Furthermore, according to the principle in the New Testament, the service began with a young girl, a virgin. According to the principle of the Old Testament, the women were not counted. In the book of Numbers, the women were not included in the record of the numbering of God’s people. Even in the New Testament, when the Lord Jesus fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes, we are told that there were five thousand men, besides women and children (Matt. 14:21).
In addition, in the Old Testament, women were not appointed to the priesthood or to the kingship. There were some prophetesses, but prophets and prophetesses were not needed in a normal situation. When the situation of God’s people was normal, there were the priesthood and the kingship. Only when things were degraded did God raise up the prophets to recover the priesthood and the kingship. In the normal situation, there was no position in the Old Testament service for women.
However, at the beginning of the New Testament service, God did not come to a man, but to a woman. God came to a young girl, a virgin. It was not to an experienced person, but to someone so new. Why? Because what God was about to do was something new and different. It was so new that it was beyond human experience, human learning, human thinking, and human culture. For a virgin to be with child was absolutely new in the history of the whole human race. In the entire history of man there had never been such a thing. This is something completely against natural law and human culture. The service of the New Testament is something new and contrary to everything old.
We need to consider our own standing in relation to this matter of service. Could you consider yourself a young girl, a virgin? If you say no, then you are through as far as the New Testament service is concerned. New Testament service is only possible with such virgins. This may sound strange, but we all need to be virgins (Matt. 25:1; 2 Cor. 11:2). We should not consider ourselves men. If we take the standing of a strong man, we have nothing to do with the New Testament service. The basic principle is that the New Testament service begins with a virgin. If you were to ask me who I am, I would say, “Praise the Lord, by His mercy, I am simply a little virgin.” To enter the New Testament service we need to be like a virgin, so simple, knowing nothing. We need to be unloaded, unlearned, and inexperienced. We should not think that because we are aged, learned, and have the highest culture, we are qualified. No, in that case we would be through. We need to be a virgin, so new, so fresh, and even unlearned.
I am so glad that the angel Gabriel came to the virgin Mary. If he had come to an experienced woman over eighty years of age, he would have had to spend considerably more time because of her knowledge and experience. Such a sister probably would not say that she was a bondmaid of the Lord. However, because she was young and inexperienced, Mary was simple. The older ones may have asked many questions, but the young ones could simply say, “May it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). There is no doctrinal thought to occupy them. The older ones have many doctrinal considerations, many doctrinal questions.
I am so happy that Mary was as simple as she was. She had some knowledge: she said that she had known no man; therefore, how could she conceive? If she had been completely unlearned, she would have said nothing but, “May it be to me according to your word.” She was still somewhat preoccupied by knowledge. We think that knowledge is good, but knowledge is actually a frustration. The New Testament service is absolutely different from knowledge. For a virgin to conceive a child is against the natural concept and against all the knowledge the world can offer. Nevertheless, we praise the Lord that Mary eventually said that she was a bondmaid of the Lord.
The Lord did not send an angel to Jerusalem and to the temple, but He sent Gabriel to Nazareth. There he spoke to a young girl, a virgin, not to a man. Furthermore, the Lord did not tell Mary to do anything, but He said that she would conceive and bring forth a son. In the Old Testament service God told the people to do this and not to do that. There were many regulations and requirements. The Old Testament service is a service of doing, but the New Testament service is a service of conceiving and bringing forth Christ. It is not a matter of doing something, but of conceiving Christ and bringing Him forth. Regardless of how much we do or how well we do it, it means nothing. That belongs to the Old Testament service. The New Testament service is to conceive and bring forth Christ. Christ should be our service. This is absolutely different from the old way.
We all know that whenever a person is saved or a Christian revived, he is eager to do something for the Lord. That, however, is not the New Testament service. That is the Old Testament service. New Testament service is not to do anything for the Lord, but to allow the Lord to do something in us. We need to stop our doing that the Lord may work something into us to be conceived and brought forth. We should forget about our doing! That is the old way. The New Testament service is to stop all our doing and let the Lord do something in us. Then we will conceive and bring forth Christ.