The Chinese sages and the Jewish prophets did not know this mystery. Even Paul, who had been taught by a great rabbi, originally did not know it. Yet one day God opened the veil to Paul, and he immediately saw something-he saw Christ. This is a revelation, a revelation unveiling Christ. Before God revealed Christ, there was a veil covering the universe. There was such a thing as the purpose of God for which God created the universe and mankind, but this purpose was hidden and not seen until the New Testament age when Christ came and was manifested for men to see. When the Holy Spirit opened the veil, Christ was seen by men. Now that we can see everything clearly, we realize that the story of the universe is the story of Christ. It is not a matter of whether or not we worship God but a matter of whether or not we have Christ.
I hope that we all will see the revealed Christ. The revealed Christ is none other than the hidden Christ who revealed and unveiled Himself. Who is this Christ? This Christ is God Himself, the God who became flesh. If we are not in Christ, even though we may say that we are serving God, in actuality we cannot serve God because God is not in our service. Originally this was Paul’s situation. He seemed to be zealously serving God, yet he was actually opposing God. Hence, we need to see that the mystery of God is Christ. One day God opened this mystery to man. This opening is the revelation of God, and this revelation shows Christ to us. So what is revelation? When man touches and contacts God in Christ, this is revelation.
We have been deeply influenced by religion, yet we are very shallow concerning the revelation of Christ. Even young brothers and sisters, not to mention those who are in their seventies or eighties, have religious concepts. Many young people believed in the Lord and were baptized, but they have less of the element of Christ in them than they do of religion. If we speak with them, we will find that they all have an idea of what it means to serve God. They already have a picture in their minds of what it is to serve God before they have read the Bible or listened to a message. For example, their mind is already filled with many religious concepts regarding how to be a Christian and how to treat the saints. In fact, we are all filled with religious concepts but short of revelation. After being saved, there is not a single person who serves God in the church without having a set of religious concepts. The Chinese have the Chinese concept, the Americans have the American concept, the Japanese have the Japanese concept, and the Indians have the Indian concept. Furthermore, the males have the male concept, and the females have the female concept. We all came into the church with a set of concepts regarding serving God. If we had these concepts before even reading the Bible, where do they come from? This is a mystery that no one can explain. Every saved person has certain concepts regarding how to be a Christian and how to conduct himself in the church. These concepts are nothing more than man’s own concepts.
The kind of person we are determines the kind of Bible we read. When the Chinese read the Bible, they say that the Bible is really good because it talks about loyalty, filial piety, kindness, love, propriety, justice, honesty, and a sense of shame. When the Indians read the Bible, they also say that the Bible is really good because it teaches man to suffer. One day a sister came to me and said, “In recent days my husband, who is also a Christian, has been very cruel to me. Having come to my end, I went to read the Bible and eventually found a teaching saying that husbands ought to love their wives” (Eph. 5:25). She then thought that the best Christian is one who loves his wife. This shows us the concept that was in her mind. She already had within her three words, “love your wives,” even before she began to read the Bible. Hence, when she came to the Bible, she could not see anything else. However, once she read the words “love your wives,” these three words seemed to be magnified. All these cases show us that the kind of person we are determines the kind of Bible we read.
For instance, I once knew a meek person. One day he came to me and joyously said, “According to the Bible a meek person is the best, because among the nine blessings, there is one concerning the meek.” In Tsingtao I met a harsh brother. He said, “These days I have been seeing the light that sometimes we should not be too polite or gentle, because even the Lord Jesus Himself used a whip one day to drive the merchants out of the temple.” We have seen so many cases that are, in principle, just like this. In 1937 I came back from Tientsin to Chefoo and released a few messages there. In those messages I said that for us to follow the Lord we have to learn to bear the cross. I said that the mothers-in-law have to learn to bear the cross and that the daughters-in-law also have to learn to bear the cross. I also gave some examples from the Scriptures. After one of the meetings an elderly sister came to me and said, “Brother, your preaching was really from God. My daughter-in-law is very disobedient. The message that you released today was very much needed.” The interesting thing is that after she had finished speaking and had left, another person came to me and said, “Brother, it is really hard to believe how badly the elderly sisters treat their daughters-in-law at home. You said that the mothers-in-law have to bear the cross. This is truly God’s will.” The message was the same, yet one person heard one thing while another person heard another thing. Likewise, the Bible is the same, yet one person reads one thing while another person reads another thing. We all have seen the condition of man, yet we have not seen the mystery of God. We know ethics, filial piety, propriety, justice, honesty, and the sense of shame, but we do not know the mystery of God.
We think that as long as we behave ourselves in a certain way, we will be able to please God. Such a concept is of religion and is in blindness. The reason a person gropes in blindness is that he does not have revelation; he does not see. His inner being has not been enlightened so he has to grope in darkness. Although we are saved, I am afraid that even to this day we are still in religion. Have we really seen the revelation of God? The revelation of God is Christ. Only Christ is the purpose of God, and only Christ is the revelation of God. Only when a person has received such a revelation will he truly know the Christ of revelation and the service that is of revelation. Everything hinges on Christ. Whatever is not in Christ, no matter how beautiful it is, is of religion and not of God’s revelation. Whatever is of God’s revelation is Christ.
Revelation is like the lifting of a curtain, the opening of a veil. Yet once the veil is opened, there are two other requirements-light and sight. Even when the veil is lifted, if there is no light, we will not see. If there is light, but we do not have the sight, we still will not be able to see. In the New Testament age the revelation is already here, but the strangest thing is that many people still do not have the light or the vision in their reading of the Bible. Why is this? First, it is because they do not have light. Second, it is because they do not have the sight-their eyes are not opened. Before the veil is lifted, we surely will not see anything. But even after the veil is lifted, if there is no light, we still will not see anything. If our eyes are blind, even though there is light, we still will not see. But if our eyes are opened, we will be able to see the vision spoken of in the Scriptures. What is a vision? A vision is a scene, not an ordinary one, but a particular scene that we see from God.
Today when we come to the New Testament, all that is contained in the Bible has already been revealed. Yet when reading the Bible, if our eyes are not opened we will not be able to see the vision of God even though the word of God is right in front of us. But if our eyes are opened when we pray and read God’s word, we will immediately see the vision. At that time the revelation will become our vision. While revelation is objective, vision is subjective. I hope that all of God’s children will truly see something through this word and therefore put aside everything that is outward and traditional so that they can read God’s Word carefully with a simple mind and a single eye. We should not read the Bible with our traditional concepts or with our colored eyeglasses. Rather, we should put aside all of our concepts and simply come to the Bible-the Word of God. If we do this, I believe that one day God will have mercy on us and show us His revelation. At that time we will know that God’s mystery, God’s treasure, and God’s eternal purpose are just Christ. We look to God to save us in this matter so that we may see Christ. Only he who has seen Christ has seen the revelation, and only he who has seen the revelation can know God.
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