Furthermore, the New Testament service is something completely initiated by God. Mary did not expect such a thing to happen. Suddenly the angel appeared—this is a strong proof that it was not initiated by Mary, but by God. If it were something of the old way of religion, there would have been some idea or concept there already, but this was something initiated by God. Therefore, it had nothing to do with the old way of religion. The New Testament service is something new, something up-to-date, and something as a new start. It has nothing to do with old things and is not initiated by man. In principle, it is initiated by God.
We need to learn to apply all these principles to today’s service. Even our visiting of others should not be something initiated by us, but something initiated by the Lord. It should be a surprise to us. We should not visit others in a natural way; our visiting should be something newly and instantly initiated by God. While the people were paying their attention to the priests and the leaders, God went to one little virgin to have a new beginning. We need to learn that the initiative should be of Him and out of Him. This is the New Testament service.
The recovery of the church life is simply the recovery of the New Testament service. The principles have been lost, but the Lord is going to recover them in the local church. Today many try to learn things in the old way, the traditional way. There are schools for this purpose. Some say that you need to go to these schools to learn how to serve the Lord. This is not the Lord’s way. God does not care for all the knowledge and all the tradition! He needs only a little virgin without any experience or knowledge. This is the first case, the unique case, of New Testament service. Throughout all the centuries, the Lord has been doing things in the same principle. May the Lord be merciful to us that we will drop the old traditions. We need to learn to be a virgin, even learn to be unlearned.
When the Pharisees were arguing with the Lord Jesus concerning the matter of divorce, He told them that “from the beginning it has not been so” (Matt. 19:8). We need to go back to the beginning. Simply to go to Moses is not sufficient. Moses allowed divorce, but from the beginning it was not so. For the New Testament service, we need to come back to the first case of the New Testament. We think that we need to do something for the Lord, but in the beginning it was not so.
The New Testament service is simply a service of conceiving Christ of the Holy Spirit. It is not something of knowledge, letters, regulations, thinking, imaginations, or dreams, but of the Holy Spirit. The New Testament service is that of conceiving the holy thing of the Holy Spirit. Have you noticed in Luke 1:35 that Christ conceived by Mary is called the holy thing? “The holy thing which is born will be called, Son of God.” The New Testament service is the very holy thing conceived of the Holy Spirit. To serve the Lord in the New Testament is not a matter of having something conceived of Bible knowledge. It is the holy thing which is conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Mary was the first one to serve the Lord in the New Testament dispensation. Whatever she did and whatever happened to her should be the principle. In a sense, she was a person who really had nothing to do. She was simply a virgin who knew nothing. Suddenly, the power of the Lord came upon her, brooding over her and within her. This is the service of the New Testament. It is not something conceived of knowledge about certain things, and it is not something conceived of the environment or of circumstances. It is something conceived of the Holy Spirit, something which is apparently against nature, culture, and teaching.
How much we need to be unloaded and to become as simple as a young virgin! A virgin like Mary is not strong, experienced, or preoccupied, but so weak, so young, so keen, so fresh, and so open. We all need to learn to say, “I am a bondmaid of the Lord. Let it be unto me according to your word.” Then the Lord will send Gabriel to us with good news, and we will be commissioned to conceive something holy of the Holy Spirit. Eventually we will bring forth One who is the saving power. This is Jesus, the saving One. We will bring forth Emmanuel, who is God with us—not simply in an individual way, but in a corporate way. We will bring forth the corporate Emmanuel. This should be something conceived by the Holy Spirit; it could not be conceived in any other way. It is not something initiated by us, but something initiated by God.
May the Lord be merciful to us that we may become unlearned like Mary. We need to be so young, so fresh, so inexperienced, and so open to Him. Then we will bring forth Jesus as the Savior, the Great One, the King, and the Emmanuel. Our service will bring forth the saving power, the greatness of Christ, the kingship of Christ, and the corporate Emmanuel. This is the New Testament service.