Lord Jesus | Hi, I'm Jonathan 'J5' Harris.

Christ as life can meet your need

We want to see again from the gospel of John how Christ as life meets the need of every man’s case. No matter what your case is, Christ as life can meet your need. There are 9 cases in John chapters 3-11 which unveil this in a full way. In John chapters 3-7, what we’ve seen is that Christ want to be man’s life and life supply. In John 3, Christ as life regenerates man. In John 4, Christ as life satisfies man and heals man from all the sickness of sin. In John 5, Christ as life enlivens man. In John 6, Christ as life feeds man with Himself as man’s spiritual food to be man’s spiritual sustenance. And in John 7, Christ as life quenches the thirst of man to be man’s satisfaction.

Now we come to another section…John chapters 8-11. What we see in this particular section is that Christ as life delivers us from three negative things. When Christ as life comes into us, He delivers us from sin, blindness and death. In this particular chapter (John 8) what we want to see is that Christ as life sets us free from the bondage of sin.

Let us see how the Lord as life to us has dealt with our first negative thing…that is sin. To see this, the first point we have to take care of is religion as represented by the temple of law. Of law keeping. Of good work doing. Such a religion is versus the Great I AM. This chapter mainly takes away the veil to show us right there on this earth among the human kind are two things. One is a religion. The other is a living Person.

The religion was one that was so good…so high…so super. Not a kind of hidden religion. Not a kind of religion of superstition. No, but a typical genuine super religion on the top helping people to worship God…helping people to know God in the outward way of letters and helping people to try the best to keep the law of God to please God and also helping people to behave themselves to make themselves perfect.

This is the top invention in human culture. But God’s elect…God’s chosen people…they got the wrong concept. They didn’t pay the full attention to the focus. That is God Himself in the person of the Son. And also as the person of the Spirit. To get into man as man’s life and as man’s everything. They missed this mark. They try their best to collect all the regulations and laws…good points…and put them together to make a religion. So by that time in chapter 8, two things were on the earth. Religion existing there…a living person standing there.

This is the portrait. The religion of law…not of superstition…not of nonsense talk…like buddhism. But such a wonderful, typical, genuine, top religion of the law. In every aspect it is good. But only in one aspect is very very poor. That is it is versus the Great I AM. Religion is good but it cannot give you life. Religion is on the top, but it cannot help you a bit because you are a dead person.

A dead person needs not something good…but something as life. Only life can help a dead person. Now the Lord Jesus is here. Who is He? He is the I AM. He is the very Jehovah. God…Elohim…is the title for His creation in chapter 1 of Genesis. After the creation…right in chapter 2…when God was trying to get into relationship with man, God’s other name…Jehovah…was brought in. Jehovah was the name of God in relation with mankind. And this very Jehovah that day was there…standing there in the form of a little man.

The religionist in that day, they missed the mark just because they despised this little Jesus. So they missed the mark yet He was the great I AM. This great I AM who is God Himself in relation with man became the Son of Man. This is quite meaningful. Yes, to become the Son of Man is to humble Himself…to bring Him down to a lower standard. But this is more than needed. Because all the negative problems are now just in man. Sin is in man. The serpent is in man.

Now man is the vey focus of all the problems. So if He is going to solve all the basic problems of man…surely He has to become a man. Satan was not afraid that the Lord Jesus was the Son of God. Satan was not afraid of that. Satan was afraid of the Lord Jesus being a man…being the Son of Man.

Man is the focus of every problem in the universe. When man fell, Satan as sin entered into man to corrupt man…to pollute man. So in Romans 7 what we see is that sin dwells in man in a personified way. Sin lords it over man. Sin forces man to do things that he doesn’t want to do. Because the element of Satan as sin is in man, what the devil fears the most is God becoming a man.

God became a man to destroy the devil. In 1 John 4, what we see is that the evil spirits they will not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, because they know that when God becomes a man, they are defeated. God became a man and He went to the cross and He took away the sin of the world which was in man and He destroyed the devil on the cross…who had come into man as the element of sin to spoil and corrupt man.

On the positive side, what we need to see is why God became a man. Why did He become a man? It was so that He could accomplish His eternal intention and His heart’s desire. The Bible unveils to us that God’s hearts desire is that He wants to be united with man, mingled with man and incorporated with man so that He can live in man and that man can live in Him…so that man can be His eternal expression in this universe.

the authority of darkness

Living Stream Ministry Podcast ::

The Lord Jesus declared in John chapter 8, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” What is it to walk in darkness? We all likely have our own set of mental images that are initiated by such a question. But the darkness that may be blinding us today may not be so obviously evil or sinister as you might think.

Colossians reveals that anything…even any GOOD thing…that occupies us that is not Christ Himself is likely an instrument of the authority of darkness. I think what’s interesting about the authority of darkness mentioned in Colossians are the kind of things that Paul specifically referred to as being components of this darkness. Because they are things that are not that obvious in terms of being related to darkness.

We need a renewed understanding of this expression, “the authority of darkness”…as employed by Paul in Colossians. Of course the authority of darkness is the realm where Satan rules, and all manner of evil things are involved in the satanic realm. So there is no question that the authority of darkness has to do with the rule of Satan and is related to the kingdom of Satan.

Our problem is that we may assume that in Colossians the expression “the authority of darkness” refers only to obviously evil things…demonic, satanic, devilish things that would subjugate and imprison us. But this is too narrow an understanding. And actually, if we bring in this narrow understanding to Colossians, we will miss the point. And I mean really miss the whole point that is being made here.

Colossians is a book that reveals in the highest way the all-inclusiveness of Christ. The centrality and universality of Christ in God’s economy. This is the foundational thought. More particularly, Colossians reveals that in God’s economy, Christ is the reality of every positive thing. Christ is all things. The authority of darkness then…in its particular application in this epistle…refers to anything that is not Christ and that controls our being…instead of God’s direct rule in Christ.

Authority has to do with control, and to be under the authority or darkness is to be controlled by darkness. According to the context of the book of Colossians, what are some of the aspects of this authority of darkness? Philosophy is one. Asceticism is another one. A certain kind of self-imposed humility is yet another. There’s a form of religious mysticism that was advocated here.

Then speaking more broadly…any element of culture that infiltrates the church and replaces Christ is an aspect of the authority of darkness. If we go even deeper, we may say according to the revelation in the Word that any control that has its source in the self is the authority of darkness controlling us. The self replaces Christ. That’s why the Lord said if we would follow Him we have to deny the self.

Yes the authority of darkness refers to the satanic realm of darkness. In Colossians, the authority of darkness refers particularly to those things of religion, culture, and philosophy that have invaded our christian life and church life that replace Christ and that exercise control over our being instead of Christ.

Therefore, to be delivered by God in His full salvation out of the authority of darkness is to be delivered not only from sin and evil and hateful things…immoral things. It is to be delivered also from anything…no matter how good it may appear that replaces Christ and rules over us instead of Christ. This is a real light. Strangely, to see what darkness is here involves a real light. And we desire very much on the Lord’s behalf that all of God’s children would be delivered as we look to the Lord to be delivered from anything and everything of philosophy, religion and culture that replaces Christ and that rules us and controls us instead of Christ.

According to the revelation in Colossians, we should be ruled, controlled, governed, and directed by the one whom Paul calls “the Son of God’s love.” In a realm of light. And in this realm we enjoy not only the grace of God but also the all inclusiveness of Christ. A Christ who is everything and a Christ who is our life. And it is with this in view that we need to consider as our dear brother has helped us to see that the authority of darkness includes philosophy, religion, culture, and at the deepest level anything that has its source in the self.

In short…anything that replaces Christ. Any part of our being that is occupied by something other than Christ is under the authority of darkness. So we need the Christ who is everything in Himself and in God’s economy to become everything not only to us…but in us. And only when that has happened will we have been fully delivered experientially from the authority of darkness.

But we believe such a time is coming, and we look to the Lord that He will bless this faithful word concerning the authority of darkness verses the all-inclusive Christ. And that God’s people…especially the seeking ones among God’s people will really be enlightened and delivered and begin to explore the Christ who is the centrality and universality of God’s economy…that is the Christ of Colossians.

Some may read Colossians and have little interest in some of the marvelous utterances that Paul uses to unveil Christ, but when they get to the chapters about wives submitting to their husbands and husbands loving their wives…slaves obeying their masters…parents taking care of their children…they appreciate this. That appreciation is an appreciation in darkness. That kind of thought is already in the minds of the readers.And so that’s what they respond to in the text.

The Bible is light, but we may not be in light when we read the Bible. We ourselves may be in darkness. We may be veiled. We may be blind. In fact that is the general condition. And so the more we read, the more blind we become. Because we read in darkness and we read and try to understand in our pitiful blindness instead of repenting before the Lord…turning our heart to the Lord…emptying out our spirit…being poor in spirit…and contacting the Spirit of the Word and seeing Christ in the Word.

We want to speak faithfully, honestly and even frankly about this matter. But we don’t care to argue…to dispute. What’s the benefit? If one is in darkness and someone else is in light what is the point of dispute. What is needed is for the light to shine upon the one in darkness.

When Saul of Tarsus was persecuting the believers…destroying the churches…who could reason with him? Who could argue with him? What would be the point? God did not take that approach. The Lord shined on him and shattered his reasoning and showed him he really was blind and he became physically blind for a period of time. But then he really saw Christ.

This is where we are today. And if we receive mercy from the Lord, if we would not go around saying “how clear we are”…”how much we see.” Rather, if we would be like blind Bartimaeus saying “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” Then we’ll begin to appreciate not ethical expressions (or what we would take as ethical expressions in Colossians)…rather we would appreciate Christ.

To what extent do christians today really care for Christ? What do christians care about? What do they talk about? What do they argue about? What do they promote? All manner of things. Where is the Christ unveiled in Colossians? Where is this Christ proclaimed? Where is He experienced? Where is He expressed?

So this Christ is in Colossians, but the authority of darkness must be smashed in our being. Then the Christ in Colossians will become the Christ in our experience. There is no word to describe how precious…even how life changing this is.

the Passover and the Lord’s table

Living Stream Ministry Podcast ::

The Old Testament or Jewish religion focuses on several holy days characterized by feasts. Preeminent among these is the Passover feast…marking their deliverance from slavery and captivity in Egypt. In Luke, the Lord Jesus (a real Jew) instructed His disciples to prepare for a final passover feast in an upper room in Jerusalem. Then at its conclusion, He announced the end of the passover and instituted the first Lord’s table feast.

And He instructed not just His disciples but all of us (His New Testament believers) to come together and enjoy this feast in remembrance of Him. What is the relationship between the Passover and the Lord’s table…the Lord’s supper? What did He mean when He said “For I tell you I shall by no means drink from now on of the product of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

We’ll touch this interesting and important connection on today’s broadcast.

the pattern of God’s new testament economy

Living Stream Ministry Podcast ::

A life fully according to and for God’s new testament economy. This matter of God’s new testament economy is somewhat unknown to many Christians. And then to look at the life that the Lord Jesus lived on this earth in the light of God’s economy is another kind of new consideration to most people…to most believers.

This matter of God’s economy is a very crucial matter. God’s economy is a very profound matter. According to the revelation of the Bible, God has an economy. He has a purpose…a plan…an administration in the universe to carry out something. And that something is to dispense Himself into all His chosen people. All those who believed into the Lord Jesus Christ.

God wants to dispense Himself into them. And even to constitute Himself into them the way our food is constituted into us and becomes a very part of our being…our physical being. God wants to dispense Himself into His people and to work Himself into them to become their very inward constitution.

God has only one desire and that is to dispense Himself into man so that He and man would become one in an organic way. The result of this dispensing is that all those who receive God’s dispensing become the members of the church. And the church is the Body of Christ. And the Body of Christ is the corporate expression of Christ.

So eventually, God’s economy is to produce an expression of Christ through the dispensing of Himself into His chosen people.

We need some sight…spiritual sight…to see what is here in Mark. Otherwise, what we can understand is that Mark is just a story book for the children before bed. We couldn’t see it is a book that gives us a biography of a life. A life that lives fully according to God’s new testament economy.

Actually, the life that is presented in Mark is the very substance…the pattern…of God’s new testament economy. The Lord has shown us that this very Jesus…He lived a life that is just the expression of God. In this book…Mark…you couldn’t see a person was keeping the law there. Neither Mark tells us that Jesus was doing good. No. What Jesus lived? He lived God! He expressed God. Whatever He did, that was God’s doing. That was God doing through Him. That was God doing from within Him.

Jesus didn’t keep the law; neither He broke the law. Jesus didn’t do anything good; nor He did something bad. He’s not in the kingdom of doing good or doing bad. Neither He is in the kingdom of keeping the law or breaking the law. He is in another kingdom. He is in the kingdom of God!

a stone with seven eyes for God’s building

Living Stream Ministry Podcast ::

The Old Testament prophet Zachariah tells us in chapter 3 that a stone with seven eyes will be engraved with an inscription. And by this engraving, the iniquity of the people will be removed in one day. The New Testament gospel of John tells us that the Lamb of God takes away the sins of the people. The stone with the seven eyes in Zachariah is this Lamb of God in John. And in the final book…Revelation…this Lamb-stone with seven eyes reappears.

This subject that we are going to consider in this broadcast is quite mysterious but very wonderful and very practical. Br. Witness Lee’s title for this message from 1976 was “The stone with seven eyes for God’s building.”

We want to review the matter of the lampstand because we’re going to see a definite connection today between the lampstand and this stone with seven eyes. The lampstand in the Bible is a tremendous symbol, and the first time we see this vision of the lampstand is in Exodus 25. There the lampstand is described in some detail, and it signifies Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God.

And then as we go on in the Old Testament again we encounter more details concerning the lampstand in the book of Zachariah which is where we are today. And there…in the mentioning of the lampstand…the main thing there is the seven lamps which are the seven eyes of Jehovah God. So here we see a further development. And these seven lamps are related to the Spirit of God. So in the Old Testament the lampstand is only one. But when we get to Revelation chapter one we can see a further development of this revelation or vision of the lampstand. Here we have not one lampstand but we have seven lampstands. And each lampstand signifies a local church.

So this is a tremendous progression in the vision of the lampstand, and it shows us that the one lampstand revealed in the Old Testament is eventually multiplied and reproduced to be many lampstands which are many local churches.

Zachariah 3 and 9. How can we say or how can we know that this stone with seven eyes is Christ? It is by the second half of this verse. “Behold, I will engrave the graving thereof says the Lord of host. I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.” It means that the Lord Jesus as the building stone…He was dealt with…engraved…on the cross by God for the iniquity of God’s people. In that one day by that one engraving on the cross, the Lord Jesus removed all the sins of God’s people.

The next half of this verse equals to John 1:29…”Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” This means to remove the iniquity of God’s people. So by this half of the verse we can know that the stone with seven eyes is Christ. Then we read chapter 4 of the same book (verse 2). Now in this verse we see the lampstand has seven lamps. If you would exercise your spirit, surely you would understand the lampstand here equals to the stone. The stone is Christ and the lampstand is also Christ. And the stone we can understand easily it is for the building. And the lampstand is for enlightening. And on the stone you have the seven eyes and on the lampstand you have the seven lamps.

This is a real clue and a real indication that this stone is Christ. And it is a little mysterious because it speaks about the stone being engraved with an inscription. And of course we know that to engrave a stone you need to cut that stone…you need to chisel a piece out of that stone. In many places in the Bible, Christ is referred to as a stone. He is a stone for God’s building. He is the foundation stone. He is the cornerstone. He is the living stone. He is the precious stone. He is the top stone. He is all these kinds of stones for the building of God’s house.

In Zachariah 3:9 we can see that this stone has seven eyes. And that it is engraved with an inscription so that the iniquity of God’s people can be removed in one day. Well, if we go on to the book of Revelation in chapter 5, we can see that there’s a Lamb there with seven eyes. In Zachariah, there’s a Stone with seven eyes. In Revelation, there’s a Lamb with seven eyes. And we know that the Lamb of God is Christ and that He is the one who removed the iniquity of God’s people in one day through His crucifixion…through His death on the cross. So when the Lord was crucified this was like the engraving of a stone. When He was crucified, He’s was cut on the cross and He was engraved. And through this engraving or through His death on the cross, all the sins of God’s people were removed by God so that God could then carry on…in His people…the work of building.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. Full of grace and reality. Behold the lamb of God. This One is the Word. And this One is God. And this One is the flesh. And this One is Jesus. And in this One is the life, and the life is the light of men. You have to add one thing. A stone. Then at the end of the same chapter, when Nathanael was attracted and this wonderful One told him, “…you shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Right away, we all can realize that this simple word brings us back to Bethel. So you can see even John chapter one covers from eternity past to eternity future. In eternity past was the Word, and the Word was God there. Now in eternity future there will be the Bethel the House of God. The dwelling of God. That will be the New Jerusalem.

After a number of years when he was very old…exiled to the island of Patmos…the Lord charged John to write the last book of the whole Bible. And eventually he developed to such an extent showing us that this seven spirits are the seven lamps and the seven eyes which were covered in Zachariah. He told us that these seven lamps which are the seven eyes are both the Stone and the Lord in Zachariah are today the seven Spirits of God. And this seven Spirits of God today are the seven eyes of the redeeming Lamb. And this redeeming Lamb is the overcoming Lion. He surely has defeated the enemy of God. So He was qualified to be the redeeming Lion. God engraved Him…dealt with Him on the cross. Just by that one dealing in that one day, all the sins of God’s people were removed. Because as the redeeming Lamb, He did this. So He became eventually the building stone. Today He is the Lion-Lamb-Stone.

And this stone seven eyes shining. Shining…burning before the throne of God. To accomplish God’s eternal economy.

constitution of the kingdom of the heavens

Living Stream Ministry Podcast ::

Matthew 6:21 says “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” This simple expression is full of meaning. If we expect to get our heart on heaven and on the heavenly things, we need to get our treasure there first.

Matthew chapters 5,6 and 7 is a section of the Bible we are calling the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens. This section has been called the sermon on the mount…,but in our Life-study, Witness Lee is using this term the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens. Why is seeing this section as a constitution helpful for us in understanding the real meaning and importance of this section of scripture?

It’s very important for us to realize that these three chapters (Matt. 5,6,7) are the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens. We call it the constitution because (we can say it this way) every nation has a constitution. In 1 Pet. 2:9, Peter refers to the believers in Christ as a holy nation. So in Matthew 5,6 and 7, what we see are God’s divine principles concerning the way we should live…the way we conduct ourselves. And actually He reveals to us, if we actually live Christ in our daily life…if we live by Christ…if Christ has a way to live through us, Matthew 5,6 and 7 will be the expression of that very Christ that we live.

So this is why we call this the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens. This is the way we should live in our christian life described in these chapters.

This constitution is altogether composed…constituted…with the Father’s life…the Father’s nature. The constitution always is based upon certain kind of life. Suppose you are going to make a constitution for the dog. You have to make it based upon the dog life. You cannot say “Dog every day in the morning you have to keep your morning watch by flying in the air.” He cannot FLY! But if you say “Dog, you are to keep your morning watch by barking,” they all would say “BARK!” This is a good constitution.

The Lord Jesus on the mount was not giving a constitution based upon the dog life. This constitution was made upon the Son of God. “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the sons of God.” “You therefore shall be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” This section of the word was given based upon the divine life and the divine nature.

Many many thought these 3 chapters were given just to the human beings. NO! The human life cannot make it. The human life is just like the dog life. If you ask the human life to fly, the human life cannot fly. For the dog to bark…that’s OK, but for the dog to fly in the air that’s impossible.

This is not the constitution of the dog kingdom. This is the constitution of the bird kingdom. This is the constitution given based upon the divine life…based upon the divine nature.

the salvation of Zacchaeus

Living Stream Ministry Podcast ::

Perhaps we’ve all heard of the city Jerico. Actually, it was a city of curse in the time of the Lord Jesus. One of its inhabitants was a man of curse. His name was Zacchaeus, a tax collector. Actually, the chief tax collector and in reality an extortioner who had gotten rich by taking advantage of the inhabitants of the area.

One day as Jesus was passing through, Zacchaeus climbed into a tree hoping to get a look at the Savior. And as He came to the place, Jesus looking up He said to him, Zacchaeus hurry and come down for today I must stay in your house. And he hurried and came down and received Him…rejoicing. It was a marvelous day as salvation came to the house of Zacchaeus.

But the pharisees, the religious ones who watched it…who knew Zacchaeus and his past…did not share in the rejoicing. We’ll discover more about this marvelous story of salvation in the gospel of Luke in chapter 19.