another beginning. This proves that even Paul and Brother Nee could not change the way they took. If they were to change the way, they would not have been able to go on.
This is my burden. I hope that you will clearly see the vision of the Lord’s recovery and will follow this vision. You are not following me as a person. Sister Faith Chang can testify for me. She witnessed how I followed Brother Nee absolutely, yet I was not following the person; I was following the vision that he saw. In that age the vision that came up to God’s standard was the vision that Brother Nee saw. If you remained in that vision, you were serving according to the vision. If you did not remain in that vision, you were not serving according to the vision. Today Brother Nee has passed away. I have no intention to make a new beginning, but the Lord has commissioned me with this ministry. I can only take the lead willingly and obediently. The vision that I have brought to you today is God’s vision for this age. If you remain in this vision, you are serving according to the vision. If you do not remain in this vision, you should be aware of what your end will be.
Therefore, you are not following a man; rather, you are standing with the Lord’s ministry. You are following a vision, a vision that matches the age, a vision that inherits all that was in the past and a vision that is all-inclusive. It is up to date, yet it builds on the past. If you remain in the book of Acts, you may have inherited everything prior to that time, but you are not up to date. Today as we stand here and ponder the revelations unveiled in the Lord’s recovery, as we read the publications that are released among us, we can see that they cover everything from the church to God’s economy to the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. This is a bountiful and all-sufficient vision. If you remain in this vision, you are serving according to the vision. If you are not in this vision, you could still be an Apollos, expounding the Scriptures in a powerful way; you could still be a Barnabas, visiting the churches; you could still be a James, serving piously; and you could even be a Peter, who served as the leading apostle. However, you would not be in the vision.
I believe this light is very clear among us. No one can argue with this. I hope that the young brothers and sisters will all be clear about this. From your youth, while you are serving the Lord, you should understand what we are doing here. This is not a personal thing. It is absolutely the Lord’s ministry. He has unveiled the visions generation after generation to His children. All those who are in this vision now are serving according to God’s vision.
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint, because there is no one accord. It is true that many people love the Lord and serve God, but everyone has his opinion and his own vision. As a result, there is no way to have the one accord. This is the reason that Christianity has become so weak. God’s people are divided and split apart. There are divisions everywhere. Although everyone says that he loves the Lord, there is no clear vision, and men are “carried about by every wind” (Eph. 4:14). Some among us also doubt, saying, “Are we the only ones who are right? Do not others also preach the gospel? Do they not also bring men to the Lord and edify them? Consider the aged James. He was more pious than Paul or Brother Nee. How can we say that he did not have a vision?”
Recently, while we were translating the New Testament Recovery Version, I used two Catholic translations among my references. In some expressions we felt that these Catholic translations are not bad. I joked with my helpers, saying, “In this sentence let us follow the Catholic Church.” My point is this: Although James was pious to the uttermost in Jerusalem, we cannot conclude from this that his pathway was the right one. We cannot conclude from this that he possessed the vision that matched the age. No, we must be clear what the genuine vision is.
I believe this word will answer many questions in your heart. Although we are far behind many people in their zeal for preaching the gospel, although many people are more zealous and more burning in spirit than we are, and although we are poor, the vision is still with us. I truly hope that the young workers among us and the trainees would exercise themselves unto godliness. It does not mean that once we have the vision, we do not need to have godliness anymore, yet I hope that you would remember that godliness alone cannot match the vision. We certainly need to exercise ourselves unto godliness; we should not be loose, and our personality and character should be noble. But this does not mean that once we have a noble character, we are in the vision. In other words, our vision should be one that matches the age. It should also be one that includes everything that has gone before us. It should include the godliness of the Jews, the zeal of the evangelicals, and the genuine service. Only then will we be able to practice an all-inclusive church life, the church life that Paul revealed to us (Rom. 14). We are not divided into sects, and we do not impose any special practice on anyone. We only live an all-inclusive church life. If we do this, we will have the genuine one accord.
Today we can be in one accord because we have only one vision and one view. We are all in this up-to-date, all-inheriting vision. We have only one viewpoint. We speak the same thing with one heart, one mouth, one voice, and one tone, serving the Lord together. The result is a power that will become our strong morale and our impact. This is our strength. Once the Lord’s recovery possesses this power, there will be the glory of increase and multiplication. Today our situation is not yet to that point; it is not yet at the peak. Although we do not have many major contentions, we do have some small complaints and criticisms. These things lower our morale.
When I returned to Taiwan in 1984, there was no morale at all because the one accord was gone. The goal was gone, and the vision had become blurred. At the present time we hope that the Lord would be merciful to us. We want to recover our morale, beginning from Taiwan. We want to recover our vision. We want to have the one accord, and we want to see clearly that there is only this one way. The churches in the Lord’s recovery should have the Lord’s testimony and a definite standing. Today there is still much ground for us to cover in the spreading of the Lord’s churches. We have to preach the gospel everywhere, build up the small groups, and teach the truth. With this goal in view, we should have no arguments and no different opinions. We should speak the same thing, think the same thing, and press on in one accord. Not only should the churches in Taiwan do this, but all the churches in all the continents throughout the earth should do this. If we do this, the power will be great. The Lord will surely grant us an open door because this is the way that the Lord wants to take today.
