The third purpose of the discipline of the Holy Spirit is the tearing down or breaking. We have repeatedly said that the work of God in us is for the central purpose of mingling and building His element into us. To achieve this goal we must first be torn down. The educational purpose of which we have spoken is trivial and minor when compared to this. The educational discipline causes us to have merely an opening or a crack, while the breaking smashes and demolishes us completely, to the end that all that is of the natural and old creation in us will completely disintegrate. Therefore, breaking is the most severe step as well as the final goal in the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
We regret to say that in our midst we have not seen many being disciplined by the Holy Spirit in such a severe manner; neither do many of us know the discipline of the Holy Spirit to such a degree. Contrariwise, we see some who, the more they are disciplined by the Holy Spirit, the tougher and more built up in their own beings they become. This is a wrong condition. Normally, the more a person is disciplined by the Holy Spirit, the more he is terminated. The end result of the discipline of the Holy Spirit is always that we may be torn down, broken, and reduced to nothing. It is through the discipline of the Holy Spirit that God completely tears down our old creation so that the element of His new creation may be built up in us.
If we consider the discipline of the Holy Spirit merely as a chastisement or spiritual education, then this kind of discipline will cause man to be built up and perfected. It will seem then that one who originally was incomplete has become complete through being disciplined by the Holy Spirit, or that one who originally was in a poor condition, after having been disciplined by the Holy Spirit, has shaped up. Notwithstanding, the discipline of the Holy Spirit was never intended for this. On the contrary, the discipline of the Holy Spirit is given to break and smash the one who is whole and to mess up the one who is in such perfect shape. The original intention of the discipline of the Holy Spirit is not to build us up, but to tear us down. Therefore, if a person is always gentle, the Holy Spirit will trouble him to such an extent that he can no longer be gentle. If there is one who never contends with others, the Holy Spirit will trouble him to an extent that he is forced to contend. Never think that because a person is not gentle he is therefore being disciplined by the Holy Spirit. Some people are always gentle, yet the Holy Spirit raises up an environment to disturb them and compel them to stop being gentle, even causing them to lose their temper terribly. This terrible losing of their temper is a kind of breaking to them.
The reason God breaks us is that all our natural element has no place before God. The gentleness, obedience, and other good points of some people are of the natural constitution and are by virtue of birth. Some people are born with a good temper; therefore they receive praises from man and esteem themselves praise-worthy, not knowing that such a natural, good trait is the greatest hindrance to the work of the Holy Spirit within them. Thus their spiritual life is retarded. Therefore, the Holy Spirit will raise up environments again and again to irritate such a person and cause him to lose his temper. The day will come when he can no longer bear all the irritation; he will lose his temper in a terrible way. Then he will be discouraged, feeling that having lost his temper so badly, he can no longer serve the Lord, and his future will be terminated. He does not know that while he is afraid of being terminated, the Holy Spirit fears lest he will not be terminated. The reason the Holy Spirit continually irritates and pressures him is that he may be terminated. Such is the severe nature of the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
If we have experienced the Lord more, we must confess that the discipline given us by the Holy Spirit, whether it be chastisement or education, is for our breaking. Actually, there is neither chastisement nor education; all the discipline of the Holy Spirit is for the tearing down and breaking. Only when we define them can we categorize them into the three aspects of chastisement, education, and breaking. In fact, after all is said and done, the discipline of the Holy Spirit has only one purpose-to tear us down and break us.
Since the primary purpose of the discipline of the Holy Spirit is for breaking, it does not necessarily have to do with any mistake on our part. He disciplines us regardless of our mistakes. Of course, if we are disobedient, we will be dealt with; however, though we are obedient, we will still be dealt with. His purpose is not only to correct us or to cause us to be more obedient, but to break us. The basic purpose of His discipline is breaking. The more whole a person is, the more he needs to be torn down. It seems that those whose behavior is so disorderly do not need His disciplinary breaking; since they are already full of wounds, they need only a deep repentance on the day they are enlightened. Rather, he who has never done anything wrong or has never fallen, he who is so whole and well-behaved, such a one needs the striking, beating, dealing, and breaking of the Holy Spirit through the environment until he becomes totally smashed and terminated.
God’s salvation is very special. On one hand He needs the goodness of man, while on the other hand He breaks it. According to the human point of view, this is really contradictory. When a person disobeys, God wants him to obey; but when he is obedient, God smashes his obedience. If a person is not gentle, God wants him to be gentle; but when he becomes gentle, God smashes his gentleness. When we do not love Him fervently, He wants us to be fervent, and He will draw us to love Him; yet when we love Him fervently, He breaks us to pieces. In God’s leadings, the work of God always seems so contradictory. Yet this contradiction is exactly the breaking work of the discipline of the Holy Spirit in us.
Therefore, in experiencing this lesson we must pay special attention to the aspect of breaking. We need to see that although the discipline of the Holy Spirit has the twofold purpose of chastisement and education, nevertheless the ultimate purpose is the breaking. To put it simply, all the discipline of the Holy Spirit is for our breaking. He breaks us whether we are right or wrong. He breaks us whether we are obedient or disobedient. He breaks us whether we are rebellious or not. Before God, our evil is worth nothing, and so also is our good; our being wrong is worth nothing, and so is our being right; both our disobedience and obedience are worth nothing; both our rebelliousness and our submissiveness are worth nothing. These all need to be broken. The discipline of the Holy Spirit is entirely for the breaking of man.
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