What is the ministry of the word? The ministry of the word is related to the things behind the parables. It is related to the things behind the outward words. A man can only see these things when his condition before God is proper. The Jews’ hearts had become fat. Of course, they could not hear this word. Their ears had become heavy, and their eyes had become closed. The problem today is not the lack of God’s word but the ignorance among God’s children concerning His word. What men today consider as God’s word is nothing but parables and outward words. Brothers, a man can touch the Bible, but that does not mean he is touching God’s word. In order to touch God’s word, one has to touch the Bible. This is a fact, and this is necessary. However, it is not enough to just touch the Bible. We have to say to the Lord, “I want to see the word within Your word. I want to see the light within Your light, and I want to see the revelation within Your revelation.” If we do not touch the very thing behind the word, we can say all we want to others, but we will have nothing to minister to them. If we do not see the thing behind the word, we cannot communicate Christ to others. We have to see the Lord behind the word. We should not see the Bible only but the Lord Himself. Once we know the Lord, we know the Bible. One does not know the Lord simply by understanding doctrines. It is possible many of those who understand doctrines do not know the Lord. One does not know the Lord simply by knowing the truth contained in the word. Only as a person sees the light of glory on His face is he clear about everything. When we see the light of glory on His face, many of the problems with God’s word go away. When we know the Lord, we know the Bible. When we know Christ, we know God’s word. Unless we have this kind of experience, we have no way to minister Christ to the church.
Once a man lives before God and finds out what the Lord is like, he will spontaneously find the same thing in the Bible. He will readily be able to relate a passage to something he sees in the Lord or to something the Lord has expressed through him. This is the reason someone has said that every part of the Bible is about Christ. Brothers, once we know Christ, the Bible becomes living. The crucial matter is whether or not we have the revelation of Christ. If we have the revelation of Christ, the knowledge of the Bible will confirm our knowledge of Him. Otherwise, the Bible will remain the Bible, and the Lord will remain the Lord. We will only be able to minister the Bible to the church; we will not be able to minister Christ to the church. But if in presenting a portion of the Scripture, we present Christ, we are ministering Christ to people. As we present a portion of the Word, we present Christ to men. As we present another portion of the Word, we present Christ again to men. We are not just quoting biblical terms and biblical words, we are ministering Christ to the church. If a man does not learn to know Christ, he cannot know the Bible. It is useless to engage in mere exposition, exegesis, or some superficial understanding of the Scripture. We must remember that leading people to a knowledge of the Bible and leading them to a knowledge of Christ are two entirely different things.
The ministry of God’s word is a very subjective thing in man. It is not a matter of finding out what the Bible says and then telling others about it. This kind of telling is altogether objective; it cannot be considered as the ministry of the word. Every minister of the word has to be a man of revelation, one who has seen something subjectively. A man must have revelation, and he must see something subjectively. Then he can claim the Bible as his basis. Only then will he be able to minister Christ to others through the Scripture. One person may expound the Bible according to the Bible. Another person may expound the Bible according to Christ. These are two entirely different matters. Today we can find many people expounding the Bible. Their inward condition may be altogether different however. Some expositions may focus on the Bible, while others may focus on Christ. The latter is based on first receiving a revelation, a vision, or some kind of knowledge before God and then learning what the Bible says. The message that is delivered is based on a comparison of the two. This is to minister the Christ of revelation. It is not a mere presentation of the Scripture according to what is objectively understood. We admit that many exegeses are useful, and that these exegeses can save a young, inexperienced person from many errors and frustrations. But any serious ministry or service is not built merely upon exegesis. When a man lives before God, knows the Lord, and knows Christ, he can pick up a passage here and a passage there. He serves as a minister, and he has God’s word. He picks up various passages of the Scripture and puts them together. This is how he ministers Christ to the church.
In order to be a minister of God’s word, one must have a fundamental knowledge of Christ. Many times, as a person’s knowledge of Christ before God increases, he finds that what he knows of Christ has gone beyond what he knows from the Bible. Eventually, he may find the very same thing in the Bible. Then he will know that he has a message to deliver, because Christ has become the word to him. This is a very basic factor in ministry. At the beginning the Lord reveals Himself to you and shows you what He is; you see something which you have not seen in the Bible. After a few days, perhaps a year or two, you see the same thing in the Bible, and you exclaim, “This was what I learned from the Lord on that day!” Perhaps one, two, three, or four passages of the Scripture will stand out, and gradually, the Christ you know in your revelation becomes the word, and you know that the Lord is preparing you to be a minister of the word. Perhaps after a few days, the Lord will arrange a situation for you to release this word. In this way, the words you release will become the embodiment of Christ to others. If God is merciful to them, these words will become Christ to them, and they will know Christ. This is the ministry of the word. The Christ we know by revelation gradually becomes the word in us. We search the Scripture, and gradually find this word in one, two, nine, or ten different places in the Bible. When this happens, we minister this word, which is the embodiment of Christ, to others. If God grants mercy and grace to the listeners, the Holy Spirit will operate in them when they hear such a word, and the word will become the Christ who ministers to their need. This is what it means to minister Christ. We minister Christ through the words of the Scripture. When others receive the word, they receive Christ. This is the basis of all ministry of the word.
Brothers, we have to see and differentiate between the outward way and the inward way. In order to be a minister of the word, we must have the word. But this word is what we see before the Lord. This word is what we touch in Christ. Once we touch Christ, the Son of God, this book will spontaneously become the living word to us. If before the Lord we only see this book, the Bible, we will not have many words to minister to others. At the most we will only have exegesis. This may provide others some understanding of the Bible, but it is not enough to lead men to the Lord. It may render others some help in the truth, but it is not enough to lead them to Christ.
We must realize what God’s word is. What does it mean to touch His word, and what is a minister of the word? We need to pay the price. Our heart must not become fat, our eyes must not be closed, and our ears must not become heavy. We need to see God. May our ears hear God and our eyes see Him. We should never be those who see, yet do not see, and who hear, yet do not hear. What is before us are two realms. We need to possess the things of both realms. We need the word that belongs to the outer realm, and we need to touch the word that belongs to the inner realm. If we do, we will gradually become a useful vessel in the hand of the Lord.
May the Lord be merciful to us, and may we see that God’s word is Christ, just as Jesus of Nazareth was Christ. The man of flesh and blood who walked on the earth was Christ, and the Bible is also Christ. Jesus, the man who walked on the earth in flesh and blood, is God’s Word. In the same way the Bible, the written and printed Scripture, is also God’s Word. We must touch not only the outward things but also the inward things. Only then will we have the ministry of the word. Those who do not know Christ can memorize all the Scripture, but they still cannot be a minister of the word. We should prostrate ourselves before God. We need revelation. When our words go forth, God’s children should fall on their faces. It is not a matter of degree but a matter of one’s basic nature. The very nature of many ministers is wrong. If God is merciful to us, we will prostrate before Him, and we will have a new beginning. We have to touch the Bible through the Lord, and our service in the ministry of the word must be based on this. If we do this, we will have a way to go on.