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.