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Scripture Reading: 2 Tim. 3:15-16; Acts 8:27-37; Heb. 5:11-12; 9:1-10; 2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Pet. 3:15-16
In chapter 1 we saw the recent changes in the world situation and the need of an appropriate direction for the Lord’s move in His recovery today. In this chapter we want to see the need of the spreading of the divine truths for the Lord’s recovery and restoration. I hope that our hearts would be touched through this fellowship.
Some Christians may refer to the need of the spreading of the gospel, but in this chapter I want to stress the divine truths. The Bible unveils to us not only the gospel in a narrow sense but also the entire divine revelation. Actually, the gospel includes all the divine truths. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are called the four Gospels. They cover many things that are altogether neglected and missed in today’s Christianity. When I say “the divine truths,” I am referring to the New Testament economy of God, which is the gospel.
Paul called his entire sixteen-chapter Epistle to the Romans “the gospel of God” (1:1). The gospel of God in Romans does not include merely the truth concerning justification by faith in the first four chapters. It also includes the Body of Christ in chapter 12 and the local churches in chapter 16. Even the local churches are included in the gospel. Without the church, where is the gospel? According to my experience, the gospel would be very deficient and poor without the church. Actually, the entire New Testament is the gospel, from the first page of Matthew through the last page of Revelation. The New Testament as the gospel is typified by the Old Testament. Thus, we may say that the gospel actually includes the entire Bible.
God has spoken in the Bible, and He is still speaking today. The Bible is a record of God’s speaking in the past, but God has not stopped speaking. He is still speaking today in His Son (Heb. 1:2), and His Son is speaking in His servants, the members of His Body (cf. 2 Cor. 13:3). His speaking in His servants is God’s gospel, which includes all the divine truths.
God does everything by speaking. Genesis 1 shows that God’s speaking is His work. God said, “Let there be light; and there was light” (v. 3). Speaking is God’s work. In John 5:25 the Lord said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, An hour is coming, and it is now, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” This refers to those who are dead in spirit, according to Ephesians 2:1 and 5 and Colossians 2:13. Hence, to live in this verse means to be alive in spirit. This shows that even salvation is carried out by God’s speaking.
Our preaching comes from God’s speaking. For Him to speak we do not preach our word but His word. When He spoke in Genesis, the old creation came into being. When He speaks now, the new creation, the believers in Christ, comes into being. Hebrews 1:1 says that God has spoken. Furthermore, God is still speaking in every member of the Body of Christ. Every member of the Body is a mouthpiece through whom God can speak. This is why 1 Corinthians 14:31 says that we can all prophesy. The word all in this verse includes the sisters also (11:5; Acts 2:17-18). As members of the Body of Christ, all of us can speak for the Lord and should speak for the Lord. The Lord’s recovery spreads through those who speak for Him. In the early 1960s the Lord’s recovery came to the United States through the divine speaking.
God has surely spoken in the Bible. The greatest thing produced among mankind is the Bible. Although God has spoken in the Bible, man does not understand what He has spoken. About thirty years ago, when I came to the United States, I began to speak about the human spirit. Wherever I spoke concerning this, people told me that they had never heard that they had a spirit. God has spoken in the Bible that He created a spirit for man. Zechariah 12:1 says that the Lord stretched forth the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him. Man’s spirit is as important for God as the heavens and the earth. The heavens, the earth, and man are three important items in this universe, and the most crucial thing within man is man’s spirit. Second Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit.” This is a verse in the Bible, but who understands it? Years ago many people told me that if I had not spoken about the human spirit, they would have never known that they have a spirit within them. First Thessalonians 5:23 strongly shows that man is of three parts: spirit, soul, and body. However, not many teach the revelation of the tripartite man.
We have spoken much concerning God’s economy. The word economy is the Greek word oikonomia anglicized, which has been translated as “dispensation” or “stewardship” in the New Testament. In the book of Ephesians this Greek word is used three times—in 1:10; 3:2; and 3:9. But outside the Lord’s recovery, who has taught, preached, or expounded the Bible on the truth of God’s economy? People may teach husbands to love their wives, and wives to submit to their husbands, but who knows what God’s economy and God’s dispensing are? This again shows that God has spoken in the Bible, but there is not much understanding of what God has spoken.
Many Christians know from the Bible that God is the unique God who created the universe and man. They know that men became fallen sinners. Therefore, God so loved the world that He sent His Son to save us through His death on the cross. He shed His blood, and we are redeemed. However, who knows why we have been redeemed? Many think that we have been redeemed to go to heaven. Very few know the purpose of our redemption according to the divine revelation in the Bible.
Even the word church, a translation of the Greek word ekklesia, has been misunderstood. Many think that the church is a building with a high tower. Some teach people that since they are children of God, they should behave themselves so that they can please God, glorify God, and make God happy. If they do this, they will go to heaven. Otherwise, they will suffer perdition. This teaching is absolutely false and unscriptural. Others in Christianity teach positive thinking. They proclaim that positive thinking will make people rich. There are also many teachings today concerning how to have a successful marriage.
I am sharing these things to illustrate the lack of the divine truths today in Christianity. I am so burdened to see the truths of the Lord’s recovery spread to the whole earth. Much of what is spoken in today’s Christianity is superficial and even superstitious. Millions of copies of the Bible have been sold, but who knows adequately what the Bible speaks in its proper sense? John 4:24 says that God is Spirit and that those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness. However, who knows what it means to worship in spirit and truthfulness? God has spoken in the Bible, but who really understands what He has spoken?
Now we need to see the steps the Lord has taken to give us the divine truths. First, we have the divine revelation in the holy writings—the writings of the Holy Bible (2 Tim. 3:16). The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was written in Greek.
In order to have the divine truths, there needs to be the translation of the holy writings. God has spoken in Hebrew and Greek, but what He has spoken needs to be properly translated. Even the Old Testament used by the Lord Jesus in His speaking to the people was not in the original language but was a Greek translation, the Septuagint version. This version was a translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek, completed about three hundred years before Christ was born. It was translated by seventy Jewish scholars, and the Lord Jesus and early apostles quoted from it a number of times. The translation of the holy writings is a great thing. Without the translation of the Bible into many languages, most people would not be able to read it.
In addition to the translation of the holy writings, there needs to be the interpretation of the holy writings (Acts 8:27-37; Heb. 5:11-12; 9:1-10, especially v. 5; 2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Pet. 3:15-16). For example, who can explain what it means in Daniel 11:32 for the people who know their God to show strength and take action? This word refers to the Jewish heroes, who were known as the Maccabees. They defeated Antiochus Epiphanes, who was the first type of the coming Antichrist. The word in Daniel 11:32 was spoken to the Maccabees, encouraging them to defeat Antiochus, to show strength and take action.
There is a story in Acts 8 of Philip’s encounter with an Ethiopian eunuch that illustrates the need of the interpretation of the Word. This eunuch had come to worship in Jerusalem and was returning to Ethiopia. He was reading Isaiah 53 when Philip approached his chariot. When Philip heard him reading, he asked, “Do you really know the things that you are reading?” (Acts 8:30). Then the eunuch said, “How could I unless someone guides me?” (v. 31). To some, Isaiah 53 may be easy to understand, but to that eunuch it was difficult. This shows that without the interpretation and exposition of the Bible, people cannot understand it.
Some have said that they do not need the Life-studies and that they just read the pure Bible. But if people merely read the Bible without the proper exposition of the Bible, they will not be able to understand it in many portions. Paul says in Hebrews that he had much to say concerning Melchizedek as a type of Christ but that this was hard to explain because the Hebrews had become dull of hearing. He told the Hebrews that they should have been teachers by that time, but they were still infants in understanding the holy Word (5:10-13).
In Hebrews 9 Paul speaks of the first tabernacle, the Holy Place, and the second tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, as symbols of two covenants. The first tabernacle, the Holy Place, signifies the old covenant as a type (vv. 1-2, 6, 8-10), and the second tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, signifies the new covenant as a reality (vv. 3-5, 7-8, 10-12). In verse 9 Paul says that the first tabernacle mentioned in verse 8 is a figure, a type, for the present time, which is the New Testament age. The first tabernacle, the Holy Place, is a symbol of the old covenant and, at the same time, it is also a type of the New Testament age. Without Paul’s guidance, how could we understand that the first tabernacle typifies the New Testament age? Even today not many people realize that the first tabernacle is a type of the New Testament age. (For more help concerning this truth, see Message 39 of the Life-study of Hebrews.)
There is a great amount of truth in the Lord’s recovery today. We have published Life-study messages on the entire twenty-seven books of the New Testament. This was completed by our having two annual trainings from 1974 to 1986. The Life-studies do not replace the Bible. Rather, they open the Bible, expound the Bible, and release the unsearchable riches in the Bible.
Recently, I was having a time with the Lord in the morning with the help of the publication we have entitled The Holy Word for Morning Revival. I was praying over Ephesians 6:23, which says, “Peace to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” I was asking myself what peace and love with faith mean. I forgot that I had written a footnote on this verse in the Recovery Version, so I read it. The footnote points out that faith is for receiving Christ (John 1:12), and love is for enjoying Christ (14:23). Then it says, “Here it is not faith and love nor love and faith, but love with faith...This is the conclusion of the book on the church. The church needs to enjoy Christ in love with faith, which operates through love (Gal. 5:6). Love comes from God to us; and faith goes from us to God. By means of this traffic of love and faith, peace remains our portion.” I received much help from reading this footnote on Ephesians 6:23. This shows that we need the interpretation and the exposition of the Word.
Since the holy writings have been translated and interpreted, we need the understanding of the holy writings. Hence, the learning of the divine truths by studying the translated and interpreted holy writings is necessary (2 Tim. 3:15). We need to pray, “Lord, open my ears so that I can hear, and open my eyes so that I can see.” Paul prayed in Ephesians 1 that the Lord would grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation (v. 17). A line in Hymns, #1255 says, “When we exercise our spirit, / Our vision is so clear.” In order to have the proper understanding of the translated and interpreted holy writings, we need to exercise our spirit. We need to contact God, praying to Him and humbling ourselves by saying, “Lord, I know nothing. I need You.” I can testify that when I come to the Word in this way, the light is there, and I understand it.
Many saints have purchased a complete set of the Life-studies of the New Testament. But some leave them on their bookshelf and do not get into them. We need to learn the divine truths by studying the interpreted holy writings. In these days the Lord needs some to go to Europe and Russia. Europe and Russia are suffering from a famine of the divine truths. If we mean business for the Lord’s recovery, we must study all the books we have published. In addition to the Life-studies of the New Testament, we have also published Life-studies on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Isaiah. Many of us can testify that after these books were expounded, they became new to us. We must learn the truths in these books by studying their proper interpretation.
We hope that many saints will emigrate to Europe according to what is recorded in Acts 8 when the disciples were scattered from Jerusalem while the apostles still remained there. I hope that many will go to Europe to teach the Bible. Some of the seeking ones in Europe have asked the brothers to send people to them to teach them the Bible. This is our burden.
We should not have the concept of going to Europe to have big meetings in the old way. The young people who are burdened to study in the universities there can talk to their classmates one by one about the truths concerning God’s economy, God’s dispensing, Christ, and the church. We will save and gain people in this way. Some may also go to Europe to take a job or do a business. One brother said that many of the houses in eastern Germany are very old and need remodeling. He said that one of the best businesses for the brothers from the United States would be to go there to remodel these homes. As the brothers are working there, they can contact people to gain them for the Lord’s recovery. The best way to prepare ourselves for going to Europe is by studying all the writings we have published to open up the holy Word. We need to learn the divine truths and then spread them to the whole earth.
There is a history of the writing and translation of the Bible, and there is also a history of the interpretation of the Bible.
After the Bible had been composed and completed, it began to be interpreted in the time of the church fathers. They began to open up the truth concerning the Divine Trinity and the person of Christ. Their study of Christ’s Person is referred to as Christology. By the fourth century there were many disputes concerning the person of Christ and the Divine Trinity. Constantine the Great, who was the emperor of Rome at the beginning of the fourth century, called a council at Nicaea in A.D. 325 to settle these disputes. Out of this council came the Nicene Creed.
By the end of the sixth century the Roman Catholic Church was established with the papacy. The Bible was locked up by the Roman Catholic Church. Only the Catholic clergy who knew Greek, Hebrew, and Latin had access to the Bible. This period of time when the Bible was locked up is referred to in history as the Dark Ages.
Eventually, the Lord used Martin Luther in the sixteenth century to unlock the Bible, to release the Bible from “prison.” The interpretation of the Bible advanced during this time of the Reformation with the recovery of the truth concerning justification by faith.
The British Brethren were raised up by the Lord in 1828 under the leadership of John Nelson Darby. He took the lead to open up the interpretation of the Bible. His Synopsis of the Books of the Bible is a great help to understanding the entire Bible. In his synopsis he opens up the principles of every book. There were also a number of other great teachers among the Brethren. During the early part of the nineteenth century, the light came to them like a flood. Many books full of the truth were published by them. The Lord’s move among the Brethren for the release of the biblical truths lasted about one hundred years.
The interpretation of the Bible advanced even more from the initiation of the Lord’s recovery among us until now. Once, Brother Nee told me that because Europe and America had been spoiled for the Lord’s move, that forced the Lord to go to China. Brother Nee said that China at that time was “virgin soil” for the truth. However, the missionaries who had gone to China never helped the people there to be clear about the assurance of salvation. The assurance of salvation is clearly revealed in the New Testament, but because most of the missionaries did not know this truth, they had no way of teaching it. The Lord gave Brother Watchman Nee a clear vision of the assurance of salvation, and many were revived by his messages on this truth. The assurance of salvation was then made very clear to the Chinese believers.
In 1935 Brother Nee held a conference in my hometown, Chefoo, to cover the victorious, overcoming life of Christ. Before that time we were not so clear about this truth. In 1940 Brother Nee opened up the truth concerning the Body of Christ and the practical life of the church. He called this the blueprint of the practicality of the local church. I brought that blueprint back with me to northern China. As a result, there was a great revival in the church in Chefoo at the end of 1942.
In about the last thirty years, what the Lord has shown to us is mainly God’s economy and God’s dispensing, which consummate in the New Jerusalem. It is difficult to find anything in Christian bookstores on the truth concerning the New Jerusalem. Some wrongly believe that the New Jerusalem is a material city with real golden streets. It is difficult to find some who have a biblical view of the holy city as the wife of Christ, as the mingling of the processed Triune God with the transformed tripartite man. Many years ago, Tersteegen, a German writer, wrote something about the New Jerusalem in a proper way. About sixty years ago, Brother T. Austin-Sparks wrote something concerning the New Jerusalem. Beginning from about thirty years ago, we began to see more and more concerning the holy city.
We have published many messages concerning the New Jerusalem. In these messages we cover many detailed points concerning the holy city as the consummation of the divine economy and the divine dispensing. I have to give the credit to Brother Nee for what has been revealed to us. I heard him say that the New Jerusalem will be the consummation of the church. This gave me the basis for understanding the New Jerusalem. When the church is completely perfected and established, that will be the New Jerusalem. It will first appear in the thousand-year kingdom on a small scale. Then it will appear in the new heaven and new earth on the fullest scale as the consummation of God’s saved people.
The interpretation of the Bible has been built up by the entire Body of Christ through the past nineteen centuries. We inherit all the interpretation of the past centuries and stand on the shoulders of the foregoing teachers. We have to thank the Lord for this. Furthermore, we have to thank the Lord that He has shown us more in the last few decades, such as the practical church life; the all-inclusive, life-giving, compound Spirit, even the seven Spirits; God’s economy; God’s dispensing; and the ultimate consummation of the church, that is, the New Jerusalem, the mingling of the processed Triune God with the transformed tripartite man for God’s eternal manifestation and expression.
Today there is the need of the spreading of the understood divine truths for the Lord’s recovery and restoration. We can borrow Romans 10:14-15 and say, “How shall people hear without one who spreads? How beautiful are the feet of those who spread the interpreted and understood divine truths!” If we have a burden to go to Europe, we must spend day and night to study the truths that we have published. Then we will know what the Lord’s recovery is, and we will have a real burden to go to Europe to teach people. The Lord charged us in Matthew 28:19 to go and disciple the nations. The Lord’s word here shows us that we should be burdened to go and teach all the nations.
There is the need of the spreading of the translated, interpreted, and understood truths for the Lord’s recovery and restoration. The Lord does everything by speaking. If there is no speaking of the Lord, there is no work of the Lord. There cannot be a recovery in Europe if there is not the speaking of the divine truths. Most of the millions of people in Europe are void of the knowledge of these divine truths.
The spreading of the divine truths will bring in the Lord’s restoration. According to Isaiah 11, the restoration will come because “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah, / As water covers the sea” (v. 9). We have to speak for the Lord to bring in this restoration. How shall people hear without one who spreads the divine truths? How beautiful are the feet of those who spread the interpreted and understood divine truths!
This is why we have to study these truths. Otherwise, we are not qualified to go to Europe. We should not go to speak to people in a superficial way. We may be able to speak John 3:16 to people: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.” However, if someone asks us what eternal life is, we may not be able to tell them. It is possible to give fifteen messages on John 3:16. The first message can be concerning who God is, the second message can be on love, and the third message can be on the world. Then we can tell people how God gave His Son. God did not drop His Son down from the heavens to the earth. He gave His Son through incarnation. Then another message can be given on the only begotten Son. More can be said about what it means to perish and what it is to have eternal life. Message after message can be given on John 3:16.
We are not going there to preach to people in the traditional way but to talk to them about all the divine truths. Through our speaking, some will be solidly saved. If we speak the deeper truths in John 3:16 to them, they will never forget this verse. May the Lord burden us to learn the divine truths and to spread them everywhere for His recovery and restoration.
