Although as individual human beings we seem small and insignificant, we are actually quite meaningful. Our physical body is merely the outward aspect of our being. Within our body is something altogether abstract and mysterious. By looking at a person’s face, especially at his eyes, we can see that there is something within the person, yet we cannot fully explain what it is. We cannot see what is within us, but we know that there surely is something within us. We may have learned from the Bible that we have a spirit, a soul, a heart, a conscience, a mind, an emotion, and a will, but these inward, invisible organs are quite mysterious. Although we cannot explain them, we know that they are real. If we had only a physical body and lacked these inward organs, we would be empty and meaningless. Human beings are meaningful not in the outward things but in the inward things.
The universe, which contains the heavens, the earth, and millions of created things, may be likened to our physical body. All the solar systems and galaxies are merely the outward structure of the universe, just as the body is the physical structure of a human being. There is something within the physical structure of the universe. If there were nothing within the universe, it would be meaningless. The meaning of the universe is not in all the visible things but in something that is invisible and physically intangible.
The history of humankind also has an outward aspect and an inward aspect. Within the outward structure of human history there is a history of something inward.
The church is another major item that has an outward structure and also something within. The outward aspect is seen; the inward is unseen. We can see the church outwardly, but within the church is Christ, who is a mystery (Col. 2:2). No one can fully explain Christ. Although I have been a Christian for over half a century, I have never seen Christ. Some may say that I am crazy to believe in Christ despite having never seen Him. I would answer, “Yes, I have been crazy for over fifty years, I am still crazy, and I hope to be more crazy.” Although the disciples saw Christ physically, they did not see Him inwardly. Paul said, “We have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him so no longer” (2 Cor. 5:16b). Now we know Christ according to the Spirit, but the Spirit also is quite mysterious and intangible in a physical sense. Thus, the church is another item having an outward aspect and an inward aspect.
A fifth item that has both an outward aspect and an inward aspect is the Bible. All other printed materials in human history have only an outward aspect. No other writing has an inward aspect. It is not that the outward aspect is the cover and the inward aspect is the words inside. We may know, according to John 6:63, that the inward aspect of the word of the Bible is spirit and life, but spirit and life are still quite mysterious.
The Gospel of John, which is a representative book of the sixty-six books in the Bible, is a book of mysteries, containing mysteries upon mysteries and mysteries within mysteries. Regardless of how intelligent or educated we are, we will have difficulty explaining certain terms and expressions in John. For instance, John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It is difficult to define who or what the Word and God are in this verse. Verse 4 goes on to say, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Life and light also are terms that are difficult to define. Then verse 14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us...full of grace and reality.” Because we are familiar with the Bible, we may take these words for granted, thinking that we understand them, but we may have difficulty explaining what it means for the Word to become flesh or what the words grace and reality mean. In the first fourteen verses of chapter 1 alone we have found seven mysterious terms and expressions.
In John 15:1 the Lord said to His disciples, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.” Husbandman in Greek means “cultivator of the soil, land-worker, farmer.” It is quite easy to understand what a vine is and what a farmer is. It seems that chapter 15 is not as mysterious as chapter 1. However, we need to see that these simple items are quite profound.
The fact that Christ is the true vine and the Father is the husbandman is the meaning of every human being, of the universe, of all human history, of the church, and of the entire Bible. The story of human beings, the universe, human history, the church, and the Bible is simply the story of this vine and this husbandman. If we do not see the vine and the husbandman, we cannot understand the meaning of the universe. A history professor may have an extensive knowledge of history, but this knowledge means nothing if he does not know the vine and the husbandman, for the true meaning of human history is the vine and the husbandman. If we do not know the vine and the husbandman, we surely do not know the church. Regardless of what else we know of the Bible, if we do not know the vine and the husbandman, we do not know the Bible. The meaning of the Bible is embodied in the vine and the husbandman. If we do not know the vine and the husbandman, we do not know ourselves; we do not know what we are or what the meaning of our human life is. Most people do not know the meaning of their life. They know only that they need to eat, sleep, drink, breathe, have a home, find a spouse, beget children, and work to make a living. We may think that because we are a Christian, we know the meaning of our life. However, even though we may have been a Christian for many years, we do not know what it means to be a Christian if we do not know the vine and the husbandman in John 15.