The priesthood is a group of people who realize that God’s intention is to mingle Himself with them. So they learn to open themselves to the Lord and to live in the spirit. The best way to learn this lesson is to learn how to pray. It is not to pray in a way of asking the Lord to do something for us, but to pray to be filled with the Lord, to be opened to the Lord, and to let the Lord saturate us and fully possess us. Then we will be fully in the spirit.
When we are fully in the spirit, we will be one with all those who are also fully in the spirit. When we all get into the spirit, live in the spirit, move in the spirit, and function with one another in the spirit, we are all one. We will be the boards overlaid with the divine gold. We will be the precious stones set into the golden settings. We will be one in the gold.
The verses that we have read from the first book to the last book of the Bible show us the full vision of the Scriptures. This vision is that God must work Himself into us that in His life we will be transformed into His image to exercise His authority. We will be absolutely mingled with Him as one and built up together in Him. This is the vision. In this oneness we will be under His authority to express His image.
How can we realize this vision in experience? The way is so simple. We do not need to learn so many teachings or doctrines. Whenever a person becomes a Christian, he always thinks that he must learn the teachings and doctrines. But there is no need for this. There is also no need for us to keep the forms and rituals or seek after many different kinds of gifts. There is only one thing we must learn, that is, to realize that the Lord is the life-giving Spirit in our spirit. We must open ourselves to Him and let Him come into us in a deeper way. And we must learn not to live, walk, or move in the soul anymore. Instead, we must learn to always move, walk, and have our being in the spirit. When we are in the spirit, we will be thoroughly one with the Lord and one with all who live in the spirit.
This is really simple, but we are too complicated. For example, suppose two brothers realize that they are members of the Body and must be built up together in oneness. They come together to have the proper church life and to learn by His grace to love one another. But one day these two brothers have different opinions. One opinion is white, and the other opinion is black. One is at the north pole, and the other is at the south pole. What shall they do? They realize that they are brothers, that they must have the church life, and that they should try to love one another, but now they have a real problem. One says that a certain thing is white, but the other says that it is black. What shall they do?
It is easy for us to tell these brothers that they must pray, but sometimes the more they pray, the more dissenting they are. After the prayer, their different opinions become even stronger. Suppose we find ourselves in the situation of these two brothers; what would we do? Would we be willing to forget our mentality and our understanding and take care of the deepest part of our being, the spirit? If we would do this, we would realize that it is neither white nor black; it is something else in the spirit. Then in the spirit we would be one.
When we are in the spirit, we are overlaid with gold. When we are in the spirit, we are set into the golden settings. We are bound and combined together by the uniting golden nature. It is so simple. It is not by discussion, conversation, or arguing. No, it is only by turning ourselves to the spirit. Then we all will be one. The holding and combining factor is the divine nature.
I do pray that this review of the vision of the Scriptures will make us very clear that the oneness, the unity, and the proper church life are simply in the spirit. The more doctrines we learn, the more divisions we will have. The more we debate and argue, the more we will be dissenting. The oneness is not in the mind, nor in the teachings or doctrines, nor in the forms or gifts. It is in the spirit. It is only in the spirit that we are all built up together as one.
The habitation of God is something in the spirit, so we must be filled with the Spirit, baptized in the Spirit, and drink of the Spirit. We must be thoroughly one with the Spirit. Then all the opinions and concepts will be flooded away by the flow of life. It is here that we have the oneness, the building up, and the unity. It is here that we will all be under the authority of God. We will be under the throne of God and the Lamb. Everything will be in order, but not by our organizing hands. It will be by the flowing of life.
The flow of life will bring us under the divine authority, and eventually we will have the appearance of God. We will be just like the jasper when we are built up together as a wall. The wall of a city simply expresses what the city is. The appearance of the building up of the church is the expression of God in His image. This does not come by organization, but by the uniting, transforming flow of life.
Eventually, the church will be the real picture of the New Jerusalem. In the center will be the authority of the throne of God, and from the throne will flow the river of life throughout the whole city to supply its needs with the tree of life. The authority of God with the flowing of the divine life is the church life and the priesthood.
The priesthood is a group of people mingled with God under His authority. Everything is in the divine order and built up in the appearance and image of God. God’s throne is in the center, out from which flows the living water with the tree of life. Such a content with such an appearance is the priesthood. But the key to this is that we all must learn to turn ourselves to the spirit. Do not try to solve any problem or try to do anything. Whenever we have problems or are going to do something, we must turn back to the spirit. In the spirit all the problems will be solved. We will then be one in the divine nature.
We are complicated by different concepts, different teachings, and voices. By the Lord’s mercy, I have gone through all these things. When I was young, I always had a notebook beside me when I read the Bible. The more I read, the more questions I put down. I had questions, questions, and more questions. But praise the Lord, now I simply do not have any more questions. To me there is really no problem.
If we would forget about the different concepts, teachings, and backgrounds, we would just be in the heavens. It is so simple. The problem is that we are complicated by our thoughts, our concepts, our understandings, as well as by teachings and all different kinds of backgrounds. If we would just forget about all these things and turn to the spirit, immediately we would sense that everything is so simple. His yoke is really very easy, and His burden is really light.