In this message we come to the partners of Christ, to the corporate partnership. In Hebrews 1 and 2 we have seen that we have been constituted to be the brothers of the Firstborn Son of God, and, as the many brothers, we have been formed into the church. Taken as a whole, these two chapters reveal that God is the source and that out of Him have come the many brothers of the Firstborn Son of God who have been formed into the church. The church is simply the expression of God Himself in Christ. In the church we have God. In the church we also have the Son of God, God’s appointed Heir. In the church we also have the Captain of salvation, the Firstborn Son of God, and the Son of Man. In the church we have the many brothers of the Firstborn Son of God and the partners, the joint-heirs of the appointed Heir. All of these heirs are the partners of the unique Heir. The issue of all of this is a glorious expression of God. One day, in the New Jerusalem, this will fully come into being. There, in the New Jerusalem, we shall see the glorious expression of God in full. In the New Jerusalem there will be the throne of God with the Almighty God sitting upon it (Rev. 22:1). There in the New Jerusalem will be the Father, the Son as the Lamb, and the Spirit flowing as a river of water. The many brothers of the Firstborn and the many sons of God will also be there. In the New Jerusalem we shall see the Lord of all, the Captain, and the High Priest. That city will be the full expression of the glorious God. This is the glory, the rest, the good land, and the region into which we shall enter after we have crossed many rivers.
While I am speaking, I have a glorious vision in front of me. Oh, I have seen the church! In the church we not only have justification by faith, personal salvation, and forgiveness of sins — we have everything. The church life is a small focus through which we can see the whole picture of the New Jerusalem. Everything that will be in the New Jerusalem in a full way we have in the church today in a miniature way. I have the sensation that in these days we have entered into glory, into rest. This is a foretaste of the full taste that is coming. We are in the glory, in the good land. Christ is not only our God but also today’s Moses. He is a better, higher, and more excellent Moses. He is also our Aaron and our real Joshua, and we are His Calebs, His partners, comrades, and companions.
In Greek the word partners is the same word as partakers. The same Greek word has these two meanings. A partaker is absolutely different from a partner. I may be a partaker of my breakfast, meaning that I am one who enjoys breakfast, but I am a partner of a corporation, meaning that I am a joint-owner of that corporation. Because these two English words are the same word in Greek, the translators have had difficulty in rendering the correct meaning of the Greek word. The King James Version made a big mistake in Hebrews 3:14, translating it as “partakers of Christ.” But according to the context, here the Greek word should not be translated “partakers” but “partners.” The portion from 3:7 through 3:14 deals with entering into the good land. The type of this entering into the good land was entering into the land under the leadership of Joshua. Joshua entered into the good land, and Caleb was his partner in this matter. We should not consider Caleb as a partaker of Joshua, for Caleb did not enjoy Joshua; he was a comrade, companion, and partner of Joshua in entering into and possessing the good land. Christ today is our real Joshua, and we must be His Calebs. In this respect, we are not His partakers; we are His partners. When we enjoy Christ, we are His partakers; when we follow Him, we are His partners. My burden in this message is to tell you that we are not only partakers enjoying Christ but also partners following Him. As His partners, we are working together and cooperating with Him.
God has a great operation in the universe. The goal of this operation is to accomplish a glorious expression. This glorious expression is the goal into which we all are going to enter. Our view must be broadened to see that God’s operation in the whole universe is to accomplish a glorious expression of Himself. The Son of God was appointed to accomplish God’s plan. He has been appointed to run this corporation. He was appointed to this office in eternity past.
Christ was appointed in eternity past and anointed in time (1:9). That anointing was the initial heavenly, divine inauguration. God has initially inaugurated His appointed Heir into His office by anointing Him. God the Spirit poured Himself out as the anointing oil upon this appointed Heir, anointing Him to be the operator of God’s divine operation.
As the partners of Christ, we are partners in His anointing. He was appointed in eternity past and anointed in time. His anointing includes us. I would refer you to Psalm 133 where we see that the ointment poured out upon the head of Aaron, the high priest, flows down upon the whole body to the skirts of his robe. This signifies that all the members of the body of the high priest share his anointing. We, the partakers, share the anointing of the unique Heir. As I have already mentioned, the anointing was the initial inauguration. Therefore, we all share in His inauguration. In this heavenly, divine, and eternal inauguration, we are His partners. He has obtained the anointing, and we share it with Him because we are His partners. This means that we all have been anointed. We all have been put into office. We are not only the partakers of Christ who enjoy Him but also the partners of Christ who share in His operation. I have the full assurance that in giving this message I am sharing in His operation. He is going to accomplish a full expression of God in glory, and we are now cooperating with Him in this operation. I have heard many testimonies concerning being a partaker of Christ and enjoying Him, but I have not heard one concerning being a partner of Christ. From now on, in the churches we need to hear more testimonies concerning being partners of Christ and sharing in His operation. Recently, many of us have been touched to go to the campuses and preach the high gospel. That kind of preaching should be the sharing in the operation of the anointed Heir. We are Christ’s joint-heirs and partners, cooperating with Him and sharing in His operation. His office must also be our office.
Hebrews 1:9 says, “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of exultant joy above Your partners.” Notice that this verse says, “God...Your God.” Whose God is this? We have seen that the Son is God. How many gods are there? There is only one. Some of those reading this message may unconsciously still hold the concept that there are three gods, but they dare not say that there are three gods. According to the truth of the Bible, there is only one God (1 Cor. 8:4). We cannot say that there is more than one God. Nevertheless, deep within, many Christians unconsciously hold onto the concept of three gods, the so-called tritheism. I ask you to forget about your traditional teachings. We do not have more than one God. God is one, yet He is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matt. 28:19). But this does not mean that there are three different gods.
Isaiah 9:6 and 2 Corinthians 3:17 prove that the Father, Son, and Spirit are one. Isaiah 9:6 says, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given...and his name shall be called...The Mighty God, the everlasting Father.” If you believe that the child born in the manger was the Mighty God, then you must also believe that the Son given to us is the everlasting Father. There are two lines in Isaiah 9:6: the child born to us is the Mighty God, and the Son given to us is the everlasting Father. All fundamental Christians, including us, believe that that child was the Mighty God. But, sorry to say, many Christians only believe the first line in 9:6 but do not believe the second.
Some Christians dare not to touch the matter that the Son is called the everlasting Father. Some have twisted it to fit in with their traditional concept. We are not smart enough to understand the Trinity fully. God did not make us that smart. This matter of the Trinity is beyond our understanding. We cannot even understand ourselves as tripartite men. For instance, where is your heart? Where is your conscience? People think that they are clear about the Trinity, but they are not even clear about themselves. Where is your soul? What is the difference between your spirit, soul, heart, mind, will, emotion, and conscience? If you do not even understand yourself, how can you think that you are able to understand God?
We need to forget about tradition and return to the Bible. I beg you to take the whole Bible. This matter of Christology has been the subject of debate since the last part of the first century. No one can solve this problem. No one can understand it thoroughly. We should just humbly accept everything that is in the Bible whether or not it fits in with our concept. Isaiah 9:6 says that a child is called the Mighty God and the Son is called the everlasting Father, and 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “Now the Lord is that Spirit.”
When I was young, I was under the Brethren teachers who taught the truth according to their knowledge of the Bible. They taught us not to pray to the Son but to the Father in the name of the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. We were told not to pray to the Spirit. They said that under certain circumstances we might pray to the Lord Jesus but that it should not be often. We must pray to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. Later the Lord led me to stay with Brother Nee. One day he invited a Chinese preacher from the China Inland Mission to speak in our meetings. In his message the preacher said, “Don’t consider that the Lord Jesus is another One from the Holy Spirit.” When that speaker went on to say that the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit, Brother Nee said, “Amen.” After the meeting, I went to Brother Nee, and he said, “This is just what we need. This is what we should take.” That was revolutionary to me. At that time I certainly crossed the river of the Brethren teaching into the good land of the truth. Not long afterward, Brother Nee spoke to a small group of us on John 14, pointing out that today the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit. He said, “The ‘He’ in verse 17 is the ‘I’ in the next verse.” My eyes were opened and the light shone. Then verse 17 says that the Spirit will be in us and verse 20 says that the Lord will be in us. Are there two or one in us? Surely one. Who is this One — the Lord Jesus or the Spirit? Both, for They are one. Then verses 9 through 11 tell us that the Lord Jesus is not only the Spirit but also the Father. We should not be so foolish as to be today’s Philip. When Philip asked the Lord to show them the Father, the Lord said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” for He and the Father are one (John 10:30).
Prior to his imprisonment, Brother Nee published a large hymnal containing a thousand and fifty-six songs. Some of the best hymns in our hymnal were taken from that source. One of the hymns in our hymnal, number 490, was written by Brother Nee and translated by us for inclusion in our hymnal. The fifth stanza says,
Thou, Lord, the Father once wast called,But now the Holy Spirit art;The Spirit is Thine other form,Thyself to dwell within our heart.
The original Chinese, which is much clearer than the English, says “Once You were the Father; now You are the Spirit.” Now you know from where I derived the truth that Christ is the Spirit. This truth has been practiced, testified, and fully proved by my own experience. I say once again that we don’t care for doctrine; we care for experience.
The word, “O God...Your God,” in 1:8-9 refers to the Son. Since the Son is God Himself, He is God; therefore, it says, “O God.” Since the Son is also man, God is His God; therefore, it says, “Your God.”
The anointed Heir of God, as the Captain of salvation, has entered into rest and glory through death and resurrection (6:20). He did this as the Pioneer and Forerunner. He took the lead to pass through the pathway of the cross and entered into rest and glory. He is now sitting at the right hand of God (1:3, 13) crowned with glory and honor (2:9) to be the qualified Captain of our salvation that He may bring us through the pathway of the cross into the good land of rest and glory.
In His foresight, God decided that this unique Heir needed a group of joint-heirs. God decided that it was not good enough for Christ to enter into the good land alone. God wanted this unique Heir to enter into the good land of the glorious expression of the Divine Being with a group of joint-heirs. The more joint-heirs there are, the more glory there is. Consider Joshua’s entering into the good land with the children of Israel. Certainly God was able to bring Joshua alone into the good land. Suppose Joshua, a single person, marched into the good land, saying, “I have come here by the Almighty God to take over the land.” Although that would have been possible, it would not have been glorious. When Joshua took the lead to enter into the good land, at least two million people marched after him. That frightened all the Canaanites to death. It was not a single heir who entered into the good land but an army of joint-heirs. We all know what happened at Jericho. God could have performed the same miracle with just Joshua, but if He had done this, there would have been no glory. An army marched around Jericho, and all the demons were terrified. That was the glorious taking of the good land. The entrance into the good land was a glorious entrance. We are going to march into the good land. We have a Captain, the real Joshua. We all must be His partners in taking the good land.
Before we can be His partners, we must firstly be His partakers enjoying Him. When we enjoy Him and partake of Him, His title is not Christ but the Holy Spirit. We are partakers of the Holy Spirit (6:4). But when He is the Captain, He is Jesus Christ, not the Holy Spirit. When He is our enjoyment, He is the Holy Spirit. When He is our Captain, the One leading us, He is Christ.
Do not be bothered by all these different titles. As I have showed you already, in the first two chapters of Hebrews we see that the very God is the Son of God. This Son of God is also the Captain and the High Priest. This is similar to Zechariah 2 where we see that the Lord of hosts sent the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts is both the Sender and the Sent One. Likewise, in the first chapter of Hebrews we are told that God has spoken, that God has spoken in the Son, and that, eventually, the Son is addressed, “O God.” Following this, we are told that He is the Captain of our salvation and our High Priest. How wonderful and marvelous this is! As our Captain, He is the Christ. As our enjoyment, He is the Holy Spirit. When He takes the lead to march on, He is our Captain. When He comes into us to be our enjoyment and nourishment, He is the Holy Spirit.
We are Christ’s partakers and partners. When we enjoy Him, we are His partakers. When we follow Him, we are His partners. Are you a partaker of Christ? This means that even in troublesome times we enjoy Him, partaking of His riches and nourishment. After we have enjoyed Him in such a way, He becomes the Captain who takes the lead, and we follow Him as His partners. When He marches, we march with Him. He is the Captain and we are the army. By this, we shall enter into His rest (4:8-9) and be brought into His glory (2:10).
Christ, the Captain of salvation, is the real Joshua leading God’s people to take and possess the land. We, His partners, are the real Calebs sharing with Him in the taking and possessing of the land. We need to spend much time to consider this matter of taking the good land, for it is not as clear as it should be. The lowest view of the good land is that when a saint dies he crosses the river Jordan and enters the good land. Many songs speak about crossing the cold waves of Jordan. Even John Bunyan interpreted the good land this way in Pilgrim’s Progress. The inner life people, the so-called spiritual people, say that Canaan is not the third heaven, because Canaan is filled with demons, giants, enemies, and Canaanites. Since there are no enemies in the third heaven, the inner life people rejected the low concept of the good land being heaven. But the inner life people did not tell us clearly what Canaan is. Some of them say that Canaan signifies the air, the heavenlies, where the principalities, powers, and evil spirits are. From my youth I was not satisfied with the concept that Canaan was heaven, but as a young seeker of the Lord I did accept the concept that Canaan was the heavenlies full of Canaanites, principalities, and powers. However, after a certain period of time, I began to doubt this. If Canaan is the heavenlies where the wicked spirits are, then where is the rest? My point in mentioning this is that Christ’s operation is to gain and possess the good land of Canaan. Without the good land of Canaan, God’s purpose cannot be fulfilled. Christ’s enterprise is to take the good land of Canaan, possess it, and build God’s house in it. The good land is the fulfillment of God’s purpose in Christ, which is to have a full expression of Himself. For this, Christ is the Operator, and we are His partners. We are His partners in this enterprise. We have been inaugurated with Christ for this purpose. We have been inaugurated with Christ to share His office that, with Him, we might take the land, possess it, and build the house of God. Eventually, this will be the land of glory. Praise the Lord that we are His partners. Being a partaker is for the purpose of being a partner. We are not only partakers of Christ but also His partners!
