In this message we come to a very crucial matter in Heb. 8 — the law of life. The crucial matter in Heb. 7 was the indestructible life, and the crucial matter here in Hebrews 8 is the law of life. The focus of Hebrews 8 is the law of life. Although the words, “the law of life,” are not found in this chapter, what is revealed in this chapter essentially is the law of life. How do we know that the law mentioned in Hebrews 8 is the law of life? Because we are told in verse 10 that God will impart His laws into our mind and inscribe them on our hearts. Anything that can be imparted into our inward being must be life. Anything that is not life could never be wrought into our inward being. Therefore, according to the context of Hebrews 8, what is indicated by the word law must be the law of life. Please keep in mind that the law of life is the focus, the heart, of this whole chapter.
In this chapter we also have another five wonderful things: the heavenly Minister, the heavenly tabernacle, the more excellent ministry, the better covenant, and the better promises. The better promises produce the better covenant, and within the better covenant is the heavenly Minister who has a more excellent ministry in the heavenly tabernacle. Hence, we have five things — promises, covenant, Minister, ministry, and tabernacle.
In the Old Testament, the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the old covenant, that is, the law, were combined to fulfill God’s economy in the way of shadows. These three things give us a clear picture of the heavenly Minister with a more excellent ministry in the heavenly tabernacle and of the better covenant consummated upon better promises for the fulfillment of God’s economy, not in the way of shadows but in the way of reality. The heavenly tabernacle, the heavenly Minister, and the new covenant are combined for the fulfillment of God’s economy in the way of reality. This is the matter on which we are dwelling in this message. The heavenly tabernacle, as we have seen, is joined to our spirit. Since the heavenly tabernacle is joined to our spirit, the heavenly Minister of the better covenant is also joined to our spirit. Right now the heavenly Minister is doing His duty of ministering under the better covenant. This is the central thought here: the heavenly Minister doing His ministry in the heavenly tabernacle under the new covenant. This new covenant, which is called the better covenant, has been consummated upon the better promises, the promises found in Jer. 31.
The contents of the better covenant include four items: the imparting of the law of life into our being; having God as our God and being His people; the inward ability to know the Lord; and the propitiation for unrighteousnesses and the forgiveness of sins. All of these four items are focused on the law of life. In this message we need to see what the law of life is.
Before we can see what the law of life is, we must consider some other things that are the necessary background for our seeing this. Throughout the years we have repeatedly mentioned one central point: that God’s eternal purpose is to dispense Himself into us in order to make us His living expression. God has done this. Although certain negative things, such as Satan and sin, have come in, these have all become past history because of the all-inclusive crucifixion of Christ. The all-inclusive Christ has terminated all the negative things by His all-inclusive crucifixion. Thus, Satan and sin are a history. Very few Christians today realize that these things are histories. They think that these things are still entangling and bothering them. But that is a lie — these negative things are a history. When we all get into the New Jerusalem, we shall laugh at Satan and say, “Satan, now I know that you are just a history. As far as I am concerned, you are nothing. I am in a new region, in the new realm of the new heaven and new earth. Satan, I am in the New Jerusalem, and you are a history.” What has made all of these things a history? The all-inclusive crucifixion of Christ.
Our new birth, our regeneration, is also a history. We were regenerated nineteen and a half centuries ago when Christ was raised from the dead (1 Pet. 1:3). According to your feeling, you were reborn some years ago, but according to God’s divine point of view, you were reborn nineteen and a half centuries ago. Since we were reborn when Christ was resurrected from the dead, our rebirth is a history. When we were regenerated, the inward ability to know God was imparted into us. This also occurred nineteen and a half centuries ago. All of these items have become accomplished facts that have been bequeathed to us as our bequests. If our eyes have been opened, we shall not need to pray but simply say, “Lord, thank You for Your bequests. Thank You for Your will. I just take it, receive it, and enjoy it.”
If we see that the New Testament is actually a testament, a will, we shall preach the gospel in the highest way. We would speak to people in this way, saying, “Friends, here is a testament, a will. It is Jesus Christ’s will. This will says that many bequests are yours. One bequest is that all of your sins have been taken away by Him. Before you even committed your sins, they were already forgiven by God and put away. Another bequest is that before you were born of your parents, nineteen and a half centuries ago you were reborn, and the divine life was imparted into you. It does not matter whether you understand this or not. All you need to do is receive the will and thank the Lord. Say, ‘Thank You, Lord, for the will and for all the bequests. Thank You, Lord, for the forgiveness of sins and for regeneration.’” The more the newly saved ones thank the Lord for His testament, for the forgiveness of sins, for their regeneration, and for all the other bequests, the more anointing they will have and the more riches of life they will possess. This is the highest preaching of the gospel. In order to preach the gospel in this way, we need to have a clear view of the testament and we need the power of the Spirit with the anointing. When we preach the gospel in such a high way, people will not reject it. They will be happy to receive it and say, “Praise the Lord! Thank You, Lord, for all these bequests.” If a poor sinner would do this, he would immediately become a millionaire. I expect that one day we shall see this kind of high preaching of the gospel.
Now we come to the law of life. The focus of the heavenly tabernacle, the heavenly Minister, the more excellent ministry, the better covenant, and the better promises is on the law of life. What is the origin of the law of life? The origin of the law of life is life. Then what is life? Life is just God Himself. When God is expressed, He is the Son (1:3a, 8a). When the Son, who is God Himself, is realized as the Spirit, He is life to us (2 Cor. 3:17a; 1 Cor. 15:45b). Life is God in Christ as the Spirit coming into our being. Thus, the Spirit is called the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), which is the eternal and divine life. Out of this life, the law of life comes through the regeneration of the Spirit of life (John 3:5-6). When we were regenerated by the Spirit of life, the eternal and divine life was imparted into us, out of which the law of life comes to exist in our inward being.
What is the law of life? A law is a natural regulation, a constant and unchanging rule. A law of life is the natural characteristic, the innate, automatic function of a certain kind of life, and the higher a life is, the higher is its law. The law of the divine life is then the natural characteristic, the innate, automatic function of the life of God, and since the life of God is the highest, its law is the highest. This highest law of life is the function, the working, of the divine life. This function and working are innate, spontaneous, natural, and automatic.
With any kind of life, whether it be vegetable, animal, human, or divine, there is a function. Anything that does not have a function must not be life. Consider the example of a peach tree: its function is to blossom and to bring forth peaches. Likewise, a dog has the function of barking, and a cat has the function of catching mice. Every life has an automatic and innate function, and this innate function is the law of that life. As long as a peach tree is functioning, it will bring forth peaches; it will never bring forth anything else. Bringing forth peaches is the law of the peach tree. There is no need for a farmer to teach a peach tree, saying, “Little peach tree, you must know my desire is that you produce peaches. I don’t want anything else.” If that peach tree could talk, it would say, “Sir, go home and rest. You don’t need to teach me. Don’t you know that in my peach-tree life there is the peach-bearing law? There is a law in my peach-tree life that keeps me from bringing forth any other kind of fruit. It causes me to bring forth peaches, just the fruit that you desire.” In like manner, a cat catches mice because in its life is the mouse-catching law, and a dog barks because in its life is the barking law. What is the law of life? It is the innate, automatic function of the divine life. The divine life is living, active, and aggressive. This life is always acting, and whenever it acts it functions according to the automatic law of life.
God’s intention is to dispense Himself into us as our life. He has done this and right now He is in us as our life. This life, the life on the highest plane, is the most active life. When this life functions, it regulates. In a good and positive sense, His working is His regulating, for the working of the divine life within us is its regulating. This is the law of life.
According to verse 10 of this chapter, the law of life has been imparted into our inward being. Jeremiah 31:33, from which this verse is quoted, says that the law of life is put into our inward parts and written in our hearts. Hebrews 8:10 says that the law of life is put into our mind, proving that the mind is one of our inward parts. Our inward parts include not only the mind but also the emotions and the will, which, along with the conscience, are the composition of our heart mentioned in the following clause in this verse. Hence, the law of life is located in our inward parts, the parts of our heart — conscience, mind, will, and emotion — that is, in our heart, the composition and the totality of our inward parts.
The life of God has been imparted into our spirit. Based upon this fact, the law of this life must firstly be in our spirit as one law. Then from our spirit it spreads into the inward parts of our heart and becomes many laws. It is one law in being in our spirit and it becomes many laws in function in the many parts of our heart. This is why in Jeremiah 31:33 it is “law” and in verse 10 here it becomes “laws.”
The function of the law of life is to take away, to kill, the old element of Adam and to add in, to supply, the new element of Christ. While the law of the divine life works and regulates in our inward parts, it kills and takes away the old things of our natural being. It does have the power to reduce all the negative things in our natural man. At the same time, it adds in and supplies the divine element of the new creation, bringing the riches of Christ into our being. While it reduces the old element of Adam from us, it adds in the new element of Christ to us. While it takes away the old, it replaces it with the new. It performs a kind of metabolism in the Christian life and accomplishes the transformation of life for us.
The law of letters is of impossibility, perfecting nothing (Rom. 8:3, Heb. 7:19), but the law of life is of “the power of an indestructible life,” perfecting everything for us in fulfilling God’s purpose (Heb. 7:16). In the old covenant, the law of letters was weak and could not possibly perfect anything. It was merely a type of the law of life. Like a lifeless photograph of a lively person, it had the form but not the life. It showed people something, but it could do nothing for them. But in the new covenant, the law of life is powerful; it is of the power of an indestructible life that is able to perfect everything for us in God’s economy. It is no longer merely a form; it has the divine life as its essence for reality. It not only shows us the things but also accomplishes them for us. Whatever it requires it can fulfill.
As the function of the law of life accomplishes metabolically the transformation of life for us, so the issue of the law of life is that we are transformed and conformed to the image of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29) and that Christ is formed in us. The transformation in life and the conformation to Christ depend upon the function of the law of life and are the issue of the work of the law of life. Christ can only be formed in us by the regulating of the law of life. The regulating of the law of the divine life brings the riches of Christ into our life and forms Christ in our being.
God is not only our God but also our Father. Hence, He desires to be our God in the law of life. We are not only God’s creatures but also His children. Hence, He desires us to be His people in the law of life. God does not desire only to be our God according to the outward law of letter; He desires to be our Father according to the inward law of life. Nothing of the keeping of the outward law of letter can satisfy God’s desire. He can only be pleased by our living according to the inward law of life. And He does not desire to have us only as His creatures without His life but also as His children with His life. Hence, He wants us to be His people in the law of life, living not according to the outward law of letter but according to the inward law of life. Both His relationship to us and ours to Him should be a relationship maintained in the law of life. With the law of letter there was nothing but death. With the law of life there is no death but life. Only life can satisfy the divine desire.
We have seen that the divine priesthood is the presence of life and the absence of death and that it saves us from all of the by-products of death and brings us into glory. The divine priesthood saves us to the uttermost, meaning that it brings us into complete perfection, into glorification. But this saving, this working, is not objective; it is absolutely subjective. Yes, Christ is the divine High Priest on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty on high. But we must remember that when He was resurrected from the dead nineteen and a half centuries ago, being born as the Firstborn Son of God, He imparted His life into all of God’s chosen and marked-out people. Although at that time we had not yet decided to believe in the Lord, we had already been marked out by God in eternity past before the foundation of the world. If you do not believe this word now, you will believe it when you come into the New Jerusalem. God marked us out, and Christ imparted His life into us. God and Christ can never be wrong; they can never make a mistake. To say that God made a mistake in selecting us is an insult to God. How could God make a mistake? Although we are unworthy and do not deserve anything, God selected us and premarked us, and Christ, the Firstborn Son, imparted Himself into us as life. We must have this vision to see God’s economy so clearly. Forget about your feelings, understanding, and realization and come back to the pure Word and receive the clear vision. Whatever God does is eternal and has no element of time or space. God’s choosing of us was eternal; there is no time element involved here. None of us is here by accident. It was prearranged by our Father. He made that decision before the earth was made.
After Christ imparted Himself into us, He went to sit on the throne in the heavens. In some of our past ministry we said that after Christ went into the heavens, He came down into us. Although this is right in a sense, it is only right according to our point of view. Looking at this matter from a higher point of view, we can see that Christ did not first ascend into the heavens and then come down to get into us but that before He ascended to the heavens, at the time of His resurrection, He imparted Himself into us as life already. Once He entered into the heavens, He had nothing left to do because He had already accomplished everything. Everything was finished. He had made purification of sins and had imparted Himself into all of God’s marked-out people.
What is Christ doing as He sits in the heavens? He is interceding. Perhaps Christ would say of a certain premarked one, “Father, look at that one. He has been marked out by You and I have imparted My life into him, but he is still wandering. Father, bring him home.” Soon afterward, some Christian friends invite him to a meeting of the church and he is captured. After that, the interceding Christ on the throne might say, “It is good that this dear one has come home, but, Father, You must do something further in him. The life in him has not been developed. It needs to develop, function, and work.” Then in the next meeting this dear one stands up and says, “Lord Jesus, I love You. I consecrate myself to You.” The life functions because of Christ’s invisible intercession. As Romans 8:34 makes clear, after ascending to the heavens, Christ is there interceding for us. Such a perfected, qualified, equipped, and Almighty One is interceding for us. After a few days, the interceding Christ may say of this dear one, “Father, he is functioning now, but he is not mature. He is still so young.” Suddenly in a meeting this brother stands up and prays, “Lord, You know that I am still so young. I am not yet mature. Lord, I want to mature.” His prayer corresponds to the heavenly intercession. It seems that the prayer originated with him, but actually it was a quotation of the heavenly intercession. Many times our utterances in prayer or praise are quotations of the heavenly intercession. Such utterances are not originated or initiated by us but by Christ’s intercession. Perhaps this same brother is touched one morning concerning his selfishness, having the deep conviction that he is full of self. He may think that this is the reaction to a certain message, not realizing that this also is a reaction to the heavenly intercession. Whatever happens to us in our spiritual life is either a quotation of the heavenly intercession or a reaction to it.
Christ is in heaven interceding for us all. The purpose of His intercession is that the divine life within us, which is just Himself, may develop in our whole being and that its law of life may spread into our inward parts and become many laws regulating us in every aspect. One of these laws must get into our mind to regulate it and to renew it completely. You may think that the renewing of the mind is due to the teachings and messages that you hear in the church life. Actually this is not so; the renewing of the mind does not come from without but from one of the many laws of the divine life within you. When your mind is renewed by the law of life, it will be revolutionized, and you will never think the way you did before. All of your considerations will be fully renewed by the regulating law of the working life within you. This simply means that the divine life has grown from your spirit into your mind.
Another of these many laws will get into our emotion and saturate it. Whether our emotion is cold or hot, one of the laws will penetrate our emotion and regulate it with the nature of Christ’s emotion, bringing the element of the emotion of Christ into our emotion. In a sense, our emotion will be remade, having been saturated with the element of Christ’s emotion. We shall never love or hate as we did before. Everything that we do out of our emotion will be absolutely revolutionized. In particular, our love will be regulated, permeated, transformed, and remade. This is the growth of the life of Christ into our emotion.
In the same principle, one of these working laws will permeate our will. Whether our will is naturally stubborn or submissive makes no difference, for neither is useful for the life of Christ. In the past I have seen some very stubborn wills and some submissive wills. While most of the elders in the churches love the submissive wills, I am just as bothered by the submissive wills as by the stubborn wills. According to our human feeling, we all love a submissive will, but as long as a submissive will is a natural will, it is not adequate. It does not matter whether our will is stubborn, submissive, or neutral. As long as it is our will, it is useless for the life of Christ. The working of the law of the divine life must permeate our will. Although I have heard many people say, “I hate my stubborn will,” I have never heard anyone say, “I hate my submissive will.” We all must learn to say, “I hate my stubborn will, my submissive will, and my neutral will. I just hate my will. I don’t care whether my will is stubborn, submissive, or neutral. As long as it is my will, I hate it because it is natural.” As the law of the divine life works in us, one of its functions will saturate our will with the will of Christ, making His will ours. In this way our will is remade with the very element of Christ’s will. This means that Christ’s life will grow into our will. Eventually, in our mind, emotion, and will there will be the growth of the life of Christ.
This permeation, this saturation, is what it means to be saved into perfection. Christ’s saving us to the uttermost does not mean that we are on earth, having nothing of Him, and that He is far away in the heavens unrelated to us, interceding for us until we pray and He answers our prayer by stretching out His hand to save us. That is a religious concept. We need to see that on the cross Christ put away our sins, that in His resurrection He imparted Himself as life into all of us, and that now He is sitting on the throne of God in the heavens interceding for us. On the one hand, He is in our spirit as our life growing; on the other hand, He is on the throne in the heavens interceding for the growth and development of the seed that He has sown within us. This is the subjectively objective Christ for our experience. It is in this way that His divine life functions within us. Every bit of the function of His life is a regulation of its law. Some of these life functions will spread into our mind and others will permeate our emotion and will. This is the work of the law of life.
