Question-and-answer session (3)
Date: July 24, 1948 Place: Kuling
The word being the light
Question: How can we be thorough in dealing with the ten or more lessons you have given concerning the character of the Lord’s worker?
Answer: One basic lesson a worker has to learn is to use God’s word effectively. Some people separate God’s word from His light. To them, God’s word is one thing and His light is another. They think that light will come after a minister of God’s word opens his mouth, but this is precisely the reason their works are short of result. God’s word can never be separated from His light. We should never allow our words to exceed our light. The amount of words and the amount of light should be the same. The general notion of most Christians is that they receive light from God’s word. Yet in reality, light is merely something they hope to get; their own words still fill their mouth. This ministry produces paltry and shallow results. As ministers of God’s word, we should not only release God’s word when we speak, but also we should release His light spontaneously when we speak.
Ordinarily, light is found in lamps, but sunlight comes directly from the sun itself. There is no need for a lamp to contain the sunlight. In the same way, God’s light does not require a lampstand; it shines directly. For the same reason, light should shine as soon as we open our mouth. There is no need to speak and then to wait for light to come. Consider the matter of preaching the gospel. Sometimes a preacher delivers a clear message, and then at the end says, “You should now pray, repent, and believe in the Savior.” He is separating the preaching and the receiving into two different things. If the gospel is prevailing, however, a sinner does not need to wait to pray. He would be shaken and pricked in his heart, and he would have repented and believed as soon as he heard the gospel. There is no need to have a separate step of receiving. As soon as a sinner hears the word, he receives it. This was the case when Peter preached the gospel to the Jews. As soon as they heard the words of the gospel, they were convicted in their hearts, and they received instantly (Acts 2:37). In preaching various subjects, our word should be the very light; it should shine into man immediately. There is no need to package the light within the word. There is no need to carry the light within a lantern. Unless our words can impart light directly to others, our speaking as ministers of God’s word will be a failure. It is a big failure if our words cannot directly transmit light to others. Something is very wrong if others have to search for the light.
When the Lord Jesus entered Jerusalem, He was hungry and looking for fruit from a fig tree, but the tree only had leaves without fruit. The Lord then said to the tree, “May there no longer be fruit from you forever!” (Matt. 21:19). The tree instantly dried up. The very instant the Lord spoke, the thing was done. He told the tree, “Wither up!” and the tree dried up. Suppose we tell a little brother not to lie. If he goes home and prays, “Please, Lord, help me not to lie,” we have only awakened him to himself with our wonderful words; there is still no light. The lie within him is still not burned away. When the Lord told the tree to dry up, it dried up immediately. There was no time for it to pray, “Lord, have mercy on me. In the future I will surely bear figs.” The tree dried up in an instant. As ministers of God’s word, we have to reach the same height. As soon as the word is released, there should be great light. Others should be subdued, and their problems should be burned away. The results should be instantaneous.
As soon as God’s light shines, the sterilization is completed. We do not wait for the light to come and then experience the sterilization of the light. No, the light is the sterilization. If light is separated from sterilization, we will have to wait for months and years before we will be sterilized. Sterilization does not come after the shining; rather, the shining is the sterilization. When a minister of the word speaks, his word should carry light. A sinner should fall down before such a light, and a believer should fall and wilt before such a light. This is what it means to have the ministry of the word. As soon as the word is released, others should fall down on their faces. The instant Paul met the great light, he fell down (Acts 9:3-4). He did not wait for a long time. Our words should do the same thing.
In order to have light, one must first be a person who has a capacity for light
In order to give others light, we must first be those who have met the light. For this reason, we must not only learn to dispense light, but receive light. We must be like light-receptacles. As soon as God’s light shines, we capture it; there is no need for any intermediary means. If we try to find the sun with a lantern, we will find the sun hiding behind the clouds. As soon as we meet the light, we should fall down. All we need to do is to let the light kill. Let it sterilize us. There is no need to seek help from other lights. Once light comes, our problems will go away. As soon as light shines, we become foolish. We will no longer be so “experienced” and polished. We will fall down. Light will confuse us. We may be wise at other times, but when light comes, we will become foolish. Those who are short of light will be very conscious of the shining when they receive some light, but those who are truly under a great shining will be thrown into total confusion. No one knows what will happen when light falls on him. God’s word is like a sword. This sword is God’s light. It is a two-edged sword. It lays all things naked and bare before it. After Paul saw the great light, he became confused. A man who has seen the great light is like a bucket whose bottom has fallen out of it; it is no longer able to hold any water of its own. Those who have seen great light are only too eager to confess their total inability. Light always humbles; it always confuses. One sister had been working for the Lord for over twenty years. One day God shined on her, and she began to wonder if she even was saved. Her experience with the light was actually a real salvation. This is how light comes, and this is the way.
When we touch the light on the negative side, the things that God disapproves of are burned away, but on the positive side we are spontaneously uplifted to a higher plane. It is easy for some people to receive the shining. With others it is hard. We must always position ourselves in such a way that we will easily receive the shining. Some people are aware of what is happening as soon as God touches them a little. Other people are in the dark even when God hits them with a hammer. Everyone who criticizes, who finds fault, or who is clogged up in his spirit will not easily find the shining. It is a serious thing to live before the Lord and to serve Him. If we want to be a minister of light yet cannot receive any shining, we have a big problem. A man who digs deep in life easily finds light, but a man who is shallow in life does not easily find light. When a minister of the word opens his mouth, we should receive some help. If we do not, it means that something is hardened within us. If we are a person who is inwardly open, we receive help even when we listen to the gospel. If any man thinks that he understands everything, he probably only has mental knowledge. In reality he is far from knowing anything. If we are proper persons and we sit in a place where the gospel is preached properly, surely we will be impressed. This is what happens when a man’s spirit is open. Some people have a spirit that is harder than a wall. It is hard for them to see any light or to receive any shining. One little leaf can block off the view of a whole star. We have to stand in the right position, and we have to have the right attitude. If our attitude is wrong, the light will be blocked from us. We have to learn to be a man of light, receiving and taking in light.
In order to exercise the spirit, the outer man must be broken
Question: How can we exercise our spirit?
Answer: In order to exercise the spirit, the outer man must be broken. Otherwise we will be like a coalition government with different parties vying within a legislature. Before a law can be passed, it has to fight through layers of opposition and compromise. If the inner man is mixed up with the outer man, it will be difficult to exercise our spirit. In order to push out our spirit in a strong way, we have to learn to deal with the outer man. If the outer man, that is, the mind, emotion, and will, are mixed up with the inner man, we cannot exercise our spirit. If a minister of God’s word cannot use his spirit, it is because his mind, emotion, and will are all mixed up with his spirit. Our spirit must be pure. Otherwise it may be like a flask of ointment that is spoiled by one fly. Those who are not pure in their spirit cannot exercise their spirit. How can our spirit be pure? The inner man can only be pure when the outer man is broken.
Anything that is contaminated, anything that is corrupted, is impure. If a man has an impure spirit, his speaking will close up the spirit of those who have been taught by God. Even if he carefully disguises himself and shuts up his mouth, his pretension will still expose him to those who have been taught by God. As soon as a man speaks, his spirit is exposed. He cannot hide; the kind of person he is will always come out. This is the reason our outer man must be broken. As soon as our outer man is broken, the contamination will be gone, and the impure elements will disappear. The outer man must be broken. A worker must open his eyes wide; he must observe everything before he can render others proper help. The outer man must be totally crushed before the inner spirit can be released. We are not here to improve and mend the outer man. The outer man is useless no matter how we look at it. The only way is for it to be broken.
We have to be genuine. You have been holding a tight rein on yourself. You need to relax. Soberness that comes as a result of holding a tight rein on oneself is not true soberness. Once tiredness and weariness set in, the true self will be exposed. Those who have passed through severe chastisements will display a more genuine kind of soberness. Those who are lame by birth do not have to pretend that they are lame; the awkwardness in their legs reminds them of this fact. Those who pretend to be lame forget this “lameness” as soon as they must fight to get on a bus. A person who has just been rebuked by his father will shut up without the need of much conscious reminding. He is careful, but he is not tense. He is cautious in a very spontaneous way. There is a difference between artificial tension and tension that arises out of chastisement. Artificial tension is a kind of pretension, while the tension that arises out of chastisement is genuine. If we are indeed chastised, we should live under the influence of such chastisement. In order to serve the Lord effectively, the outer man must be dealt with. Otherwise, he will remain proud and hard. This is a very basic problem.
The meaning of revelation
Question: What is revelation?
Answer: Concerning this point, we have to see three examples in the New Testament. In Matthew 16 Peter received revelation from the Father in heaven to see the person and work of Christ. In Galatians 1 Paul received revelation to see the truth of the gospel and the inward unveiling of God’s Son. In Revelation 1 John received revelation of Jesus Christ. Revelation is basically precipitated by God’s special moves. A man may be an eloquent speaker, but he does not necessarily have revelation. Revelation results from God’s move. God has to move to reveal Himself to us. Genuine revelation always hinges on God’s move. All revelations are special moves of God. What we hear in a sermon is not revelation. Revelation is not an ordinary move; it is a special move. If God does not move in a special way, we will not have any genuine revelation even if we say that we have seen something. There is revelation only as God moves in a special way and our spirit sees something. Hence, revelation is a very definite move of God. One can say that he “sees” something in a general sense, but he cannot say that he has received a revelation in that sense. Revelation is something much more profound. The revelation spoken of in 1 Corinthians 14:26 refers to what God opens up to a person specifically at that very instant. Those who prophesy speak on what they see and know all along, but when someone beside him receives a “revelation,” that is, when he receives something specific from God at that instant, the one who is prophesying should be quiet and allow the one who has received a revelation to speak (vv. 29-30).