We have to see that God, who is our Lord, not only speaks to us but also breathes into us. The Gospel of John has twenty-one chapters. The first chapter says that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was God. The Word is the Lord Himself. The Lord is the Word; He is the Word of God. On the surface the Bible contains stories, histories, rebukes, warnings, convictions, and teachings. However, in reading the Bible you get not only these things. What you obtain is Christ. If you do not gain Christ after reading the Scriptures, then you have read in vain. We read the Bible to get Christ into us.
The Bible is the word of God, and Christ is the living word of God. The Gospel of John first tells us that Christ is the Word. Then it tells us that this Christ who is the Word became flesh, lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years, and eventually was crucified. John 19 tells us that blood and water flowed out from His side while He was on the cross (v. 34). Blood signifies redemption, which solves the problem of our sin. Water signifies the Spirit as living water for us to receive life. Through His death, Christ accomplished redemption, signified by the blood, and He flowed out the Spirit as living water to supply man with life.
After He accomplished these things, He resurrected in chapter twenty. In the evening of the day of His resurrection He came back and stood in the midst of His disciples. His coming back at this time was different from the previous times. Previously, before His crucifixion, He was in the flesh; now, after His resurrection, He is a Spirit. He came as the Spirit to the disciples when they met together. They had shut the doors and windows tightly for fear of the persecution of the Jews. The Lord Jesus did not even knock, and no one opened the door, but suddenly the Lord stood in their midst. Therefore, they were puzzled and thought that it might be a ghost. However, the Lord came with His resurrected body and breathed into the disciples, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, the Gospel of John begins by telling us that the Lord is the Word who existed from the beginning, and at the end it tells us that the Lord is the breath, the Spirit. In chapter one the Lord is the Word, whereas in chapter twenty He is the Spirit. First is the Word and then the Spirit, and in the middle of the book there is John 6:63, which says, “It is the Spirit who gives life;...the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” In the beginning of the Gospel of John is the Word, at the end is the Spirit, and in between are the word and the spirit. It is the Spirit who gives life, who causes people to have life. The words which the Lord spoke to us are spirit and are life. If there were only the Word, there would be only the expression of intention; if there were no Spirit, the Lord could not come into us. Thank the Lord, we now have the Word and the Spirit.
These three—the Lord, the Word, and the Spirit—are one. The Lord is the Word, and He is also the Spirit. The Word is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the Lord. Therefore, these three are just one. John 6:63 says, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit.” Many Christians admit that the words of the Lord are the Spirit, but they have a hard time believing that the Spirit is the word. Ephesians 6:17 says, “And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God.” The word is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the word. John 6:63 says that the word is the Spirit, whereas Ephesians 6:17 says that the Spirit is the word. According to John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was God.” Thus the Lord is the Word. Then in 20:22 the Lord came and breathed into the disciples, saying to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” The breath which the Lord breathed was the Holy Spirit; this proves that the Lord is that Spirit. Furthermore, there are two other places in the Bible which say that the Lord is the Spirit. First Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit,” and 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” Therefore these three verses, John 6:63, Ephesians 6:17, and 2 Corinthians 3:17, show us that the Lord, the Word, and the Spirit are all one. This is for the Lord to work Himself into us.
According to the verses mentioned above, we know that the Lord is God, the Word is God, and the Spirit is God. Therefore, God, the Lord, the Word, and the Spirit are one. In order to come into us, this God who is the Lord has to be the Word and the Spirit. Ephesians 6:18 says, “By means of all prayer and petition.” Prayer and petition are the ways for us to take in the word of God. This may be compared to a meal that has been prepared and set on the table by your mother. All that is needed is that you come and take it in. The best way for you to take in, to receive, a meal is to eat it. You do not come to look at the food or to study the food; you come to eat the food. The parents know very well that many times children who are naughty and disobedient just sit at the table refusing to eat the food, instead only looking at it. Moreover, there are some nutritionists who specialize in studying food, but they themselves do not eat well. Likewise, although there is only one Bible, its readers read it differently. Dr. Hu Shih read the Bible in the way of research, so he could see the Bible only as a literary work of high quality. Many Christians in reading the Bible do not come to eat but only to look; hence, they get nothing.
I hope that we all will realize that the Bible is not for us merely to research, just as a meal is not for us to research but to eat. When you eat the food, you receive the food, and as a result you gain the food. Therefore, in Ephesians 6 Paul referred to the Spirit and to the word of God. He said that you have to receive the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God. Here he spoke of the Spirit and the word as one. Most Bible readers understand the sword of the Spirit to be the word of God. When I was young I also was taught in this way and accordingly thought that the word of God is the sword. However, here it does not say that the word of God is the sword; it says that the Spirit is the word of God. Actually, if the word of God were not the Spirit, it could not be the sword but merely words, doctrines, or black letters on white paper. The word of God must be the Spirit, and it must be living; then it can be the sword.
Paul took in, received, the word of God by means of all prayer and petition. He not only prayed in a general way, but he also petitioned in a particular way. Prayer is general, while petition is particular. Not only so, Paul prayed with “all prayer and petition.” All includes a great number of ways. You can pray loudly, or you can pray softly. You can pray quickly, or you can pray slowly. You can pray-read not only in one way but in many ways: by yourself, with your spouse, with a group, and in the meetings. Paul said that we should receive the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition. This tells us that we pray all prayer and petition to take in, receive, the word of God. We come to the word of God neither to look nor to study but to take and receive it into us.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that every one who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.” If you merely look at or read this verse, you may not receive anything, even though you read it ten times. Recently my two grandchildren came to see me. Their mother taught them to recite John 3:16 both in English and in Chinese. They recited very quickly, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that every one who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.” After listening to them, however, I thought to myself, “You are two foolish children; you have not received anything.” They not only read it but also memorized it, but they did not receive it. Therefore, John 3:16 still has nothing to do with them. On the other hand, I have taken in this verse for almost sixty years. It was this verse, John 3:16, that strengthened my faith to know that I was saved. At that time, I not only read and studied this verse; in fact I pray-read it, although I did not know what pray-reading was and had never even heard the term.
I still remember that day. I was not yet very clear about my salvation, and I felt that I should read John 3:16. At first I was only reading it, and then gradually I turned from reading to receiving. I read that “God so loved the world,” so I prayed, “O God, I thank You that You so loved the world.” Then I prayed again, “O God, I thank You that You loved me because I am one who is of the world. O God, thank You. You so loved me so much that You gave me Your only begotten Son.” At the beginning I read the verse in its original wording, but eventually I began to take it in. Once I began to take it in, the tone of my prayer changed and the pronouns changed. I prayed, “I thank You, O God, that You so loved me and gave Your only begotten Son to me, so that by believing into Him I would not perish but would have eternal life.”
Although it has been nearly sixty years, I still remember that scene very clearly. I was not only happy within, but I was full of confidence to declare to the heavens, the earth, and all things, including Satan, “I have eternal life because John 3:16 says so.” This is to receive and apply the word of God. At that time nobody taught me and I did not know what pray-reading was, but I spontaneously was pray-reading without knowing it. Not only did I pray-read by myself, but I even taught others to pray-read whenever I preached the gospel. I told people, “May we read John 3:16? I will read it together with you.” While we were reading, I helped them to pray-read. In this way some of them were brought in. This is to take in the word of God and the Spirit of God by pray-reading.