First of all, I would like to thank you, brothers and sisters, who have been praying for our last trip. We went to the Far East for altogether seven weeks, and we visited the saints in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
I do not think it is possible for me to tell you all that transpired, but I can say that your prayers were abundantly answered. The Lord was really gracious. The visit was timely, and the Lord seemed to give the right words in different places as the Lord enabled. So I do want to thank the Lord and thank you, brothers and sisters, for that.
Will you please turn to the Gospel according to John? I will read one verse: John 1:1.
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
First John 1:1-4.
That which was from the beginning,
that which we have heard,
that which we have seen with our eyes,
that which we contemplated,
and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life—
and the life has been manifested,
and we have seen, and bear witness,
and report to you the eternal life,
which was with the Father,
and was manifested to us—
that which we have seen and heard we report also to you,
that ye also may have fellowship with us:
yea, and our fellowship is with the Father,
and with His Son Jesus Christ.
And these things we write, that our joy may be made full.
Revelation 1:17-18.
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as one dead.
And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Fear not;
I am the first and the last,
and the Living One;
and I became dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore,
and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
Lately, the Lord has impressed upon my heart, especially concerning the ministry of John the Apostle. In order to understand John’s ministry to the church, I think it is necessary for us first of all to have a general survey of the distinctive ministries that we find in the New Testament. So this morning will probably be like laying the groundwork for future consideration.
In the New Testament, we find that there are four distinctive ministries. Some people think there are three, but probably there are four: the ministry of James—not the James who wrote the Book of James, but James the brother of John—the ministry of Peter, the ministry of Paul, and the ministry of John.
These four have very distinctive ministries in the New Testament:
Of course, we do not find much said in the New Testament concerning James, the brother of John. Yet his ministry is the foundation of all ministries, because his is the ministry of martyrdom.
We only know that he was the brother of John. We do not even know who was older. Often we think that James was older, but sometimes in the Bible you find John and James instead of James and John. So we really do not know. But we know that, as the brother of John, he had a very intense love for the Lord.
He was the first among the twelve apostles to be martyred. It is recorded in Acts 12 that Herod took him and killed him. Now, with a martyr, it is not so much what he says; with a martyr, it is the way that he dies.
So we do not find much concerning what James said or did. What we do find is how he died for the Lord. Like a martyr, he had the spirit of martyrdom—the spirit of love, unselfish love, intense love, or, we may say, sacrificial love.
But as a matter of fact, toward the Lord, we cannot say there is any sacrifice. Yet we find that this kind of spirit is itself a ministry.
In a sense, we all should live a martyr’s life. Whether or not we die a martyr’s death, that is up to the Lord. But certainly, if we want to have any ministry of any kind in the church, we must have the spirit of martyrdom within us.
We find in the Bible that no one lives for himself. Whether we live or die, we live and die unto the Lord. That is the spirit of a martyr.
Sometimes we have the desire that, if the Lord will give us the honor, we may be martyrs for the Lord. Now, we may not have this opportunity. But it is not so much a matter of how we die as martyrs for the Lord; it is whether we can live a martyr’s life.
That is the same thing as dying a martyr’s death. To be a martyr simply means that his life is not his own. It means that he offers his life to the One whom he loves. He is willing to lay down everything, even his life. He will not reserve or keep back anything for the One whom he loves—for the Lord.
That is the reason why he can die as a martyr. But this spirit should mark our life. In a sense, this is the right thing, because we do not belong to ourselves; we belong to Him. Of course, we must live for Him and not for ourselves.
Someone said it this way: it is easy to die a martyr’s death, but it is harder to live a martyr’s life. I believe there is truth in that.
Even though emotionally and sentimentally we may desire that, if the Lord gives us the honor, we may die a martyr’s death, yet really, as we examine ourselves before the Lord, do we live as martyrs?
How often we say we love the Lord and are willing to die for Him, and yet how selfish we are. How we are more concerned with ourselves than with the Lord and His interests. How many really live completely for the Lord?
Not just a certain percentage. Probably, by the grace of God, we all live a certain percentage for the Lord. Yet can we say that we really live unto the Lord as martyrs—one hundred percent for the Lord? Can we say that we do not hold back anything for the Lord?
To live as we die—that is the thing. Today, it requires us to lay down our lives for the Lord. We will do it if the opportunity comes. But even if the opportunity does not come, it does not mean that we do not need to lay down our lives for the Lord today.
The principle, the spirit, is the same. It does not have any time or place factors in it. So I do feel that, as we are living close to the end of the last days, a spirit of martyrdom should mark the spirit of God’s people.
Unless we are marked by such a spirit—that we live daily dying to ourselves, daily living unto the Lord, daily laying down ourselves and our lives for the Lord, everything for the Lord, with no consideration of ourselves and no reservation—unless we live daily in such a spirit, actually we cannot talk about any ministry that may come forth from us to the church.
So, to me, I feel that the first and fundamental ministry that you find in the New Testament is exemplified by James. His death speaks so much to us. It is the blood of the martyrs that nourishes the church, and it is this kind of spirit that will really build up God’s people.
Then, of course, we have the ministry of Peter. In Matthew 16, we find that after Peter confessed the Lord as the Christ, the Son of the living God, our Lord Jesus said to him:
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah:
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but My Father who is in heaven.
And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build My church;
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
Here you find that, after Peter’s confession of the Lord, he was given the keys of the kingdom of God. Historically, we know that he used these keys. Keys are used to open, or even to close, a door.
Therefore, on the day of Pentecost, Peter used the key to the kingdom of God, opening the kingdom of God to the world so that people might come into the kingdom. Later, we find how he used the key in the house of Cornelius, opening the door of the kingdom of God to the Gentiles, drawing in the Gentiles as well as the Jews into God’s kingdom.
Of course, these keys were not given only to Peter. In John 20, we find that after the resurrection of our Lord, He breathed upon the disciples and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit: whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.”
In other words, it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached. When the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached in the power of the Holy Spirit, it is like using the keys to open the door of the kingdom of God.
On the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter was given a sight, a glimpse, of what the kingdom of God really is. There he saw our Lord Jesus transfigured in glory. Moses and Elijah appeared, and they talked with Him about His departure from the world—His work of redemption.
Peter wanted to preserve that scene, so he suggested, “Let us make three tabernacles: one for You, Lord, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” But before he had finished speaking, a bright cloud came over them, and Moses and Elijah were taken away. When they opened their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only, and they heard the voice:
This is My beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased;
hear ye Him.
Now, brothers and sisters, what is the essence of the kingdom of God? The essence of the kingdom of God is none other than this declaration from God the Father: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.” That is the kingdom.
It is not Moses. It is not Elijah. It is not Moses and Elijah with the Lord Jesus. The kingdom of God is simply this: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.”
Dear brothers and sisters, if we learn to see no one but Jesus, if we learn to hear Him, we are in the reality of the kingdom of God.
Then, of course, you find Peter writing his epistles. His epistles are the epistles of the kingdom of God. That is what he deals with. He has two epistles, and you will find that the kingdom of God is related, on the one hand, with sufferings and, on the other hand, with glory.
If we want to enter into the kingdom, we must first suffer. If we suffer with Him, then we shall reign with Him. This, in essence, is the condition of the kingdom of God.
The ministry of Peter is the ministry of the kingdom of God. He is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is to cast the net, as it were, for drawing people into God’s kingdom.
This, in brief, is the ministry of Peter: the ministry of preaching the gospel, of casting the net, of bringing people unto obedience to the Son. As we follow the Son, we have to learn to suffer before He brings many sons into glory. Of course, we need such a ministry.
Then, following the ministry of Peter, we have the ministry of Paul. Paul was, by trade, a tentmaker, and the Lord called him to build up the house of God. So his ministry is mainly a ministry of the house of God.
We know that the kingdom of God is of a wider scope, while the house of God is more defined. Paul was called to this ministry of the house of God, and to him was given such revelation.
He was given wisdom and revelation concerning the mystery of God, the mystery of Christ, which is the church.
God not only used Paul to raise up many assemblies in Asia and later in Europe, but God used him to give us almost half of the books in the New Testament. He was a master builder. God used him to build His house and to show us what the eternal purpose of God is.
With Paul, we may say that the revelation of God reached its height. The whole counsel of God was given to the church.
In the first twelve chapters of Acts, we find the ministry of Peter. But from Acts 13 through Acts 28, the last sixteen chapters of the Book of Acts are concerned with the ministry of Paul and how God used him to establish churches throughout the world.
Finally, we find the ministry of John the Apostle, and his ministry is concerned with the family of God.
John was among the first disciples who followed the Lord. You know that two disciples of John the Baptist were with him when he pointed to the Lord Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” These two disciples left John the Baptist and followed the Lord.
The Lord turned and said, “What seek ye?” They said, “Where dwellest Thou?” The Lord said, “Come and see.” These two were the first disciples of our Lord Jesus. One of them was Andrew, and the other was unnamed in the Gospel according to John. But we all know that it was John.
So John was among the first disciples who followed the Lord, and he was the closest to the Lord. We remember how, on one occasion, he lay upon the breast of our Lord Jesus. He was so close to the Lord.
John was the last of the twelve apostles to die. He had a love for the Lord that was most intense. His temperament was meditative, even contemplative.
In the beginning, we do not find that he was the type of person who pushed himself forward. He seemed very content to play the second fiddle. In the Book of Acts, you find that he was always with Peter—Peter and John—but it was always Peter who took the initiative, Peter who spoke, Peter who did things. Yet John was always with Peter.
John was more of a supporting nature than a leading nature, and he was quite happy to be that.
When Paul visited Jerusalem for the first time, Paul saw Peter, but he did not see John. We do not know where John was when Paul first went to Jerusalem. But in Acts 15, during the council there, we find that John was present.
In Galatians 2, Paul mentions the three pillars of the church in Jerusalem: James, Peter, and John. They gave the right hand of fellowship. Thus, John was in Jerusalem, one of the pillars there, one of the main supports of the church.
Probably he became an elder in the church in Jerusalem, as well as being one of the apostles. Among the apostles, some were elders. Peter was an elder, and John was an elder.
But we do not know John’s whereabouts afterward. Probably, before Jerusalem was destroyed, he left with the Christians. We know that in A.D. 70 Jerusalem was destroyed by Roman soldiers, and the temple was completely destroyed. But the Christians in Jerusalem escaped that disaster. By revelation, they left Jerusalem before it was taken and crossed to the other side of the river. Most likely John was with them.
But, in any case, we do not know his whereabouts until both Peter and Paul had died. After Paul and Peter passed from the scene, we find John in Asia, probably in Ephesus, the place where Paul had labored much during his lifetime.
After Peter passed from the scene and after Paul passed from the scene, the ministry of John became more prominent. At that time, it was not Jerusalem, because Jerusalem had been destroyed. It was not Antioch. Ephesus became the center of the move of the Spirit of God, and because of that, it also became a center of conflict.
As Ephesus became a very important locality during that time, we find that the apostle John was led to reside there. He lived in Ephesus.
We know from history that during the Roman reign of Domitian, John was exiled to the island of Patmos. It was there that he received the Book of Revelation. But he was released under the reign of Nerva, and we are told that he lived into the reign of Trajan.
If that is the case, then most likely the apostle John lived to be about one hundred years old—over ninety, and probably around one hundred. So he was the last of the twelve who died.
We do not know how he died. Some say he died a natural death; other traditions say he died a martyr. But we are not sure about that.
We are told that when he was very old, so old that he could hardly walk, people used to carry him in a chair and bring him to the meeting. When he came, they expected him to say something, because he knew the Lord so well.
Tradition tells us that he would simply say, “Little children, love one another.” That was all he said. People asked him, “Why is it that you have nothing more to say?” He said, “Well, if you love one another, that is all.” That is it.
So far as his history is concerned, we find that John was the last of the twelve to pass away.
Of course, the Lord used John to write the Gospel according to John, the three epistles—First John, Second John, and Third John—and the Book of Revelation.
Of all the four Gospels, the Gospel according to John was the last written. Of all the epistles, the epistles of John were the last written. Of all the revelations of God, the Book of Revelation is the last book of the New Testament. In other words, his ministry is the last ministry.
The ministry of James is the first; he lays the foundation. The ministry of Peter follows by opening the door of the kingdom of God. The ministry of Paul follows by building up the materials that have been drawn into the house of God.
We may think that with the ministry of Paul, the height and fullness of the mystery of God have been reached. What else can there be? We may think of Paul’s ministry as the last ministry. But Paul’s ministry is not the last.
Even before Paul left the scene, you remember that in Acts 20, on his way to Jerusalem for the last time before he was taken, he called the elders of the church in Ephesus to meet him in Miletus. There he shared his last word with them.
He said, “I know that after my departure grievous wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Even from among yourselves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”
How this prophecy was fulfilled. Even before Paul died, even before Peter died, corruption and heresies, false teachings and false prophets, had already begun to enter into Christianity.
Surely after they died, especially after A.D. 70, which was a landmark when Jerusalem was destroyed, we find that corruptions and heresies entered into the church and made holes, as it were, in the testimony of Jesus. The church was in trouble, and the testimony of Jesus was weakened.
It was during that period that the ministry of John became more evident. He came in after there was a gradual falling away, and God raised him up because his ministry is mainly the ministry of recovery.
Now look at the Gospel according to John. Why was this Gospel written? We already had three Gospels written. They tell us of the life of our Lord Jesus: the Gospel according to Matthew, the Gospel according to Mark, and the Gospel according to Luke.
They give us the history of our Lord Jesus on earth. Even though there are variations, these three Gospels are more or less the same. We call them the Synoptic Gospels. They tell us the history, the story, of our Lord Jesus.
Why should John, in his old age, write another Gospel? Not another of a different kind, but another of the same kind. Why?
Some people tell us that John wrote this Gospel in order to refute the false teachings concerning our Lord Jesus at that time. We are told in history that in Ephesus there was a man called Cerinthus, and he began to teach false doctrine concerning the person of our Lord Jesus.
He taught that the Spirit of God came upon Jesus at His baptism, but that before He died on the cross, the Spirit left Him. Thus, he taught that it was merely the man Jesus who was crucified and that the Spirit of God had departed before the crucifixion.
In other words, there was false teaching concerning the person, especially the person and work, of our Lord Jesus. Heresies came in, and John combated them. So some people say that John wrote the fourth Gospel in order to combat the false teachings that were rampant during that time.
There may be some truth in that. But certainly John did not write the Gospel merely for that negative reason.
The other three Gospels write about the Lord and His life, but they give us the outward history of the life of the Lord. John gives us the inward history, as it were—the spiritual history of the life of our Lord Jesus.
In writing the Gospel according to John, he was actually supplying something that was lacking before. The three Gospels give us the outward history of our Lord Jesus, but something is missing as to the inward history, the spiritual history, of our Lord Jesus. John was used to fill in that gap.
John was never interested in outward things. He was not interested even in putting things in chronological order or gathering events together merely as events. He was more concerned with the content, with the inward reality.
Therefore, the Gospel of John is different in nature from the other Synoptic Gospels. It gives us the spiritual history of our Lord Jesus. It deals much deeper than the other Gospels because his is a spiritual ministry, a deeper ministry. It is a ministry of recovery.
John wants to recover us back to the very beginning. That is the reason why, in the Gospel according to John, he begins with “In the beginning.” His ministry is to bring us to the very beginning.
The same is true with his epistles. If you read the epistles of John, you find that he begins with, “That which was from the beginning.” His ministry deals with the family of God.
In the family of God, you have fathers, young men, and little children. He deals with the family of God. The kingdom of God has a wide range. The house of God is more defined. But the family of God is the most intimate of all relationships, and that is what John is interested in.
The Logos, the Word in the Gospel, becomes the Word of life in the epistles. In the Gospel, you find that in Him was life. In the epistles, you find that this life is in us.
Because this life is now in us, it will manifest the same character as the life we find in the Lord Jesus. It will be manifested in light, righteousness, and love. That is what the epistles of John are concerned with.
Again, you find that John deals with inward reality, inward relationship, and the reality of life—life in us manifested. That is what John is concerned with.
Finally, we have the Book of Revelation. In the Book of Revelation, God revealed to John the coming events leading up to the full realization of God’s eternal purpose.
But John was not a person interested in events, even future events. In Revelation 19:10, it says:
The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
In other words, prophecy shows us coming events, but the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. These events are given beforehand, not merely that we may know what is going to happen, but to show us the testimony of Jesus.
What is the testimony of Jesus? To sum it up in one sentence, it is what the Lord Jesus says of Himself:
I am the first and the last,
and the Living One;
and I became dead, and behold,
I am alive for evermore,
and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
This is the testimony of Jesus. John’s ministry deals with the beginning as well as the end, because the beginning and the end are like a circle that comes together. In dealing with the end, he deals with the beginning; and in dealing with the beginning, he deals with the end.
That is the ministry of John. In summary, you find that the ministry of John is the last of all ministries, and it is a ministry of recovery.
In a sense, brothers and sisters, James had his ministry, Peter had his ministry, and Paul had his ministry. But after James, Peter, and Paul passed away, the ministry of John became the most necessary ministry of all times.
It is true, in one sense, that all these ministries continue. Of course, we need the ministry of James, the spirit of martyrdom. It should still remain with us. Before the end, there will yet be persecutions, and many will yet die for the Lord, as we find in the fifth seal of the Book of Revelation.
Of course, the ministry of Peter will go on. The gospel will still be preached to the world, and people will still be gathered into the kingdom of God. No doubt the ministry of Paul will continue, because churches, the house of God, will still be raised up in many places, and God’s people need to be built up.
So in one sense, these ministries never die. They continue through the ages until the coming of the Lord.
But in another sense, when we look back into history and take an overall view, we may say that the blood of the martyrs has laid the foundation of the church, the gospel has been preached throughout the nations, and the house of God is being built up throughout the world.
But what do we find in our own days? We find that the house of God, built with the materials gathered through the preaching of the gospel and through the foundation of the blood of the martyrs, has become a great house.
In that great house, you have vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor. We find that the church today, as it were, has many holes. The net has many holes. When God called John, he was mending the nets.
How we find that the testimony of Jesus is so weakened, so mixed. We are living in a day in which we need the ministry of recovery.
The testimony of Jesus needs to be recovered. The truth of God needs to be rediscovered. We need to go back to the very beginning in order that we may reach the very end.
So, to me, I feel that the ministry of John the Apostle has become a very urgent need in our times. It is not that the ministry of James, the ministry of Peter, and the ministry of Paul are unimportant. They are important. But I think that in our time we should learn to appreciate more the ministry of John the Apostle.
We are living in days of general falling away. So far as faith is concerned, there is much controversy. So far as life is concerned, there is much corruption. So far as the testimony of Jesus is concerned, there is much weakening.
We are living close to the end of the end. In order that we may reach the end, we need a ministry of recovery. The ministry of recovery is a ministry that leads us back to the beginning.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I feel in a very special way that the Lord has put this upon my heart in these days, especially concerning the ministry of John the Apostle.
This morning, I am not able to go into all that his ministry is. But perhaps I will use a few minutes to mention one point for our consideration. The ministry of John has certain special features. In other words, these are the features of a ministry of recovery.
I think the first feature of the ministry of John is that his ministry is the ministry of the beginning—the ministry of the beginning.
In the Gospel of John, he writes, “In the beginning.” The Gospel of Matthew begins with Abraham and David. The Gospel of Mark does not even deal with genealogy. The Gospel of Luke, in its genealogy, begins with Adam.
But in John, he brings us all the way back to the beginning. I think this is a special feature of John’s ministry because in his epistles you find the same thing: “That which was from the beginning.” In the Book of Revelation, the Lord says, “I am the first.”
Now, in the New Testament, on one occasion the Pharisees came to the Lord and asked whether it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife for every cause. The Lord said, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a bill of divorcement to be given, and then the wife could be put away.”
The Lord gave His verdict on this matter. He said that Moses allowed this because of the hardness of their hearts. But from the beginning, God created a man and a woman, and what God has joined together, no man should separate.
You find that, in order to correct a situation, the way to correct it is to return to the beginning. When God created, He created a man and a woman. That was God’s original thought, and the two shall become one.
But gradually, because of the hardness of heart, God allowed people under the law to be separated or divorced. If they continued together, life could become miserable and impossible. So God allowed it. But that was the result of sin; it was the result of hardness of heart. That was not God’s original thought.
In the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus brings us back to the beginning, to the very purpose of God. That is what redemption is.
If redemption does not bring us to the very beginning, then it is no redemption. Redemption does not merely forgive our sins; redemption brings us to the very beginning of God’s purpose, of God’s design. The Lord said, “From the beginning it hath not been so.” By His redemptive work, He brings us back to the very beginning. That is recovery.
Then you find another case in Revelation 2, the letter to the church in Ephesus. Ephesus was a church that had become fully matured. There was such love among them that they were able to receive the full counsel of God.
Yet, at the time Revelation was written, what was the condition of the church in Ephesus? They had left their first love. They had other things going on as usual, but they had left their first love.
What did the Lord say? “Repent, and do the first works.” In other words, go back to the first. Go back to the beginning. The ministry of recovery is to go back to the beginning.
For recovery, it is not enough just to go back to the time of John Wesley. It is not enough simply to go back to the time of the Reformation and Martin Luther. It is not enough just to recover to the time of the church fathers during the second and third centuries.
Some people today try to recover to the church fathers. That is not recovery. To recover to the Brethren movement of two hundred years ago is not recovery. Even to recover to the sixteenth century, to Luther’s time, is not recovery. Even to recover to the second and third centuries, to the time of the church fathers, is not recovery.
What is recovery? Recovery is to return to the beginning. That is recovery. This is why John always tries to lead us back to the very beginning—not to some point in the middle of the road, not to some landmark along the road, but back to the very beginning.
That is the ministry of recovery: to the beginning.
To put it another way, we have to seek our root. You do not deal merely with branches, or even stems. You have to go back to the very root. That is the ministry of John. The ministry of John always leads us to the very root of all things.
What do you find in the beginning? He says, “In the beginning was the Word.”
In other words, in the beginning you do not have many things. In the beginning you do not have anything. There was no creation. There were no things. In the beginning there were no people, no man. In the beginning there was no teaching, no system, no form, and no method.
In the beginning, there was nothing. In the beginning, there was the Word. That is it. That is all.
Now, brothers and sisters, I believe this is important. What is our confusion today? What creates all the problems today? Too many things. Too many people. Too many teachings, too many reforms, too many systems, too many methods. We have too many.
Because we have so many of these, we are confused and corrupted. How are we going to solve these problems? You cannot solve these problems by dealing with things, people, or teachings. You cannot.
The more you try to deal with teachings, the more teachings you have. The only way to get out of all the complications and all the confusion is to go back to the beginning.
When you go back to the beginning, whom do you find there? The Word—nothing else.
Brothers and sisters, when we begin to see no one but Jesus only, we are delivered, and we have come back to the very beginning.
So I think this morning I will mention only this much. If God wills, perhaps at later times there will be opportunities to go further into the ministry of John the Apostle.
O heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee that Thou hast always provided for Thy people.
We thank Thee for all the ministries that Thou hast shown us in Thy Word. We thank Thee for the ministry of John in a special way, as we live at the end of our days.
Lord, we acknowledge that we need this ministry. We pray that we may know more of his ministry and be brought through his ministry into the very end as well as the very beginning.
Lord, we ask Thee to deliver us from trying to solve our problems somewhere along the way. We do ask Thee, O Lord, that whenever we are faced with confusion and problems, we will go back to the very beginning.
There may we see no one but the Lord. O, how we praise and thank Thee. There is a simplicity in Thee. There is a reality that is only in Thee, and we do desire that.
So we commit ourselves to Thee and ask that during these days Thou wouldst exercise our hearts and lead us back to the beginning, that we may reach the end.
We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.