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Scripture Reading: Ezek. 1:15-16; Dan. 2:34-35
In this chapter we have the burden to see the world situation and the direction of the Lord’s move. This burden can be expressed in the following four statements:
Before March 1991 I had no thought about a new direction for the Lord’s move, but right after the war between the allies of the United Nations and Iraq, I received a deep impression. The recent war with Iraq was fought for only four days plus four hours, altogether one hundred hours. Right after that war I reconsidered the world situation. We have to consider what the Lord wants us to do in this present time. There is the need of an appropriate direction for the Lord’s move in His recovery today to match the recent changes in the world situation.
While we have been changing in recent years in order to practice the church life according to the God-ordained way, the world has also been changing. Because of the present situation in the world, there needs to be an appropriate direction for the Lord’s move in His recovery today. We should not think that the present changes in the world situation are meaningless. The Lord is not only the Creator of the universe but also the Ruler of the entire world.
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, learned this lesson. He came to know that he was not the ruler of the earth but that the unique God, the One in the heavens, is (Dan. 4:28-37). There is the rule of the heavens on earth. Whatever happens in the world situation must be something of the Lord. When we see the many changes in today’s world situation, we have to wake up. Our eyes need to be opened. We should exercise our spirit to say, “Lord, what do You mean in all these changes, and what concerns us in all these changes?”
There have been many great and recent changes in the world. It is a historical fact that the world situation has always been the indicator of the Lord’s move on earth. Some have said that the Bible is a history of the Jews. This understanding, however, is not entirely correct. It is correct to say that the history in the Bible is centered around Israel, but the Bible is not just a history of the Jews. The Bible is a history of God’s economy. Israel has been the center of the carrying out of God’s economy on earth. God is not interested merely in the history of the Jews. His interest is in His economy, which is being carried out by Him on earth. The carrying out of His economy has much to do with the world situation.
Genesis 10 gives a record of how the nations of the earth were divided after the flood (cf. v. 32). These nations were set up by ambitious persons, but they were not that prominent. One day, however, the Lord Himself established a nation, the nation of Israel. After Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, Joshua brought them into the good land. Then God used David to establish the nation of Israel by defeating the enemies, by building up the city of Jerusalem, and by preparing for the building up of the temple to be God’s house on earth. Later, after David’s son Solomon built the temple, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came to destroy the nation of Israel.
Daniel 2 records that Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, which Daniel interpreted. In that dream there was a great human image. The golden head of this image signifies Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian Empire. The breast and arms of silver signify the Medo-Persian Empire. The abdomen and thighs of bronze signify the Grecian Empire with Alexander the Great. The legs and feet of iron signify the Roman Empire. The feet of the image were partly of iron and partly of clay, signifying the nations in the period after the fall of Rome and before the second coming of Christ. This image shows the four great empires on earth with their governments. It is actually a prophetic illustration of the history of human government, sovereignly arranged by the Lord for the carrying out of His economy.
Just before the beginning of the New Testament age, Julius Caesar conquered the area of Palestine. Later, his adopted son, Augustus, became the first formal Caesar of the Roman Empire in 27 B.C. That empire was greatly used by God in the carrying out of His New Testament economy. It was under Augustus that Christ was born, and it was under the Roman Empire that Christ was crucified. Without the Roman Empire, Christ would have had no way to be born according to the prophetic details of the Old Testament. Furthermore, Christ would have had no way to die on the cross according to the details of the Old Testament prophecies. Christ’s birth and death took place through the means of the Roman Empire. When the Roman Empire was formed, that was an indicator that God was going to do something directly to accomplish His New Testament economy.
The Roman Empire also conquered the entire Mediterranean region, bringing all the nations around the Mediterranean Sea under its governmental control, and Greek became its common language. Furthermore, highways were built throughout the Roman Empire to make travel easier and safer. This was a preparation for the spreading of the gospel after Christ’s death and resurrection.
The history of the church also shows that the world situation is the indicator of the Lord’s move on earth. The Reformation with Martin Luther was greatly strengthened and helped by Germany. Later in world history, Spain became the prevailing world power. However, in the sixteenth century England was raised up to defeat the Spanish Armada. This limited the spread of Catholicism and gave a way for the truth of the gospel to be propagated. Under England’s influence the gospel was spread all over the earth.
Today the Lord needs the truths of His recovery to be spread to the whole earth. America, the last great territory on earth, discovered by Columbus, is being used by the Lord for His recovery. This is also under the Lord’s sovereignty for the carrying out of His New Testament economy. In order to see more details concerning the relationship between the world situation and the direction of the Lord’s move, I would recommend that you read the book entitled The World Situation and God’s Move. In this book I mentioned that the Lord’s recovery is His ultimate move and that the United States will be the ultimate power on earth used by the Lord to carry out His move.
I have been observing the world situation since the end of the First World War. I have spent my lifetime studying the Bible with the help of history. I began to minister for the Lord’s recovery in the United States in 1962. At that time I pointed out three things to a number of the brothers concerning the world situation. First, I told the brothers that the center of world activity in the West would eventually turn to the area of the Pacific. In the past, Western culture was centered around the Mediterranean. After Columbus’s discovery of America, it spread to the Atlantic. I told the brothers that in the future it would spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Second, I mentioned to the brothers that eventually California would become the main state in the United States. At that time New York was the most important state, the Empire State. Third, I told them that the financial activity would gradually turn from being centered on the East Coast to being focused on the West Coast. I told the brothers these three things twenty-nine years ago, and they have all come to pass.
Recently, The Los Angeles Times had an article speaking about how the major activity of the world has turned from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This article gave many statistics to prove this point. Specifically, it pointed out the tremendous amount of trade there is between the Far East and the United States. It stated that the trade between the Far East and the United States is fifty percent more than the trade between the United States and the countries across the Atlantic. The United States is the ultimate power on earth for the fulfillment of God’s economy. Today we are in the final stages of the Lord’s recovery for the carrying out of His New Testament economy.
The greatest revelation in Ezekiel 1 is the wheel within the wheel (vv. 15-16). The book we have published entitled The Visions of Ezekiel covers this revelation (see chapter 6). A wheel is something for moving. The Lord’s move and our move are both signified by a wheel. The wheel within the wheel is the Lord’s move in our move. When God’s people move, God moves. If God’s people do not move, God has no way to move.
Our eyes need to be opened to see the present situation of the world. Today Europe has been formed into one situation. A tunnel across the English Channel from England to France has recently been cut through. England and France are both members of the European Common Market. The European Common Market is composed of twelve countries, and these countries will eventually have a common currency. Furthermore, the people of these countries will eventually have a common passport, making travel among these countries so easy.
The Bible prophesies that ten kingdoms will be joined together under the Antichrist in the revived Roman Empire in Europe (Rev. 17:12). The Common Market is very similar to that coming kingdom. These nations in the European Common Market will also have a common language. This language will probably be English.
The countries of Europe have been joined together into one situation, leaving Russia out. In today’s world, Russia has been formed into one situation.
The Arab countries have also been formed into one situation against Israel. God’s heart is for building up Israel, but the plot of the Arab countries is to destroy it. Through the recent war involving Iraq in the Middle East, Israel has been profited, and the opposing Arab countries have been put down. The result of the four-day, four-hour war was that Israel gained the benefit. The United States protected Israel, even begged Israel not to fight, and told Israel that they would do the fighting. This situation is unique in human history.
The Far East countries have also been formed into one situation. The countries of Taiwan, Japan, and Korea are consumed with making money. Much of their money is made through their relationship with the United States.
The United States stands as a particular situation that is friendly with every situation, especially with Israel.
Now we need to point out the influential factors of the present situation of the world. Who runs the entire world today? First, the United States takes the lead in finance, politics, and the military. The weapons and the strategy used by the United States in the war with Iraq were all new. After this four-day, four-hour war, the whole world was convinced and subdued by the United States. Russia has been the second super power, competing with the United States. But today Russia is in a terrible economic crisis, and now they are begging for financial help to buy their food.
Europe is the second influential factor of the world’s present situation. Europe cooperates with the United States in finance, politics, and the military. England especially takes the lead to cooperate with the United States in everything.
The Far East is the third influential factor. The nations of the Far East cooperate with the United States mainly in finance. Japan especially has made much money in its economic relationship with the United States. Taiwan and Korea have also profited greatly in this way. Taiwan, mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the overseas Chinese may be considered as “five Chinas.” The people in these areas are mainly concerned with prospering in finance.
The Lord’s recovery among us was initiated through Brother Nee approximately seventy years ago. Also, the Russian revolution to bring in communism began approximately seventy years ago. The czarist rule in Russia was replaced by communism under Lenin. Around the same time, the first local church in China was established in Brother Nee’s hometown. Today communism has been proven a failure, but the recovery of the practical church life is still prevailing. The Lord initiated His recovery among us in the Far East, and it is still growing there.
In the early 1960s the recovery was brought to the Western world and into the English language. It has been brought to and rooted in the United States for growth. Through the English language in the past twenty-nine years, the Lord’s recovery has spread to every inhabited continent. The entire world is open to the Lord’s recovery today in the matter of the divine truth in the Bible because people are hungry for the divine truth.
Recently, a group of brothers traveled to Eastern Europe and Russia, and they have testified of the openness and immense hunger of the people there for the divine truth. They visited one city in eastern Germany where they found a meeting of a group of about six hundred Russians who had migrated there. These Russians spoke to the brothers about six books that are being published in Russian. Two are by Brother Nee—The Normal Christian Life and The Spiritual Man. Four are by me—The Experience of Life, The Knowledge of Life, The Economy of God, and God’s New Testament Economy. They told the brothers that they could distribute one million copies of each of the six books in a quick way if they were available. This shows the hunger of the people there for the truth. At this point I would like to ask one of the brothers who traveled to Eastern Europe to give a testimony of what he saw there.
Testimony: I had the privilege of spending ten days both in Switzerland and Germany, especially in the eastern part of Germany. Since the Second World War, eastern Germany has basically been closed off to Western influence of any kind. We felt that it was really a preserved area. The Communist system got rid of everything that was not real in the way of religion. Anyone who had anything in them for God really paid a price to maintain that and to meet with Christians.
Our goal in going was especially to see the situation in the universities. We spent three days on three campuses. These campuses were in Leipzig and Berlin. We found that, especially in the eastern area of Berlin that has been basically untouched by Western influence, the young people were preserved and were very open to anything that we said. Some of them had never seen an American. During these three days, we spent our time going to the college cafeterias to meet the students. The students would sit with us, and we would speak the truth of the gospel to them.
It is not a small thing to be a university student there. From the time that these students are young, they are raised up knowing that they are going to the university, and this is all that they have in mind. The young people in the universities are of the highest caliber. They are very serious, and they see a bright future ahead of them. They are eager to hear everything from the West.
The first group of students to whom I talked happened to be English majors. Although we could communicate by using The Mystery of Human Life [a gospel booklet] in German, they followed more closely by using the English that they had learned in school. I began to show them how man was made in three parts. For the first time their eyes were beholding the diagram of the three circles illustrating the tripartite man, and they saw how they were created with a human spirit to contain God. I shared with them the diagram of the processed Triune God entering into the tripartite man, and they were completely focused on this. At one point, one girl said, “You have to tell us more about the Bible. We don’t know anything about the Bible.” This describes the kind of atmosphere that was there with many of the ones to whom we spoke. A number in Leipzig prayed with us right there in the cafeteria. We plan on continuing the contact with them.
Leipzig was a special situation because there was very little Western influence there. We asked the students about some from the West coming there to study. They told us that they hardly ever heard of such a thing. Even some of the administrators wondered why anyone would want to come there to study. In the recent year the university we visited in Leipzig lost many students who immediately took the opportunity to study in the West. Again, I want to say that we felt this was a very preserved situation for the Lord’s move there.
When we were in Berlin, we saw that there was more of a Western influence. Among the ones we contacted, we saw more religion and philosophy. But overall we felt that the basic need was for laborers. If some would be there speaking the truth as we did in the short time we were there, the Lord could really gain something. Several of the ones we spoke with said that they were raised as atheists. They did not know anything about God, and they had never had a Bible. To them, all the Bible truths are brand new.
While we were there, we contacted only one person who was involved in any Christian activity. One of the students we spoke to was carrying a simple gospel tract that he had obtained, but nobody had ever led him to the Lord. A seed had been planted in him, but it had never been reaped. The brothers asked him to pray with them. He was open, and he prayed with them to receive the Lord.
There was very little trace of Christian activity in the places we visited. One thing that we really saw was the spiritual and material void left by communism. Because everything had belonged to the state, there was no motivation in the people to maintain anything. There is an atmosphere in which there is not much to live for physically, and there is a void inwardly. The students we spoke to desired to know the truth, and they wanted to know about God.
Through our contact with those in Leipzig, about eight received the Lord. In Berlin the brothers contacted a Russian-speaking woman who was baptized. She was our first fruit from eastern Berlin. She prayed with the brothers to receive the Lord, and then she invited them to her home that night for dinner. They baptized her that evening. This was a real confirmation of the openness there.
The above testimony is a confirmation of the open door in Europe for the Lord’s move. We have also received word that many of the people in Eastern Europe and Russia will accept only the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. They said that if we sent them millions of copies of our writings, they would distribute them. There is a famine of truth in that part of the world. Some of the people there have even begged the brothers to send people to teach them the Bible.
In both the Far East and the United States, the Lord’s recovery is growing, but it is still in the stage of initiation in Europe. We should remember that the United States, Europe, and the Far East are the three influential factors of the present situation of the world. The recovery has taken root in the United States and the Far East, but there is a void in Europe. For this reason the Lord’s direction of His present recovery must be toward Europe. The recovery in Europe is still in the stage of initiation.
Now we want to see the importance of Europe in two things. First, Europe, in its geographical location, in its people, in its culture in history, and in its capacity in ability, is crucial to the present situation of the world.
Further, Europe, in the consummation of the fulfillment of the vision concerning the great human image in Daniel 2, is also more vitally crucial than any other country and race— the crushing of the two feet of the great human image will be the crushing of the entire human government (vv. 34-35). We have already pointed out what this great human image prophetically typifies. The periods of history signified by the head, the breast and the arms, the abdomen and the thighs, and the legs have been fulfilled. But the ten toes have not been fulfilled. According to Revelation 17:12, ten kings will be raised up before the great tribulation in the revived Roman Empire. They will be one with Antichrist in opposing God and persecuting His people—the Jews and the believers. These ten kings are likened to the ten toes of the great image seen by Nebuchadnezzar in his dream (Dan. 2:42). They will submit themselves and their kingdom to Antichrist (Rev. 17:17).
Western culture is composed of Hebrew religion, Greek philosophy, and Roman politics. Roman politics is carrying on Western culture, and the Bible prophesies that the Roman Empire will be revived. The ten kings typified by the ten toes of the great image in Daniel 2 will be under Antichrist, who will be the last Caesar of the Roman Empire (see Rev. 17:10-11 with footnotes, Recovery Version). All of this will transpire in Europe.
When the Lord comes to crush human government, He will crush the feet with the ten toes. This will be the crushing of the entire image from the head to the feet. Daniel 2:34-35 says, “You were watching until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the image at its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed all at once, and they became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” Christ is the great stone who will crush the two feet of the great image, which will be the crushing of the entire human image, the entire human government.
We need to see this as a basis to understand the Lord’s mind. Before this crushing transpires, the Lord’s recovery must spread to Europe and be rooted there. The spreading of the truths of the Lord’s recovery will be a preparation for the Lord’s coming back to bring the recovery and restoration not only to Israel but also to the entire creation.
Of the three influential factors in today’s world, the Far East and the United States have been occupied and taken by the Lord’s recovery. Europe still remains as a region in which the Lord’s recovery needs to be rooted and grow. I hope that we would bring this fellowship to the Lord and pray. We should tell the Lord, “Lord, these days are the consummation of the age. Lord, in these days rekindle my love toward You.”
