Message Five The Heavenly Vision

THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

The Acts of Apostles

Message Five
The Heavenly Vision

Scripture Reading: Acts 9:1-19; 22:6-16; 26:13-19; Eph. 1:17; prov. 29:18a; Col. 1:25; Eph. 5:32

I. The heavenly vision of Paul’s completing ministry must be seen by us, and this vision must be renewed in us day by day—Acts 26:19; Eph. 1:17; Prov. 29:18a:

A. This vision of the age will keep us living in God’s presence; this vision will uphold us, control us, and become our divine commission to meet the need of this age—Jer. 1:7-10, 18-19; Isa. 6:1-8; Acts 26:16-19.

B. When we see a vision of God’s plan and have been converted from everything to Christ Himself, He will be the inner operating God to us, energizing us to carry out His plan—Gal. 1:15-16; Rom. 15:16; 1 Cor. 15:10; Phil. 2:13; cf. Jer. 1:1, 4-10, 18-19.

C. Eventually, the opposing Saul became, in his victorious ministry of the gospel, Christ’s vanquished captive in the triumphal procession celebrating Christ’s victory over all His enemies; the Lord’s perfecting of His chosen vessels in such a way is excellent and marvelous—Acts 26:14; 2 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 4:7-12.

II. While Saul of Tarsus was on the way to Damascus, a heavenly vision came to him, and this vision revolutionized him—Acts 9:1-19; 22:6-16; 26:13-19:

A. After he saw the vision, he became blind, unable to see anything, and impotent, unable to do anything; a blessed blindness comes upon those who are met by the heavenly vision.

B. For three days Saul did not see anything, and he did not eat or drink anything; all he could do was pray—Acts 9:9, 11:

1. Under the inspiration of the essential Spirit, his only interest was to pray in order to know the significance of what he had seen and heard—22:14-15.

2. It is likely that as Saul was praying, vision after vision and revelation after revelation came to him concerning Christ as the embodiment of God, the mystery of God, and the church as the Body of Christ, the mystery of Christ—Col. 2:2; Eph. 3:4; 5:32.

3. Each crucial point of Paul’s vision recorded in Acts 9 should not merely be a teaching to us but a vision that we see on the heavenly “television.”

C. In our reading of Acts 9 we need to see the heavenly vision concerning three items—”Me” (v. 4), “Jesus” (v. 5), and the “chosen vessel” (v. 15).

III. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”—v. 4:

A. This is a corporate “Me,” comprising Jesus the Lord and all His believers; He is the Head, and we are His Body as one person, one new man—Eph. 2:15; Col. 3:10-11.

B. Saul (who is also Paul) began to see that the Lord Jesus and His believers are one great person—the wonderful “Me”; to him this was a unique revelation in the entire universe—Acts 13:9a; 1 Cor. 12:12-27; Eph. 3:3-4; 5:32.

C. Paul is the only writer of the New Testament to use the term the Body of Christ; he placed great emphasis on the Body because at the time of his conversion he heard a message concerning the corporate “Me,” a message concerning the Body of Christ—Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12-27; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:16; 4:4, 16.

IV. “Who are You, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, whom you persecute”—Acts 9:5:

A. Lord here equals the word Jehovah in Hebrew—Exo. 3:14-15; John 8:58.

B. The name Jesus embodies the full message of the gospel; Paul saw that Jesus is Jehovah the Savior and that as the One who is now in the heavens, He has passed through the process of incarnation, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension for the producing and building up of the Body of Christ—Rom. 9:5; Eph. 1:19-23.

C. Paul saw that Jesus is the very God, Jehovah, who has been processed and consummated with the divine and human elements to be the ascended Lord, the Head of the Body, and the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, to be dispensed into all His members—Rom. 10:12-13; Col. 1:18a; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Acts 16:7; Phil. 1:19.

D. Paul saw that the center of the universe is that Christ is in us and we are in Christ; he saw that God’s plan is both to reveal Christ in us as life so that we may live Christ and to put us into Christ so that we may be conformed to His image and built up with others to be His living Body for His corporate expression—Gal. 1:15-16; 2:20; 4:19; Rom. 8:28-29; 12:1-5; Eph. 1:22-23.

V. “This man is a chosen vessel to Me”—Acts 9:15:

A. God’s intention in saving Saul of Tarsus was to f ill him with Himself and thereby make him an outstanding vessel—Col. 1:25; Eph. 3:8-9.

B. Paul’s writings develop the spiritual significance of the word vessel.

C. Paul saw that man is a tripartite vessel to contain and be filled with Christ as life for the building up of the Body of Christ; The Body of Christ is God’s great corporate vessel to contain Him and be filled with Him for His expression—Eph. 3:16-19.

D. As God’s chosen vessel, Paul was converted from everything to Christ Himself—converted to call on His name, to suffer on behalf of His name, and to bear His name before both the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel—Acts 9:14-16; 22:16.

VI. The central vision of the apostle Paul’s completing ministry is God in us as our contents (“vessel”), Christ as the mystery of God (“Jesus”), and the church as the mystery of Christ (“Me”)—9:4-5, 15:

A. Paul’s preaching in Acts and his writing in his Epistles are a detailed description of the heavenly vision seen by him—26:16; 22:15; Eph. 3:3-6.

B. The Lord appeared to Paul to appoint him as a minister and a witness both of the things in which Paul had seen Him and of the things in which He would appear to Paul—Acts 26:16; cf. 1:8; 23:11; 20:20, 31.

C. In all the visions that Paul saw, he saw Christ; the things in which we have seen Christ and the things in which He will appear to us are the things that we must minister to others—Gal. 1:15-16; Acts 22:14-15.

VII. The Lord’s recovery today is the recovery of the central vision of Paul’s completing ministry—26:13-19; Col. 1:25; Eph. 5:32.

Ministry Excerpts:

PAUL’S SERVICE BEFORE HE GOT SAVED

With the history of the apostle Paul there are two parts, two sections: the part before he got saved and the part after he got saved. In both parts of his history he was a person serving God. Even before Paul was saved, he was a person dedicated to the service of God. If we read the New Testament carefully, we will realize that before he got saved Paul was a full-time worker, a full-time servant serving God.

However, there is a great difference between Paul’s service before he got saved and his service after he got saved. First, before he got saved, Paul’s service was a service without vision. Second, it is absolutely correct to say that his service was according to tradition and religion. Instead of serving with a vision, he was serving traditionally and religiously. Third, he was serving according to the knowledge of the Bible, that is, according to the letters, commandments, and regulations of the Old Testament. Fourth, he was serving in a condition of self-righteousness, serving in his self-righteousness. Fifth, he was serving with the full confidence that he was right. Sixth, his service was full of enthusiasm. He was serving not coolly but very enthusiastically, with his whole heart. Seventh, he had a goal, and he served with a definite purpose. Thus, he was serving purposefully.

In principle, the work of nearly all of today’s Christian workers is according to these seven points. In brief, these points are serving without a vision, serving traditionally and religiously, serving according to the knowledge of the Scripture in letters, serving in self-righteousness, serving with confidence, serving enthusiastically, and serving with a definite purpose. Are these things bad? They are not bad, but neither are they right. They may be good, but they are wrong. (CWWL, 1965, vol. 3, “The Heavenly Vision”, ch. 1)

Saul’s Threefold Qualification

Acts 9:1 says, “But Saul, still breathing threatening and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest.” Saul approved of Stephen’s killing (8:1), and those who stoned Stephen laid down their garments at the feet of Saul (7:58). Saul, a persecutor, was a young man with a very strong sense of purpose.

Saul was born in Tarsus, a highly cultured city, and received his Greek education at the university there. In 22:3 he says that he studied “at the feet of Gamaliel, having been trained according to the strictness of the law.” This indicates that he received his religious education from Gamaliel, a great rabbi. No doubt, Saul was a scholar in both the Greek and Hebrew languages, and he was trained in both Greek culture and in Hebrew religion. Furthermore, he was a Roman citizen. With him we see the three main elements of Western culture: Hebrew religion, Greek culture, and Roman politics. He was taught according to the Hebrew religion, he was trained in Greek culture, and he was a citizen of the Roman Empire. His parents or grandparents may have become Roman citizens, and Saul himself was born a Roman (22:25-28). Therefore, Saul had a threefold qualification—in Greek culture, Hebrew religion, and Roman politics.

The Lord is sovereign and all-knowing. Stephen seemed to be better educated than Peter and John, who were unlearned Galilean fishermen. But Stephen was not as qualified in the three elements of Western culture as Saul was. In Philippians 3:5 he describes himself as “a Hebrew of Hebrews,” for he was born a Hebrew and was well educated in the Hebrew religion. No one else was as qualified as he to bear the commission to bring God’s New Testament economy to the Gentile world.

Devastating the Church

Before the Lord gained Saul, he was gained by Satan. Satan must have known that Saul was an important person. Satan not only gained Saul; he also instigated him to take a leading part in persecuting the followers of Jesus. When the persecutors were stoning Stephen, Saul took care of their garments. After the death of Stephen, “Saul was devastating the church, entering house after house; and dragging off both men and women, he delivered them to prison” (8:3). It is significant that Luke purposely uses the word “devastating” to indicate that Saul wanted to destroy, to demolish, the entire church and all the followers of Jesus.

Saul was not satisfied with persecuting the believers in Jerusalem. He went to the high priest and “asked for letters from him to Damascus, for the synagogues, so that if he found any who were of the way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem” (9:2). According to 9:14, Saul had authority to bind all those who called on the name of the Lord Jesus. Saul wanted to go to Damascus because a number of the scattered saints were there. He intended to go there to arrest all those who called on the Lord’s name.

Persecuting Those of the Way

Acts 9:2 says that Saul’s intention was to find those “who were of the way” and “bring them bound to Jerusalem.” Here the way denotes the Lord’s full salvation in God’s New Testament economy. It is the way God dispenses Himself into the believers through Christ’s redemption and the Spirit’s anointing; it is the way the believers partake of God and enjoy God; it is the way the believers worship God in their spirit by enjoying Him, and follow the persecuted Jesus by being one with Him; and it is the way they are brought into the church and built up into the Body of Christ to bear the testimony of Jesus.

The way in 9:2 includes the way of truth, the straight way, and the way of righteousness spoken of in 2 Peter 2:2, 15, and 21. The way of truth is the path of the Christian life according to the truth, which is the reality of the contents of the New Testament (1 Tim. 2:4; 3:15; 4:3; 2 Tim. 2:15, 18; Titus 1:1). It is designated by other titles according to its various virtues, like the straight way, the way of righteousness, the way of peace (Luke 1:79; Rom. 3:17), the way of salvation (Acts 16:17), the way of God (Matt. 22:16; Acts 18:26), the way of the Lord (John 1:23; Acts 18:25), and the way (19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:22). It was slandered as the way of heresy (Acts 24:14).

BEING MET BY THE LORD

Saul was probably very happy as he was on his way to Damascus. He may have been excited and perhaps even was in an ecstasy. Saul may have said to himself, “I have obtained authority from the high priests to bind all those who call on the name of Jesus. I am going to Damascus to arrest all those who call on this name, bring them to Jerusalem, and put them in jail.”

A Heavenly Light and a Heavenly Voice

The Lord Jesus was watching over Saul as he was journeying toward Damascus. Instead of appearing to Saul immediately, the Lord waited until “he drew near to Damascus” (9:3). Then “suddenly a light from heaven shone around him; and he fell on the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (9:3b-4). Saul must have been shocked by the light from heaven and by the voice that called him by name. Saul thought that he was persecuting merely the followers of Jesus. Now a voice came from the heavens and told him that he was persecuting this One who is in the heavens. To Saul’s great surprise, he experienced a heavenly light, a heavenly voice, and a heavenly One. Spontaneously Saul said, “Who are You, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (v. 5). Saul called Him Lord, even without knowing Him.

Saul may have said to himself, “I have never persecuted Jesus. Rather, I persecuted Stephen and other followers of Jesus. I thought that Jesus was in the tomb, but now He comes to me from the heavens.” (Life-study of Acts, msg. 25)

Praying for Three Days

After he rose from the ground, he saw nothing, even though his eyes were opened (v. 8). For three days Saul was not able to see. The Lord not only took away his sight; He also dealt with Saul’s clever mind. We have seen that Saul was learned in Hebrew religion, Greek culture, and Roman politics. He was trained in the three basic elements of Western culture. In taking away Saul’s sight, the Lord Jesus wanted Saul to think about Him.

Acts 9:9 says that Saul “was three days without seeing, and neither ate nor drank.” What did he do during those three days? The answer to this question is found in the Lord’s word to Ananias recorded in verse 11: “Rise up and go to the lane called Straight, and seek in the house of Judas a man from Tarsus named Saul; for behold, he is praying.” Here we see that in those three days Saul was praying. He did not see anything, and he did not eat or drink anything. All he could do was pray.

I believe that as Saul prayed he tried to analyze Jesus, seeking to know who He is. Saul may have said to himself, “I know that Jesus was buried, yet He spoke to me from heaven. How can this be? Jesus said that I was persecuting Him. How could He have been among those I persecuted?” For three days Paul must have prayed about matters such as these.

Receiving the Full Message of the Gospel

It is likely that as Saul was praying, vision after vision and revelation after revelation came to him concerning Christ and the church. His experience during those days may have been one of watching a heavenly television in which he saw many things concerning the Lord Jesus. As he saw these things, Saul may have said, “Jesus the Nazarene is Jehovah. He is my Savior. No wonder that His followers testified strongly that He was resurrected. He surely has been resurrected, for He appeared to me from the heavens.” Saul may have gone on to consider the Lord’s ascension, which implies His incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection. Saul may have come to realize that as the One who is now in the heavens, the Lord passed through the process of incarnation, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension.

We need to be impressed with the fact that for three days Saul did not eat or drink. All he did was pray. While he was praying, the revelation concerning Christ was “televised” into his being. Saul beheld a wonderful view of the Lord on this heavenly television. No longer did Saul have any doubt concerning Christ’s resurrection. He also came to believe in His incarnation and death. Through the visions that he saw during those days, Saul received the full message of the gospel.

JESUS AND THE CORPORATE “ME”

Saul not only saw that Jesus is Jehovah, the Savior, who died and was resurrected; he also saw that the Lord Jesus is one with His followers. Perhaps Saul said to himself, “I did not persecute Jesus—I persecuted His followers. But He told me that I persecuted Him. This must mean that He is one with His followers.” In this way Saul came to see the Body. He heard a message not only concerning Christ’s salvation, but also concerning the Body of Christ. When the Lord appeared to Saul, He asked him, “Why are you persecuting Me?” The Lord seemed to be saying, “Saul, this ‘Me’ includes Me personally and My Body corporately. Personally I am in the heavens, but corporately the Body is on earth. When you persecuted My followers, you persecuted My Body. To persecute My Body is to persecute Me.” Therefore, the “Me” in 9:4 is corporate, comprising the Lord Jesus and all His believers.

According to 9:5, Saul said, “Who are You, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” The “Me” in verse 4 and the name “Jesus” in verse 5 are of great significance, and Paul must have considered much concerning Jesus and this corporate “Me.” During those three days he might have analyzed the two words Me and Jesus.

When Paul said, “Who are You, Lord?” he must have gotten saved and received the essential Spirit. Later, in the book of Romans, he said, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13). In Acts 9:5 Saul called Jesus Lord even without knowing Him. No doubt, Saul was shocked by the Lord’s appearing and speaking. At that time the essential Spirit should have entered into his being. Then he was able to pray for three days without eating and drinking. Under the inspiration of the essential Spirit, his only interest was to pray in order to know the significance of what he had seen and heard. During those days, Paul received the full gospel concerning salvation and the Body of Christ.

Saul’s experience of the corporate Me, Christ and the Body, must have made a deep impression on him and affected his future ministry regarding Christ and the church. That experience laid the foundation for his ministry. Therefore, he was very strong in teaching the Body of Christ (Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12-27; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:16; 4:4, 16). He is the only writer in the New Testament to use the term “the Body of Christ.” He placed great emphasis on the Body because at the time of his conversion he heard a message concerning the corporate Me, a message concerning the Body of Christ.

Being Confirmed by a Representative of the Body

Immediately after Saul was saved, the Lord began to educate him concerning the Body. This was the reason He said to Saul, “Rise up and enter into the city, and it shall be told you what you must do” (9:6). Here the Lord seemed to be saying, “Saul, I shall not tell you what you need to do. You have been saved directly by Me, and no other person knows that you have been saved. Therefore, you need a representative of My Body to come to you and confirm the fact that I have saved you, chosen you, and called you. You also need such a representative of the Body to bring you into the identification with My Body.” As we shall see, when Saul came to Jerusalem and tried to join the disciples, “all feared him, not believing that he was a disciple” (v. 26). Such a situation made it necessary for his salvation to be confirmed by a representative of the Body.

When the Lord told Ananias to seek Saul, Ananias replied, “Lord, I have heard from many concerning this man, how many evil things he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem” (v. 13). Here we see that Ananias did not want to have anything to do with Saul. Then the Lord went on to say to Ananias, “Go, for this man is a chosen vessel to Me, to bear My name before both the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer on behalf of My name” (vv. 15-16). Then Ananias went to contact Saul. In his contact with Saul, Ananias recognized him as a brother in the Lord (v. 17). If the Lord had not told Ananias to seek out Saul, none of the believers would have recognized Saul as a brother. Through Ananias the Lord gave Saul excellent instruction concerning the practice of the Body life.

Being Filled with the Holy Spirit

In 9:17 Ananias said to Saul, “The Lord has sent me, Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, so that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” The filling here is the outward filling with the economical Spirit. Both in the case of Saul in chapter nine and in the case of the Samaritans in chapter eight, the Head of the Body withheld the economical Spirit. The Lord held back the economical Spirit from the Samaritan believers because the Jews regarded them as strangers and had no dealings with them. The Jews would have found it difficult to believe that God would save the Samaritans. Therefore, the Head of the Body withheld the economical Spirit until Peter and John came to Samaria to lay their hands on the Samaritan believers. Through the laying on of the hands of Peter and John, the Head passed on the economical Spirit as a sign to the Jewish believers that even Samaritans could be members of the Body of Christ.

Saul of Tarsus, of course, was a typical Jew, a pure Hebrew. However, he was a leading persecutor of the church, one who devastated the church in Jerusalem. Who would ever believe that he had turned to the Lord and had been saved? When Paul received the Lord’s salvation, he also received the essential Spirit within him. However, the Head of the Body held back the economical Spirit until a representative of the Body came to Saul and laid his hands on him. At that juncture, the economical Spirit came upon him as strong evidence of the fact that he had been saved and had been accepted by the Head into the Body as a member. Actually, Saul was a particular member, a member that was to bear the weighty commission to minister God’s New Testament economy to the Gentile world.

It is not easy to have the proper understanding of all that is portrayed in 9:1-19. Likewise, it is not easy to see the significance of what is recorded in this section of Acts. Our understanding of this portion of the holy Word came not only from reading the Bible and books written by others, but also from considering our own history and experience. As a result of many years of study and experience, we can see the crucial points in 9:1-19. Each point should not merely be a teaching to us; rather, every point should be a vision that we see on the heavenly television.

The Completion of God’s New Testament Economy

In Acts 9 we see that the leading persecutor and foremost opponent of Jesus was saved and became a vessel. Saul became one with the Head and with the Body. As a member of the Body, he was qualified to receive the heavenly commission to complete the word of God’s New Testament revelation. Concerning this, he himself says, “I became a minister according to the stewardship of God, which was given to me for you, to complete the word of God” (Col. 1:25). Without the Epistles of Paul, God’s New Testament revelation would not have been completed. Among the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, fourteen were written by Paul as the completion of God’s New Testament economy. With the ministry of Peter and his company we have the initiation, but we do not have the completion. If we had only the ministry of Peter and his company, the New Testament economy of God would not be complete. For this completion there was the need of another vessel, the vessel chosen by God to carry out His New Testament economy. Eventually, God in His wisdom put Paul into prison so that he could write those Epistles which are especially crucial to the New Testament economy of God.

A CHOSEN VESSEL

In 9:15 we see that Saul of Tarsus was a chosen vessel. In reading the Scriptures we may not pay adequate attention to the word “vessel,” an important spiritual term. A vessel is a container and therefore is different from a tool or a weapon.

In the Epistles of Paul there is a strong emphasis on the importance of vessels. For example, Romans 9:23 speaks of God making known “the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory.” In Romans 9 we have the thought that human beings were made by God to be vessels to contain Him. In 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul again speaks of vessels: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” Then in 2 Timothy 2:20 he says, “In a great house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also wooden and earthen, and some unto honor, and some unto dishonor.” God’s intention in saving Saul of Tarsus was to fill him with Himself and thereby make him an outstanding vessel. In Paul’s writings we see the development of the spiritual significance of the word “vessel.”

It may have been from Ananias that Saul learned that he was a chosen vessel. Saul of Tarsus was chosen by the Lord not only to be His apostle, His servant, and His minister; he was also chosen to be His vessel. In Acts 9:15 the Lord Jesus seemed to be saying to Ananias, “Saul is a chosen vessel. He will contain Me, and his ministry will be to convey Me to the Gentile world.” We all need to see the importance of Saul being a chosen vessel.

In Paul’s life and writings we can see the three elements of western culture—the Hebrew element, the Greek element, and the Roman element. Paul was a composition of these three elements. Therefore, he embodied Hebrew religion, Greek culture, and Roman politics. Because he was a composition of these elements, he became suitable as an earthen vessel to contain and convey the all-inclusive Christ. Paul was adequate to be such a vessel.

OUR NEED FOR SPIRITUAL VISION

In studying the Bible it is not sufficient to know only the letters in black and white. We also need spiritual vision and insight. The Lord Jesus had such vision and insight when He revealed that the divine title “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” indicates resurrection (Matt. 22:23-33). We cannot see such a thing simply by reading the Bible in letters. Only by having spiritual vision and insight can we see that resurrection is implied in this divine title. To have such an understanding is not to allegorize the Scriptures or merely to make inferences. On the contrary, this is to receive revelation through the study of the written Word of God. In our reading of chapter nine of Acts we also need to see the heavenly vision concerning “Me,” Jesus, and the chosen vessel. (Life-study of Acts, msg. 26)

THE CENTRAL VISION OF THE APOSTLE PAUL’S COMPLETING MINISTRY

The central vision of the apostle Paul’s completing ministry is God in us as our contents, Christ as the mystery of God, and the church as the mystery of Christ. We must lay aside our natural concepts, whether religious, ethical, devotional, spiritual, holy, or pious. Even the concept of having a good meeting or a strong service must not be our goal. The meetings and the service must come from the source; the church life is the issue.

CLEAVING TO THE CENTRAL VISION

The Lord’s recovery is the central vision. In 1970, after the successful migrations, we began to pay attention to the spread of the recovery and became somewhat negligent of the central vision. The recovery was off, for which I have very much repented to the Lord. By His mercy He cleared things up and brought us back to the right track. The Lord has rebuked me and charged me not to do much to encourage the spreading of the recovery or to gain an increase in numbers. I am not opposed to these, but I have been charged not to be concerned about them. Let the recovery grow in life. Spontaneously there will be a spreading and a proper increase, both issuing from life, not from our doing. “Little one,” the Lord pointed out, “when I was on the earth, I did not do anything to spread My work. All I did was sow Myself as life into a small number. Eventually, in Acts 1, I had only one hundred twenty. Not many.” It seems unbelievable that after the Lord’s labors for three and a half years all that He reaped was a mere one hundred twenty. The Lord asked me, “From all your efforts to spread and increase, where are the one hundred twenty? After you go, where are the one hundred twenty? Who will carry on the Lord’s recovery on the right track? Without the one hundred twenty, as soon as you go, everything will be off. The recovery will become a part of the pitiful history of Christianity, a repetition of its doing so many things that are scriptural and spiritual yet without Christ. If you could gain the whole world as your increase, what would that mean?”

I recently talked with the brother visiting from Taiwan. From now on, I fellowshipped with him, the work there should not pay much attention to the spreading or the increase. All your efforts must be directed toward getting the one hundred twenty. Otherwise, in ten years everything will be gone, lost because of the increase. There are already a good number in Taiwan, twenty-three thousand in the church in Taipei alone; perhaps on the whole island there are forty thousand. How many of these can be counted among the one hundred twenty? If we do not take care of this, our work will be empty concerning the central lane of God’s economy. Instead of recovering, we will be drifting back. The more spreading we have, the more we drift back to a repetition of Christianity. I am happy that there are so many, but if they do not see the central vision, my happiness is futile.

We need some faithful ones to rise up and say, “Lord, here I am. Show me the central vision as You did with the apostle Paul.” I hope you younger ones, especially those who are in their twenties, will do this. Then after ten years you will be valuable to the Lord’s recovery. (WWL, 1980, vol. 2, “The Completing Ministry of Paul”, ch. 11)