In verses 7 and 8 the Lord Jesus said, “Hypocrites! Isaiah has well prophesied concerning you, saying, This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me.” The heavenly ruling of the kingdom requires inward reality, not mere outward practice, in that it deals with the real condition of the heart, not the expression of the lips. The tradition of the Pharisees was outward, but the Lord’s concern was for something inward. Some in today’s religion oppose us because they are for the outward things. They do not know the inner life or the subjective truths. Some claim that because Christ is in the heavens, He cannot actually dwell in us but He is merely represented in us by the Holy Spirit. This indicates that they do not have the subjective Christ; they have only the objective Christ. But we in the Lord’s recovery have both the objective Christ and the subjective Christ. Those who teach that Christ is merely represented in us do so because they believe that in the Godhead the Father, Son, and Spirit are three separate individuals. Because the Son is in the heavens, they insist that it is impossible for Him to be in us. Those who argue this way are in practice tritheists. They believe in the one-in-three, but not in the three-in-one. However, in the Bible there is not a hint to indicate that the three in the Godhead are separate. On the contrary, the Lord Jesus said to Philip, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?” (John 14:10). In the same verse the Lord continued by saying, “The words which I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself; but the Father Who abides in Me, He does His works.” This verse reveals that when the Son speaks, the Father works.
John 7:29 says, “I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me,” and John 15:26 says, “But when the Comforter comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of reality Who proceeds from the Father, He will testify concerning Me.” The Greek preposition rendered “from” in these verses and in John 6:46 has the meaning of “from with.” The Son is sent not only from the Father, but also from with the Father. In John 15:26 the Lord says that He will send the Spirit from with the Father. According to the human concept, the Spirit is sent from the Father, and the Father remains in the heavens. However, the Spirit of reality is sent by the Son, not only from the Father, but also with the Father. The Comforter comes from the Father and with the Father. The Father is the source. When the Spirit comes from the source, it does not mean He leaves the source, but that the source comes with Him. This Spirit, sent by the Son and coming with the Father, will testify concerning the Son. The three of the Godhead are three-in-one. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are not three separate Gods, but the one unique God. This is the correct understanding of the Triune God according to the pure Word of God. However, those who hold the traditional concept of the Trinity in actuality have three Gods.
Those who say that Christ is not in us cannot have subjective experiences of Christ. How can they experience Him subjectively if they do not believe that Christ today is the life-giving Spirit indwelling our spirit? Because they lack the subjective experience of Christ, they accuse us of being heretical. Furthermore, they deny the fact, revealed in 2 Peter 1:4, that the believers are partakers of the divine nature. They teach that in this verse the phrase “divine nature” does not mean divine nature, but divine virtue. They also claim that to have the divine nature is to become God Himself. Furthermore, they accuse us of teaching evolution into God. Yes, we do say that we have the divine nature, because we have been born of our God. How ridiculous to say that a son does not have the nature of his father! Because we have been born of the divine Father, we certainly have His life with His nature. But this does not mean that we become or are becoming God Himself. According to the pure Word, we also say that the church today is the manifestation of God in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:15-16). Because we say this according to the Bible, we are again accused of making ourselves God and of teaching evolution into God. We are actually accused of making the church the fourth member of the Godhead! How evil is this charge!
In October, 1977, an international conference was held in Taipei. From January of that year I began to seek the Lord concerning the subject on which I should speak during that conference. By the first of October, I still had no idea what the subject would be. When asked about it, I could only say, “I don’t know.” But on October 2, 1977, a speech against us was delivered before a large congregation. Many of our brothers and sisters attended that meeting and gave us a report concerning it. Upon hearing their report, I immediately realized that I should speak on the subjective experiences of Christ. I realized that those opposing us do not know anything about the subjective experience of Christ. They care only for objective knowledge and doctrine of the Bible, of Christ, and of the church. Thus, I was burdened to tell all the churches represented in the conference that we need to experience Christ in a subjective way.
The problem between the Pharisees and the Lord Jesus and His followers was that the Pharisees cared only for outward tradition, ritual, and practice, for example, the washing of hands. They cared nothing whatever for inward reality. Therefore, the Lord Jesus pointed them to the inward matter of the heart. The Lord seemed to say, “Don’t care for this outward practice of washing of hands. The dirt that needs to be cleansed away is within you.” In the Lord’s recovery today we likewise do not care for outward things; rather, we care for inward reality.
In 1968 many saints in Los Angeles were stirred up to be buried in the water. As a result, a number of opposers condemned me for teaching rebaptism. However, I did not teach this. But I was happy to see the saints who felt they were old bury themselves in the water. Certainly this is much better than attending a casino. Certain Christians in Hong Kong played Mah-Jongg, and the pastors did not condemn it. However, when some leaped into the water to bury themselves, the pastors said that this was heretical. Today many of those who were buried in the water are very much with the Lord. The Lord cares for inward reality, not for the outward practice. To those who criticized the ones who were baptized again, I said, “The children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, which is clearly a type of baptism (1 Cor. 10:1, 2). But later they crossed the Jordan River. Was that not a burial? The children of Israel had to pass the River Jordan because they had become old. If, after they passed through the Red Sea, they had been faithful to the Lord and had entered into the good land, there would have been no need to cross the Jordan. But because of their unbelief and their years of wandering in the wilderness, they became old. Hence, they needed to bury the oldness and to be renewed by passing through the River Jordan. Twelve stones were buried in the river to represent the old Israel, and twelve stones were brought out of the river and set on the land to represent the renewed Israel. Yes, you were baptized years ago, but since that time you have been wandering in the wilderness. You need to be buried and renewed.” The Lord does not care for outward rituals or regulations; He cares only for inward reality.
Because the Lord cares for inward reality, we are not concerned about the outward way of having our meetings. It means very little whether the meeting is loud or quiet. We care only for the inward experience of Christ, for inward reality. It is an insignificant matter whether our hands are dirty; it is the condition of our inward parts that is important.
Verse 8 says, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me.” Those who follow the traditions may honor the Lord outwardly with their lips, but their heart is far away from God. The outward practice of the traditions seemingly is for God. Actually, however, the inward being of so many who follow the traditions is not for God. Do you believe the majority of Christians observe Christmas for God? Apparently they may be; actually, in the practice of Christmas, the heart of many is not for the Lord. They have the appearance, but not the reality. They have an outward professing lip, but their heart is away from the Lord. In the Lord’s recovery we are not talking without inward reality. If we speak without reality, we are more than pitiful. Tradition is a matter of utterance from the lips without reality in the heart.