Sunday Evening, May 9, 1976 — Richmond, Virginia
Ministry given through Brother Stephen Kong
And they rose up early in the morning, and worshipped before the Lord, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the Lord remembered her.
And it came to pass, when the time was come about, that Hannah conceived, and bare a son; and she called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord.
And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and his vow.
But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide for ever.
And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good; tarry until thou hast weaned him; only the Lord establish His word. So the woman tarried, and gave her son suck, until she weaned him.
And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of meal, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh: and the child was young.
And they slew the bullock, and brought the child to Eli.
And she said, Oh, my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, to pray unto the Lord.
For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of Him:
Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he is lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there.
And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see;
And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;
That the Lord called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.
And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.
And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him.
And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child.
Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if He call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for Thy servant heareth.
Our heavenly Father, we do ask Thee to anoint Thy word and make it living, and real, and operative, as we listen to Thy word.
We ask Thee, Lord, that it may be Thy present speaking, and not just reading something Thou hast said thousands of years ago. O Lord, only Thy Spirit can do such work in our hearts, and we do open ourselves to Thee, that Thou mayest complete Thy good work among Thy people. To Thee be all the praise and glory, in Thy precious name. Amen.
At the end of the Book of Judges, we find that the Holy Spirit made a comment over the hundreds of years of the history of the children of Israel under the judges. His comment was: “There was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”
What a history. The children of Israel had been in the land of promise for hundreds of years, and yet during those hundreds of years in the promised land, everyone did what was right in his own eyes. There was no unity, there was no strength, and there was no direction, because there was no king.
It was a history of weakness, a history of failure, a history of oppression, and a history of revivals. Yet it was a history of going around in the promised land and never arriving at God’s full purpose.
God began to react against such a situation. God began to do a work of recovery. That is to say, God began to recover His people to His original purpose concerning them.
In the working of that recovery, He had to bring in His king. Only in His king would the nation be united into one, the enemies be subdued, and the people fully possess their possession. We know this was literally fulfilled when David became king in the nation of Israel.
But in working toward such a recovery of God’s original design, God had to work step by step. God’s working is always related to people. Spiritual principles are never dead principles; spiritual principles are always living. They can be demonstrated in lives, and unless these spiritual principles are wrought in lives, they will not work.
That is the reason why, in the work of recovery, God had to work through people.
First, in the life of Ruth. Ruth demonstrates the principle of grace. Anything related to God’s work is based on grace—pure grace.
As a matter of fact, man can do nothing. We can do lots of things, but when you come to God’s work, we are helpless. We can only spoil God’s work. We can only delay God’s work. But we can never help God’s work.
Everything has to begin with grace. Grace was demonstrated in such a manner in the life of Ruth. Ruth was a Moabitess. She was not allowed to enter into the house of God even to the tenth generation. She was completely cut off from the commonwealth of Israel. She had no part in God.
And yet, through grace, she was brought not only into relationship with Naomi, not only to the fields of Boaz, and not only to glean in the fields, but she was brought to be united with Boaz.
Out of that wonderful union came forth David the king; and out of that wonderful union came even Christ, the King of kings. Now, that is grace.
Grace brings us to where we can never arrive by ourselves. Grace is given to the undeserving and the unworthy, and we should know it.
Grace not only gives us the pieces and bits under the table. Grace joins us to Christ, that we may sit with the King at His table and enjoy Him.
Out of the union of Christ and those whom He has redeemed—because He is our Kinsman-Redeemer—God’s purpose shall be fulfilled. He who is our Maker became our kinsman when He came to this earth. In the capacity of a Kinsman-Redeemer, He not only redeemed us, but He redeemed our lost property, that we might be fully united with Him in God.
Then we find that the second step in God’s work of recovery is demonstrated in the life of Hannah. God shut up her womb. She was a godly woman.
According to the Old Testament, a woman blessed of God ought to have many sons and daughters. If a woman was barren, she was supposed to be under the curse of God. Yet Hannah, whose name means grace, loved God, feared God, and was a godly woman; yet God shut up her womb.
God put her in an embarrassing position, and out of affliction, provocation, and embarrassment, she was driven to prayer.
In praying, she began to realize that God had a need as well as she had a need. When she was willing to supply God’s need, God heard her and gave her a son by the name of Samuel.
So, brothers and sisters, in God’s work of recovery, the first principle is grace. The second principle is prevailing prayer.
Whenever God begins to work, God has to secure some people who are willing to give themselves to prayer. Prayer is the foundation of God’s work. If there is no prayer, there is no foundation for God to work. If there is no travailing prayer, there cannot be spiritual birth.
Brothers and sisters, how we need to realize that prayer is the most essential thing in the workings of God. We cannot do that. Only grace can bring us to that place.
Now, this evening, we would like to continue with God’s work of recovery. God desires to bring in His kingdom. That was God’s purpose, because all the purpose of God concerning His people was focused upon the King.
But to bring in the King, there must be a change of time.
Israel at that time was living under the order of judges, for over three hundred years. As a matter of fact, altogether it was four hundred and fifty years, as you find in the Book of Acts. Of course, it depends on how you start the reckoning. Probably you have to start from the day they came out of Egypt.
But anyway, you find Israel was under the order of judgeship for all these hundreds of years, and it was most unsatisfactory. Even though there were times of refreshment from the Lord, yet it was incomplete and unsatisfactory.
God was going to change the time from the order of judgeship into the order of kingship, from the temporary emergency measure of the judges to the permanent, eternal order of the King.
In order to change the time—now, it was a tremendous thing for a time to be changed, or, to put it in other words, to change a dispensation. God was working in one way for a certain period of time; that marked a dispensation. God was going to change the dispensation. God was going to change His way with His people, and another time would be brought in.
To make such a change is a tremendous thing. God was looking for an epoch-making person, a person that would conclude the past and usher in the future. God was looking for such a vessel, and that vessel was the result of prevailing prayer.
As a matter of fact, you find in the Bible a few such time-changing persons. For instance, Noah certainly was an epoch-making person.
In the person of Noah, God concluded one dispensation—shall we say, the dispensation of conscience, as some theologians advocate. But anyway, in the person of Noah, God concluded one dispensation and began to bring in another: the dispensation of government.
Noah was such an epoch-making person. In the whole world, only Noah found favor in the sight of God. Of all the population at that time, only Noah and his family of eight were saved through water. They condemned the world, and yet inherited the new world.
Then, of course, Abraham was another one. Here you find the whole world went after idols, and somehow, by the grace of God, there was one man who worshipped the true and living God. The God of glory appeared to him and called him, and he responded by faith.
It was a tremendous step. He stepped out of his own world; he stepped into God. There you find God concluded another dispensation, and in Abraham He started the dispensation of promise.
Then again, of course, Moses was another epoch-making person. Those under promise were slaves in the land of Egypt. Their lives were endangered, and their race was going to be completely annihilated. Yet God raised up Moses.
Through Moses, God changed the time again—not taking away promise completely. We know that law came in by the way; the promise was still there. But law came in as a schoolmaster, and God, in a sense, brought them into the dispensation of law.
Then, after the children of Israel were in the promised land under the judges, their condition was so weak. God was going to change the time from the judges to the king, and God raised up Samuel to be that epoch-making vessel.
After the children of Israel were taken into Babylonian captivity, God had to raise another person to change the time, and it was Daniel. Through all the career of Daniel, the children of Israel came back from the land of captivity.
When you come from the Old Testament time to the New Testament time, God again was looking for an epoch-making person, and that was John the Baptist. God raised up John the Baptist to conclude the law and the prophets and to bring in the kingdom of the heavens.
Dear brothers and sisters, so far as we are concerned, we are living at the verge of a change.
The dispensation of grace is drawing close to an end. God is going to bring in His King. A dispensation of righteousness shall come upon this earth, because in the millennium righteousness shall rule over the earth. God is going to bring in His King.
We are at the verge of such a change. But, dear brothers and sisters, God never works mechanically. The timetable is never technical; it is living.
God today is again looking for an epoch-making vessel. Who will be such epoch-making vessels? Not one man anymore. It has to be a corporate vessel today.
God is looking for such a corporate vessel to change the time, to bring in the King, to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord, and to prepare a people for the King.
Brothers and sisters, we are living in such a time. We are living at the end of the end days. I have to emphasize that again. Since the first coming of Christ, it has been the last days, and we are living at the last of the last days, because our King is coming soon.
But, dear brothers and sisters, why is it that He has not come? He is looking for epoch-making vessels. He is waiting for a people who will so cooperate with Him and so give themselves to Him that they will bring in His King, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Brothers and sisters, we are not just studying history. We are right in the very work of God today. Tremendous days!
God put us in these days, and these days are critical days. God is going to conclude this age. God is going to bring in the age to come. All the weaknesses will be past, and His glory shall be manifested upon the earth.
But today God is looking for such people as Samuel. So I do hope that in our fellowship on Samuel, we will not look upon Samuel as a person who lived thousands of years ago.
As we fellowship on the life of Samuel, I hope that God will speak to us and draw us to Him, that He may have many Samuels for His working today.
First of all, of course, the birth of Samuel. Samuel’s birth was not natural at all. Samuel’s birth was supernaturally natural.
Why? Because he was born naturally, in a sense, and yet that natural birth was supernatural, because his mother’s womb was shut by God, and yet God opened her womb and gave her Samuel.
Samuel was the result of the prevailing prayer of his mother. His very birth was not merely natural, but supernaturally natural.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, do you not see that this is the way you are born again? Who is born again naturally? Nobody.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. When our Lord Jesus was talking to Nicodemus about the new birth, He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said, “How can a man be born again? Can I go into my mother’s womb and come out as a born-again person?” The Lord said, “You miss the whole point.” Even if you could go in and come out a hundred times, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. That is natural.
It is not born of the flesh. It is not born of man’s will. It is not born of man, but it is born of God. He that is born of the Spirit is spirit.
It is true that it is the Spirit of God who begets us, so that we are born again; our dead spirit is quickened into new life, and His Spirit comes to dwell in our spirit, that we may cry, “Abba, Father.” That is true. It is the work of the Holy Spirit.
But, dear brothers and sisters, as the Holy Spirit works, invariably you will find someone, or some ones, prevailing in prayer for you.
Oftentimes, you can trace back and see that the reason why you came to the Lord was not because you wanted to come. It was because someone was mentioning your name before the Lord—and not casually.
Someone prevailed for your soul. Someone shed tears. Someone shed blood for you. Because someone prevailed in prayer for your soul, God heard them, and the Spirit of God apprehended you.
Brothers and sisters, how we do thank God for those who prayed for us. How we thank God for those who gave their lives for us, in order that we might be born again. We need to see that this is how we were born.
Samuel was not only born supernaturally natural, but even before he was conceived in his mother’s womb, he was separated unto God.
Hannah prayed and said, “O Lord, if Thou wilt look upon the affliction of Thy handmaid, and if Thou wilt answer her prayer and give her a male child, then I will give the child to Thee.”
In other words, Hannah vowed a vow before God that, if a child was given, the child would belong to God—not for her own enjoyment, but for the purpose of God.
Even though it was his mother who vowed the vow, when you apply it spiritually, we may say that every one of us who is born of God has been set apart by God, even in our mother’s womb.
You remember the story of Paul—Saul of Tarsus. How he learned at the feet of Gamaliel, how he became a Pharisee, how he persecuted the followers of Jesus, how he went his own way, and how God met him on the road to Damascus.
Then, when he wrote to the Galatians, he said that God had set him apart even from his mother’s womb.
It is a marvelous thing to think that before you were born—not to say before you were born again, but even before you were born—God had already set you apart for a purpose.
Of course, you do not know that. You will not be able to realize the impact of that until you come to the Lord. Then, when you look back, you realize the grace of God that goes all the way back to your mother’s womb.
Not only to your mother’s womb: we find in Ephesians that even before the foundation of the world, God chose us in Christ Jesus. Now, that is more wonderful.
Even before the heavens and earth were made, in eternity past, God had already chosen us. Is that not tremendous, brothers and sisters?
If we only realize it, it really brings us low: even before the foundation of the world, God chose us in Christ—not because of what you have done. You were not there. Not because you were better than anybody else. You had not done a thing yet.
It is the sovereign will of God that it should please Him to choose you in Christ, in love. Amen.
Then, when you began to be formed in your mother’s womb, He set you apart. One day, you were born again.
Dear brothers and sisters, everyone who is born of God should look back and realize that even before the foundation of the world God chose you, and even in your mother’s womb He set you apart.
Why did He choose you? Why did He set you apart? For what?
Remember, we are not here without a purpose. God has a purpose upon every one of us, and of course, that purpose is related to His Son.
God’s purpose is to sum up all things in Christ, and we are the firstfruits. In other words, we are raised by God in order that we may be used of Him to bring all things to Him. That is the purpose.
We have a tremendous mission to fulfill. Oh, how can we live for ourselves, for our little ambition? There is a much greater purpose in our lives. God has set us apart. We should realize that.
Not only did Samuel’s mother vow the vow and give him to God even before he was born, but you find that after he was weaned, he was brought to the house of God.
God heard the prayer of Hannah, and Samuel was born. Every year his parents would go to Shiloh to sacrifice to God, but Hannah told Elkanah, her husband, that she would not go that year, nor the next year.
She would go after she had weaned her child. Then she would bring her child to the house of God and leave him there to minister unto God.
In the old days, babies were weaned much later than what we usually do today. From what we understand, in the old days a child was not weaned until he was three years old. After he was three years old, he would be weaned from his mother’s breast and expected, in a sense, to live independently.
So, here you find that when Samuel was probably three years old, he was taken to Shiloh and left there to minister unto the Lord.
That was a tremendous step. There was not only the prayer, and there was not only the vow, but there was the fulfillment of the vow. The fulfillment came at the time of weaning.
Now, spiritually speaking, what do we mean by weaning?
There was another occasion in the Book of Genesis. During the day of weaning, something tremendous happened. It was the weaning of Isaac. When Isaac was weaned, his father Abraham spread a great feast. Then Ishmael mocked Isaac, and Ishmael was driven out.
Spiritually speaking, what is weaning? Dear brothers and sisters, weaning in our experience is equal to consecration.
In other words, there must come a time when we begin to realize that God has chosen us, God has set us apart, and He has redeemed us for a purpose. One day we come to realize that, and when we realize it, we respond voluntarily and give ourselves to Him.
That is weaning, because at that time we are separated from the world and separated unto God.
So far as God is concerned, He did that even when we were in our mother’s womb. But so far as we are concerned, so far as experience goes, we do not begin to enter into God’s election or God’s purpose, and we do not begin to be separated from the world and set apart for God, until the time when we present our bodies a living sacrifice.
That is the time of weaning. In other words, you no longer look to the world to supply you with your supplies, but you are weaned from the world and set apart unto God.
How important it is that in our spiritual experience there must be a time when we ourselves, voluntarily, knowing and constrained by the love of God, give ourselves in response to His calling.
This will be the time when we are weaned, and this will begin our ministry unto the Lord.
As you observe God’s people, you find that God’s calling is the same, God’s election is the same, God’s setting us apart is the same, and God’s redeeming love and power are the same. Yet you find such a difference among God’s people.
The vast majority of God’s people are never weaned. They remain as babes. They act as the people of the world. They are never set apart for God, and, in a sense, they are of very little use, if any, to God.
Yet you find there are some of God’s people who come into a position where God is able to reveal Himself to them and God is able to use them toward His purpose. Now, what is the difference? The difference is in consecration.
Consecration is not just once upon a time. Consecration has to have a beginning, and it has to be renewed day by day. It is like the burnt offering that must be offered each morning and each evening. When there are special occasions, festivals, or new moons, the burnt offering has to be increased.
In the life of Samuel, at the time of weaning, he was taken away from home and taken to the house of God. Instead of enjoying all the time, he began to enter into ministering unto the Lord.
There is a time for us to be babes in Christ. You cannot jump over that stage. But the problem is if we remain there too long. There must come the time of weaning. We have to come out into the house of God and learn to minister unto the Lord.
I was especially impressed by that single verse at the end of 1 Samuel 1:
Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he is lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there.
Hannah was the one who lent Samuel to the Lord. After she said, “Now I have lent my boy to You all his life,” she worshipped the Lord. But the Scripture says, “And he worshipped the Lord there.” Now, who is this “he”? There can be no other but Samuel.
A boy of three years old—can he worship God? Why not?
Dear brothers and sisters, we often think that for a person to worship God, to minister unto God, or to minister in the house of God, he needs to be grown up. He needs at least to be eighteen years old before he can do that. How tragic it is.
Even a three-year-old can worship God. Certainly, why not? As a matter of fact, the moment we believe, the moment we are born again, we are children of God, and we can worship and we ought to worship.
Today worship is a lost art—or, as Mr. Tozer says, worship is a lost jewel. People do not know how to worship. Why? Because they do not worship.
If, from the moment we are saved, there in the house of God we begin to worship, it is natural. Is that true? How can we not worship the Lord, seeing that He has saved us? How can we not worship the Lord, seeing that even before the foundation of the world He chose us? How can we not worship the Lord, seeing that He has set us apart?
How can we not worship the Lord, seeing that we who are nothing have been called by God to a tremendous purpose?
These things should stir us from the very bottom of our hearts and bring us to worship. In worshipping Him, we begin to appreciate His worthiness. We begin to see His worthiness, and that is worship.
It should be the natural instinct of the new life in us. Oh, how worship is being hindered because we are put into a program.
May the Lord’s people come to see that we who have been set apart, we who have given ourselves to the Lord for His purpose, have one first thing to do: to worship.
Samuel not only learned to worship, but to minister unto the Lord. I think even today very few people understand what it means to minister unto the Lord.
Probably we know a little about ministering unto the house, ministering to God’s people. But to minister unto God—how do we minister unto God? Where is He? How do we do it?
When you come to Acts 13, you find prophets and teachers in Antioch ministering unto the Lord with prayer and fasting. We wonder what they were doing.
Brothers and sisters, can we minister unto the Lord? Even if you are three years old, can you minister? Certainly. Why not?
To minister unto the Lord, in the first place, means to wait upon the Lord. To minister unto the Lord is not going here and there, rushing here and there, involving ourselves in activities. That will come later. But to minister unto the Lord is to wait upon Him.
To minister unto the Lord is to gaze upon Him. To minister unto the Lord is to praise Him and to please Him. To minister unto the Lord is to seek to know His mind. To minister unto the Lord is to satisfy His longing heart. To minister unto the Lord is to stay with Him, sometimes even without words.
Oh, how we need to minister unto the Lord first, and then minister unto men.
Samuel not only ministered unto the Lord; you find Samuel also ministered in the house of God. Now, what can a three-year-old do?
When Hannah left Samuel at Shiloh, he was only three years old. Who would take care of him? He could not take care of himself, and old Eli could not take care of him either. But thank God, there were women who served at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
Probably it was these women who took care of Samuel and brought him up. Thank God for these women—women who devoted themselves to the Lord and brought up people like Samuel. Tremendous!
Do not think that women have no ministry. Lately, as I travel, I am repeatedly asked that question: “Why is woman ministry in the church? Do women have no ministry whatsoever?”
People have the idea that women are not allowed to do this or that in the church, and therefore women have no ministry. So they ask, “What is woman’s ministry?” Tremendous ministry! You can bring up Samuel. What ministry is greater than that?
These women in the temple—how they brought up Samuel! Do not think that a sister’s ministry is little or less. Not at all. God has tremendous ministry for sisters in the church.
But anyway, what could a boy of three years old do in the temple? He opened the doors.
At that time there was no temple built of stones yet. At that time it was a tent, and the tent had only veils and curtains. There was no door. But because the tabernacle of Moses was set in Shiloh, they must have built around that tabernacle. So there were doors.
Samuel’s job as a boy in the temple was to open the doors. In order to open the doors, he had to get up very early. If he did not, the whole temple service could not start.
It sounds like a very small job, but it was a big job, because you could shut the door to worship. Samuel was doing this little job—opening the doors—and yet this little job was a tremendous job.
Brothers and sisters, for a boy to get up early, before daylight, because temple worship started at dawn—what a boy he must have been! What a boy!
Oftentimes we feel that if we cannot stand up and preach and have three thousand saved, we will not open our mouth. If we cannot do a tremendous job for God, we will not do anything. It is beneath our dignity.
But do you know? A little job like opening the door, if it is related to the temple, is a tremendous, essential job. There is nothing little in the house of God.
Everything that is done as unto the Lord is great. No matter what you do, if you do not do it as unto the Lord, it will soon be forgotten. It will never be remembered at the judgment seat of Christ.
But if you do a little thing—even give a cup of cold water to one who is called by the name of the Lord—you will be rewarded. Nothing will be lost.
How we need to start from little things. If we are not faithful in little things, God will not entrust us with many things.
According to our capacity, according to our age, and according to our growth, we should learn to do whatever God has ordered. Nothing is too small as unto the Lord.
But, of course, on the other hand, you do need to grow. Samuel was not called of God to open the doors all his life and keep them open all his life. Samuel was called to be a prophet of God. But to be a prophet of God, he had to begin by opening doors.
If you do not want to open the door, God may never call you to be a prophet.
For God to call him as a prophet, he had to grow. That is the reason why, in 1 Samuel 2, we read:
And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord, and also with men.
And the child Samuel grew before the Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters, if we desire to be God’s vessels, not only must there be consecration—a life consecrated to the Lord—not only must we begin to worship and minister in our small capacity, but we need to grow steadily in the Lord.
We need to grow, dear brothers and sisters. We need to grow in favor with God and with man. Of course, that reminds us of Luke 2, where you find how our Lord Jesus, as a boy, grew spiritually, mentally, and bodily.
We need to grow in the Lord. This does not mean that we cannot begin at the very beginning; we should. But as we grow in the Lord, then the Lord is able to come to us and call us into that special ministry which He has in His mind for us.
During those days Eli was the judge. He was a high priest as well as the judge over the nation of Israel. But what was the condition of Eli? He was very old. His eyes were dim to the extent that he could not see.
The word of God was rare in those days, and God’s appearing was infrequent. The lamp of God was still burning in the temple, and Eli lay in his bed.
God was trying to show us a picture—the picture of the days. Eli, being the judge and the high priest, represented the whole nation of Israel.
If Eli was old, that meant the nation of Israel was spiritually old. If Eli’s eyes were dim and he could not see, he was to be the eye of the nation of Israel, but he could not see. He would be a blind man leading the blind.
The word of God was rare. God was not able to speak to His own people. Think of that.
If you are not able to speak to your children, how do you feel? You cannot speak to your enemy. You cannot speak to a stranger. But if you cannot speak to your own children, how will you feel? You will feel so frustrated.
Sometimes the condition of your children is such that you cannot speak. You have your whole mind full of words, and yet you cannot utter them.
If God could not speak to His own people, to whom could God speak? The children of Israel were supposed to know God. The nations did not know God. God could not speak to the nations, but God could not speak to His own people either, because the spiritual condition of His people was such that God could not speak.
Oh, what frustration with God! The appearing of God was infrequent. God could not appear to His people. Oh, how God desired to appear to His people and to have fellowship with His people, but He could not.
The spiritual condition of His people was such that they forced God to hide Himself, and God was put into silence.
Yes, the lamp of God was still burning, and by that evening it was going out. The testimony of God was going out. What was going on?
Later, when the ark was captured by the Philistines, the testimony of God went out.
That was the time in which Samuel lived. God raised up Samuel as a reaction to such times.
What was the spiritual principle embodied in the life of Samuel? What we have just fellowshipped was the preparation. God was preparing a vessel, a vessel that would change the time.
But for a vessel to change the time, he had to be a vessel of light. He had to be a vessel of revelation. Samuel represents the divine principle of revelation.
When Eli could not see, when the people of God could not see, when God could not appear to the people, God appeared to Samuel.
When the word of God was rare, God spoke to Samuel. When the lamp of God was going out, God raised up Samuel to light up the testimony of God. Brothers and sisters, Samuel represents revelation.
But revelation had to come by experience. Samuel was worshipping God, and he was ministering in the temple, but personally he had never known God. The word of God had not yet been revealed to him. Then, one night, it happened.
Revelation is sovereign. In other words, if God wants to reveal, He reveals. If He does not reveal, no matter what you do, it will not help.
Yet why is it that God reveals to some and not to others? Is God partial? Not at all. The reason is that some vessels are prepared already for revelation, while other vessels are unprepared and not ready.
God can speak to some. God can reveal to some. But God is put to silence and put to hiding by others.
Oh, how God wants to reveal! “It pleased God to reveal His Son in me.” It is the pleasure of God today to reveal Himself, to reveal His Son to us. It is the pleasure of God.
Yet, dear brothers and sisters, why is it that we do not have more revelation? Why? Is it because the vessels are not ready?
Of course, by revelation today I do not mean that you can receive new revelation extra to the Bible. Not at all. All the revelation of God is completed in His word.
By revelation, we simply mean that by the Spirit of God—as Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus—God may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.
In other words, by revelation it means that God will reveal Himself afresh, livingly, to you through His word. Yes, revelation.
One day Samuel was sleeping. A little boy who got up so early in the morning would certainly be very tired by night, and he was sleeping. While Samuel was sleeping, God called, “Samuel!”
He heard. He got up, ran to Eli, and said, “You called me; here am I.”
Evidently, Eli, being very old, sometimes needed help in the night. Evidently he had called Samuel once in a while; otherwise Samuel would not have run to Eli.
For a little boy, when he goes to sleep, you can hardly wake him up. But this boy Samuel, even though he was sleeping, was so alert. He was not only alert, but so diligent. He was willing to get up. He was so obedient. He was willing to serve.
So when he heard the voice, he got up and ran to Eli. He did not drag his legs. He ran to Eli and said, “You called me; here I am.” Eli said, “I did not call you. Go to sleep.” So obediently he went to sleep.
God called him again the second time, and the second time he got up again and ran to Eli. Eli said, “No, I have not called you.”
Then the third time. We would think that probably the little mind would work and say, “Probably I am dreaming.” Not at all. The third time he went again.
It was not until the third time that Eli suddenly realized. Eli had past experience. God had spoken to Eli before, but God was not speaking to him again. He had past experience, but he had become so dull that it took three times for him to realize that it was God who was calling Samuel.
But thank God, even though he was so dull, he was not selfish. He would not say, “Because God does not speak to me, I will not let God speak to anybody else.” He was not that selfish.
He told Samuel, “If you hear the voice again, you say, ‘Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth.’”
Dear brothers and sisters, what is the good of past experience? Can you live today on past experience? You cannot live on old manna.
But what is the good of past experience? The good of past experience is not for you to live on; it is to direct you in the way. That is how experience really works.
You cannot live on past experience. We have to live day by day. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin. We have to live day by day in the light.
Past experience does help to direct us to God. So Eli directed Samuel to God. Without Eli, Samuel did not know the direction.
When God called again, “Samuel, Samuel,” Samuel said, “Speak, Lord.”
That was the time when God called Samuel to be a prophet. That was his life ministry. Samuel served when he was a boy in the temple, but that was preparing him for this day when God called him to be a prophet.
What is a prophet? What makes a man a prophet?
A prophet is God’s mouthpiece. A prophet is God’s spokesman. A prophet is one who speaks for God. But unless you hear what God says, you cannot speak for God.
Oftentimes we think that we want to be a prophet, that we want to speak for God. But, dear brothers and sisters, you cannot be a prophet unless you learn to hear the Lord.
“Speak, Lord; Thy servant heareth.” Unless we have an ear to hear, we cannot be God’s mouthpiece.
To be a prophet, in the first place, you have to learn to hear. You have to learn to hear God speaking. You have to learn to hear what God has to say.
Probably, in the case of Samuel, the first thing God spoke to Samuel was nothing new. God was repeating what He had already said through another prophet to Eli. God was repeating His words and reinforcing His words.
There was nothing new, but later on God began to speak something new. That is the way it developed.
When Samuel heard, did he lose anything? When Eli said, “Tell me all that God has told you,” Samuel faithfully told him everything. In other words, he really heard.
Sometimes we are so subjective. When we hear—not only what man says, but what God says—we only hear what we like to hear, and we do not hear what we do not like to hear. Now, that is the problem.
If our hearing is like that, we can never be a prophet of God. Never.
To be a prophet of God, you have to learn to hear: “Speak, Lord; Thy servant heareth.” I am here not to say anything. I am here not to have any preconceived idea. I am here not to hear what I like to hear. I am here to hear what You have to say.
After you have heard, repeat it faithfully. Do not dilute it. Do not change it. Then you will be a prophet.
So, here you find Samuel was called of God to be a prophet. To be a prophet, he must be a man of revelation. Revelation makes a prophet; knowledge makes a teacher.
God raised up Samuel to be a prophet. From that day onward, God’s word came to Samuel, and God watched over his words so that his words were fulfilled. All Israel knew that God had raised up Samuel as a prophet.
It is not something self-styled. It is not something you try to push your way into. It is God who makes you a prophet, and it is manifested to all.
I think probably tonight we will just stop here. Shall we pray?
Our heavenly Father, we do thank Thee for Thy word. Thy words are life and spirit. O breathe upon Thy word, that they truly may become life and spirit.
Lord, Thou art looking for epoch-making vessels. Thou art looking for a people who are all prepared, who can hear Thy voice and see Thy glory.
O, that Thou art able to reveal Thyself to Thy people through them, that Thou art able to speak to Thy people through them. O Lord, have mercy upon us. In Thy precious name. Amen.