From 1920 in China, especially among the young people, the Lord began to do a marvelous work. The Gospel was brought to the educated circles, and many young college students from the North to the South were brought to the Lord, among whom was Watchman Nee. I was saved through the preaching of these young people and came in just a few years later. Soon after that, the Lord began a real move for Himself and His church in China. It began when people were helped to be clear regarding the assurance of salvation. Before that time, many had been brought into Christianity, but very few were clear concerning the assurance of salvation. If you went to the Christians in China at that time to ask whether they knew they were saved or not, you would find that most of them would not know. They thought they had to wait till they died before the Lord would tell them whether or not they were saved. But praise the Lord, He raised up a good group of young Chinese Christians under the leadership of Brother Watchman Nee, and the matter of the assurance of salvation was made very clear.
Then the Lord began to show us that Christ is life to us. We saw that Christ not only died on the cross for our sins, but also to put us to an end. Christ died that we might be brought to an end and that He could be life to us; then we could live by His resurrection life. Christ as life to us was made very clear, and we all learned the lesson of how to live by Him. It was at that time the messages of The Normal Christian Life were given in China. Of course, some years later, in 1938 and 1939, these messages were given again in Europe by Brother Nee and have now been compiled and published as the present book.
In those days, after people became clear regarding the assurance of salvation, they were helped to realize that Christ lives in us to be our life. Then the Lord began to recover the church life. From the very beginning, the Lord showed us these three things: the assurance of salvation, Christ as life, and the church life. From that time, wherever we went, we had no other burden but these three matters. We simply did not have any burden to speak of anything but the assurance of salvation, Christ as life, and the church life. Hardly anything was said about prophecy.
Then the Lord began something in this country and brought us here for His testimony in 1962. We realized that it was unnecessary to take care of the assurance of salvation, because so many Christians in this country are already quite clear about this matter. Therefore, in the past few years, we have concentrated on two matters: Christ as life, and the church as the expression of Christ. We have never touched the matter of prophecy in our ministry in this country.
In this chapter, however, I feel that the ministry must be turned a little, because the age has been turned. Have you realized that from the summer of 1967, the world situation has really changed? Before June of that year, Jerusalem, the Holy City, was fully trodden under the feet of the Gentiles. Now, all the people on earth realize that in June of 1967 the people of Israel gained a real victory. By just a six-day war, Jerusalem was returned to Israel in a miraculous way. When I heard the news, I was greatly excited, for I knew the prophecy in Luke 21:24. The things prophesied by the Lord Jesus in Luke 21:20-24 were mostly fulfilled at the time of Titus, the prince of the Roman Empire in A. D. 70. When Titus took over Israel, Jerusalem was completely and thoroughly destroyed. Many were killed, and the rest were scattered. This is predicted by the Lord in the first part of Luke 21:24: “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations.” The last part of Luke 21:24 says that “Jerusalem will be trodden under the feet of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” This was the reason I was so excited when I heard the news that Jerusalem was returned to Israel. More than forty years ago I learned of this prophecy, and now I have seen it fulfilled. Just overnight, Jerusalem, which has been fully trodden by the Gentiles for nearly twenty centuries, was returned to the people of Israel. If we read Luke 21:24-28, we will realize that this is the first and greatest sign of the Lord’s return.
When I was a young Christian studying these things, I believed the Word of God. But still in my mind there was a question. Could Jerusalem really be returned to the people of Israel? Could this be possible? It seemed to me at that time that it was impossible, but now we all know that Jerusalem has been returned. Isn’t this marvelous? This is the first sign of the Lord’s return.
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