What does it mean for God to reveal His Son in us? We cannot describe this; no one can describe it. Even Paul could not describe it. How can we tell whether or not a person has God’s revelation in him? Some people can say that they have seen the revelation, whereas others are unable to say this. Some are clear, but others remain unclear. We struggle, labor, think, and pursue, yet we still do not see anything. But when God grants us mercy one day, our eyes are opened immediately.
Today we may pray to the Lord, “May You be my all. May You fill all and be all.” We pray this way, yet we do not know what this means. We say what we do not understand. When God grants us mercy and reveals His Son in us, we will say spontaneously and effortlessly, “Thank God, He is everything. Christ is everything. All my past spiritual experiences are behind me. All my past works and pursuits are behind me. Even my love, faith, righteousness, holiness, and victory are behind me. Everything but Christ is behind me. Christ is everything.” Only then can we say that He is over all and fills all. This is a fundamental revelation. It is on the basis of this revelation that we seek to understand God’s word. This is the starting point from which we seek to understand the Bible. We begin by knowing God’s Son. After this we proceed to know the Bible. As we go on in this way, everything will become transparent to us, and we will say, “I did not understand many things, but today I am beginning to understand them.”
This is where a man must learn to turn and become like an infant. He must learn to be like a child. How does a child learn about a cow? There are two ways. First, he can have a book with the picture of a cow on the page and the word cow beside it. Second, he can be taken to see a cow. Which of these ways gives the child a more genuine understanding of the cow, a picture or a real-life cow? The cow in the picture is only a few inches tall. The child may think that a cow is only that tall. If you put him in front of the cow, however, his understanding will be different. Suppose a child has seen a living cow. Within him there is an impression of something—a cow. But he does not know what it is called. Now if you point out a cow to him in the book and tell him that it is called a cow, he will readily understand. His questions will be answered. We should be like a little child. May God cause us to know Christ at least once, to touch Him in a fundamental way at least once. When we read the Bible again, everything will be clear and obvious to us; we will see everything through the light of this book. Once the foundational experience is right, everything else will be right. Once this is established, everything else will be in place. Everything will be related and linked together.
If you merely give a person a Bible and tell him the things contained in it, you will not get very far. One brother studied many books on botany. He read about a certain plant with a certain kind of leaf and flower. He went up to the mountain in search of this plant but could not find it. It is relatively easy to learn a word by looking at a picture. But it is not that easy to identify an object by comparing it to a picture. This brother tried to find the plant by the description in a book, but he could not find it. The same is true when it comes to identifying a man. It is easier to look at a man first and then look at his picture. It may not be easy for us to identify a person from his picture. This is a very simple illustration. We find this experience among many children of God. We find this in Paul and Peter. One day God granted mercy to them, and they knew Christ. The Lord Himself said, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in the heavens” (Matt. 16:17). This is entirely a matter of God’s mercy and grace. We know His Son because He has chosen to reveal Him to us. From the day we begin to know Him, we begin to know the Bible. In order to know the Bible, we have to know Christ first.