Day: December 25, 2022

The Economy of God and the Mystery of the Transmission of the Divine Trinity, Chap 3, Section 2 of 5

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For this reason, in the beginning of his ministry John preached the kingdom of God, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 3:2). What he meant was that everyone had to be prepared because the kingdom of the heavens, the kingdom of God, was drawing near. What is the kingdom of God? We must understand that the kingdom of God is God Himself. The Chinese often use world instead of kingdom in such terms as animal world and vegetable world. In fact, in both Greek and English, these things are called the animal kingdom and the vegetable kingdom. In the animal world are animals, and in the vegetable world are vegetables. Likewise, in the human world, the human kingdom, are human beings. The human world ceases to exist when human beings are removed from it. In the same principle, the kingdom of God is God Himself, and it is God Himself who becomes everything as the content of the kingdom of God. If God leaves, the kingdom of God will have nothing left in it. Let us take the lions in the zoo as an example. The place where the lions are kept may be called the lion world or the lion kingdom, but if the lions were taken away, the lion kingdom would cease to exist. [351]

ENTERING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD, 
NOT THROUGH TEACHING 
BUT THROUGH REGENERATION

If we desire to serve the Lord and walk on His way for our whole life, we must have a pure knowledge of the Word according to God’s revelation. We must see that the drawing near of God’s kingdom is the drawing near of God Himself. We must also see that man’s becoming a part of God’s world is man’s entering into God’s kingdom. As soon as man becomes a part of God’s world, man has entered into the kingdom of God. Nicodemus was concerned mainly with morality when he came to see the Lord and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher” (John 3:2). He thought that the Lord had come from God to teach ethics. But the Lord immediately interrupted him and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v. 3). The Lord Jesus was patient and refined. He was not like us; we are always so rude. What He meant in actuality was, “Do not speak nonsense. Have you not seen what John the Baptist did? Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a person is born anew, he can by no means enter into the kingdom of God, and he cannot even see it.” Nicodemus was anxious when he heard this word, so he asked, “How can a man be born when he is old?” The Lord Jesus answered, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (vv. 4-5). What He meant was, “You have to remember what John the Baptist said and go into the water first, and then I will baptize you into the Holy Spirit. Unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you cannot have a share in God’s world; that is, you cannot participate in God’s kingdom.”

In order for a dog or a cow to enter into and participate in the human world, the human kingdom, it has to receive the human life by being born again. A dog or a cow can be in the human kingdom only by birth. I was born a man with man’s life, so naturally I entered into the human world, the human kingdom. When I am in the human world, I am in the human kingdom. Today we all are descendants of Adam born in the human world; we entered the human kingdom by being born of our parents. If we want to obtain the citizenship of a certain country or join a certain club in society, we need to meet certain requirements or pay a fee. To be in the human kingdom, however, the only requirement is to be born. In fact, we had [352] already entered into the human kingdom even while we were still in our mother’s womb. This is why the Chinese count the age of a person from the time he is conceived in the mother’s womb.

Today God desires that we would enter into God’s world, God’s kingdom. According to our natural understanding, we would say, “This is wonderful! Lord, please teach me how to enter into the kingdom of God.” But His answer would be, “How can I teach you? Even if I would teach you until you became an old man, you would still be a man. It is impossible for Me to make you God by teaching you. You cannot become God unless you are born anew of Me.” For example, teaching is absolutely necessary when you are trying to get a monkey to act like a human. However, regardless of how much the monkey has been taught and how much the monkey is able to mimic human behavior, the monkey is still a monkey. The monkey cannot become a human unless it is born again of man. Thirty years ago when I first came to Taiwan, I went to the zoo and watched a show in which a monkey ate a meal with a knife and fork. When the monkey came out onto the stage, the trainer would hit it with a whip, and the monkey would stand up right away, put on a small cap, and pick up a knife and a fork. Then when the trainer would hit the monkey again, the monkey would start eating the meal like a Westerner. That kind of performance was an attempt to teach a monkey to enter into the human kingdom. However, no amount of teaching could enable the monkey to enter into the human kingdom. The monkey had the monkey’s life and did not want to enter into the human kingdom. In fact, it was quite a suffering for the monkey to try to be in the human kingdom. The monkey was forced to learn obediently because of the whip that was flying at him. But once the performance was over, the monkey immediately climbed down from the table, exposing its real condition. Today all religions, including Christianity, are just like trainers teaching monkeys to enter into the human kingdom. In the end, however, man’s true nature is completely exposed. A monkey having only the monkey life can enter only into the monkey kingdom; a monkey cannot enter into the human kingdom through education. In order to enter into the human kingdom, a monkey has to possess the human life.

To Repent Being to Have a Change of Concept

When the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus, “Unless one is born anew, [353] he cannot see the kingdom of God,” He seemed to be saying, “Nicodemus, you are wrong. I did not come to be a teacher. You have already had Moses as your teacher. He was quite old and lived to be one hundred twenty years of age. You have already received a great amount of teaching from him. I did not come to be such a teacher. For such a long time Moses taught you how to conduct yourselves as humans, yet regardless of how much you Pharisees and Sadducees have tried, you do not look like humans; rather, you look like vipers. You have to give up! No matter how much you are taught, you cannot get into the kingdom of God. The only way to enter into the kingdom of God is to receive God as life and to gain God Himself. This is regeneration. Therefore, to repent is to have a change in your concept. You have to change your concepts about Moses, your concepts about the law, and even your worldly, natural concepts about serving God. All these concepts need to be changed. Therefore, you must repent!”

In our study of the Bible we need to pay attention to the background. John the Baptist came out and said, “Repent!” In actuality, this word may be translated as “have a change of concept,” which means to have a change in our thinking and in our philosophy. In Greek, the basic definition of this word is to have a change of mind issuing in regret and thereby to have a turn in purpose; hence, the sense it conveys is stronger and more serious than the common understanding of the word repent. At that time the Jews, particularly the Pharisees, were filled in their mind with Moses’ teachings and laws. They thought about and discussed Moses and the law all day long. This is why John told people to change their concept.

The Economy of God and the Mystery of the Transmission of the Divine Trinity, Chap 3, Section 1 of 5

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CHAPTER THREE

FOUR GREAT MATTERS IN THE BIBLE

Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:26-27; John 14:16-20; 16:13-15; Matt. 28:19; Eph. 2:18; 3:14-19; 4:4-6; 2 Cor. 13:14; Rev. 1:4-6

The One into whom we believe is the divine and mysterious Triune God. Because it pleased the Triune God to reveal Himself to His children, He used the limited language of mankind to make known, in time, His heart’s desire in the Bible. When we study the whole New Testament in depth, we can see that He revealed four great matters: first, the economy of God; second, the dispensing of God; third, the union of God with the believers; and fourth, the corporate expression of God.

FOUR GREAT MATTERS AND FOUR LAYERS OF VEILS

These four matters are so great, so high, and so mysterious that they are beyond human understanding. They have been revealed in a very special way in the Bible, in particular in the New Testament. Hence, readers of the Bible should ask the Lord for a spirit of wisdom and revelation lest they do not see the light of these four matters because of the influence of their natural, human, religious, and moral concepts. Everyone who reads the Bible has a fourfold problem—natural concepts, human concepts, religious concepts, and ethical concepts. The problem of these four kinds of concepts becomes a thick four-layered veil that covers our inner eyes. Unless we remove every one of these four layers of veils, it will be difficult for us to see the four divine matters revealed in the Bible.

JOHN THE BAPTIST LIVING IN A “WILD” WAY 
AS THE FORERUNNER IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

Perhaps some will ask, “If we reject our moral, religious, human, and natural concepts, won’t we be abnormal?” This is exactly what we will be! At the beginning of the New Testament a forerunner appeared—John the Baptist. While he was still a child under the [348] care of his parents, he could not decide anything on his own. However, when he began his ministry after he had become a full-grown man, he acted contrary to what is natural, contrary to what is human, contrary to religion, contrary to morality, and even contrary to culture. In his behavior we see that he was against these five categories of things.

The first thing that John the Baptist did was to leave everyone and go live alone in the wilderness. According to the statutes of the law, since he was born into a priestly family and his father was a priest, he was a priest by birth. According to the Old Testament regulations, a priest should have lived near the temple, and he should have spent most of his time serving in the temple (at least in the outer court if not within the sanctuary). However, John the Baptist not only did not stay in the holy temple; he did not even stay in the holy city, Jerusalem. Instead, he left the people to live alone in the wilderness. He did not just go to the wilderness to work during the day and then return to the holy city to rest at night. The Bible says that he lived in the wilderness (Luke 1:80). Furthermore, he wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather girdle, and he ate locusts and wild honey. Everything in his living was “wild.” This indicates that he had abandoned everything natural, everything human, and all the things of tradition, religion, ethics, and culture. This is the forerunner in the New Testament.

At the beginning of the New Testament dispensation this forerunner took the lead to stand against everything natural and everything of tradition, religion, ethics, and even culture. Regrettably, almost none of the Bible expositors, including theologians, have a clear idea about the significance of the living of John the Baptist. No one has ever pointed out that John lived in the wilderness and that he ate locusts and wild honey. The place where he stayed and the food that he ate were all wild. We may say that his food, clothing, dwelling, and transportation were all wild. He left the people to live alone, not in the holy temple, nor in the holy city, nor in his priestly home, but in the wilderness. He lived and worked in the wilderness; all his living and all his activities were carried out in the wilderness. Furthermore, the garment he wore was not woven by human labor; rather, it was a garment of camel’s hair. There is no clear record in the Bible that shows how this garment of camel’s hair was made. However, we can be sure that there was not much fine workmanship [349] at that time. It is very likely that John simply put the camel’s skin with the camel’s hair upon himself as a garment. Moreover, he had “a leather girdle around his loins” (Matt. 3:4). Like the garment of camel’s hair, this leather girdle was probably not made with much workmanship. A strong proof of the way John the Baptist lived is that his food was locusts and wild honey. In any case, after reading the record of John’s living, people always have the impression that John had a wild flavor.

THE MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST—TELLING PEOPLE 
TO REPENT FOR THE KINGDOM OF THE HEAVENS, 
WHICH WAS DRAWING NEAR

Why is it that the living of John the Baptist was so “wild”? The way a person lives should match the kind of occupation he has. For example, one who serves as a soldier should put on a military uniform, and one who serves as a doctor should wear a doctor’s robe; otherwise, they will not be able to fight or work. Since John was born a priest, he should have worn the priestly garment and should have ministered in the temple. Why then did he choose to live in the wilderness, to clothe himself in a wild way, and to eat wild things? Moreover, when he went out to minister, the words of his preaching were also wild. In Matthew 3:1-2 we are told that he appeared, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” According to grammar, this word was spoken altogether in the imperative mood. John did not tell people that they “should” or “ought to” repent; rather, he said, “Repent!” His tone was very direct, wild, and unrefined.

Furthermore, John baptized people in water after they had repented. He did not use the word bury, which is a more refined expression. When a person dies, he needs to be properly buried; this is human culture. John, however, “baptized” people in water instead of “burying” them (v. 6). Baptized in Greek has the meaning of “dipped.” This kind of expression is quite “wild.” When John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Offspring of vipers, who prompted you to flee from the coming wrath?” (v. 7). He did not act at all like a refined preacher, for when he saw the religionists, he rebuked them, calling them “offspring of vipers.” Would you not consider him as acting “wildly”?

He behaved in this way to show that he came with the intention [350] to stand against culture, religion, naturalness, tradition, and morality. In the same principle, today when we read the Bible, we must also be against these five matters. This is by no means saying that we should be people who are immoral; instead, what we mean is that we need to take John the Baptist as our pattern. When the crowds asked him, saying, “What then shall we do?” John answered, “He who has two tunics, let him share with the one who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” At that time some tax collectors also came. They collected taxes for the Roman Empire from their fellow Jews, who were a weak and small people. When they asked John what they should do, John did not tell them to resign from being tax collectors, because he was not there to oppose imperialism. He just said, “Exact nothing more than what you have been ordered to.” And when some serving in the military also asked him what they should do, he answered, “Extort nothing from anyone by force, nor take anything by false accusation, and be content with your wages” (Luke 3:10-14). From this we see that John was an ethical person. Nevertheless, he put ethics aside in his walk and living. This is because he knew that he did not come for morality and things of this nature but for preaching the kingdom of God.