From August and September of 1986, when we started the Full-time Training in Taipei, the total number of people who have been led to the Lord and baptized through door-knocking has reached more than 17,500. Therefore, we beseech the brothers and sisters to receive a burden from the Lord to take care of these new ones and to pray much for this matter.
We hope to help all the newly baptized brothers and sisters to see the central mystery in the Bible. Through several thousand years of testing, the Bible has been recognized as the book of books. It is the most noble and excellent book in many aspects, such as literature, truth, and ethics. The Bible does not merely teach us to know God and to worship God, nor does it teach us merely how to live and walk in an excelling way. Rather, in a deeper way it unveils to us many mysteries. These mysteries include the mystery of God, the mystery of the universe, the mystery of human life, the mystery of the kingdom of the heavens, the mystery of Christ, the mystery of the church, the mystery of life, the mystery of resurrection, the transformation and rapture of the believers, the consummation of the age, the millennial kingdom, and eternity. Of these, the mystery of Christ and the mystery of the church are great and deep, and all these mysteries are unfathomable.
First, we want to see the mystery of Christ. Christ is not merely a character in history. He is a person who transcends history. He is so unfathomable that it is very hard for man to know Him thoroughly. Throughout the generations, historians have been studying to find out who this Christ is. Even when Jesus was on earth, many were studying Him and asking, “Who then is this?” (Mark 4:41; Luke 8:25; cf. Matt. 21:10; Luke 7:49; 9:9). He Himself asked His disciples, “But you, who do you say that I am?” (Matt. 16:15). He is too profound and too all-inclusive; moreover, He is the One who fills all in all. Therefore, it is not a simple matter to understand Him.
According to the Bible, there are over three hundred items concerning the person of Christ. Here, we will briefly bring out twelve items. First, Christ is the only true God in the universe. There is no other God besides Him (1 Cor. 8:4; Rom. 9:5). Second, He is the Creator of the universe, including the heavens, the earth, and all things (Heb. 1:10). All things did not come out of evolution; rather, they came into existence through the Lord’s creation. Third, He is the Upholder of the universe; as such, He upholds and bears all things so that the whole universe can operate orderly (1:3). Fourth, He is the Lord, the Possessor, of the universe, and all things belong to Him (Acts 2:36; 10:36). Fifth, He is God yet man; He is God putting on human flesh and taking on humanity to be a real man (John 1:1, 14; 1 Tim. 3:16). Sixth, as God yet man He lived thirty-three and a half years on earth (Phil. 2:7-8a; Heb. 2:17-18; 4:15). Seventh, as the Redeemer He bore our sins on the cross and died and bled for us to accomplish redemption (1 Pet. 2:24a; John 19:34; Eph. 1:7).
Eighth, He is the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). After He died and was buried, because He had the divine, eternal, and uncreated life in Him, He resurrected from the dead and became the life-giving Spirit to impart Himself to us as life. Ninth, as our Savior He applies salvation to us in all our circumstances and environments (Luke 2:11; Phil. 1:19). Tenth, as our good Shepherd He shepherds us and takes care of us (John 10:11). Eleventh, as the High Priest appointed by God, He prays for us before God and bears all our problems (Heb. 2:17-18; 4:15). Twelfth, He is the King established by God to be the King of kings. Only He is the highest King in the universe (Rev. 1:5; 19:16).
First of all, this mysterious Christ has a moral standard that is transcendent. Especially in the record of the Gospel of Luke, where the details of Christ’s living are depicted, we can see that His speech, His character, and His moral standard were all transcendent. For example, He required people not only to love others but also to love their enemies (6:27). He required people not only to be clean and pure in their outward behavior but also to be pure in their inward motive (cf. 11:39-41). Therefore, His moral standard was transcendent.
Second, His words were trustworthy. He never said anything far-fetched, like the things found in myths. Third, His wisdom was extraordinary. He formed many of the extraordinary expressions in the Bible. For example, He said that He is the life and the bread of life as well, and that he who comes to Him shall by no means hunger (John 6:35); that He has the water of life, and he who draws near to Him shall by no means thirst forever (4:14); that He is the resurrection (11:25); and that He is God Himself (1:1, 14). These words which otherwise might sound proud and haughty contain a great deal of wisdom and cannot be spoken by ordinary people. That is why Rousseau, a writer and a philosopher in France, said that if the Bible were a fabrication, the one who fabricated it would be the greatest inventor. Christ is truly a trustworthy One. His moral standard is transcendent, and His wisdom is extraordinary, yet His living was very practical. Whatever He said is practical and has reality.
Furthermore, few great men prophesied concerning the things in the future. Only Jesus Christ prophesied concerning the things that would happen on earth and the things that would be accomplished in the future after His departure. All those who study history have been surprised that two thousand years ago, during the time of Christ when the modern world situation was yet to be formed, He already told us all about the world situation in principle. To put it briefly, according to Matthew 24, after the resurrection and ascension of the Lord, the first thing to happen on the earth was that the gospel was to be preached to the whole inhabited earth (v. 14). Today, among the five great religions in the world, not one of them has been preached as widely as Christianity. The Bible has been translated into almost all languages and dialects. Nearly every place inhabited by men has the preaching of the gospel and the translation of the Bible.
Along with the spreading of the gospel, wars were to become rampant, and nation was to rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom (v. 7a). In these two thousand years, wars on the earth have increased constantly. The Bible also says that earthquakes were to be intensified constantly (v. 7b). Geologists all acknowledge that there have never been so many earthquakes in these two thousand years as there have been in the recent days. All these prophecies prove that Jesus Christ is the extraordinary One. He is God, and the prophecies He spoke have already been fulfilled for the most part. This shows that His words are trustworthy.