In looking back at church history, we find that God has been taking the way of recovery from the time of Martin Luther. God raised up Luther and his contemporaries to usher in the work of recovery. Since 1828 many truths have been gradually recovered. There is one thought in the mind of many lovers of the Lord: How far will the Lord go in the way of recovery? But we need to ask what recovery is. Recovery does not mean that we preach what the apostles preached and speak every truth that is in the Bible. This is not recovery. It does not mean that we have the revelation of the New Testament once we preach the truth of the New Testament. Nor does it mean that we have the apostles’ word once we preach the apostles’ teaching. Many people can preach baptism today without knowing what baptism is. They can preach the laying on of hands without knowing what the laying on of hands is. Some can preach the church without seeing the church at all. Others can preach submission without knowing anything about God’s authority. Do not think that the content will be the same as long as the subject is the same. Do not think that the message will be the same as long as the doctrine and terminology are the same. Many people preach in the realm of outward letters. Such ones do not have the ministry of the word.
If you want to be a minister of the New Testament, you must have the revelation of the New Testament. Only as we receive the same anointing that the apostles received do we have the ministry of the word. Only by receiving the same revelation do we receive the ministry of the word. We do not receive the divine speaking that they received simply by repeating the words they spoke. We can reiterate the words they used without receiving the divine words they received. God’s word is totally different. Suppose a church is deceived like the Galatians were deceived. What should we do? Can we take the book of Galatians as it is, copy it, and send it to this church? The Epistle to the Galatians was written by Paul, but the Galatians received God’s speaking. When the Galatians received Paul’s letter, they touched God’s speaking. Today we can copy the words of the Epistle to the Galatians and send it to the problem church. The recipients may only touch the transcribed words without touching God’s word. These words are in two different realms. It is not uncommon for a man to touch the Bible without touching life. He only touches the Scripture, not life. He only touches the words that God once used, not God’s present speaking. A man can touch the inspired Bible without touching the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Brothers and sisters, why is it that so many people read the Bible today yet so few receive anything from it? Why is it that so many people preach the Bible yet so little of God’s word is sensed? The only explanation is that men only touch the outward shell of God’s Word. They have touched what God once said, but they have not touched what God is saying again today. God has not spoken to them through the word which He once used.
We must realize that the responsibility of the ministers of the word is to allow God to speak through the Scripture once again. God’s ministers of the word are those through whom God can speak His word once again. God is willing to speak through them. It should be His speaking that is released, not just the Bible that is released. Who are the ministers of God’s word? They are those who open the Bible and convey to their audience the words of God’s present speaking, not just the words from the book itself. This is what it means to be a minister of the word. If the hearers have a problem in themselves, or if they choose to shut up their spirits, hearts, or minds, that is their own concern. But as long as a man will open his spirit, heart, and mind, he will hear God’s speaking. If others hear nothing of God’s speaking while we are interpreting the Bible and expounding its teachings, we are a complete failure in God’s eyes. A minister of the word is one through whom God speaks. Others should have the feeling that God has spoken to them, and they should fall on their faces. The reason the church is so poor is that the ministers are poor. We complain that so few people have received revelation. Why do we not give them the revelation? It is our business to give them the revelation, yet we blame the church for being poor. Why do we not make it rich? It is our business to make the church rich. The function of the ministers of the word is to release God’s word, not just the Bible, out of their mouth. The words of the Bible become the word of God in their mouth. They become life and light, not mere outward letters.
Do not be deceived to think that as long as a man preaches from the Bible and interprets prophecies from the Bible, he is a minister of the word. Such a person merely teaches others the outward shell of the Bible; he is not a minister of the word. Some people complain that the church is short of revelation. We agree that the church needs revelation, but we must ask who will give the church revelation. We cannot put all the blame on the brothers and sisters. If God’s ministers are in poverty, the whole church is in poverty. If the church does not have prophets, if it is short in vision, God’s people will be void of light. Today God is dispensing light to the church through the ministers. How great is the responsibility of the church! We should never think that we can call ourselves successors to the apostles just as long as we preach the same Scripture that they preached. We must remember that we can consider ourselves the apostles’ successors only to the extent that we have received the same revelation they received and have experienced the same anointing they experienced. It is not a matter of having the same doctrine but a matter of having the same anointing. This is the basic test of all things.
In the church nothing is more serious than the absence of men who supply others with God’s word, revelation, and light. If we do not supply others with these things, can we expect others to receive them simply through prayer? By asking them to pray for these things by themselves, we are shirking our responsibility and casting the burden on their shoulders. The responsibility is not on their shoulders. We should not pass it on to them. The ministers of the word have a responsibility to minister to the church. With the ministers of the word, there should be much revelation, light, and anointing of the Spirit. When they stand up to speak from the Scripture, God should speak through the same Scripture. God should be willing to release His own speaking through the same passage. This is what it means to be a minister of the word. This is what it means to minister to the church with God’s word. To minister is to serve. It is like preparing a meal and serving it to others. This service satisfies others’ hunger. A minister of the word should prepare God’s word in such a way that he can minister and feed others with the word.
Many people can expound the Bible today. But the problem is that God will not speak. We have to know the difference between understanding the Bible and having God’s word. We may study the Bible for many days, yet God may not speak a single word to us. When God decides to speak to us, all problems are settled and everything is changed. We will say, “For years, I had read the Bible foolishly. I did not understand anything, but that day I knew.” It is a matter of whether or not God has spoken. Some people do not have spiritual insight on anything. They may not have experienced any speaking other than the time when they were saved. Such ones will not touch anything in the spiritual realm. Some people have been listening and listening for a long time. Some words have been repeated over ten times in their ears, yet they still do not sense anything. But when some brothers speak, they suddenly hear something and are struck by it. During the previous times, they only heard the letters of the Bible. But this time they hear God’s speaking. There is a fundamental difference here. What is God’s word? God’s word is God’s release. We have to see what God’s word really is. Only as the word is released and as God speaks are we able to function as ministers. This is a most fundamental issue. God must speak to us, and He must speak through us. If He does not speak to us, we cannot speak His word. Many people desire to be God’s oracles and ministers. In order to be one, they must be men of revelation.
Today the building up of the church, the reaching of the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, and the arriving at the oneness of the church’s faith depend on the functioning of the ministers of the word. God is raising up His ministers to do the work of the ministry. Ephesians 4 shows us that only as the work of the ministry is realized is there the growth of the stature of Christ and the arriving at the oneness of faith (vv. 12-13). The problem today is that few can be ministers. There is preaching every day, but it is hard to say how much of this preaching releases God’s word. God’s people are short of light and revelation, and the responsibility is on us. Do not put all the blame on the brothers and sisters. Souls are not saved and believers are not edified today because there is no release of the word. The ministers have failed. If the ministers have failed, how can we expect the church to prevail? The whole problem lies in the fact that we are closed to God; we have refused to allow God’s light to shine on us. This is why we cannot bring our brothers and sisters to God’s light. The problem is with us, not with them. This is a serious thing, a very sobering thing. One reason the church is in ruin today is that the Lord cannot have a breakthrough in us. He is looking for ministers of the word everywhere. God’s word is never short; His light and His revelation are never lacking. The problem today is that He has not gained the right men. He is bound by us. The light cannot shine out through us.
Many workers claim to be God’s oracles. Yet while they are expounding the Bible, they do not have the faintest hope or thought that God would speak through them. Their sole interest lies in their desire to present their own doctrines. They think that as long as they have the doctrines, they have everything. They are interested only in their own truth, their own pet ideas, and they think that as long as these can be propagated, all will be well. They do not have the faintest expectation of God being released through their speaking. We must remember that we have God’s word only when He is released. If God is not released, all that men hear will be man’s word. Only when God is released is there revelation. If He is not released, the same teaching will only pass from one person to another, from one mouth to another mouth, and from one mind to another mind. If, by the grace of God, He is released from us, how great a difference it will make!
Brothers, we have to realize how different the exposition of the Scripture is from the impartation of God’s revelation to man. We must realize that even though we may say many words that sound reasonable, wonderful, nice, and precious, God is not in our speaking. Once we can tell this difference, we will prostrate ourselves before God and say, “Lord, from now on, I abhor works that are void of revelation, works that impart no revelation to man.” We should never be professional preachers. Once we become professional preachers, we will speak because it is our job to speak, and we will preach because it is our job to preach. We will not speak or preach as a result of receiving something from God. We must live in the presence of God. Without His presence we will not have the ministry of the word. God has to gain this among us. By the mercy of God we have to receive revelation from His word and then convey this revelation to others. For this we can do nothing except ask for His mercy. If the Lord does not speak through us, we cannot convey His word to others. If what we have is nothing more than a book—the Bible, we have nothing that is living. It is true that the basis of the ministry of the word is the Bible, but the Bible alone is not enough; there is the need of the revelation of the Holy Spirit.
Brothers, we need the anointing of the Spirit upon us. We need to learn to expect the anointing. Many times we have to say to the Lord, “Lord, anoint Your word once more today so that I can take it and use it.” When we stand in front of others, we have to say to the Lord, “Anoint the words that I am about to speak and release them with Your anointing.” Now is the time to plead for mercy. All of the problems are with the ministers. Without God’s word, the ministers are poor and the church is poor. It seems that too many people are setting their hopes on truth and knowledge. Few have set their hopes on revelation. In the end the gospel is preached, but few souls are saved. Messages are delivered, but few receive any blessing. If God’s life does not follow His word, everything is in vain and is worthless. Our failure lies in the fact that we only see men praising God’s word and God’s preachers. Yet the words themselves do not convey burning light; the revelation is not strong enough to knock men to the ground. What is needed today is not more admiration of God’s word, but more men falling on their faces at God’s light. If as ministers we cannot accomplish this, we can only blame ourselves for the failure. May the Lord be merciful to us.