The disciples’ knowledge of the Lord Jesus in the beginning was outward knowledge; they did not have an inward knowledge of Him. Men like Thomas and Philip were with the Lord for a long time. Humanly speaking, they should have known the Lord. Yet they did not know Him. The Lord clearly said, “Where I am going you know the way.” Yet Thomas said to the Lord, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; how can we know the way?” (John 14:4-5). The Lord clearly said, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and henceforth you know Him and have seen Him.” But Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us” (vv. 7-8). The Jesus that Thomas knew was only a Nazarene; Thomas did not know the Jesus of life. The Jesus that Philip knew was only a Nazarene; Philip did not know that He was the embodiment of the Father. Although Philip and Thomas were with the Lord, their knowledge of Him was only outward; they did not touch the reality.

Although the disciples knew the Lord a little better than the Jews, they did not know what kind of Lord He was. The Lord was with them for a long time, but they still did not know Him. They saw the Lord with their own eyes, heard Him with their own ears, and touched Him with their own hands. But they still did not know Him. This shows us that in knowing the Lord, one needs an organ that is sharper than the outward eyes, clearer than the outward ears, and more sensitive than the outward hands. With Christ, there is a reality, and this reality cannot be discerned by outward appearance.

One day Peter had inward knowledge. When the Lord asked, “Who do you say that I am?”, Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Immediately, the Lord said, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in the heavens” (Matt. 16:15-17). The Lord meant, “You have been following Me for so long, yet your knowledge in the past was wrong. However, your knowledge today is a blessed one, because flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but My Father who is in the heavens has revealed it to you.” This knowledge was real.

If a man does not have the revelation, even if he can eat, drink, walk, and dwell together with the Lord Jesus, he will still not know who He is. A knowledge that is void of revelation is a knowledge of an outward Christ, a historical Christ. This is knowing Him according to the flesh. The only kind of knowledge of Christ that is real and inward is the one that Peter acquired through revelation.

Paul said, “So then we, from now on, know no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him so no longer” (2 Cor. 5:16). When Paul knew Christ according to the flesh, he was fearless in attacking the name of Jesus of Nazareth and in persecuting the Lord’s disciples and in punishing them (Acts 26:9-11). But after God revealed His Son in his spirit, he began to announce the faith which formerly he ravaged (Gal. 1:16, 23). He became a different man. His knowledge touched the spiritual reality, and he no longer knew Christ according to the flesh.

Mark records the story of a woman with a flow of blood for twelve years. “When she heard the things concerning Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His garment....And immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she knew in her body that she was cured of the affliction.” What did the Lord feel? He said, “Who touched My garments?” The disciples said, “You see the crowd pressing upon You and You say, Who touched Me?” (5:27-31). Here we see two groups of people-those who touched the Lord and those who pressed upon Him. Those who pressed upon Him could only contact Christ in the flesh. Only those who touched Him touched Christ in reality. The Lord did not seem to feel those who pressed upon Him. But the minute someone touched Him, He felt it. How sad it is that there were so many who pressed upon Him and only one who touched Him! The Lord said, “But in truth I say to you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and to none of them was Elijah sent, except to the city of Sarepta of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them were cleansed, except Naaman the Syrian” (Luke 4:25-27). This is similar to the story of the woman who was healed of the flowing of blood. It is not a question of distance or time. It is a question of who is pressing upon Him and who is touching the reality. If a man has not touched reality, he will not change even if he manages to come before the Lord and press close upon Him.

Those who know Christ according to the flesh never actually know Him. One must have revelation before he can know Him. We cannot know Christ according to our outward senses of sight, sound, or touch. The knowledge of Christ is something that the Holy Spirit imparts to us. If a man does not have the Holy Spirit, he does not know the reality of Christ. In the eyes of God, if a man does not have the Holy Spirit, he has not touched the reality of the Lord Jesus even if he has memorized the Lord’s history and even if he has pressed upon Him, heard His voice, knelt before Him, and prayed to Him.

The Lord said, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). Hence, once a man touches the Holy Spirit, he will surely have life. It is impossible for a man to touch the Holy Spirit without receiving life. Anything that is of the Holy Spirit is of life. If a man touches reality, he receives life. But this is where the problem lies: many people receive their knowledge of the Lord from books, while others receive it from other men. Whether they receive it by reading or hearing from others, they may not be touching the Lord Himself. The Christ that one acquires through reading or hearing cannot be compared to the real Christ. The real Christ can only be known in the Holy Spirit; there is no other way to know Him.

Many Christians are discouraged at times. It seems as if their faith avails nothing. They say, “I have been listening to messages for many years. I know very much, but none of the things I know are useful and workable.” This is because they have not touched reality. If a man tries to touch Christ with his fleshly hands, he can never expect any result. Power did not go out to those who pressed upon Him. It only went out to the woman who touched Him. Many pressed upon Him but did not touch Him. However, one touched Him. Whether or not our faith works depends on whether or not we have touched reality.

We must realize that the Christ in the flesh can be touched by fleshly hands, seen by fleshly eyes, and heard by fleshly ears. But the Christ in the Holy Spirit can only be touched when a man is in the spirit. To touch the Christ in the flesh is different from touching the Christ in the Spirit. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, there was already a difference between outward and inward knowledge. The same difference exists today with our knowledge of Him. The real issue is how we know Christ. If we know Christ in a real way through the Spirit and touch the spiritual reality of Christ, we will have an inward knowledge, even though we may not be able to articulate or explain it. Once there is inward knowledge, all doubts will be gone. We need to ask the Lord to give us true knowledge, true seeing, so that we will know the Lord, not according to ourselves or to the revelation of flesh and blood, but according to the revelation of the Father who is in the heavens.
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