This is the covenant which I will covenant with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will impart My laws into their mind, and on their hearts I will inscribe them; and I will be God to them, and they will be a people to Me. And they shall by no means each teach his fellow citizen and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for all will know Me from the little one to the great one among them. (Heb. 8:10-11)
As for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him. (1 John 2:27)
Both Hebrews 8 and 1 John 2 declare that today, under the new testament, there is no need of any outward, human teaching. Hebrews 8:10 says that God’s laws are inscribed within us; thus, there is no need for anyone to teach us to know the Lord. First John 2:27 says that the anointing abides in us; hence, we do not need any human teaching. One passage says that God’s laws are inscribed in us, and the other says that the anointing abides in us. What are these two things? It is quite possible for us to be Christians for years and yet not know that we have these two wonderful things within us. We have a wonderful law written in us (cf. Jer. 31:33) and a mysterious anointing abiding in us. How marvelous, and yet how pitiful if we do not realize this. It is because of the inner law and the inner anointing that we do not need any outward, human teachings.
The inner law and the inner anointing are something of resurrection. We have seen the principle of the cross, that is, the all-inclusive ending of the negative things in the universe, and we have also seen the principle and the reality of resurrection. The cross ends the old creation, whereas resurrection produces the riches of the new creation. Through the cross the old creation is finished. Through the Lord’s death all twelve items of the old creation have been brought to the cross and completely crossed out. But that is not the end of the story, for after death came resurrection. What was resurrected? Were Satan, the kingdom of Satan, sin, and the flesh resurrected? A thousand times no! The eternal Spirit resurrected only the essence of what God originally created for His purpose.
The human nature was a part of God’s original creation. God created the human nature for His purpose, but Satan damaged it. Therefore, by His death the Lord brought the Satan-damaged nature into death, but by His resurrection the Lord brought the God-created nature into resurrection. The Lord not only redeemed the human nature but also uplifted this human nature to a higher standard. Hence, the new creation consists of Christ in the eternal Spirit and the recovered and uplifted human nature in resurrection.
What are the items of the riches of resurrection? First, there is the Triune God, not in the sense of the Old Testament but in the New Testament sense. Then there is the divine, eternal life, which is God Himself as our life. (The difference between God and the divine life can be illustrated by the difference between electricity and light. Strictly speaking, electricity is light, and light is electricity, but there is still a distinction. For example, electricity is used not only as light but also as power, heat, etc. Similarly, God Himself is our life as well as many other things.) The third item is the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4), the fourth is the law of life (Rom. 8:2; Heb. 8:10), and the fifth is the anointing (1 John 2:27). These five items are the all-inclusive riches of resurrection. All the other things that we can name are included in these five items. The new creation inherits all these items in Christ’s resurrection.
All the riches of resurrection, we can say, are simply God Himself. The divine nature is certainly God Himself, and the law of life and the anointing also are something of God Himself and His moving within us. Man, however, is not one of the riches of resurrection but is recovered and uplifted by these riches. We are somewhat familiar with the Triune God, the divine life, and the divine nature, but most Christians are not familiar with the law of life and the inner anointing. In today’s Christianity these have been neglected. But the inner law and the inner anointing are the practical riches of resurrection. If we do not know these two things, we cannot know resurrection in a practical way. Resurrection will be known only objectively unless we know the law of life and the inner anointing; only by knowing these two things can we experience resurrection in a subjective way.
Let us consider the Old Testament with the law and the prophets. In a sense the Old Testament was even called the law and the prophets (Matt. 7:12; 22:40). What is the difference between the two? The law is a set of fixed rules that cannot be changed. For instance, one item of the law requires everyone to honor his parents (Exo. 20:12). This is a changeless rule, and everyone must keep it. There is no need to seek guidance from the Lord concerning honoring one’s parents; the law concerning this matter is fixed. Another rule is, “You shall not steal” (v. 15). This also is an established, fixed rule. There is no need to pray, “Lord, tell me whether or not it is Your mind for me to steal. Give me guidance about stealing.” There is no need to seek such guidance. This same principle applies to the rest of the Ten Commandments. Thus, the law is a set of fixed rules that everyone must keep. It does not alter with each individual. Regardless of whether a person is a man or a woman and whether he is old or young, rich or poor, he is compelled to keep the rules.
The prophets, however, speak to the individual situation. Suppose someone came to Jeremiah and asked, “Is it all right for me to go to Jerusalem?” The prophet might say this time, “You may go.” But another time he might say, “You may not go.” The prophets give the living guidance of the Lord according to the different individual situations. The law is unchanging, but the word of the prophets may change many times depending on the situation of those involved. Once we have the law, we always have it, for the commandments are permanent; however, the guidance from the prophets is valid only for the occasion. The prophet, therefore, must be contacted continually. The one who sought Jeremiah could not say, “One month ago the prophet said it was all right for me to go Jerusalem; therefore, I can go now without consulting him.” If this one desired to go to Jerusalem again, he had to seek guidance from the prophet once more. Whether or not he needed to honor his parents required no guidance, for this was a fixed principle of the law, but the way in which he should honor his parents was definitely a matter of guidance. To determine the way he should honor his parents on a certain occasion, guidance was needed; therefore, he had to contact the prophet.
The Old Testament forbids women to wear men’s clothing and men to wear women’s clothing (Deut. 22:5). This was clearly established by the Lord as a settled rule and a changeless law. But when we are shopping for an article of clothing, one item may be worth two hundred dollars, and another, twenty dollars. Deciding which item to buy is a matter of seeking the Lord’s guidance, not His law. This illustrates the difference between the law and the prophets. The fixed principle of the law varies with no one, but the guidance of the prophets varies with everyone. Sometimes with the same person it may vary from one occasion to another.