Fire is fearful, but if fire becomes a lamp, it is no longer fearful. Moreover, if the lamp becomes an eye, it is even less fearful. The eyes are the most attractive part of a person’s countenance. Our God is a consuming fire, but when He comes to have a relationship with man, and when He comes forth through His Spirit, He is like a lamp of fire that shines on us and is to us whatever we need. Moreover, after Christ’s death and resurrection, He ascended to God, and His seven lamps became the seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God. Revelation further tells us that these seven Spirits are sent forth into all the earth. In other words, the seven Spirits are the seven eyes of the Lamb, the seven eyes of the Lamb are the lamps of the fire of God, and the lamps of the fire of God are the consuming fire of God, which is God Himself. The fire shines forth from the lamps, the lamps are diffused through the eyes, this diffusion is the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God is sent forth into all the earth. This is what is revealed in Revelation 4 and 5.
This is the process by which the Spirit of God enters into man to have a relationship with man. We must be clear that on the one hand, God is Spirit, and on the other hand, God is a consuming fire. When He comes forth, He comes forth in the way of shining, not in the way of burning. Not only so, God also has passed through death and resurrection to become the seven eyes of the slain and resurrected Lamb. Whomever the Lamb sees, He shines upon and reaches as the Spirit, who is sent forth into all the earth. Whomever the Spirit visits, God enlightens, and whomever the Spirit enlightens, God reaches. Hence, when God reaches man, He comes as the Spirit to care for man and the fire to enlighten man.
This is the process through which God works on the earth after Christ’s resurrection. For example, before a brother encounters any particular difficulties in his life, he may never think about the Lord or love the Lord. He may remain cold toward the Lord, sometimes attending the meetings and sometimes not attending the meetings. Though he may not commit any great mistakes, his condition may remain somewhat abnormal. One day, however, if this brother encounters a big problem that he is unable to handle, he may spontaneously have the feeling within that the eyes of God are looking at him. If he does have this experience, his inner being will be enlightened, and because of this light, he will have the inner sense that he has committed certain mistakes. When we pray and fellowship with the Lord in the morning, we often have this kind of feeling within—the feeling that God’s eyes are looking directly at us from the throne. The look from God’s eyes is bright and radiant. It awakens us and warms us up. All saved ones have had this kind of experience.
If we visit someone, this means that we care for him. If we do not care for someone, we will not look at him or visit him. When we care for someone, we begin by looking at him. Then once we look at him, we are full of feeling for him, and when our feeling is expressed to him, he will have a sense of warmth and will feel happy that we have visited him. When we are in the midst of a difficult situation and are without a way to get out of it, within us there is a beam of light connecting us to heaven, where there are eyes looking at us from the throne. The eyes that are looking at us are like shining lamps of fire. God’s looking is His shining. By this looking and shining, we are enlightened, and we sense what we have done wrong and sense in which matters we have sinned. The result of our being enlightened is that we immediately sense that the Holy Spirit is moving within us and filling us. Once the Holy Spirit moves within us and fills us, He is like a fire burning within us. The eyes look at us, the lamps of fire enlighten us, and the Holy Spirit comes to visit us. When the Holy Spirit comes to visit us, He is like a consuming fire. This is the process by which God works on us and in us today.
This is why in our experience we are able to sense that there are always eyes looking at us from the throne. When we are having morning revival or reading the Bible, and even when we are indifferent toward God, strangely, the eyes from the throne are looking at us. They are invisible, yet they seem almost visible. We can definitely sense that there are eyes in heaven looking at us, lamps of fire shining upon us, and the Holy Spirit moving in us, filling us, and burning within us. We experience the looking, the shining, the filling, and the burning. When all these experiences come to us, we sense that we are full of the presence of God, full of the presence of Christ.
While I was at a summer camp in 1932, one morning after everyone had gone to the meeting, I stayed behind in my room and studied a spiritual book. After reading a particular sentence, although outwardly I did not feel that I had been greatly affected by it, inwardly I had the sense that I was connected to the throne in heaven and that there were eyes looking at me from the throne. Eventually, I could not read my book anymore. I stopped and looked up at the ceiling, and as I did so, inwardly I saw into the heavens. I clearly sensed within that there were eyes looking at me, calling me, and saying to me, “Turn to Me,” so I put my book aside and said within myself, “O Lord, You are right. I must turn to You.” Once I said this, I was no longer able to sit peacefully, so I stood up. When I stood up, I sensed that the eyes in heaven were still looking at me. Then I said within myself again, “O Lord, You are right. I must turn to You.” After saying this, the feeling within me became stronger, so I knelt down before my bed and prayed, “O Lord, You are right. I must turn to You.” After praying this, I was enlightened within, and I prayed to the Lord based on this shining. The more I prayed, the more I sensed the filling of the Holy Spirit, and the more joyful I became. I felt like I was being burned by fire, and there was an energy driving me from within.
As I prayed in my room that day, I did not know what realm I was in. I simply sensed that I was directly before God. As I prayed with my eyes closed, I felt that God was in the room. Inwardly I was touching God and was connected to the heavens. I did not know why, but at that time I simply sensed a sweetness within, so I prayed, “O Lord, I do not want the world; I just want to follow You. I want to be a preacher.”
As I went home after the summer camp had ended, I felt like I was flying. From that time on, my mother, my wife, my brother, and my sister-in-law would often say, “This person is captivated. Even while he eats, his eyes are looking toward the heavens. Look at how joyful he is!” I was full of joy every day, and there was a fire burning within me.
I had this experience at the end of June in 1932, and in the middle of July, two weeks later, God worked in the environment and sent someone to look for me and meet with me. On one Thursday we had four people meeting together, a week later ten met with us, and on the third week eleven of us met together for the Lord’s table. During that time I was living in the heavens. I was filled with joy, and there was a fire burning within me every day. In that period of time I did not dare to sing hymns on the love of the Lord Jesus, because whenever I sang hymns about the Lord’s love, I shed tears, and whenever I sang hymns about the death of the Lord Jesus, I wept. I continually had the inward sense that there were still so many people who did not know the Lord’s death and had not received the Lord’s love. This experience, in which such a fire burned within me, is beyond description.
Those who are in such a situation do not need anyone to exhort them to love God and man and to not love the world. The fire within them will burn in them and make them humble and meek. They will not only love people but will also bring them to salvation. Our experience of the presence of God begins with the eyes from heaven looking at our inner being. This is the shining of the lamps of fire. Then when the lamps of fire shine in us, they burn within us, and the Spirit moves in us. Eventually, the fire is both the lamp and the Spirit, and the Spirit is God Himself. This is the process by which God is with us.