The writings of the apostle John are classified into three groups. The first is his Gospel, the second group is his Epistles, and the last is the book of Revelation. It is very interesting that in the arrangement of the order of the New Testament books, all the writings of John are put at the end of each category. This is not because these books were the last books written; in this case they would all be at the end of the New Testament. Under the sovereignty of the Lord, the arrangement of the New Testament books is not chronological. Rather, John’s Gospel is at the end of the Gospels, and his Epistles are at the end of the Epistles. Even after Jude there are the seven epistles in the book of Revelation, which is at the end of the entire New Testament. The reason for this is very meaningful. We can see the real sovereignty of the Lord concerning the Bible.
John’s ministry is not the ministry for starting but the ministry for completing. His ministry is not the fishing ministry that brings people in; it is the mending ministry to keep people in the testimony by mending the work of the Lord. If we take this point of view and study all the books of this apostle in this way, we will have new light.
At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord Jesus says, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (28:19). In Mark the Lord Jesus said almost the same thing: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all the creation” (16:15), and in Luke there is a similar word (24:47-49). The endings of these first three Gospels tell us the same thing-that we have to go, preach the gospel to all the nations and to all creation, and disciple the Gentiles. When we come to the last Gospel, however, we do not have this kind of word or commandment. The Lord’s commission in the Gospel of John is not in this way. In John we have the way to preach the gospel in and by life, the way to preach the gospel by the mending ministry.
The history of the church, our own experiences, and the present situation of Christianity all prove that if we do not have the way mentioned and revealed in this Gospel, if we have only the way revealed in the first three Gospels, the preaching of the gospel will not have a prevailing result. The result of the preaching of the gospel is kept by the way of life revealed in the Gospel of John. If we do not know the way to preach the gospel revealed in this book, and we only know the way mentioned in the first three books, the result of our preaching will leak away, because there will be nothing to mend and keep the result.
It is very easy for Christians to realize the way of preaching the gospel that is mentioned in the first three Gospels. This is because even though that way is not, strictly speaking, out of the human concept, it is similar to the human concept. The way to preach the gospel by life and in life, however, as revealed in the Gospel of John, requires heavenly revelation and spiritual insight. Otherwise, we cannot see it; it will seem that in this Gospel the Lord never says anything about the preaching of His gospel. The Lord did speak of the gospel, but He spoke in the way of life, not in the way that the natural concept can apprehend.
We still need the way revealed in the first three Gospels. We have to go, and we have to preach. However, if we do not have the way of life, whatever we reap with one hand, we will lose with the other hand. We may compare this to bringing water out of a well and putting it into a leaking basin. We need something to keep and contain what we have.
Consider the history of the church and the present situation of Christianity. Many people have been brought to the Lord through campaigns and crusades, but where are they now? We cannot account for them, because Christianity today mostly uses the way spoken of in the first three Gospels and neglects the way in the Gospel of John. It uses the fishing way while neglecting the mending way. Some people were brought to the Lord through me thirty-five years ago, but at that time I did not know this mending way. Now I do not know where many of them are. They truly came to the Lord, but eventually they leaked away. Only a few, who have been truly helped by the mending ministry, the ministry of life, are still in the church life.
While we do acknowledge the first way of preaching, we have to pay our full attention to the second way, the way of life, the way of Christ increased through us. For the long run, the best and proper way for the church and the members of the church to preach the gospel is the way of life. We all have to learn this way, and we have to pay attention to this way.
It is easy for us to apprehend the first way because it is very close to our natural concept. However, to apprehend the second way to preach the gospel, the way of life, we need revelation. We need spiritual insight to see that the way to preach the gospel is to impart Christ to others. This is for Christ to be increased through us and into others. Therefore, there is the absolute need of life. We must have this life. If we do not have this life, we cannot impart Christ to others. Even in the physical life, we cannot expect a person who is childish, weak, or ill to impart life to others. There is the need of the real growth in life; then life can be imparted to others. In order to preach the gospel in the way of life, we have to grow. If a branch of a tree has no growth and is poor in life, how can it bear fruit? If we are going to bear fruit for the increase of Christ through us, we must have life abundantly. The Lord Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly” (John 10:10b). To have life is good for ourselves, but if we are going to impart life to others, we must have life abundantly. Therefore, we need to grow.
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