During the Chinese War of Resistance against the Japanese, I traveled to the northwestern provinces of China to visit the churches. In some of the places I had to ride on a large handcart which could cover only about fifty kilometers after traveling the whole day from dawn to evening. At night, upon arriving at an inn, it seemed like all my bones had been detached. All I could do was lie down and go to sleep. Traveling in those days was truly a hardship. Today, however, both Taiwan and the United States have well-built highways and excellent transportation systems. Therefore, traveling in these countries is efficient and comfortable. This is a very practical illustration of how the age changes. I have been a Christian for fifty years already. In the first few years it seemed as if I was riding on a large handcart. I tried so hard to pursue, yet I did not advance much, I did not learn many lessons, nor did I have much growth in life. Then, gradually, the Lord led us through many changes, and today we can see that we have covered a great distance. Our messages and hymns are much more advanced than what we formerly had. We are truly in a different age. Regrettably, the churches in the Far East have not stayed up-to-date with the flow of the age. I am deeply concerned that the messages being released in many localities may be short of revelation, not rich enough, and not up-to-date.
Some of the saints refuse to follow the flow of the age. They declare that they want to receive everything firsthand instead of learning from others. This kind of talk is deceptive. Only a few people, like Paul, received everything firsthand. Thus, everything that is taken from the Scriptures is no longer firsthand. Honestly, I do not care whether or not I receive something firsthand. All I care about is the object itself. If the object is a diamond, I do not care how many hands it has passed through. As long as it is in my hand, it is valuable to me. However, if the object were dung, I would not want it, even if I was the first to receive it. We all need to be humble, not thinking that we have seen something. Although we surely have seen some things, what we have seen may be worthless. We need to see the central vision, which is the vision that the Triune God became flesh, died for the accomplishment of redemption, and in resurrection became the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. Today He has entered into our spirit and lives in us. He not only gives His life to us but also puts Himself into us to be our person. He and we are joined together, having one life, one living, one walk, and one move, and we simply live by Him. This is the most important matter.
Some may say that they have learned a particular lesson, such as how to be holy. These kinds of lessons, however, are peripheral matters. It does not make much difference whether we learn them or not. Today God has a central purpose, a central vision, which we need to see. This is what the children of God lack today. This is lacking not only in Christianity but even among us. We all need to see this.
Ephesians is a book specifically on the church. Many people know that Ephesians 1 says that the church is the Body of Christ (v. 23). How many know, however, that the church is the new man? Ephesians 2:15 says that Christ, having solved all the problems on the cross, created the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers in Himself into one new man. This new man must be a corporate entity, because there is only one new man, not many new men. This new man was created by Christ in Himself. What material did Christ use to create the new man? He used Himself as the material. The Lord Jesus created all of us into one new man with Himself as the material. The Greek word for create implies to create something new. Previously there was no such thing as the new man in the universe. Now, however, Christ has created the new man in Himself with His resurrection life. Before His death and resurrection, our Lord had the eternal life of God, but He did not have the life that had passed through death and resurrection. The Lord Jesus created the new man not with the eternal life that had not passed through death, but with the eternal life that had passed through death and resurrection. There is a great difference between the life that has passed through death and the life that has not passed through death. Before His crucifixion He already had the eternal life, but that life had not entered into death, passed through death, and come out of death again. After His resurrection He had the eternal life that had passed through death and entered into resurrection. It was with such an eternal life that the Lord Jesus created the one new man. Therefore, anyone who belongs to the new man has passed through death and is in resurrection.
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