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Scripture Reading: John 15:5, 16a; Acts 1:8; 1 Cor. 2:1-2; 6:17; Phil. 1:20-21a; Eph. 4:4a; Col. 3:10-11; Rev. 1:2, 11-12; 19:7-8
In previous chapters we have seen God’s ultimate move, God’s ultimate recovery, and the world’s ultimate situation. Now we have to realize our responsibility related to these three things. My burden is not to talk about politics but to show you that since God has a purpose to accomplish on this earth with mankind, He surely has the sovereign authority and power to arrange the situations in human history. I do not believe that many of the professors who teach world history know the significance in human history. Most of them have only the knowledge according to the world’s knowledge. Surely not many have any concept that the world situation has so much to do with God’s move.
Actually, the world situation is under the arrangement of God. It is God who appointed the times for a certain race to do this or to be there. It is God who made the borders of all the different nations (Acts 17:26). It is God who raised up kings and who put down nations. This is clear not only from the Bible but also from the historical facts.
When I studied world history in college, our textbook covered the subject only until about 1920. It was published before 1925. As I have mentioned, I have been observing the world situation since 1925. My knowledge has come not from textbooks but from magazines, newspapers, and my own observation. For example, in September 1939 my brother came to ask me about the exchange rate and other matters that suddenly became problems to him in the export business he was in. What caused these hardships? Hitler had invaded Poland, causing the outbreak of World War II. The export business, of course, is much involved with the international situation. I mention this to illustrate how aware we were of world affairs. I have followed the world situation all these fifty-six years not because of my personal interest but for the Lord’s interests.
From our youth we studied not only the Bible but also the history of the church and the biographies and writings of the spiritual seekers of the past. Then we came to realize that we also needed to know the world situation. Otherwise, we would still be partially in darkness. Most of the other co-workers and myself, under the leading of Brother Watchman Nee, studied these matters. He read books that I did not read, yet he conversed with me on many occasions about the facts of church history. We knew the writings of the church fathers and the great teachers who came later. Doctrinally and theologically, we learned what went on from the time of the apostle Paul down to the present age.
It is clear that the Soviet Union is facing serious problems today, while the United States is trying to keep peace for the whole world. In the world today, what country is taking the lead? Who keeps the order and maintains the peace? What country is the geographic center? Who is on top financially, industrially, educationally, and culturally? It is the United States. Who brought this about? God did it. This is altogether God’s doing. As lovers of God and seekers of the Lord, and as those in the recovery, we worship the Lord for such a country.
This is not to say that the United States has no sin. Just look at the sinfulness in the one city of San Francisco, not to mention Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. I do not mean that the United States is pure or moral. What I mean is that there is no other country where there is such freedom of speech. I believe this freedom has been arranged by God for us to be here to release the truth without restriction or fear. No other country is like it.
The United States is extraordinary. Its people have the highest education and culture. Because of this, they can understand what I am saying. If I were speaking to a primitive, backward people, I doubt that they would be able to apprehend what I was saying. Here it is easy. We have the freedom and boldness to utter whatever the Lord has shown us.
I thank the Lord that He preserved this continent for fifty-five hundred years. Then He sent cultured, godly people to found this nation. Now it is the leading country. All of this is the Lord’s sovereignty.
From the spiritual heavenly point of view, human history has seven stages, with the present stage being the last, that is, before the millennium. The first is the primitive stage, from Adam to Abraham. The second is the formation of the kingdom of Israel as God’s kingdom on earth. This stage lasted from Abraham to Solomon. The third stage is the desolation of the kingdom of Israel. The kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece under Alexander the Great desolated Israel. This was God’s judgment on His degraded people.
The fourth stage is the Roman Empire. It also desolated Israel to some extent, but not as much as the others, at least, not until A.D. 70, when Titus destroyed Jerusalem. Josephus describes how terrible that destruction was. The Roman Empire was prepared and used by God for the accomplishment of redemption and for the spread of the good news around the Mediterranean Sea. In the centuries that followed, however, the Roman Empire brought in the Roman Church, which ruined the gospel and ushered in ten centuries of the Dark Ages.
The fifth stage is the Reformation. It extends from the time of Martin Luther down to the last century. During this stage many new things came in that changed human history. There was the discovery and settlement of the new land. There was the reformation of the so-called Christian church. Germany was the power used by God during this stage.
The sixth stage is the furtherance of the gospel preaching and the Word of God. This was accomplished by God under the power of Great Britain. Spain was defeated, and Britain was used to maintain order on the earth so that the gospel could be preached worldwide and the truth could be brought to every corner of the globe. Now the Bible has been translated at least in part into most languages. So the Word of God, like the gospel, has been spreading to every part of the earth. This is the Lord’s doing.
Is this all? Is this sixth stage the final one? If so, what does the Lord gain? The central vision of the apostle Paul’s completing ministry has not been adequately touched, nor has the mending ministry of John. Few Christian teachers even know the term, the mending ministry. The inner-life people know a little of Paul’s completing ministry, but what they have touched mainly concerns Christ, His death, and the resurrection. They have not seen much concerning the all-inclusive and all-extensive Christ in Philippians and Colossians. They have little to say concerning the Body of Christ. As for John’s mending ministry, what is ministered is mostly in a superficial way. Many do not know in a clear way what regeneration is. Today we are in the seventh, or final, stage, when the Lord would recover the completing ministry of Paul and the mending ministry of John.
Furthermore, we need to realize at least five main aspects concerning the church. First of all, it is a gathering or assembly of the saints. In the last century the Brethren saw this and gave up the denominations, organizations, chapels, and cathedrals to come back to the Bible to meet in the name of the Lord Jesus. They have recovered the aspect of the church as an assembly. This, however, is still too shallow.
The church is also the Body of Christ, the new man, the lampstand, and the bride. Not many teachers have touched these four aspects adequately. Until these four aspects of the church are realized, both Paul’s completing ministry and John’s mending ministry cannot be fulfilled; thus, the Lord has still not accomplished His purpose and has no way to come back.
God’s purpose is not completed by gospel preaching, Bible teaching, and scriptural meetings alone. Without the nineteen books of Paul and John, there is no completion. Although Christians today have these nineteen books, they do not pay much attention to these two ministries.
Many may refer to Paul’s books, but few stress the completing ministry. What is Paul’s completing ministry? It is the mystery of God, which is Christ, and the mystery of Christ, which is the church. Most Bible readers have studied Paul’s Epistles and have seen these terms (Col. 2:2; Eph. 3:4), but they probably do not have much understanding of what they mean.
John’s mending ministry presents the church as a lampstand (Rev. 1:11-12). Christians today speak little concerning this aspect of the church. The lampstand portrays the church as the embodiment of the Triune God. Its golden nature signifies the Father as the source. Its shape signifies the Son as the embodiment of the Father. The seven lamps shining speak of the seven Spirits as the expression of the Triune God. The church as the lampstand, then, is the Triune God embodied and expressed in His redeemed people.
We have given many messages concerning these two ministries of Paul and John. As we have studied Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, what an all-inclusive and all-extensive Christ we have seen as the mystery of God! Many messages have been given on the church as the Body of Christ, the new man, the lampstand, and the bride.
Since 1969 by His mercy we have had many messages on the book of Revelation. We have had a thorough study of this book in every aspect. We have especially emphasized the seven Spirits, the lampstand, the testimony of Jesus, the eating of the tree of life, the building up of pillars in the temple of God, the promise of partaking of the tree of life, and the call to drink of the living water. As you can see from the notes in the Recovery Version, we have not neglected the ten horns and the other matters of prophecy either, although we did concentrate on the life side, the spiritual side.
Just a few days ago I came across an old book by A. T. Pierson. At the end of the last century he visited Philadelphia and, while there, gave a series of messages, which he called The New Acts of the Apostles. This is a good title, reminding us that the book of Acts does not really have only twenty-eight chapters. We are still in the continuation of Acts; by our time perhaps there are two hundred eighty chapters!
In this book Pierson says that God kept a continent veiled for five thousand years, rending the veil only when a reformed church with an unchained Bible was ready to enter it. This thought is quite similar to what we have pointed out in these chapters. But he adds, “and make it the theater of new gospel triumphs.” Our view differs from his in this. I do not believe that America was preserved only for new triumphs in gospel preaching. Those who came to the new continent already had access to the gospel. I believe this country was raised up by the Lord for the recovery. The status of the United States as the world’s leading nation is the world’s ultimate situation for the Lord’s ultimate recovery.
If the Bible has been nearly fully recovered, what about the present world situation? Do you believe that God will raise up yet another power after the United States? All the previous world powers were replaced. Babylon was overcome by Medo-Persia. Greece followed Medo-Persia as the leading world power. Then came the Roman Empire. Then the European nations gradually arose, with Germany, Spain, and Great Britain at different times being foremost. Now that the United States has come into the lead, it seems clear from the present world situation that it will not be replaced.
At the war of Armageddon there will be three military powers gathered. One will be from the west, Europe, under Antichrist. One will be from the north, Russia. The third will be from the rising of the sun. There is no hint of what the position of the United States will be. Do not think that Antichrist with his restored Roman Empire will replace the United States.
This country, symbolized by an eagle, is bordered by two oceans that separate it from other lands. In Daniel a ram symbolizes Medo-Persia (8:20), and a goat represents Greece (v. 21). As G. H. Pember relates, these are the ancient symbols of those countries. The ram has been found engraved on ancient Persian coins and sculptures. The goat is depicted on old coins from Macedonia; the waters to the east of it were called the Aegean, meaning “Goat Sea.”
Today there are a number of small countries around the Mediterranean Sea, besides the other countries in Europe. It may be that the peoples in these small, independent nations would like to have a strong leader unite them and thus rescue them from their weak position. Antichrist may take the chance to rise up and unite these countries, thus restoring the old Roman Empire. But this new empire will not replace the United States, nor will it defeat Russia. It will also not defeat the two hundred million horsemen from the rising of the sun (Rev. 9:16). Since Antichrist with his restored Roman Empire will not defeat Russia, nor the east, neither will he be able to replace the United States. Thus, there will be four sources of power. Three will go to Armageddon in order to get the wealth there. Probably the wealth will come from the oil.
Under God’s sovereignty the gospel has been preached to every corner of the earth. The Bible prophesied that this would happen, and it has. The Bible has been taught in every country. And God did gain some proper meetings even a hundred fifty years ago. Even though God has gained this much, however, He has never gained the central line of His purpose, that is, Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ. This church as the mystery of Christ must be the Body, not just the assembly. It must be the new man. It must be the lampstand. It must be the bride.
What is our responsibility? We must look to the Lord to show us the central vision of Paul’s completing ministry and of John’s mending ministry. What is the vision? It is the all-inclusive, extensive, subjective Christ, who is the life-giving Spirit as the consummate expression of the Triune God now that He has accomplished all the processes. We must see Christ as such a One. We must live such a Christ. He must be our life. He must be our living. He must be our daily family life. He must be our church life.
We have the example of Paul. When he went to the cultured Greek city of Corinth, he determined not to go with excellence of speech. Just because of its high culture, he would not use eloquent words of wisdom. “I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1-4). His word to the Corinthians was that they as believers were joined to the Lord as one spirit (6:17). To the Philippians he said, “To me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). It was his expectation and hope that Christ would be magnified in his body “whether through life or through death” (v. 20).
I am afraid that what you may be impressed with is gospel preaching, Bible teaching, and good meetings. You may not have much realization of this all-inclusive Christ. Our responsibility is to live this Christ, to bring this Christ wherever we go. To do this requires that we be fully in the spirit, that we live by the Spirit, and that we walk by the Spirit, even by the sevenfold intensified Spirit.
Those who live Christ, who live in the spirit, are the actual Body of Christ corporately. This Body is one (Eph. 4:4). They are also the new man in actuality, a new creation with a new living to express the Triune God.
What is our burden? What is our responsibility? We must not just preach the gospel. We must bear the testimony of Jesus, as Revelation says (1:2, 9). We must be witnesses to Him, as Acts 1:8 tells us. We must bring forth fruit by abiding in Him, as John 15:5 and 16 tell us. This is the proper preaching of the gospel. There is no need to use any gimmicks. We must lay our gimmicks aside, just as Paul determined not to use excellence of speech. Our responsibility is to live Christ, to bear a living witness to Him in our daily life, to know nothing but Christ, the all-inclusive One revealed in the completing ministry of Paul and the mending ministry of John.
Then, whenever we come together, we are one Body and the one new man. There is no discrimination, whatever our background is. Praise the Lord for such a country as the United States! The other countries are made up of people of one nationality. Germany, for example, is composed of Germans. The United States is the only country that comprises all different races and national backgrounds; that is why it is called a melting pot. Is it not sovereign of the Lord that there should be such a nation right in the center of the inhabited earth? How good for the new man! Here there cannot be Greek or Jew, black or white, Oriental or Westerner, “but Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3:11).
Our ultimate responsibility is to live Christ and to meet together in our locality in such a way that we may be the Body, the new man, the lampstand, and the bride. We meet in oneness. The Christ we live and preach is not divided. The Christ we testify is not divided. We live Him according to this view that we have of Him. We live the all-inclusive, extensive Christ who is now the life-giving Spirit as the ultimate expression of the Triune God after many processes. And we meet together according to locality as the church, the church which is not only an assembly but also the Body, the new man, the lampstand, and the bride. We also practice the genuine oneness in every locality—one Body, one Spirit, one city, one church. Such a living is our ultimate responsibility.
The spreading of the Lord’s recovery must be considered part of our ultimate responsibility. When the Lord was on earth, He sent the disciples out two by two. When the church testimony was spreading, Paul and Barnabas also went out by two. I believe this is a divine principle. Suppose some are burdened to go to other countries. How will they make a living? It will be hard in a new country. I believe, however, that the rest who remain here could pick up the burden to support them.
Those who go out by twos to foreign countries may mostly go to study, to attend school, and to learn the language. They can also contact people. Foreign students find it easy to contact other students and teachers. Out of these contacts they will be able to pass on Jesus Christ. There will be no need to be concerned about living expenses, because the saints here will support them. This will be easy to carry out, and it is the biblical way.
After a few years there could be a small testimony in many countries. The two in each place, as they are studying or working or just contacting people, could bring at least ten to the Lord. Then there would be twelve meeting together as a small lampstand. A lampstand is not big like a lighthouse; I believe the Bible uses the lampstand to signify the church in order to give the sense that the church does not have to be a big thing.
Suppose two brothers go with their wives to Athens, Greece. With four of them there, all studying and contacting other students, do you not believe that they can bring in at least ten within five years? Then there can be fourteen meeting there as the church in Athens. They will go there not like traditional missionaries but rather as the high-class witnesses to Jesus Christ. They will bring the high gospel to Athens. They will bring the deeper knowledge of the Bible. They will bring Christ. They will bring the testimony of Jesus, that is, the Body, the new man, the lampstand, and the bride.
I believe this may be the Lord’s way to prepare His bride (Rev. 19:7-8). Now that I have spoken to you, I have fulfilled my responsibility. Now the responsibility is yours. As you consider what you have read in these chapters on the world situation and the Lord’s recovery, what will you do? Will you simply stay where you are and make a good living? Will you be content with good meetings? Good meetings are enjoyable, yet would the Lord not lead you out? Be sober and alert that the Lord may grant you the proper guidance—whether to stay or to go, where to go, and the way to go. If He leads you to stay, how much responsibility should you bear for those who go out in His name for His recovery by faith to other countries? A move like this is living; it is the Lord’s move in His Body.
This is the ultimate responsibility that we must bear for the Lord’s ultimate recovery under the present ultimate world situation. We thank Him for this situation. We thank Him for the recovery. We thank Him for His grace, which will enable us to bear such a responsibility.
