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Scripture Reading: Matt. 28:18-19; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47; John 15:16a; Acts 1:8; Rev. 1:2, 12, 20; 19:7
What is God’s ultimate move to carry out His intention? God wants us to have Christ as life to us, flowing in us, saturating and permeating us, transforming us, conforming us, and making us fit to be built up into His Body for His expression. Today, at the end of the twentieth century, this is what our God is after. Here is where our focus also should be. Three items have already been recovered: the preaching of the gospel, the teaching of Bible truths, and the scriptural way of meeting. Now this final matter must be our concern.
Of these three items, the third matter, that of meeting together scripturally, has been lost among today’s Christians. What Christian group pays attention to this? The United States is like an amphitheater, where all kinds of Christian meetings can be seen. In some Christian groups there are dramatic performances. They put on plays, with actors playing the role of Peter or James, and they have rock music. Other Christian groups meet in many different ways. There are Pentecostal groups with dancing, jumping, or shouting. Christians come together according to what suits their taste. It seems that little thought is given to meeting according to the Bible. From around 1828 or 1829 the Brethren assemblies were raised up and gradually began to make their meetings very scriptural. But today even many of the Brethren assemblies have drifted away from having their meetings according to the Scriptures.
Even the second matter that was recovered, the teaching of the Bible, has been neglected. Among the Closed Brethren, up to fifty years ago, there were good teachers of the Bible. Other Christians do not teach the Bible as much as they did. Many denominations simply have lectures or sermons with a Bible verse to support the speaker’s point.
If the scriptural way to meet and the sound teaching of the Bible have been neglected, what is left? Only gospel preaching. Yet much of today’s preaching of the gospel is of the lowest standard. No doubt many of you have read the biographies of the great evangelists of the past. There were C. H. Spurgeon, D. L. Moody, Charles Finney, and George Whitefield. They used no gimmicks in their preaching. Their way was to pray. I read that once Charles Finney went into a factory and looked at the workers there. Just by his looking at them, a number of the workers wept and repented. What was the power behind these preachers? It was prayer. It was the spending of time in the Word of God, learning the Scriptures, and then selecting a subject from which to preach the gospel. This is the proper way.
Even those who play guitars in the meetings must be careful lest they offend the Lord. The Lord Jesus did not promise that if we play the guitar well, people would be saved. He said that we would be clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49). The proper preaching comes from this power. Those who are concerned about the gospel need to fast and to pray desperately.
In Chefoo, beginning in 1940, the church spent the New Year’s time in the preaching of the gospel. The New Year’s celebrations in China are far more elaborate than Christmas here. Instead of buying food and making special dishes like everyone else, the saints made no special food preparations at all. The entire family, old and young, gave themselves to prayer. The whole church prayed. When the gospel was preached, there was an impact. In the marketplace and on the street the unbelievers warned their friends, “Don’t go into that building. If you do, you will be subdued.” The power was there. It came by prayer and by the Word. There was no special music, just some singing of choruses. It is a matter of prayer and the Word. The apostles said, “We will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).
Those who use rock music and other gimmicks in their gospel preaching may bring some people to the Lord by these means, but all such will be Moabites. They will be the sons of Lot, brought forth in an improper way, by Lot with his daughters (Gen. 19:30-38). Too many Christians are Moabites, born improperly. Today the Lord is again recovering the proper gospel preaching.
He is also recovering the proper teaching of the Bible. Last year an article was published in a Christian magazine saying that young people are attracted to the local churches because Witness Lee teaches the Bible. In most churches, the article said, the Bible is not taught. It also said that Witness Lee is a prolific writer and speaker. Yes, we have published one hundred twenty Life-studies on Genesis and already over one hundred on Exodus, which we have still not finished. In addition, there are Life-studies on Matthew, John, most of Paul’s Epistles, and Revelation.
We must become familiar with the Bible. I hope that all the young people would devour the Life-studies. If I had found such materials on the Bible when I was young, I would have stayed up late at night, swallowing up what was in them. But in those days very little was available. I bought nearly all the Christian books I could find, but they contained mostly husks, with very few grains. The Life-studies, though, are filled with nourishment on almost every line. If you love the Lord, you need to know the Bible. Twice the Bible tells us that the one who serves the Lord must be “apt to teach” (1 Tim. 3:2; 2 Tim. 2:24). Teach what? Not the newspaper. Not some magazine. No! He must be able to teach the Bible, book after book.
The Lord is also going to recover the proper way of meeting. How are we to determine if our way of meeting is scriptural? While no one can say that our meetings are unscriptural, it is hard to say what is the scriptural way to meet. We have published a book called How to Meet. If you read it, however, you will still be puzzled as to the proper way to meet. But I do know that dancing or rock music or drama in the meetings is wrong. Having soloists is wrong. These things are not only wrong; they are against the Lord’s way. The Lord is still recovering the proper way to meet.
Suppose these three things are fully recovered. Are they God’s ultimate move? Is gospel preaching God’s ultimate move? Is teaching the Bible God’s ultimate move? Is meeting according to the Bible God’s ultimate move? What is God’s ultimate move? It is to gain a people who have Christ as their life. We must live Him. We must not have just a doctrine but a real life in our daily living. It must be our experience that Christ is the flowing life within us. As He saturates and permeates us, He supplies us with all His elements. Incarnation, humanity, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection—all these are carried out within us in this permeation. While His life is saturating us, it kills the negative things within us and supplies us with the divine element. We need to know this not just in a doctrinal way but as a reality in our experience. Then we need to know how to be transformed and how to grow into maturity. Furthermore, we must know by experience what it is to be built up, in order that Christ may have a Body.
God is not primarily after gospel preaching or Bible teaching or scriptural meetings. He wants Christ as the embodiment of God to become your life and wants you as a member of Christ to become a part of His Body. Then Christ will have His Body. Then in every locality the Body will be expressed as a golden lampstand. This is the preparation of the bride. Revelation 19:7 is yet to be fulfilled. It is when “His wife has made herself ready” that “the marriage of the Lamb has come.”
Where among today’s Christians is the bride being made ready? If you were to visit the different Christian meetings, you would realize how poor the situation is.
I am deeply burdened for you to see what God’s ultimate move is. Do not think I have no earthly cares. I have a wife, children, grandchildren, daughters-in-law, and sons-in-law. Sometimes I have to see a doctor for a physical problem. Yes, I have my share of troubles; that is part of my lot as a human being. But none of these is my real concern. My real concern is how to present to the dear saints the Lord’s ultimate move so that they may see it. I have a burden within. Where can the Lord get His heart’s desire? Surely not in the idol temples or in the Muslim mosques or in the Catholic cathedrals. The Lord has no way. Even the proper gospel preaching, Bible teaching, and scriptural meetings have been neglected. Who cares about them? And who cares about God’s ultimate move to carry out His eternal intention? Who even knows what God’s eternal intention is?
When there is an evangelistic campaign today, the sponsors often depend on their organizational methods rather than the power that comes through prayer and the Word. They advertise, they invite famous people to attend, and they ask the various denominations to band together to promote the campaign. In this way they are able to gather large crowds. Great numbers may respond. After a few years, however, what becomes of all these people? Consider all the campaigns that have been held these past thirty years. Where are those who were supposedly saved in them? On the one hand, I rejoice in the Lord. On the other hand, I mourn. Where does the Lord have a way? Who are the people He can use? What people on this earth afford Him a way?
We must turn to the Lord and ask for His mercy. Even if our gospel preaching is adequate, our Bible teaching accurate, and our meetings scriptural, we still need to ask ourselves: Do we have the ultimate move of God among us?
There must be a good number, not just a few, who truly know how wonderful a person Christ is. He must be our life, and we must live Him. We must be filled and permeated and saturated with Him. Our entire being must be infused with His feelings, His thoughts, and whatever He is. We must grow in life by being transformed little by little by His flowing life within us. Then we can be built up with our fellow believers. In our locality there will be a lampstand. The bride will be prepared for Him to come back. It is this that the Lord is after today. I call it the fourth step.
For the first step, the spread of the gospel, God prepared the Roman Empire. For the second step, the return to the Bible, God prepared Germany. For the third step, the recovery of the gospel, the teaching of the Bible, and the proper meetings—God in the last two centuries used Great Britain. Finally, for the fourth step God has prepared the United States. All the big points of human history match God’s move on the earth. Actually, all the major events of human history were prepared by God for His move on this earth.
The continent of North America was created by God along with all the other continents. Yet it was concealed from the majority of mankind for thousands of years. God preserved it until His time was ripe. Then it was found by a new people, many of whom were God-loving and Bible-loving. These new, freethinking people founded a new nation. Surely these were not accidental events. Surely they did not happen without any meaning. The times have been appointed by God; the boundaries have been drawn by Him. The location of the United States, between two large oceans and in the temperate zone, is ideal. It is rich in natural resources.
We are here not by accident. Whether we were born here or came here because of circumstances, our being here is by God’s sovereign arrangement. When I was young, my family had considerable contact with American missionaries. We were quite Westernized. From my youth I loved America. But I had no thought of ever coming to this country. Nor did Brother Watchman Nee. Before 1950 none of us thought that our work would be in the Western world. We thought that China was the field God had appointed to us. But God thought differently. He sovereignly brought the recovery to this country.
Some thirty-two years have passed since the recovery first went to Taiwan and then spread to the United States and the rest of the Western world. I have been observing the Christian publications these years. In the Chinese-speaking world hardly one book of spiritual weight has come out during this period. How about in Europe and in America? It is difficult to name one book with light and spiritual weight that has come out, like the ones that were published in the previous century.
One day in 1936 we were at a brother’s house in Tientsin for lunch. Our work was being opposed, and Brother Nee was the target of their attack. At the dining table Brother Nee turned to me and said, “Witness, these people are opposing us, yet they still use our publications. I am going to stop our publications for a time. Let’s see what other Christian groups will produce.” And he did. In the years 1936 through 1938 there were nearly no publications by us. And in those few years no spiritual writings by others came out either.
According to the present development of the world situation, the Lord will further isolate Gog and Magog (Russia). The Middle East is still a problem, but I believe that in time the situation there also will result in the increased isolation of Russia. Russia’s isolation will help the United States stay on top so that the world will be kept peaceful and free. For what? Not for the first century’s spread of the gospel. Not for the sixteenth century’s Reformation. Not for the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries’ Bible teaching and scriptural meetings. No! Rather, it is for the central vision of the apostle Paul’s completing ministry.
It is my earnest expectation that many saints will be burdened for this. Many, I hope, would be ready for the Lord’s leading to go to other countries. Some may go to Athens, others to Jerusalem, others to Vienna and elsewhere, in order to spread the Lord’s up-to-date, ultimate move on this earth.
You will notice that the Scripture Reading at the beginning of this chapter is from all four Gospels. Matthew says, “All authority has been given to Me...Go therefore and disciple all the nations” (28:18-19). Matthew is for the kingdom, to disciple people to be citizens of the heavenly kingdom. Mark says, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all the creation” (16:15). The gospel is to be preached to every creature. Luke says, “That repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations” (24:47). Here the preaching is of repentance and forgiveness of sins in His name. The Gospel of John does not mention the preaching of the gospel. It says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit” (15:16). It is not a matter of preaching but a matter of living to produce some fruit.
After the four Gospels, there is the fifth book, Acts. Acts 1:8 says, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses.” What is a witness? It is not just a preacher or an evangelist. It is the same word in Greek as martyr. A witness is a person bearing a testimony. The witness is the person; the testimony is the thing testified. On the day of Pentecost Peter and the others were not preachers so much as witnesses bearing the testimony. They were living persons, bearing the testimony of the One who had been incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and then had ascended and descended and who was still moving on this earth through His Body. They bore testimony to this person. Their testimony was the gospel. It was not like the shallow gospel preached today: “You are a sinner. You deserve to go to hell. But God loves you. He sent His Son to be your Savior. If you believe in Him, His blood will cleanse you from your sins, you will be forgiven, and you will go to heaven.” This is the preaching of a shallow gospel, not the testimony borne by a witness. We are witnesses.
Then in the last book of the Bible, John, who had been there at Pentecost with Peter, said he was exiled “because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 1:9). What is this testimony? The testimony of Jesus is just the golden lampstand. John “testified the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ” (v. 2). We need to connect verse 2 with verse 12: “I turned to see the voice that spoke with me; and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.” These lampstands were the testimony of Jesus. They were the churches (v. 20). Every church must be a golden lampstand, not merely an assembly of Christians meeting together in the name of Jesus. They must live Christ. They must become parts of Christ and have Christ become them. When they are gathered in a locality, they are a shining golden lampstand. This is the preparation of the bride.
Finally, there is Revelation 19:7: “Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” This is the last step, the ultimate move for God’s desire. It is not just to have good gospel preaching, good Bible teaching, and good scriptural meetings. It is rather that we have the reality of the two mysteries, Christ as the mystery of God (Col. 2:2) and the church as the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4).
God has surely prepared the United States for this very purpose. He is sovereignly ruling over the world situation. He has brought us to this country and supplied us so that we may go out with His Word, spreading His ultimate move, that His eternal intention may be carried out.
Have I made this clear to you? When you meet the Lord, will you have any excuse that you did not understand? The Lord’s recovery is not just a common piece of Christian work. Surely the Lord has shown us something of His ultimate move on this earth. You must bring what you have heard to the Lord and pray. You must fellowship with your wife or husband and with others who are close to you again and again.
In many aspects Israel is ready for the Lord’s coming back, but the church cannot yet match Israel. The world situation is all prepared, under the control of God’s sovereign hand. He has made the United States the central and most convenient country, and He has placed us here. If you are keeping up to date with what is going on today on this earth, you will realize that God is controlling the entire world under the leadership of the United States for the spreading of His recovery.
You should not be here just to make a living. That is too low. Be burdened with God’s ultimate move. Then you will see God’s oneness with you, and there will be no problem with your living. I do not use the Old Testament term, that you will have God’s blessing. I say that you will see God’s oneness with you, because you are one with Him.
The time is short; the end is close. If you know world history and the trend of history, you will realize that it is unlikely God would prepare another country to be a power in this world for Him to take yet another step. I believe that America is the last power God will use for His final move. This fourth step, His final move, is the carrying out of His eternal intention to have a number of His seekers, His lovers, live Christ and be the lampstand in their locality, that He may prepare His bride.
