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In this message we come to the second section of the decree of the kingdom’s constitution (Matt. 5:13-16), which concerns the influence of the people of the kingdom of the heavens upon the world. The kingdom people are salt to the corrupted earth and light to the darkened world.
After revealing the nature of the kingdom people, this decree goes on to cover their influence. The sequence here is significant. If the kingdom people did not have the nature described in Matt. 5:3-12, they could not have any influence on the world. The influence of the kingdom people comes out of their nature, out of what they are. If we, the kingdom people, the church people, are poor in our spirit, the kingdom of the heavens will have room within the depths of our being. Then we shall mourn, be meek, hunger and thirst for righteousness, be merciful, be pure in heart, be peacemakers, suffer persecution, and be reproached for Christ. If we are such people, we shall certainly exercise a great influence upon the worldly people around us. We shall spontaneously influence the corrupted earth and the darkened world.
Because the influence of the proper church life is lacking, the whole world is corrupt and in darkness. If you travel throughout the world, studying and observing the situation in various countries, you will see that two of the worst places are France and Sweden, countries without the influence of the proper church life. Moreover, due to the predominance of Catholicism, in Central America and South America there is nothing but darkness. Wherever Catholicism prevails, there is darkness and corruption. Today, as a preparation for the Lord’s coming back, there is the urgent need for all these dark and corrupted countries to be brought under the influence of the proper church life.
In verse 13 the Lord said, “You are the salt of the earth,” and in verse 14 He said, “You are the light of the world.” According to the Greek text, the pronoun here is plural. The “you” in these two verses does not refer to an individual, but to a corporate people. Most readers apply these verses to individuals. Those who have the nine blessings spoken of in verses 3 through 12 are a corporate people, not individuals. Therefore, the Lord’s word about salt and light does not concern individuals. Individually, none of us can be proper salt or proper light. In verse 14 the Lord likens us to a city, not to individual stones. This clearly reveals that the Lord’s word here is not intended for individuals, but for a corporate people built together on a high level. The Lord did not say, “You are the lights of the world.” He said, “You are the light of the world.” The plural “you” is just one light.
Do not consider the influence of the kingdom people upon the world an individual matter. If you try to be individually spiritual, you will not succeed. Even if you attain some individual spirituality, it will be a cancer. All individualistic spirituality is a cancer that absorbs into itself the nourishment intended for the whole Body. Cancer is not caused by germs; it is caused by cells in the body that separate from the body and care only for themselves. If you attempt to be individualistically spiritual, you will become a cancer. We all need to hear this word of warning.
During the past twenty-five years, I have come to see that spirituality is not an individualistic matter; it is absolutely a corporate matter. Take the example of physical health. The health of our body is not a matter of the individual members; it is a corporate matter. We do not say that our ears are healthy, but that our body is healthy. If your ears are not healthy, then your body must not be healthy either. Thus, health is a matter of the whole body.
When I was young, I took the Lord’s word in these verses about salt and light in an individualistic way, thinking that I personally was to be the salt and the light. But now I see that being salt is a corporate matter. We need to be impressed with the fact it is as a corporate entity that the kingdom people are salt and light. If we separate ourselves from the church life, we can no longer be salt or light.
Both the salt and the light refer to the corporate people of the kingdom. Today the church people are the kingdom people. Concerning discipline and exercise, we are the kingdom people. But concerning life and grace, we are the church people. In these verses it is a matter of exercise and discipline; hence it concerns the kingdom people. The kingdom people as a whole, as a corporate body, are salt and light.
In verse 13 the Lord speaks of the earth, and in verse 14 He speaks of the world. There is a difference between the earth and the world; the terms are not synonymous. What was created by God is the earth, and what came in through the corruption of Satan is the world. To the God-created earth, the kingdom people are salt. But to the Satan-corrupted world, they are light. We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
When we say that we are salt, it means that we exercise our influence over the earth created by God to keep it in its original condition. The earth, which was created by God, has become fallen. In a sense, it has become rotten and corrupted. Salt kills the germs and eliminates this rottenness. Any medical doctor can tell you that salt kills germs, eliminates rottenness, and preserves things in their original condition. By nature, salt is an element that kills the germs of corruption and eliminates them. Thus, through its killing and preserving function, salt brings the earth back to its original condition or keeps it in its original condition. Hence, the function of salt is to preserve what God has created. The entire earth is becoming more and more rotten. Therefore, we must exercise our influence over this corrupted earth. To the corrupted earth, the people of the kingdom of the heavens are the element that keeps the earth from being fully corrupted.
In verse 13 the Lord said, “But if the salt has become tasteless, with what shall it be salted? It is no longer good for anything but to be cast out and trampled under foot by men.” For the kingdom people to become tasteless means that they have lost their salting function. They have become the same as the earthly people, with nothing to distinguish them from unbelievers. To become tasteless is to lose the distinction between us and the worldly people. It is to become the same as the worldly ones. Being the same as the worldly people is the opposite of the nature revealed in verses 3 through 12. It means that we are no longer poor in spirit, mourning for the negative situation, meek, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, merciful, pure in seeking God, making peace, willing to be persecuted for the sake of righteousness, and willing to be reproached for Christ. It means that we live, walk, and behave like the worldly people. If such is our case, we become tasteless, and the salt has lost its function.
Lot’s wife is an illustration of this (Gen. 19:26). She became a pillar of salt, which indicates salt that has lost its function. When salt becomes a pillar, it cannot function, mainly because it has lost its taste. The fact that Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt is a strong warning to us not to lose the distinction between us and the world. We should never lose our taste, but maintain the salting function of killing germs, of eliminating rottenness, and of keeping things in their original condition or of bringing them back to their God-created condition.
Wherever the kingdom people are, they should exercise a salting influence over those around them. In our neighborhoods we must exercise our function of killing germs. But if we become the same as the worldly people, we lose our function and our taste. Because we have lost our taste, we no longer have the salting ability and we cannot fulfill our salting function. If we have the nature of the kingdom people revealed in the nine blessings, we shall be truly salty. We shall be salt to our relatives and in-laws. If we are poor in spirit, mourning, meek, righteous, merciful, and pure in seeking God, we shall have a salting function. There will be no need to rebuke others or to point out their mistakes and wrongdoings. They will be salted simply by our presence. Sometimes certain evil ones will stay away from us because we are so salty. This is what it means to kill the germs of this rotten earth.
The Lord’s intention is to bring this earth back to its original condition. Although we cannot see this in the present age, we shall see it in the next age. When the millennial kingdom comes, the whole earth will be salted. All the germs on this earth will be utterly killed, and the whole earth will be not only regained by Christ, but also brought back to its God-created condition. This work will be done by the kingdom people.
In verse 13 the King said that salt which has lost its taste will be cast out and trampled under foot by men. To be cast out is to be put away from the kingdom of the heavens (Luke 14:35). To be trampled under foot by men is to be treated as useless dust.
Verse 14 says, “You are the light of the world.” Light is the shining of the lamp to enlighten those in darkness. To the darkened world, the people of the kingdom of the heavens are such a light effacing its darkness. In nature they are the healing salt, and in behavior they are the shining light.
As the shining light, the kingdom people are like a city situated upon a mountain. Such a city cannot be hidden. This is ultimately consummated in the holy city of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:10-11, 23-24). For many years I was troubled by the Lord’s illustration of a city situated upon a mountain. Until I came into the church life, I could not understand how light could be illustrated by a builded city. After I was in the practical building of the church, I saw that only by being built together can the kingdom people be a city situated on a mountain. This city becomes a shining light. In Anaheim the saints are grouping together in their neighborhoods. If this practice becomes prevailing and the saints in these groups are built together, every group will be part of the shining city situated on a mountaintop.
In these three chapters the Lord Jesus did not use the term “church.” However, the term “kingdom,” used many times in these chapters, actually refers to the church. The kingdom mentioned in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 is that aspect of the church concerned with discipline and exercise. The church is the aspect of grace and life for the kingdom, and the kingdom is the aspect of discipline and exercise for the church. Therefore, the Lord’s word in these chapters regarding the kingdom actually refers to the exercise and discipline in the church.
As we have seen, many Christians understand these chapters in an individualistic way. Most have not seen that this constitution is not for individuals, but for a corporate people. We know that this decree is for a corporate people, because the light is not an individual person, but a builded city. This indicates that the kingdom people need the building. If the saints in the church in your locality are not built up, but are scattered, divided, and separated, there is no city there. And as long as there is no city, there is no light, because the light is the city; the light is not an individual believer. The light is a corporate city built up as one entity to shine over the people surrounding it. It is impossible to find such a thing in today’s Christianity. But every local church in the Lord’s recovery must be a builded city.
In the book of Revelation the churches are golden lampstands (Rev. 1:20). The principle of the city and the lampstand is the same: neither is individual. Both are corporate. The lampstand, like the city, is not an individual believer, but the church. If you are outside the church, you are not a part of the lampstand. In order to be part of the lampstand, you must be built into the local church. The local church, which is the lampstand, is likened by the Lord to a builded city set on the top of a mountain. If we are built up in our locality, we shall be on the mountaintop. But if we are scattered, separated, and divided, we shall be in a low valley. In every locality there must be just one lampstand, one city situated on a mountain. For this, we must keep the unity and remain one entity, a corporate Body. Then we shall be able to shine. But if we are divided, we are finished with the shining. There is no shining in Christianity today because it is so divided. There are many divisions in Christianity. In the Lord’s recovery, however, we must come back to the unique unity, which is the corporate Body. When we have truly been built together, we shall be the city on a mountaintop shining upon those around us.
Verse 15 says, “Neither do men light a lamp and place it under the bushel, but on the lampstand, and it shines to all who are in the house.” The shining of the light has two aspects. In the first aspect, the light is likened to a city shining upon the outsiders. In the second aspect, the light is likened to a lamp on a lampstand shining to those who are in the house. We have seen that the city is the builded church, but what is the house? You may think that the house here also refers to the church. However, there is no need to interpret the house in this manner. According to the context, the main point is that the shining of the light has two aspects: the outward aspect and the inward aspect. The light as a city on a mountain shines over the outsiders, whereas the lighted lamp on the lampstand shines over those who are in the house. As the city, the light shines upon people, but as the lamp in the house, the light shines into people. This indicates that our influence over others should not be just outward, but also inward.
In order to shine upon others outwardly, we need to be built up. But to shine upon others inwardly, we need to be without any covering. As the light on the mountain, the light cannot be hidden; and as the lamp on the lampstand, the light should not be hidden.
In verse 15 the Lord speaks about placing the lamp under the bushel. A lighted lamp placed under the bushel cannot shine out its light. The kingdom people as the lighted lamp should not be covered by the bushel, an item pertaining to eating, a matter which causes anxiety (6:25). We should never be covered by the bushel; rather, we must be on the lampstand.
The Lord wisely spoke about not being covered by a bushel. In ancient times a bushel, as a measure for grain, was something related to eating and therefore related to the matter of making a living. Thus, hiding the lamp under the bushel indicates anxiety concerning our living. If we Christians are anxious about our living and concerned about how much money we are making, this anxiety will become a bushel covering our light.
The kingdom people firstly exercise an influence upon people outwardly, from the outside. However, we still need to influence them from within. When the church as a whole lives together as a city on the mountaintop, those surrounding it will be under the shining of such a builded church. But this is merely the shining from the outside. The church also needs to exert another kind of influence, the influence of the inner shining that gets into people. Thus, the city on the mount signifies the shining from outside, and the lamp in the house signifies the shining from inside. Our shining must not be only outside the people, but also inside them. In order to shine upon others outwardly, we must be builded as a city on the mountaintop. But in order to shine upon them inwardly, we need to come out from under our covering. This indicates that the kingdom people live without anxiety and the care for their existence. They care only for Christ and the church. Day after day they are the happy people, the praising people, the hallelujah people. When our neighbors, relatives, and classmates contact us, they can sense that we have no anxiety. We are not worried about our living, about what we shall eat or what we shall put on. Day after day, morning and night, the kingdom people care only for Christ and the church.
We know from experience that our lack of anxiety touches others. If every time someone contacts you, you are happy and enjoying the Lord, he will be deeply touched. Filled with anxiety and occupied with all kinds of worries, the worldly people talk about the fear of losing their job or the difficulties they are having with their boss. But the kingdom people, the hallelujah people, those not covered by the bushel, care only to talk about Christ and the church. By being such a people, we touch the hearts of others and shine upon them from within. This shining penetrates them.
The outward shining of the kingdom people is general, and all of society can see it. Society can see a group of people who are built up, situated upon the top of a mountain, and shining. The inward shining, on the contrary, is particular. One of your cousins may be touched by your lack of anxiety and your shining face. Whenever he contacts you, he never hears you talking about how to make a living. Instead, he always hears you praising the Lord and telling how wonderful the church life is. This will be a light penetrating into his being and shining within him. Through the shining of this light, he will be convinced. This is not the general shining from outside; it is the particular shining from within. If we are the proper kingdom people, we shall have this twofold shining. We shall be a city on a mountaintop shining out upon all those surrounding us, and among them we shall be the hallelujah people, those with no anxiety or care about this life, shining into them. This inward shining penetrates the inward being of others and convinces them.
Eventually, both aspects of our shining will give glory to the Father. Verse 16 says, “Thus let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in the heavens.” The title Father proves that the disciples, who were the new King’s audience, were regenerated children of God (John 1:12; Gal. 4:6). The good works here are the behavior of the kingdom people through which men may see God and be brought to Him. Our shining will glorify the Father because it expresses what God is. To glorify God the Father is to give Him the glory. Glory is God expressed. When the kingdom people express God in their behavior and good works, men see God and give the glory to God. God hidden is God Himself. But when God is expressed, that is the glory of God. If as the kingdom people we have such a shining light, God will be expressed in this shining, and all those around us will see the glory, God expressed. When others see God in our shining, that is a glory to God.
We, the kingdom people, are the light of the world. As light we are like a city on a mountaintop and like a lamp shining in a house. From without and within, we shine to express God, to let God have the glory in the eyes of others. May we exercise such an influence upon those around us.
