The United States is a Christian country. Today there are millions of genuine Christians here, saved, washed with the blood, and regenerated in their spirit. There is no need to ask concerning the unbelievers or nominal Christians. Among even the genuine Christians, how many are truly here for God’s eternal purpose? Many of them are only for their own welfare. With many, it is difficult to discern whether they are Christians. Their homes, cars, clothing, and appearance are all the same as those of the unbelievers. It is difficult to discern who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Nevertheless, we do not believe that our God is doing nothing in this age today. Instead, we fully believe that our God is working strongly on this earth to attract a remnant of His lovers and seekers. Elijah once went to the Lord to accuse the Israelites, saying, “Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars; and I am left alone, and they are seeking my life.” The Lord answered him, “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal” (Rom. 11:3-4). We in the church life are a reserved people.
Some may think that if the Lord’s recovery is of God, we will have a great movement and gain a large number of people. If we do this, though, we are not the Lord’s recovery. The Lord’s recovery is always on the narrow way. In the ancient time, Noah preached righteousness for one hundred twenty years, but he gained only eight persons, including himself. No doubt Noah had many relatives, but only his wife, three sons, and three daughters-in-law entered with him into the ark. That was God’s way in Noah’s age. The Lord Jesus worked for three and a half years with many kinds of miracles, but eventually He gained only one hundred twenty persons (Acts 1:15). People today like to trust in miracles, but the Lord Jesus even raised people from the dead, and still only a few believed. There will be no great movement in the Lord’s recovery today. Rather, there will be a small number. The seekers and lovers of the Lord must be pure in their motive, heart, and goal toward the Lord. These are the ones reserved by God for the fulfillment of His purpose.
The entire world, with its unbelieving and religious aspects, is condemned by God. God is using His faithful seekers in His recovery to protest against today’s trend. Therefore, it is a shame for someone to be in the Lord’s recovery yet still go to movies and bear the signs of modern fashions. The people in the Lord’s recovery should be the reserved ones, fully separated from this crooked, perverse, and condemned generation.
The church life is the recovery of the testimony of Jesus, which is the testimony that the Lord Jesus lived as a human being on this earth, not by Himself but by His Father. He could proclaim to the entire universe that the subtle one, Satan, God’s enemy, had nothing in Him (John 14:30). The whole world is under Satan, yet this man had nothing to do with Satan, and Satan could do nothing with Him. He lived this kind of victorious life on the earth by His Father (6:57a; 4:34; 5:19, 30; 7:18; 14:10). The church is the testimony of such a Jesus. When the church people walk on the street, not only the angels but even the worldly people can discern that we are a separated people. We have nothing to do with the unbelieving world or the Jewish, Catholic, or Protestant religions. We care only for the living Jesus. He is our life, and we live by Him and for Him. This is the testimony of Jesus, which is the proper church life.
To be sure, nothing is a legality in the church life. There are no regulations posted on the wall concerning the way the brothers should cut their hair or the way the sisters should dress. The church life is simply the testimony of Jesus. This Jesus, the One who lived by the Father’s life and in whom Satan had nothing, is in us today. All religions care for regulations, but the church cares only for Jesus. We have no regulations or rituals but a living Jesus who lives in us. We do not ask anyone to care for regulations. Rather, we help them to care for the indwelling Jesus by telling them that Jesus is their life, He lived on the earth by the Father’s life, and Satan had nothing in Him.
We too must have such a life, a life having nothing to do with the world or with any kind of religion. We do not care for ways of baptism, head covering, rituals, speaking in tongues, or manifestations of gifts. All these belong to the religious world. We care only for the living Jesus. Some say that if we do not speak in tongues or have healings, we do not have the spiritual gifts. However, the first gift in 1 Corinthians 12 is the word of wisdom, not speaking in tongues, and the second gift is the word of knowledge. The last two of the nine gifts mentioned are speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues (vv. 7-10). To emphasize tongues and interpretation is to turn the gifts upside down, making the tail into the head. In every meeting we have words of wisdom and of knowledge. Who can say that we have no manifestation of the gifts? Nevertheless, we do not care for the gifts. We care for the living Jesus. If we care for gifts, we are in religion. We are not here for any religion; we are here for Jesus.
As the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years, they saw the greatest miracle every morning. The heavenly manna came to at least one million people every morning. If such a thing happened today, people would come from all around the world to see it. However, this great miracle accomplished nothing inwardly for those people. Out of one million people, only two, Joshua and Caleb, received the genuine help. According to John 2:23-25, the Lord Jesus would not commit Himself to those who were interested in miracles. God can never trust this kind of person. He trusts only in those who have a pure and single heart toward Him.
Today is not the age of miracles or of gifts. Today is the day of the living Jesus, and God wants a people who live by this Jesus. These people will be today’s Noah, who terminate the present generation and usher in the coming age, the age of the kingdom. This is what the Lord is doing today. The Lord’s work is not a matter of right or wrong doctrine. His work is to attract His lovers and seekers who have a pure motive with an open spirit to follow Him in an absolute way so that He may have the church life to protest to the whole world against the present trend, terminate this present age, and bring in God’s kingdom. This is God’s purpose that He is fulfilling today. We look to the Lord that in the local churches in many places this revelation will become clearer and clearer, day after day and week after week, so that we will all see what the Lord wants today. The Lord desires “the family of Noah” to build the ark and testify against the trend of the age so that He can use them to terminate this age and bring in the kingdom age. What we are building in the church life is today’s ark for our salvation (Phil. 2:12) and for the salvation of the ones under our care.