Today we have been called out of Christianity by the Lord to bear a testimony that is according to the Bible. The Bible shows us that the church on the earth is one universally, and it is absolutely in oneness. Therefore, we reject denominational divisions, we reject the clergy system, and we reject religious hierarchy. While we do have the elders’ administration of the church among us, in this administration there is no rule or control. On the positive side, our first step is preaching a pure, high, and complete gospel. The second step is speaking and teaching the pure, high, and complete truth.
What we mentioned above is a summary explanation of the principle. The specific practice includes the following points. First, we need to visit people house by house, that is, knocking on doors house by house to visit unbelievers and leading them to believe in the Lord and be baptized. This is clearly explained in Luke 10:1-6 and 16, Matthew 28:19, and John 15:4-5 and 16. The Gospel of Luke tells how the Lord Jesus Himself, when He was on the earth, sought out people place by place, just as He told Zaccheus, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost” (19:10).
After the Lord Jesus came from the heavens to the earth, He did not come out to minister right away, because He had to wait until He was full-grown. He stayed in Nazareth until He was thirty years old. This is according to the Old Testament, in which a man had to wait until he was thirty years old before he could come out to minister as a priest. The Chinese ancients also said that a man must be “thirty years of age to stand on his own feet.” The Lord Jesus waited until He was thirty before coming out to do the work of preaching the word. The way He preached was not like what is done in Christianity today. Today even we have been influenced by Christianity, preaching the gospel according to that unscriptural way. This way is the way of setting up a meeting hall or a gospel chapel and gathering together a congregation to listen to one person preaching the gospel. We see in the Bible that the Lord Jesus did not preach the gospel in such a way. The pattern in the Bible which the Lord left to us is that He came from the heavens to the earth, and when He had grown up and come out to minister, He went to preach the gospel place by place and house by house. For example, He went to the house of Zaccheus (vv. 1-9) and sat beside the well in Samaria (John 4:3-7) to visit and to wait for sinners who were chosen by God.
Actually, God’s coming to man and visiting man in this way did not begin when He became flesh. We know from Genesis 3 that as soon as mankind fell, when Adam and Eve sinned, they began to fear God, turning away and hiding themselves from the face of God. However, God did not let them go. He did not send an angel from heaven to summon the sinners Adam and Eve before Him, as a law court summons people with a warrant for their arrest. God did not do that. He Himself came to the garden of Eden, the place of their fall, and called to Adam, asking, “Where are you?” (v. 9). We can say that the first instance of knocking on doors and paying a visit occurred in Genesis 3 when God came to “knock on Adam’s door.” Perhaps some would argue with us, saying that back then, in the garden of Eden, houses were not yet invented, so there were no doors to knock on. Still, I would say that in Genesis 3 God already knocked directly on the door of man’s heart.
In Genesis 18 there is a story about a man named Abraham who lived in tents. One day when he was sitting at the entrance of his tent under the shade of the tree in the heat of the day, he suddenly saw three visitors coming to visit him. One of the visitors was Jehovah God. Actually, it was the Lord coming with two angels. This was a special visit. Abraham went forward immediately to greet them and received them eagerly, fetching water for them to wash their feet. Furthermore, Abraham prepared for them a feast of cakes and a calf. This story puzzles many Bible expositors. However, Jehovah God and the two angels did feast on the meal there. Not only God ate, but the angels also ate. Whether or not God needs to eat is not for us to decide, but Genesis 18 does tell us that God, with the two angels, ate the calf-feast prepared by Abraham and his wife (vv. 1-8).
Afterward, Jehovah stayed there for quite a while, and when He was leaving, Abraham, as an intimate friend who was reluctant to part with Him, walked with Jehovah to send Him away (v. 16). Genesis 18 recounts how Abraham touched God’s heart in sending Him away. God said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” (v. 17). God truly visited Abraham as a friend. The Old Testament says that God saw Abraham as His intimate friend (2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8).
Moreover, in the Old Testament we often see the expression, “The Spirit of Jehovah came upon...” (Judg. 3:10). Again and again the Spirit of Jehovah came to man, to the leaders among the children of Israel, and to all the prophets. His coming was His visiting. Actually, door-knocking is visiting. Knocking is a very courteous and polite term in the Chinese language. Door-knocking is visitors going to people’s houses with much propriety and courtesy. Therefore, when we go out today, we do not bang on doors or trouble people, but we knock on doors and visit people.