Dear brothers and sisters, I do thank the Lord for giving me the privilege of visiting you again. It is always a pleasure.
As I waited upon the Lord, it seemed very strange to me that He would put in my heart something to review with you—not something that you do not know, but something with which you may be very, very familiar. Yet I feel burdened to review these basic things of our faith, things essential to our spiritual experience.
It may sound simple, as if it is for beginners. But thank God, these things are related to the eternal purpose of God.
I think there is nothing more important today for God’s people than to really have a sense of God’s purpose of the ages. Many believers today live for their needs. They come to the Lord wanting to have their every need met, and thank God, He is the Supplier of all our needs, and He is faithful.
But this kind of Christian life is actually on a lower level. How many of God’s people are self-centred, even in their relationship with the Lord? It is governed by self.
But from the Word of God, we find that we are called according to God’s purpose. We are here to live for the purpose of God. We need to be purpose-oriented instead of needs-oriented. That is living on a higher plane, living according to God’s heart and desire.
So I would like to share with you during these days something very basic and simple, yet related to God’s purpose. If I start to read the Scripture, probably many of you can recite it by memory. That is Matthew 16.
Please turn to Matthew 16. We will read from verse 13.
But when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?”
And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
He saith unto them, “But who say ye that I am?”
And Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus answered and said unto him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: 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: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Then charged He the disciples that they should tell no man that He was the Christ.
From that time began Jesus to show unto His disciples, that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
And Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall never be unto Thee.”
But He turned, and said unto Peter, “Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto Me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.”
Then said Jesus unto His disciples, “If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
For whosoever would save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake shall find it.
For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then shall He render unto every man according to his deeds.”
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we do praise and thank Thee, knowing that Thy presence is here with us. Thou art always faithful to what Thou hast said, so we thank Thee for Thy presence here. We thank Thee that we are here not to hear men, but to hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
Dear Lord, open our ears. Open our hearts, that we may receive Thy Word patiently and bear fruit—thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold—unto Thy glory. We commit this time into Thy hands. Speak, Lord, for Thy servants hear. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
God willing, we would like to share together during these three sessions on three different subjects:
You find these three things in the passage that we have just read. These are the fundamentals of our faith, and these are at the centre of God’s purpose.
So we would like to review these matters and see where we are. I hope, brothers and sisters, that we will look to the Lord during these few days, that He will give us revelation from above.
You can see that all these three things are very closely related. You cannot separate them, and none of them can be understood, received, and experienced except by revelation.
No one knows Christ but the Father, and he to whom the Father will reveal Him. No one knows the church unless Christ reveals it to him. And no one actually knows the cross unless the Holy Spirit reveals it.
So in these three things, we see that, humanly speaking, we are helpless. Do not think that you can know Christ on your own. Do not think that you can know the church just by listening or by reading about it. And do not think that you can really appreciate and enter into the reality of the cross without the Holy Spirit’s revelation.
So let our hearts be open, acknowledging that without Him we can do nothing. Do not think that we know a lot. We need the mind of Christ: humility, acknowledging that we are really nothing, and looking to Him to reveal Christ to us, the church to us, and the cross to us.
You know, our Lord Jesus, when He was retreating to the border of Caesarea Philippi, was at a time when He was being rejected by the Pharisees, scribes, and priests. So He retreated to the border of Caesarea Philippi, which was a Gentile city.
It was then that He began to ask His disciples a question. I believe this is the question of the ages. This is the question that God would ask everybody in this world—unbelievers and believers—because upon that question eternity is decided: whether it is eternal life or eternal death.
It was a question asked by our Lord Himself, and I believe that today, by the Holy Spirit, He is still asking the same question: “Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?”
I believe His disciples, out of courtesy, answered Him with all the good reports they had heard. They did not give Him the bad reports. So they said, “Well, some say You are John the Baptist. Others say You are Elijah, the representative of the prophets. Others say You are Jeremiah, because You weep. And some others say that You are one of the prophets.” In other words, “You are a special man.”
Now, if people said this to you, you would feel honoured and probably say, “Well, I am not worthy,” just to be polite. But our Lord Jesus was not satisfied.
These were people who did not know Him, even though they respected Him and uplifted Him as if He were a great educator, a great reformer, or a great revolutionist. But our Lord Jesus was not satisfied. This is not what He is.
So He turned to His disciples and said, in effect, “That is what the world says about Me. Now, what do you say that I am? You who have followed Me, you who have been with Me all this time, what do you say that I am?”
And thank God, Simon Peter, the representative of the disciples, came out and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah, the promised One sent by God for a special mission; and Thou art the Son of God.”
Then our Lord Jesus said, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona.” Simon was his original name; he was the son of Jonah. “You are blessed.” Why? Because the Lord said, “This is not something that flesh can tell you.”
What flesh can tell you is that Jesus is like John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the great prophets. That is all flesh can do. It is My Father Who is in heaven Who reveals this to you.
So, dear brothers and sisters, you can see it very clearly: to know Christ is beyond human ability. By searching, no one can find God.
Our Lord Jesus Himself said in Matthew 11:27:
No one knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal Him.
In other words, we are completely shut up to revelation from above concerning Christ.
I think all our experience will bear this out. I was born in a Christian family. My father loved the Lord. He was a pastor in a Methodist church, and we had family altar every evening.
He would gather all seven children in the dining hall. He would read from a huge Bible, and then we would all kneel down, and he would lead us in prayer every day before supper.
I was brought up in mission schools from kindergarten to college. I was accepted as a member of the Methodist church when I was sixteen, before I was saved. As a matter of fact, I preached before I was saved. I led prayer meetings before I was saved.
I prayed. I read the Bible. I knew all the gospel stories. I thought I knew God, but I did not know Him.
As one brother said, my prayer was like praying to a father-in-law: very formal, nothing personal or intimate. I believed God was somewhere, but I could not find Him.
But thank God, one day the Father revealed the Son to me. And when that came, it changed me completely. Immediately there was a living relationship between me and God.
I still remember that day. I could lift up my eyes and call Him, “Abba, Father.” The Bible became a new book immediately. I still remember the chapter that I read: 2 Peter 1. He really spoke to my heart. Revelation had come.
Because without revelation, we can never know Him.
But, brothers and sisters, do you think revelation from above is needed only at the time when we first come to know the Lord Jesus, at the time we are saved? After we are saved, are we then on our own? Can we know Christ by ourselves?
Do you think we are now beyond the need for revelation? I think this is something that we have to consider seriously.
Why is it that God’s people—those who are really saved and really know the Lord Jesus as their Saviour—may go on for several years, and yet you do not see any real spiritual growth? That is to say, you do not see them growing in the living knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
To put it another way, do you begin to see Jesus more than when you were first saved?
Many of God’s people remain as babes, in the sense that they know nothing more than, “Jesus is my Saviour.” Thank God for that. It is a great revelation. But that is the beginning—the beginning of the heavenly Father revealing His Son to us.
Now, what is spiritual growth? Spiritual growth is not merely growing in mental knowledge about Christ. Spiritual growth is not the increase of our mental understanding of the Bible.
Spiritual growth is not measured by our activities—so-called Christian activities. These are not Christian growth. Real Christian growth is an intimate, experiential knowledge of our Lord Jesus.
How much do we really know the Lord Jesus? Not know of Him—perhaps we know lots of Him—but do we really know Him? Without revelation, we really do not know Him, and not knowing Him means that we cannot grow spiritually.
You know, that was the problem with the Corinthian believers. That was the problem when you read Hebrews. The writer said, “By this time, you ought to be teachers, but you are still babes. You are not growing.”
They had lots of knowledge, lots of gifts, and lots of activities, but all these were external. There was nothing real.
So, dear brothers and sisters, in this matter of knowing our Lord Jesus—knowing Christ—we need God’s revelation continuously.
Now, of course, all the revelation of God is completed in the Bible that we have. There cannot be any so-called novel or new revelation. If there is any revelation that people profess to have today which is extra, other than, or different from the revealed Word of God, do not believe it. It is false.
But that does not mean that revelation is something of the past. Revelation is something of the present, and we need it every day. Even today, we need it.
We thank God for the Word of God, because without the Word of God, how can we know Christ? But we can read the Word of God and become familiar with it, and yet it may be only letter to us. The letter kills; it condemns. Letters do not operate in our lives.
So thank God, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, God has made every provision for us. He has not only given us life—new life, Christ our life—but He has also given us the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.
He is another Comforter of the same kind as our Lord Jesus when He was on earth. The Holy Spirit dwells in everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus.
He is there as the Custodian of the new life in us. He is there to reveal Christ to us day by day.
So we find that on the one hand we have the Word of God, and on the other hand we have the Holy Spirit within us. By these two working together, we come into a living knowledge of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
What is Christ to you today? What do you know of Him? What do you really know of Him in a way that is real, living, and experiential in your life? That alone counts.
May I put it another way? Do we know the Lord Jesus in the way that the Father knows Him and is willing to reveal Him?
Of course, we know that we can never know Christ in His fullness. Our Lord Jesus is God, and God is the greatest mystery in the whole universe. No one can know Him except He reveals Himself.
But thank God, He is the God Who reveals Himself, and it is His delight to reveal His Son.
You know, wherever I travel, when I go to a home where there is a new baby, the first thing you find when you enter the house is that the host or hostess will show you the baby. Why? Because this is the darling of their heart.
It is the same way with our Lord Jesus. It is the pleasure and delight of our heavenly Father to reveal His Son in us.
This is something that He is doing continuously by the Holy Spirit Who dwells in us and through the Word of God.
So, brothers and sisters, let us learn to read the Word of God, and as we are reading it, look to the Holy Spirit to shed light upon His written Word, making it living and operative in our lives.
What does the Bible tell us about Jesus Christ, the Son of God? Let us turn first to Ephesians 1. We will read verses 9 and 10.
Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him
unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth.
Here you find that even before the foundation of the world, before God created anything in time, in the eternal past, God made a will.
Our God is the greatest will-maker, and the perfect will-maker. He made a will even before time began. He made that will according to His good pleasure. In other words, it was not to please you or to please me; it was to please Him.
According to His good pleasure, He made a will that would give Him great pleasure. What is that will? He purposed in Himself, for the administration of the fulness of the times, to head up or sum up all things in Christ—the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth.
In other words, He first made a will, and then He created time. Do you know what time is for? Time is for the working out of the will of God. God uses time to perfect His will. That is what time is for.
So in the fulness of time, when time has ripened, God’s will will be fulfilled. And what is that will? To sum up, to head up, all things in Christ—things in the heavens and things upon the earth.
You see how great that is. It is not merely that Christ came to save a poor sinner like me. Thank God, He includes me, but that is not God’s eternal purpose. I am not that big or that important. I am nothing.
God’s purpose concerns His beloved Son. He wants His Son to head up, to sum up, all things—things in the heavens and things upon the earth.
In other words, all things were created for Him. All things are to express Him and to show forth His glory. That is why all things were created, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. That is the purpose of God.
Now, today we do not see God’s purpose in creation. Creation is in ruin. But God is working to restore and to gather together all things—nothing excepted, in heaven and on earth—in Christ Jesus.
So you see how great Christ is. Christ is bigger than the things in heaven plus the things on earth. He is bigger than everybody, including you and me.
God wants all things that He created to express Christ and to show forth Christ. That is how great Christ is.
When you read the Bible and come to these verses, you may read them and understand them. You may even be able to teach them. But if they do not operate in your life, they are nothing—perhaps worse than nothing. Why? Because they will condemn you instead of justifying you.
When God put this Word in the Book, His purpose was not merely that we should have an intellectual understanding. It is much more than that. It is something that God is going to complete, and you and I are involved.
He wants this to be completed in you and me who believe in Him first, and through us to reconcile all things to Himself.
So the question is: do you have revelation from above as you read these words? Do these words jump out, as it were, and become light to you? Do they open up your human understanding so that you immediately see where you are in relation to Christ?
You will fall down in repentance. You will rededicate your life to Christ. You will tell the Lord, “Lord, is this true in my life? If this is not true, then I am out of Your will.”
Brothers and sisters, that is why you find that every time there is revelation from above, people are struck down, as it were.
Do you remember what happened to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus? When that heavenly light shone upon him, he was immediately smitten and fell down upon the ground.
As our dear brother said, when you receive revelation, there is only one step, not two steps. In other words, when you receive revelation, you do not see the light, get off the horse, think a bit, and then fall down. It never happens that way. It is only one step: when revelation comes, you fall down.
You remember Daniel, the beloved of the Lord. When he saw the Lord, he fell as one dead. He said, “My beauty is turned into corruption.”
You remember Job. The same thing. Such a righteous man, but when the Lord revealed Himself to him, he said:
I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear;
But now mine eye seeth Thee:
Wherefore I abhor myself,
And repent in dust and ashes.
That is the result of revelation. Does it happen to us? In our relationship with Christ, where are we? Are we completely insensitive to that? Are we comforting ourselves by saying, “I am saved; I am eternally secure”?
What is our reaction? Is our life really related to the eternal will of God? Are we part of it? Are we included in it? I think this is what revelation really means.
Then turn to Colossians 1. In Colossians 1:15, there is further revelation of our Lord Jesus.
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
God is Spirit—invisible. I often remember when the first Russian cosmonaut went into space. He came back and said, “I looked around, and I did not see God, so there is no God.”
Foolishness. God is Spirit. You cannot see Him physically, nor can you comprehend Him merely mentally. You have to worship Him in spirit and truth.
God is invisible, but thank God, there is One Who makes the invisible God visible, and that is Christ. He is the image of the invisible God—the exact image.
You remember John 1:18:
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.
You remember our Lord Jesus said, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” Even during the Last Supper, Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.”
And it really grieved the heart of our Lord. “Philip, hast thou been so long time with Me, and dost thou not know Me? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. The Father is in Me, and I am in the Father.”
In other words, our Lord Jesus reveals the Father to us. He is the image of the invisible God.
The word translated “image” is eikōn. It does not mean an outward picture, such as the icons of the Orthodox church. There was a division between the Catholic and Orthodox churches over this matter of images. The Catholics had statues and things like that, while the Eastern Orthodox said, “This is idol worship. We do not have statues; we have pictures.”
But the word eikōn does not refer to outward appearance. It refers to inward quality, character, nature, and essence.
In other words, our Lord Jesus is the substance and essence of what God is. Whatever God is, so is He—nothing more and nothing less. He is the exact image of the invisible God.
And what a glorious expectation and will of God this is. In Romans 8, you find that He has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. Think of that.
Christ is the exact image of God, and we are to be conformed to His image. Whom He justified, He will glorify.
What we know of God today is through our Lord Jesus: the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It is God’s will that we should be conformed to that image. Is that not marvellous? There can be nothing less than that. It is just like God.
And He is the firstborn of all creation. Unfortunately, among God’s people there is a heresy because of the word firstborn. Some people say that because He is the firstborn of all creation, He must be the first created.
Blasphemy.
Those who really know Greek tell us that the word firstborn in Scripture has two different meanings. One is the common usage, measured in time. In a family, if you are the first one to come out from your mother’s womb, you are the firstborn. Then the second one comes, and he is not the firstborn; he is the second-born. The firstborn has privileges.
That is the common use. But there is a special use in Scripture. It is not measured by time; it is measured by quality. It means sovereignty and priority.
He has priority over and sovereignty over all creation. In this case, it is a special use of that word: firstborn of all creation.
This is explained as you read on. Why is He the firstborn of all creation? It is because all things were created in Him, through Him, and unto Him.
In other words, all things take their character from Him. All things are created through Him, and all things are created for Him, because He is the Heir of all things. That is firstborn.
Immediately following, Paul says:
For in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through Him, and unto Him.
Now, “in Him” is very important. It means that when God created all things, all things were created in His Son. His Son contains the idea for all things. His Son gives character to all things.
It is like an architect. Before an architect builds a house, he already has the house in his mind. That house is according to his character. If he is a very artistic person, he may build a beautiful house, though it may not be practical. If he is very practical, he may build a practical house, but it may not be beautiful.
Everything is first in his mind, and out of his mind he creates. So all things were created in Christ.
Then, when the architect has the idea and puts it down in a blueprint, the house is created through him. Christ is not only the Architect; He is also the Engineer. And He is not merely the Engineer—He is the Owner, because this house is created for Him.
That is the meaning of the firstborn of all creation. Everything is created, taking its character from Him. Everything is created through Him, and everything is created for Him.
He has priority. He has sovereignty. The Bible says that He has the pre-eminence over all things—the first place over all things. That is what is meant by the firstborn.
And thank God, the church is the church of the firstborn—not merely born, but firstborn, because we are conformed to His image. Is that not wonderful?
Later on, Paul says that He is before all things, and all things subsist together by Him. All things are held together by Him.
This concerns the old creation. But concerning the new creation, the body, the church, He is the Head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, that He might have the first place in all things.
So, brothers and sisters, this is our Lord Jesus.
The question now is: when we are reading these words, how will these words become living words and operate in our lives? We may have read them many times, but there may be no real effect upon us.
Mentally, we understand them. We can even teach them. But what is their effect upon our lives?
That requires revelation. When light from above comes upon us, something will happen in our lives. We will begin to see what God’s purpose is for us.
Insignificant as we are, we are so important in the plan of God. He wants Christ to have the first place in our lives. Now, is this true of us?
There is much need for us to humble ourselves before the Lord. It is not merely doctrine or teaching. It is something very real and practical, something that you can experience, and it will really give you spiritual growth.
Then turn to Hebrews 1. You have the same thing there. In Hebrews 1:2-4:
At the end of these days spake He unto us in His Son, Whom He appointed heir of all things, through Whom also He made the worlds;
Who being the effulgence of His glory, and the very image of His substance, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Having become by so much better than the angels, as He hath inherited a more excellent name than they.
Again, you find the Word revealing to us that our Lord Jesus is the Heir of all things. He is the outshining of the glory of God. He is the expression of the substance of God—the essence of God.
Then, in obedience to the Father, in order to accomplish the eternal purpose of God, He was willing to empty Himself.
He laid aside all the glory and honour belonging to Him. It was not something to be grasped. The Word reminds us that one day an archangel tried to grasp that honour, because it was not his. When he tried to do that, he turned himself into Satan, the adversary of God.
But as far as our Lord Jesus was concerned, this was not something He grasped. He willingly laid aside these things. He emptied Himself and came down to take the form of a bondservant.
Again, “form” does not refer to outward appearance. The form here refers to inward essence. Before that, it says that He had the form of God—He had the essence of God. But now, while He was on earth, what characterised Him was the inward essence of a bondservant.
Think of that. The One Who is equal with God now lived the life of a slave, a bondservant. That was His inward feeling. That is the mind of Christ.
Then He took the fashion of a man—that is outward. He became obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
This is what He did. He is the Son of God, but He was sent by God: the Christ, the Anointed One. He came to this world to accomplish a work.
That work is to restore all things to the fulness of God. Man has fallen so deeply. The whole creation has fallen away. But God, through His beloved Son, restores all things and brings everything back to God’s original purpose.
That is Christ. That is His work. We often think of His work only in terms of ourselves, but what our Lord Jesus did is much more than us.
The whole creation was affected. He is bringing everything back to the feet of God, that God’s eternal purpose may be fulfilled.
Brothers and sisters, this is our Christ. This is the Son of God Whom we worship. This is what the Father has revealed to us.
How much have we received this revelation? I think this is something for us to consider.
I do not believe there will be anyone who can boast and say, “I know it all.” On the contrary, I believe every one of us should be humble.
But thank God, this does not reduce us to despair. On the contrary, it gives us an inward passion and desire to seek after Christ.
That was the experience of Paul. In Philippians 3, he said:
What things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ.
Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming conformed unto His death;
If by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on.
Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,
I press on toward the goal.
Brothers and sisters, that should be our attitude. This should be our mind. If we are otherwise minded, we are exhorted to be thus minded. So may the Lord help us.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, as we meet in Thy presence, we believe that Thy light will shine upon us. We pray that we may be those who are smitten by Thy light, confessing our shortcomings, but looking to Thee, Who art the Author and Finisher of our faith, that we may press on towards the goal.
Thank God, Thou Who hast called us art faithful, and Thou wilt perform it, to the praise of Thy name. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.