Secondly, the Lord counseled the church in Laodicea to buy “white garments” that they “may be clothed and that the shame” of their “nakedness may not be manifested.” In figure, garments signify conduct. “White garments” here refer to conduct approvable to the Lord, which is the Lord Himself lived out of the church, and which is required by the degraded recovered church to cover her nakedness. We pointed out in message fourteen that these white garments are not Christ as our objective righteousness for justification. Rather, the white garments are Christ as our subjective righteousness, Christ lived out of our being. The Christ who is lived out of us will be our second garment for us to be approved by the Lord. This is not for salvation but for being chosen. We all need this second garment. When we have living faith and participate in the divine nature, this divine nature will eventually come out of us to be our living. This living is Christ lived out of our being, and this is the second garment which gives us the standing and the qualification to be approved by Christ. This garment will cover our nakedness. Yes, we all have been justified and have been covered by the first garment, the best robe put on the prodigal son in Luke 15. But after being justified, we must love the Lord, be on fire, and be absolutely for the Lord. If we are this kind of Christian, then we shall have the living faith to participate in the rich, divine nature, which will become the Christ lived out of our being as the second garment to cover our nakedness.
If, after being justified, you do not love the Lord and live by, for, and with Him, you are naked. It is difficult to explain this doctrinally, but experientially we all may realize that a brother who does not love the Lord or live by the Lord is shameful and is naked. He does not have the lovely Christ as his covering. He believes in Christ and he belongs to Christ, but since he neither loves Him nor lives by Him, he is naked in both the eyes of the Lord and in the eyes of other believers. He does not have Christ as his beautiful covering. We must pay the price for this second garment, the Christ lived out of our being. This is the subjective Christ, the very Christ experienced by us in a subjective way. Do not try to understand this by the exercise of your mentality. Check this word with your experience. Although this is foreign to your mentality, it is more than familiar to your spirit and to your experience. According to your experience, you can testify that, on the one hand, you may have the assurance that you are justified, but, on the other hand, have the sense that you are naked. Undoubtedly, as a child of God, you have been justified, redeemed, saved, and regenerated, and you are a member of Christ. But, on the other hand, you sense that you are naked, not having Christ lived out of you to be your beautiful covering. Inwardly, you condemn yourself for this. If you check this word with your experience, you will see that it is true. Thus, we all must pay the price, saying to the Lord, “Lord, whatever the cost, I’ll pay the price to have You live out of my being. Lord, I want to have You as my living. I don’t want to behave myself, correct myself, or improve myself. Lord, I like to have You lived out of me. Day by day, I want You to live out of my being to be my outward living. Lord, be not only my inward life but also my outward living.” If you pray this way to the Lord, He will become your outward covering, the second garment for you to be approved and chosen by Him. There is no need to wait for the coming day. Even today you may have the assurance that you have been approved and chosen. Therefore, when that day comes, He will surely say, “Well done! Come with Me to enjoy your portion and to fight with Me against the army of the Antichrist.”
Thirdly, the Lord counsels the church in Laodicea to buy from Him eyesalve to anoint their eyes that they may see. The “eyesalve” needed to “anoint” their eyes must refer to the anointing Spirit (1 John 2:27), who is also the Lord Himself as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). Because she has been distracted by the dead knowledge of letters, the degraded recovered church also needs this kind of eyesalve for her blindness. For all three items the Lord counsels her to buy, she must pay the price. We have pointed out that the eyesalve is the anointing Spirit. Spiritual insight is always related to the Spirit. We need more Spirit, not more knowledge. We do not need many doctrines—we need more Spirit to anoint our eyes and the depths of our inner being that we may have insight to see things from within. With this eyesalve, this anointing, we may have both foresight and deep insight to see things thoroughly. Then we shall say, “Lord Jesus, because I now see what a treasure You are, I am ready to pay any price.” Suppose the cost of an item in a department store is one thousand dollars. If this item is a valuable diamond worth five thousand dollars, you would not think that the price is too high. Rather, you would think that it is cheap. Why are so many Christians unwilling to pay the price for Christ? It is because they do not see what a treasure Christ is. They do not see the preciousness, the worth, and the value of Christ. But once our eyes have been anointed by the divine, spiritual eyesalve, we shall say, “It is worthwhile for me to pay any price for Christ. The price is too low. My self, my future, and my life are all worth nothing. I actually pay nothing to gain Christ who is everything.” If we would see this, we need eyesalve.
Now we realize that the gold, the garment, and the eyesalve are all Christ. Christ is everything. Our need today is Christ. Yes, in His recovery the Lord has given us a great deal of light. Our intention, however, is not to give knowledge to people. Our intention in these messages is to help the Lord’s people to be enlightened that they might see the value, worth, and preciousness of Christ and, by having this insight, they might be willing to pay any price to gain Him. It is worthwhile for me to pay the cost of my family, my future, my destiny, and my whole life for Christ. If I would pay all this, the price is still too cheap. Paul said that all the things he counted loss for Christ were just dung, dog food (Phil. 3:8). In the church life in the Lord’s recovery we are not for doctrine or merely for the so-called truths. We are here for the rich Christ. In all these messages we are not dispensing vain doctrines. The goal of these messages is to minister some ointment that people’s eyes may be anointed to see the preciousness of Christ and be attracted to Him. The degraded church does not need doctrine; she needs eyesalve. She needs revelation, vision, and great grace.