Evening, brothers and sisters.
This is more like a family time, so relax.
We call this a question-and-answer period, but I think I have to clarify it. Nobody in this world is able to answer all questions. The answer to all questions is the Lord Jesus.
So I hope, brothers and sisters, you are not expecting to find a poor human being to answer your deep questions.
God has made a new covenant with us. If we were under the old covenant, before the Holy Spirit came, then the only way to know the Lord, to know God, was by questions and answers. Teachers and prophets would answer our questions.
But thank God, we are not under the old covenant. We are people of the new covenant.
Now, if you know what the new covenant is, we find that in Jeremiah 31, and in the New Testament we find that in Hebrews 8. The new covenant is entirely different from the old covenant, because under the old covenant of law, everything was to be done by you. If you did according to the law of God, then God said He would be your God.
But under the new covenant it is entirely different, because it is the new covenant of grace. Because He is your God, therefore you are His people.
Under the new covenant, if you read Hebrews 8, you will find there are only three articles:
So, brothers and sisters, we are people under the new covenant. What does it mean? This question-and-answer period is not necessary, because we should know Him in ourselves.
You do not need anyone to teach you, “Know the Lord.” That would be awkward. But you know Him inwardly by the Holy Spirit, and this is real knowing of Him. It is from the least one to the greatest one.
Then why is it that the Lord does raise up prophets, teachers, apostles, shepherds, and evangelists? If we do not need anyone to teach us, now we should throw all these prophets and teachers out of the window. We do not need them.
But strangely, you will find that the Lord gave to the church, as we find in Ephesians 4, some apostles, some prophets, some teachers and shepherds, and some evangelists, to perfect the saints and to equip the saints, so that after the saints are perfected and equipped, they will function as the body of Christ. That is the building up of the church.
So, brothers and sisters, our soul is so precious in the sight of God that He will not trust our soul to anybody. He only trusts our soul to Himself, to the Holy Spirit.
So all the teachers, prophets, and shepherds raised up by God for the church—what is their function? They do not direct people. They only confirm or correct people. The Holy Spirit alone directs our life.
But He allows men raised up by God to be teachers and shepherds to help us. If we are wrong, because we are human beings, we may mistake God’s thought. We need to be corrected. Sometimes we are not too sure whether what we know is of God, and we need to be confirmed. That is the reason why we have questions and answers.
You remember the Great Commission in Matthew 28:
Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you:
and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
The Lord told us to disciple people—disciple them. But we need to remember one thing: we do not disciple people unto ourselves. The work of discipling is to disciple people to Christ.
God never wants us to be under man. We are under God. He never wants us to follow man, but to follow Christ alone. That is discipling.
So, brothers and sisters, let us have the right understanding and the right spirit when we come to this time of question and answer.
To my surprise, after I met with two brothers yesterday and went over the papers given to me, actually there are more questions than I knew. So what should I do?
I am going to group these questions into five groups. I do not know whether we will have time to go over them all, but we will do as much as we can.
Because, after all, we do not depend on men to give us the answer. All I can do is share with you what the Lord has shown me according to His Word. That is my understanding, and that is all I can help. I do not expect you to accept it without taking these things to the Lord and checking them with the Scripture to see if they are of God.
Do not listen to me. Oftentimes, I am very afraid because people say, “Brother so-and-so said it.” No, that is terrible. If the Lord says it, that is it. Anybody who says anything, you have to check it and see whether it is really of the Lord.
I have grouped these questions into five groups. I am not able to read all these questions, but as I put them into groups, I think you know where you are.
The first question, because it is asked by several people in several ways, concerns the role of the sisters in the church: the functions of the sisters, and whether there will be any leadership among the sisters. These are questions concerning the place of the sisters in the church and their functioning.
Now, if you turn to Colossians 3:11, this is speaking about the church:
Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman: but Christ is all, and in all.
So you can see that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, neither barbarian nor Scythian, neither bondman nor freeman. In other words, all these distinctions disappear in Christ Jesus.
But if you read Galatians 3:27-28:
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.
There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free,
there can be no male and female: for ye all are one man in Christ Jesus.
Now you see here a little difference. In Christ Jesus, the distinction between Jews and Greeks is gone. The distinction between bondman and freeman is gone. In other words, racial distinctions are gone, and distinctions of social status are gone.
But here you find another thing: no male and female. That is gone. So when you think of Christ, we are in Christ; there is no male and female. We receive the life of the Son, and we shall all be sons to God. There is no distinction.
That is the reason why, brothers and sisters, so far as God’s grace is concerned, there is no reason why the brothers should receive more grace than the sisters, or why the brothers should be more spiritual than the sisters. Equal—no male and female.
So far as gifts are concerned, there are many different gifts. But in Christ, even in gifts, there is no difference. God can give a sister the gift of teaching, just as He gives a brother the gift of teaching. So far as gifts are concerned, there is no difference.
When you think of life, there is no difference. The life of a brother is the same as the life of a sister. There is no reason why a sister has to be more spiritual than a brother, or a brother more spiritual than a sister. They are equal.
But when you come to the church, you will find that the distinction between Jews and Greeks is gone. In the church, you do not have Caucasians or Orientals. You do not have Americans, Japanese, or Chinese. You do not have that. In the church, that distinction is gone. In the world, they still are, but in the church it is gone.
In the world, you do have social differences, and they remain. But when you come to the church, there is no bondman and no freeman.
In Christ, there is no male or female. But strangely, whenever the Scripture speaks of the church, it is as if—and it is—male and female are still there. Now, how do you reconcile these two things?
The sisters have the same life and receive the same grace. There is no reason why one must be more than the other. A sister may have great gifts, as much as a brother. There is no reason why a brother has to be more gifted.
You know this is a fact. You have sisters who are more gifted than brothers. You do. Oftentimes you find in the family that the sister is more spiritual than the brother. No problem.
But according to the Word of God, in the church, between male and female, there is a distinction. This distinction is based upon divine order. That is the only difference.
Because there is a divine order, therefore the functioning, the area of functioning, the time of functioning, and the circumstance of functioning may be different. But those are important. It is a functioning together.
You know, just like a family: in the family there is a divine order. According to the Word of God, the husband represents Christ and the wife represents the church. They have to function together according to that order, and you have a proper family.
Now the church is the family of God. Because of that, for the building of the church, there is a divine order.
Let us turn to 1 Corinthians 11. Verse 2 says:
Now I praise you that ye remember me in all things,
and hold fast the traditions, even as I delivered them to you.
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ;
and the head of the woman is the man;
and the head of Christ is God.
You know, our God is a God of order. God is not a God of disorder, but He is a God of peace.
You find this thought with our Lord Jesus. So far as life is concerned, the Son has the same life as the Father. He is equal with God. There is no difference in Their substance. He is the exact image of God, the expression of God’s substance.
So far as gifts are concerned, the Son and the Father share all gifts together. You cannot say God is more gifted than the Son, or the Son is more gifted than the Father. In the Godhead, They are equal.
But because of God’s love for the world, He sent His Son into this world to be Christ. As Christ, He takes God the Father as His head.
In other words, the work of redemption can only be done by the cooperation of the Father and the Son. The Father plays His part; the Son plays His part. By doing that, the redemptive work is done.
When Christ came into this world, He emptied Himself of all the honor and glory of His Godhead. He is still God; He cannot empty Himself of His deity. He cannot do that. Even while He was on earth, He was still God. He is the Son of Man, but He is the Son of God.
Yet He laid aside all the glory and honor of His Godhead, and He took upon Himself the form of a bondservant. In other words, He submitted Himself totally to the Father. The Father is His head, and He is the body.
The Father gave command, and He gave obedience. By doing that, the work of redemption was done. So you find it begins with Christ. God is the God of order.
On that basis, He said, “Christ is the head of every man.” The word man here is mankind; in other words, it includes man and woman. Christ is the head of every person.
Now, whether you are male or female, Christ is your head. Brothers and sisters, do we recognize that? We were our own heads before we knew the Lord, and that was rebellion. That was sin. That is how sin came into this world.
But if we are the Lord’s, we will follow the example of our Lord Jesus. As He took God as His head and became the body, so we take Christ as our head and become His body. He is our authority; we are His bondslaves. That should be where every one of us is.
But under that there is another order: man is the head of the woman. In the family, man is to represent Christ and woman is to represent the church. You find this in Ephesians 5. There is an order.
But when you look at that order, you discover one thing. Yes, man is to be the head of the woman, but man has to remember Christ is his head. It is not something disjointed or disconnected. The whole series of divine order is given here in 1 Corinthians 11.
If we keep this divine order, then we can work together for the building of the church, just as in the building of our family.
Let me illustrate it. In this same chapter, 1 Corinthians 11:5:
But every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonoreth her head:
for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven.
Here you find that the Bible says a woman may pray or prophesy. Sometimes, in some circles, sisters cannot pray openly. I have visited such groups.
Usually there were more women than men there. Yet in the meeting only the men could pray; the women could not pray. Finally, they invented a way: before they were going to pray, they separated the men and the women. The women had their own group and could pray, while the men prayed by themselves. Very technical.
But the Bible tells us that women pray. What is wrong with that? More than that, women prophesy. What is wrong with that?
Well, it seems as if Paul is very forgetful, because when you turn to 1 Corinthians 14, what do you find? Verse 34:
Let the women keep silence in the churches:
for it is not permitted unto them to speak;
but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law.
Is there a contradiction? Women prophesy; women pray. Yet here he says, “Be quiet.”
Well, he forgot it again in 1 Timothy. If you turn to 1 Timothy 2:11-12:
Let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection.
But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man,
but to be in quietness.
Is there any contradiction? We know that even though 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy were written by Paul, we all believe they were really written by the Holy Spirit using Paul. Is God so forgetful and contradicting Himself? Certainly not.
What happened? If you read very carefully, you see the difference: divine order.
Because in the church meeting, the man represents Christ and the woman represents the church. So the men are supposed to play a leading part, and the women are supposed to play a supporting part.
But again, the wonderful thing is this: this divine order does not come as an outward law. This divine order is the expression of the growth of life.
God has order, but this order is to be exercised and practiced, not by outward law or regulation. It is the expression of an inward growth. That is the wonderful thing.
You know, any outward organization, if it is to function, has to have rules and regulations. These are things put upon people, and that makes it an organization. If any organization does not have rules or regulations, it is so disorganized that it cannot exist. It has to be enforced.
But the church is an organism; it is not an organization. Now, some people have the wrong idea that if it is an organism, it is totally unorganized—a free-for-all. Is your body totally unorganized? How can you live?
Our physical body is more organized than any organization. The doctor is here; he knows. But this organization is not something put on from the outside. It is born and grows from within its life. You see the difference?
When you apply this to Corinth, you know how long Paul stayed in the city of Corinth? A year and a half.
After people in Corinth were saved, Paul gathered them together, and they met together. But strangely, after several years, he had to write this letter to the Corinthians: “When the church meets, let the sisters be quiet.”
Now, if Paul had told them from the very beginning, when he first gathered these people together unto the name of the Lord Jesus, how to meet—“The brothers take the leading part, the sisters take the supporting part; let the brothers speak in the church meeting, and let the sisters be silent”—you would not have 1 Corinthians 14. It would be history.
But if he had done that before life had a chance to grow, life would already have been arrested. That is not God’s way.
So when he gathered these people together for a year and a half, he never told them how to meet. He allowed life to grow. When God’s people come together, there is life there. It is just like a family. There is such freedom and liberty, and everyone functions as he or she thinks.
Most likely, the women in Corinth were more eloquent than the men. Even today, I believe that. Evidently, the women seemed to know more than the men.
So gradually, as they met together, these sisters intimidated the men. The men became silent, and the women were very eloquent. That happened in the church in Corinth.
Paul said, “It is all right in the beginning. Let life grow. But life has to be regulated; it cannot grow wild.” Now you have been meeting together for some years. The Word of God began to come to the men too. Do you think only you women have the Word of God?
When the church meets together, if the women talk all the time and the men are there in silence, where is the divine order? Life has grown, and that order should come out from within. So it is time: let the men take the lead and let the women support. Do you see the point?
It is not something like rules and regulations put upon the sisters from the pulpit. Let life grow, and if you really follow life, you know it. Paul said, “If any man is ignorant, let him be ignorant.” You should do it from within. That is how it is.
Now, the Lord gives sisters prophecy and teaching gifts. If He gives you teaching gifts and will not allow you to teach, is that not a contradiction? Suppose a woman has teaching gifts. How will she function?
If there were no men, there is no reason why she could not function as a teacher. But if there are men who are of the Lord, and they begin to grow in the Lord, then they should let the men take the lead, and they will support. Now, is that not beautiful? That is what the family is. The family of God is like that.
In other words, there is no difference between man and woman, brothers and sisters, so far as life is concerned. If you seek Him, you will know Him. So far as gifts are concerned, even there there seems to be no difference. But when you are functioning in the church, it has to follow a divine order.
Oftentimes, the sisters in the church are more important than the brothers. Most of the work in the church is done by the sisters.
The brothers are more prominent, as it were; the sisters seem to be more hidden. But who will get the greater reward? Before the judgment seat of Christ, the man has already received part of that reward on earth, and the woman will have the full reward at the judgment seat of Christ. Wonderful, wonderful.
So, brothers and sisters, so far as this first question is concerned, this is my little understanding, and I just want to share it with you. Do not accept it at face value. Search the Scriptures. Pray to the Lord and see how He will guide and lead you.
Let us go to the second question. The second question is: What is the basis of the expression of the local church?
Now we know that when our Lord Jesus was on earth, only two times did He mention the word church. It is amazing. Why did He come into this world? Did He come into this world just to save the lost? No. That is part of it.
But the Gospel of John is the only one that goes into the hidden meaning of Christ. It tells us that Christ actually came into this world as a bridegroom. He was looking for His wife.
But unfortunately, when He came into this world, especially in the Gospels, it seems that everywhere He went, He met the blind, the crippled, the deaf, the paralyzed, even the dead, and the demon-possessed. These were the people He met all the time.
This tells us He was looking for a wife, a bride, just as He is—His like. But He did not find her. Instead, He found man in deep sin.
That is the reason why He gave Himself on the cross: to deliver us from the curse and sin. He had to come to prepare us to be His bride.
So He never mentioned the word church until toward the end of His ministry. Then He mentioned it. In Matthew 16, when Simon Peter, under the revelation of the Father, said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” our Lord Jesus said:
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah:
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but My Father who is in heaven.
He said, “Thou art Peter”—you are a new man, a stone, a living stone. Only at that time did the Lord utter the word church for the first time:
I will build My church;
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
That is Matthew 16. But in Matthew 18 He mentioned the word church for the second time. You can see it is very different from His first mention.
In His first mention—“I will build My church upon this rock”—He gives us the spiritual principles of the church. The church is built upon the Rock, which is Himself, and the church is built with living stones like Peter.
He will be building that church. While He is building the church, the gates of Hades will all be opened against it, but they shall not prevail against it. So you find all the spiritual principles of the church there. Today we call it the universal church.
Actually, you do not find the term universal church in the Scripture. This is an explanation. In other words, in this whole universe there is a church built upon the foundation of our Lord Jesus and built by living stones such as we are. It is He who is building it.
While He is building it, the enemy will open all these gates, trying to swallow it up. But thank God, the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. That is a spiritual principle, and it is the universal church.
But then, in Matthew 18, you find the application. Why? Even though we have believed in the Lord Jesus, we are still in this body. Being in this body, we are limited by time and space.
If you are in Memphis, you will not be in Richmond. We are limited by space, and we are also limited by time. Those believers lived in the first century, and we live in the twenty-first century. We are not able to meet together.
We have to wait until we shall all meet in the air at the judgment seat of Christ. Because of this, how can the universal church be expressed on earth, due to our limitation?
Matthew 18 shows us: “If thy brother sin against thee.” Is that not very practical?
Can your brother who lived in the first century sin against you? Can your brother in England sin against you? Oftentimes we say, “Well, I love my brother in England. I have never met him.” But the brother who is by my side—my, what a cross I have to bear!
Being human and being so close, we step upon each other. If your brother sins against you, that brother must be with you so that he can sin against you and hurt you. Then what do you do?
According to the law, it is an eye for an eye. If he sins against you, you sin against him. That is fair.
Now according to human ethics, what will you do? What would Confucius say? Well, if he sins against you, swallow it. Bite your teeth and learn to suffer it.
But not our Lord. He says, “If your brother sins against you, go to him.” Now, you do not go to him to say, “You sinned against me. How dare you do that?” No, that is not what it is.
Before you go, you have already forgiven him. You go not to vindicate yourself or justify yourself. You go because you love him. He is in the dark, and you want to help him out. So the spirit is entirely different.
You go there and say, “Brother, you did something wrong,” and you say it with tears. “That will hinder your fellowship with God and your fellowship with me. Please repent, that we may continue on in fellowship.”
How wonderful! Why do you do that? Your brother will be melted by your love.
Now suppose your brother will not listen to you. Do you say, “Now my duty is finished. I have done it”? No. The Lord says you love him so much that you get two other brothers, respected by you and by him, and let them be witnesses, because the brother who sins may not believe you.
You know, I often say that when Peter came to the Lord and said, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother? Seven times?” probably it was Peter who offended his brother. Andrew was perhaps the quiet person, and Peter was such a rough person. Probably Peter sinned against Andrew, yet he thought it was Andrew who sinned against him. Oftentimes we do that.
The Lord said, “Not seven times, but seventy times seven.” Peter said, “That cannot be done except by the grace of God.”
If he does not listen to you, what will happen? Tell the church. Where is the church? The church is universal. Where can you tell it? Well, it must be in the same place.
So you tell the church, most likely represented by some brothers who are responsible. They will go and try to restore him. If he does not listen, what happens? Read the Bible very carefully. It does not say to hate him. No. Look at him, to you only, as a Gentile and a publican.
In other words, even though the fellowship is broken, you still love him as you love a sinner.
But thank God, He tells us that if two of you agree on earth and pray, the Lord will answer it.
For where two or three are gathered together in My name,
there am I in the midst of them.
You have a place where two or three are gathered together in His name, and you have the presence of the Lord. That is the local church.
Now, you do not find the term local church in the Scripture. We try to call it the local church in order to distinguish it from the universal church. But think: the local church is only to express all the principles in the universal church.
God’s work today is working in the local church, and eventually you will find the universal church. If you read Revelation 2 and 3, you find the local churches and the Lord’s ministry to the local churches. When you come to Revelation 21, you find the universal church, the New Jerusalem. That is how it is built.
Every principle of the universal church is to be practiced and expressed by the local church.
Now the question is: What is the basis for the expression of the local church? Or, to put it another way, how do you define the local church as a miniature expression of the universal church? What do you mean by local?
During the days of our Lord Jesus, you remember how He traveled from city to city and from village to village, preaching the kingdom of God and performing wonders.
As you read the Scripture, you find the church in Jerusalem, the church in Antioch, the church in Ephesus, and the church in Rome. But then you also find the churches in Asia.
In other words, it seems as if the basis of the local church is the city or the village. During the days of Christ, a city was one community, as a village was one community.
To put it in modern terms, the local church is based on community. Wherever people gather together as a community, that is local.
One day, when Brother Nee was in London, people asked him, “In London, is the local church the whole of London—Greater London? If that is so, how can it be done?”
Our brother said, “Greater London is composed of many communities.” Sometimes he was opposed to this, but so is a community.
In other words, it is where people gather. There, God’s people who live in that area come together as one to express the unity of the body of Christ and to testify to the Lord Jesus among their neighbors.
Strangely, there is no teaching you can find in the Scripture on the local church—no teaching. The only teaching related to the local church is the unity, the oneness, of the body of Christ.
God’s people in that community gather together as one. They are not divided, and that is the expression of the universal church.
When the world sees this, they believe that God has sent Christ into this world, because this is purely impossible. It is only possible by the life of Christ in us.
So remember: the local church is not a teaching. If you make the local church a teaching, it divides God’s people. If you teach the unity of the body of Christ, that brings people in their locality together.
Again, you find that it is not a law or a rule. It is life. Life brings us together to express Christ.
So far as the basis is concerned, that is my little understanding, and I just share it with you. Do not believe me. Go to the Lord; go to the Scripture; search the Scripture and see if this is of God. If it is, obey it. If it is not, reject it.
Well, we come to the third question. The third question actually concerns some interpretations of Scripture.
The first question is Hebrews 6. Hebrews 6:4-6 says:
For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift,
and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come,
and then fell away,
it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance;
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh,
and put Him to an open shame.
Now the question is: Can such people be recovered?
First of all, when you search the Scripture, you cannot take any Scripture out of its context and make a doctrine. There is an English saying: “A text out of context is a pretext.”
You can make a pretext of any text in the Bible if it is out of context. Unfortunately, many teachings are based upon what they call Scripture, but Scripture out of context.
The whole book of Hebrews has nothing to do with initial salvation. The whole book of Hebrews actually deals with the salvation of the soul. Or I can put it another way: the whole book of Hebrews is not for unbelievers; it is for believers.
The whole approach is: since you have believed, press on to maturity. That is Hebrews.
Especially in Hebrews 6, you can see at the very beginning:
Wherefore leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ,
let us press on unto perfection;
not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works,
and of faith toward God.
Here you find a person who has already laid the foundation. He has already believed. Yet after he has tasted, he falls away. He has the foundation, but it is as if he has left the foundation.
Now the Bible says it is impossible to renew again unto repentance. What does it mean? The words renew again do not refer to a change. They refer to a total new beginning.
Suppose I am walking from my home to church, or to another place, and halfway I fall down. Can I renew again the foundation? That is to say, should I roll back to my home, stand up, and walk again? Ridiculous. You cannot do that. The foundation is already there. All you need to do is get up and go on.
That is the thrust of this chapter. You cannot go back and redo all these foundational things as if you had never believed or never repented. No, you cannot do that. You have already repented. There is no room for going back to the very beginning. You just press on. That is Hebrews 6.
A more serious case is in Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10:26-27 says:
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins,
but a certain fearful expectation of judgment,
and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries.
Now that is more serious. If you sin willfully, there will be no sacrifice.
Strangely, as you read the Old Testament, all these sacrifices—especially the sin offering and trespass offering—are not for willful sin. There is no provision for willful sin in the Old Testament.
So if one who knew the Lord willfully turns against the Lord, we call it apostasy. If a person becomes an apostate, what will happen? There is no more sin offering. Judgment is waiting for you.
But do you remember David? David sinned willfully. But if you read Psalm 51, David said, “Lord, if You want any sacrifice, I would do it, but You will not accept it. But You will never despise a sacrifice of a broken and a contrite heart.”
Now that is the sacrifice. So even if we apostatize, there is a chance of recovery.
I know of a very famous case in history. It happened in the nineteenth century during the Brethren movement. A brilliant young man—I think his name was Benjamin Newman—had a brother who became a famous cardinal in the Catholic Church.
This young man was a friend of J. N. Darby. He was with J. N. Darby, but later on he turned completely against Christ. He even wrote books against Christ—an apostate.
But before he died, he repented and was restored. So thank God, there is always an opening. His mercy endures forever.
There is another question. It is from Philippians 3. Philippians 3:11 says:
If by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.
Now, in the original, the resurrection here is out-resurrection. If a child of God dies, he or she will be resurrected at the coming of Christ. This is something sure.
But here Paul says, “that I may attain.” In other words, it is something still hanging. So this resurrection does not refer to the resurrection of the body. There must be something very special meant here.
Usually, when you think of resurrection, you think of John 5. In John 5:28-29:
Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh,
in which all that are in the tombs shall hear His voice,
and shall come forth;
they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life;
and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.
Generally speaking, you find there are two resurrections. One is the resurrection of the good—and the good here simply means according to God’s will—and the other is the resurrection of the wicked.
When you come to 1 Thessalonians 4, that is the resurrection of the good:
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:
and the dead in Christ shall rise first;
then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds,
to meet the Lord in the air:
and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
At the coming of the Lord, there will be a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet sound. In the twinkling of an eye, all those who were dead in Christ Jesus throughout the centuries will be resurrected and taken up into the air to meet the Lord there with all the saints.
That is the resurrection of the just. Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus will be there, whether you lived an overcoming life or whether you lived a defeated life. You will all be there before the judgment seat of Christ—that family judgment.
After a thousand years, the millennial kingdom, before eternity begins, then all the wicked dead will be resurrected and stand before the great white throne.
So we find that the Scripture basically speaks of these two resurrections. Then why did Paul say, “To 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 out-resurrection from the dead”? It is something sure for every believer. Why should he strive for it? It depends.
So we know that this out-resurrection does not mean another time of resurrection. It means the first resurrection. Turn to Revelation 20.
Revelation 20:5-6 says:
The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished.
This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection:
over these the second death hath no power;
but they shall be priests of God and of Christ,
and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
The first resurrection does not mean merely resurrected first. The first resurrection is like first love: it means first in quality.
People will be raised from the dead at the same time to appear before the judgment seat, but some are raised with first quality, and some are raised without that first quality. Those who are overcomers, as it were, will be rewarded and will reign with Christ for a thousand years. That is the first resurrection.
That is why you find Paul, even toward the last of his days, still not too sure. He was still pressing on. That is the attitude we should take.
We will be resurrected if the Lord should tarry, but we want to arrive at the first resurrection—the out-resurrection. That is something for us to long after.
These are the questions. I have two more questions, but I do not think I have time to really go into them. I will just mention this: it seems as if we are all conscious of the coming days.
We are living at the end of this age, a perilous age. It will be more and more difficult. As the enemy comes out in such force, what should we do? Where can we escape? How should we prepare for the days ahead?
Number one: the Lord Jesus said, “Fear not.” When you see all these things coming, lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.
Number two: prepare yourself. Do not be concerned with what is coming—that is to say, what terrible days are coming—but prepare yourself to meet the Lord. That is the preparation.
If you turn to Luke 21:34-36:
But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged
with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life,
and that day come on you suddenly as a snare:
for so shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of all the earth.
But watch ye at every season, making supplication,
that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass,
and to stand before the Son of man.
Now, that is the best preparation.
There are a number of prophecies concerning the future. One thing we are sure of: all the prophecies concerning the coming of the Lord before His coming have been fulfilled.
There are still a number of prophecies that need to be fulfilled during His coming and after His coming. But every prophecy concerning His coming has been fulfilled. That is to say, He can come back at any time.
His coming is so imminent. He is already at the door. What should we do?
As the days of Noah were, so is the coming of the Lord. When Noah entered into the ark, the floodgates opened. This will be the same way in the coming of the Lord.
Two people are sleeping: one is taken, one is left. Two people are grinding: one is taken, one is left. Two people are working in the field: one is taken, one is left. The Lord said He will come as a thief.
Brothers and sisters, the word coming is parousia—parousia. Those who understand Greek tell us that it refers to a period of time covering a series of events.
Parousia means presence. He is now absent so far as His body is concerned, even though He is with us in the Spirit. But one day He will come back. His presence will be here.
But His presence has a beginning, and His presence has an end.
Oftentimes among God’s people, when we think of His coming, we only think of His appearing on this earth: His feet touching the Mount of Olives, the Mount of Olives being separated in two, and the Jews in Jerusalem who are still left being able to flee.
Christ will come like lightning, seen from east to west—in other words, openly. Many Christians are singing about that. With a shout of angels, He will come in glory and in power.
Brothers and sisters, for us Christians, it is a little bit too late if that is what you are awaiting. Am I preaching a strange doctrine? No.
The way of His coming is exactly the way of His leaving. If you read the book of Acts, when our Lord Jesus ascended, how did He go?
He rose from the Mount of Olives. When He rose up, the disciples looked at Him. Then the cloud took Him away; they could not see Him anymore, but they were still looking.
Two men in white apparel said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven.”
See this? Two steps: from the Mount of Olives to the cloud, visible; from the cloud to the throne, invisible. He will come back in reverse order.
From the throne to the cloud, invisible, He will come as a thief. A thief is almost like an invisible person. If he is too visible, he cannot do anything. How will He come as a thief? Only those who are watchful will be taken up.
They are not just taken up into the air; they are taken up to the throne as a welcoming party to bring Christ from the throne to the air.
Do you remember Revelation 12? After the man-child has been caught up, Michael and his angels will fight with the devil and his angels and clear the air, and Satan will be thrown onto this earth.
The air is cleared to prepare for Christ with the overcomers of the church to come down from the throne to the air. When this happens on earth, you have the great tribulation, the time of Jacob’s trouble.
But thank God, at the end of the great tribulation there will be the harvest. The firstfruits have been taken; now the harvest will follow.
This is 1 Thessalonians 4. The dead in Christ will be raised, and those who remain alive—this shows that some have already gone. Only those who remain have been given another chance to be overcomers through the period of tribulation.
They will be taken into the air, not to the throne, brothers and sisters. Only after the great tribulation, at the judgment seat of Christ, will Christ come with His chosen ones to this earth. He will come in glory with a shout of angels.
Brothers and sisters, do you know how close we are to His coming? Maybe tonight—we do not know.
Therefore, we need to prepare ourselves. That is the most important preparation. Do not allow eating and drinking and the cares of this life to weigh us down so that we cannot be taken up. Watch, that we may escape all these things and stand before the throne of our Lord Jesus.
So, brothers and sisters, thank God. As long as we are still here, we still have a chance to get ready. Thank God for His longsuffering, for His grace.
Finally, I will just say a few words. A brother or sister asked about the Shandong revival in China.
I knew about the Shandong revival, but actually it happened when I was newly saved. Thank God, there was a time in the Shandong province of China when there was a revival.
Out of that revival, the most visible thing—maybe you have heard of it—was the Jesus Family. The Jesus Family was the outcome of the Shandong revival.
They were a group of people who lived a communal life, and they migrated to different cities to spread the news.
It was a great movement. But unfortunately, when the Communists came, they were the group, along with other groups, that suffered most. They were completely wiped out.
The Communists would not allow anything better than themselves. So that is about it.
That is an excellent prayer.