The Closed Door
Gateway to Spiritual Fullness
Gateway to Spiritual Fullness
His Precious Word
Gleanings From Deut. 8
There is perhaps not another book in the entire Bible that places so much
emphasis on God’s word as Deuteronomy. In 8 chapters there has been a
deliberate and repeated exhortation to heed, listen, obey and hearken to
God’s command, precepts and judgments. Why is Deuteronomy so adamant
about heeding His Word?
Chapter 8 begins with “All the commandments that I am commanding you
today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in
and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers.”
There is a real danger for us to discard the Old Testament commandments
as “laws” and “old covenant” thereby throwing out the baby with the bath
water.
Letters aside, the spirit of the Old Testament is to reveal Christ just as much
as the New Testament. What we have been delivered from is our ever-failing
and utterly untrustworthy natural ability to keep God’s laws and
commandments, but we have not been, and will never be, set free from the
spirit of the Old Testament which is to reveal Christ -- even through laws
and commandments.
The “all the commandments” mentioned in verse one, in a spiritual sense,
are not meant as laws to be kept, but rather relate to the completeness of
the different aspects, facets and details of the all-inclusive Christ. When
related to the truth, the entire Bible is a detailed commandment about
God’s Son because of the truth’s uncompromising and unalterable nature.
When related to God’s love for men, the entire Bible is a love story pouring
forth from God’s heart. When related to the salvation of men, the entire
Bible is an unfolding drama of redemption.
Since Christ is so inexhaustibly rich and full, and God wants us to know
and possess His Son in fuller measures, the Word meticulously describes
and reveals every aspect, facet and detail about Christ so that we would not
have a distorted view of Him. Paul told the Ephesian elders in The Book of
Acts that he did not shrink back from declaring to them “the whole counsel
of God.” The Bible as “the whole counsel” contains a complete revelation of
Christ. It repeatedly warns us not to “add to it” nor “take away from it.”
I remember when I was a young boy, my brother and I loved going to the
county fair with our parents because there were lots of fun things to do.
One of the fun things was to pass in front of a set of funny mirrors. In front
of one, I was a round-faced clown; in front of another, I became an elongated
stick figure. Sad to say, many Christians’ view of Christ is greatly distorted
very much similar to passing before those funny mirrors.
Watchman Nee once said the number one reason Christians live in spiritual
poverty was because they did not know the Word. A woeful lack of the
knowledge of the Word coupled with a complacent attitude plunge God’s
people into spiritual poverty and invite the Enemy to wreak havoc.
Today, a casual surfing of many Christian Internet forums will expose a lack
of the stature of Christ. It is not hard to see that the distorted views of
Christ stem from a serious lack of the full knowledge of the “whole counsel
of God.” On the other hand, spiritual blessings and prosperity come from
heeding and keeping all His commandments. Deut. 7: 12-13 says, “Then it
shall come about because you listen to these judgments and keep and do
them, that the Lord your God will keep with you His covenant and His
lovingkindness which He swore to your forefathers. And He will love you
and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb
and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the
increase of your herd and the young of your flock, in the land which He
swore to your forefathers to give you.”
In the same way, as Deut. 8:1 suggests, the pre-requisite for possessing the
good land is to keep God’s commandments in full. But, for us New
Testament believers, keeping or “doing all the commandments” firstly refers
to our urgent need to embrace not a select or partial truth, but ALL the
truths about Christ in the whole Bible. Any addition to or deletion from the
whole bible will result in our greatly distorted and diminished
understanding and possession of Christ.
Secondly, we have to realize that no matter how much we desire to heed His
Word and embrace all the truths in the whole Bible, we are utterly
incapable of keeping His Word. The truth of the matter is, we can’t even
keep our own word, much less God’s Word.
Here we face an apparent dilemma, on the one hand, we are charged to
“keep and do” all the commandments in full, on the other hand, we are
utterly incapable of keeping them, much less doing them.
So what are we to do? Enter the Beloved Son. The Son is the only One
qualified and capable of keeping and doing His Word.
It is no coincidence that chapter 8 brings out sonship: “Thus you are to
know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you as a man
disciplines his son. Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the
Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him” (8:5-6). As a Son,
Christ had to learn obedience through the things which He suffered (Heb. 5:
8). In Christ, we have received sonship to become God’s “many sons.” And
as His many sons, we are being chastened and conformed to His image in
order that the Son in us may “keep the commandment of the Lord…to walk
in His ways and to fear Him.”
So, what do we do to keep His Word? We have to learn to yield ourselves as
sons in the Father’s disciplining hands. The more we learn to yield to His
dealings and chastening, the more a keeper of the Word we will become; for
in His chastening, the character of Christ is constituted into our inner
being, and His Word is inscribed into the tablet of our hearts. It is no longer
a matter of us trying to keep His Word, but altogether a matter of becoming
sons who possess the Son’s character and are inwardly constituted by His
Word.
Thirdly, humility is required to keep His commandments. “And you shall
remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you these 40 years
in the wilderness, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was
in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not” (Deut. 8:
2). The only way we can be made humble is through His dealings and
chastening. It took the children of Israel 40 years to perish in the
wilderness; likewise, it will take the dying to our natural man before any
real humility comes forth and before the keeping of His commandments
becomes a remote possibility. Unless we have been humbled through the
dealings and chastening of the cross, there will be no way of embracing all
the truths concerning Christ, and no way of entering into all the fullness of
Christ.
Related to the Word of God, there has always been a fascination among the
students of the Word to find ways of interpreting the Word. Volumes have
been written and courses are offered in churches and seminaries about how
to interpret the various prophesies, symbolisms, typologies, parables,
mysteries and signs in the Word.
Zealous Christians are un-bashful about offering their methods of
interpretation, and adamant about their interpretations as divinely
inspired. Every now and then someone comes along and offers a brand new
interpretation and claims inspiration and authority.
While each method and each interpretation does carry some merits, the
single most important element is largely missed.
The most overlooked fact is that human beings are incapable of interpreting
the Word of God. The Son is the Word incarnate, therefore for us to
properly understand and interpret His Word, the greatest need is to be
rooted and grounded in Him and for Him to be constituted in us.
The seven sons of Scevas in the Book of Acts offer us a window. They
zealously went around the country attempting to cast out evil spirits. But
the evil spirit replied, “Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you?”
(Acts 19:14-15).
Without a doubt, the message preached was correct: “I adjure you by Jesus
whom Paul preaches.” All doctrinal bases were covered. But the
messengers were wrong – constitutionally. Our messages, or interpretations
for that matter, simply must match the Christ that has been constituted and
formed in our inward being. For this inward constitution of Christ to take
place, the interpreter has to have gone through certain amount of dealings
and chastening. Our interpretations have to match our inward constitution
and be an overflow of Christ formed from deep within.
The Lord does grant us inspirations to peer into His Word and come up with
precious revelations. Many Christians have had this wonderful experience.
But it is never meant to bypass our urgent need to mature and possess
greater measure of Christ.
Paul says, “When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child,
reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things” (I
Cor. 13:11). Clearly, our maturity in the life of Christ has much to do with
our speaking. Hence our greater need is not so much the ability to
interpret the Word, but to allow the Lord to inscribe His Word in our inner
being so that maturity starts to take place.
There is nothing like a matured Christian sharing the Word of God. As he
speaks, Christ comes forth. Find a mature Christian, try it next time and
just watch and listen.
May the Lord grant us mercy to love His Truth. May the Lord inscribe His
commandment deep in the tablet of our hearts so that we might become a
people constituted with His Word.
Oliver Peng
Gleanings From Deut. 8
There is perhaps not another book in the entire Bible that places so much
emphasis on God’s word as Deuteronomy. In 8 chapters there has been a
deliberate and repeated exhortation to heed, listen, obey and hearken to
God’s command, precepts and judgments. Why is Deuteronomy so adamant
about heeding His Word?
Chapter 8 begins with “All the commandments that I am commanding you
today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in
and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers.”
There is a real danger for us to discard the Old Testament commandments
as “laws” and “old covenant” thereby throwing out the baby with the bath
water.
Letters aside, the spirit of the Old Testament is to reveal Christ just as much
as the New Testament. What we have been delivered from is our ever-failing
and utterly untrustworthy natural ability to keep God’s laws and
commandments, but we have not been, and will never be, set free from the
spirit of the Old Testament which is to reveal Christ -- even through laws
and commandments.
The “all the commandments” mentioned in verse one, in a spiritual sense,
are not meant as laws to be kept, but rather relate to the completeness of
the different aspects, facets and details of the all-inclusive Christ. When
related to the truth, the entire Bible is a detailed commandment about
God’s Son because of the truth’s uncompromising and unalterable nature.
When related to God’s love for men, the entire Bible is a love story pouring
forth from God’s heart. When related to the salvation of men, the entire
Bible is an unfolding drama of redemption.
Since Christ is so inexhaustibly rich and full, and God wants us to know
and possess His Son in fuller measures, the Word meticulously describes
and reveals every aspect, facet and detail about Christ so that we would not
have a distorted view of Him. Paul told the Ephesian elders in The Book of
Acts that he did not shrink back from declaring to them “the whole counsel
of God.” The Bible as “the whole counsel” contains a complete revelation of
Christ. It repeatedly warns us not to “add to it” nor “take away from it.”
I remember when I was a young boy, my brother and I loved going to the
county fair with our parents because there were lots of fun things to do.
One of the fun things was to pass in front of a set of funny mirrors. In front
of one, I was a round-faced clown; in front of another, I became an elongated
stick figure. Sad to say, many Christians’ view of Christ is greatly distorted
very much similar to passing before those funny mirrors.
Watchman Nee once said the number one reason Christians live in spiritual
poverty was because they did not know the Word. A woeful lack of the
knowledge of the Word coupled with a complacent attitude plunge God’s
people into spiritual poverty and invite the Enemy to wreak havoc.
Today, a casual surfing of many Christian Internet forums will expose a lack
of the stature of Christ. It is not hard to see that the distorted views of
Christ stem from a serious lack of the full knowledge of the “whole counsel
of God.” On the other hand, spiritual blessings and prosperity come from
heeding and keeping all His commandments. Deut. 7: 12-13 says, “Then it
shall come about because you listen to these judgments and keep and do
them, that the Lord your God will keep with you His covenant and His
lovingkindness which He swore to your forefathers. And He will love you
and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb
and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the
increase of your herd and the young of your flock, in the land which He
swore to your forefathers to give you.”
In the same way, as Deut. 8:1 suggests, the pre-requisite for possessing the
good land is to keep God’s commandments in full. But, for us New
Testament believers, keeping or “doing all the commandments” firstly refers
to our urgent need to embrace not a select or partial truth, but ALL the
truths about Christ in the whole Bible. Any addition to or deletion from the
whole bible will result in our greatly distorted and diminished
understanding and possession of Christ.
Secondly, we have to realize that no matter how much we desire to heed His
Word and embrace all the truths in the whole Bible, we are utterly
incapable of keeping His Word. The truth of the matter is, we can’t even
keep our own word, much less God’s Word.
Here we face an apparent dilemma, on the one hand, we are charged to
“keep and do” all the commandments in full, on the other hand, we are
utterly incapable of keeping them, much less doing them.
So what are we to do? Enter the Beloved Son. The Son is the only One
qualified and capable of keeping and doing His Word.
It is no coincidence that chapter 8 brings out sonship: “Thus you are to
know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you as a man
disciplines his son. Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the
Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him” (8:5-6). As a Son,
Christ had to learn obedience through the things which He suffered (Heb. 5:
8). In Christ, we have received sonship to become God’s “many sons.” And
as His many sons, we are being chastened and conformed to His image in
order that the Son in us may “keep the commandment of the Lord…to walk
in His ways and to fear Him.”
So, what do we do to keep His Word? We have to learn to yield ourselves as
sons in the Father’s disciplining hands. The more we learn to yield to His
dealings and chastening, the more a keeper of the Word we will become; for
in His chastening, the character of Christ is constituted into our inner
being, and His Word is inscribed into the tablet of our hearts. It is no longer
a matter of us trying to keep His Word, but altogether a matter of becoming
sons who possess the Son’s character and are inwardly constituted by His
Word.
Thirdly, humility is required to keep His commandments. “And you shall
remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you these 40 years
in the wilderness, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was
in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not” (Deut. 8:
2). The only way we can be made humble is through His dealings and
chastening. It took the children of Israel 40 years to perish in the
wilderness; likewise, it will take the dying to our natural man before any
real humility comes forth and before the keeping of His commandments
becomes a remote possibility. Unless we have been humbled through the
dealings and chastening of the cross, there will be no way of embracing all
the truths concerning Christ, and no way of entering into all the fullness of
Christ.
Related to the Word of God, there has always been a fascination among the
students of the Word to find ways of interpreting the Word. Volumes have
been written and courses are offered in churches and seminaries about how
to interpret the various prophesies, symbolisms, typologies, parables,
mysteries and signs in the Word.
Zealous Christians are un-bashful about offering their methods of
interpretation, and adamant about their interpretations as divinely
inspired. Every now and then someone comes along and offers a brand new
interpretation and claims inspiration and authority.
While each method and each interpretation does carry some merits, the
single most important element is largely missed.
The most overlooked fact is that human beings are incapable of interpreting
the Word of God. The Son is the Word incarnate, therefore for us to
properly understand and interpret His Word, the greatest need is to be
rooted and grounded in Him and for Him to be constituted in us.
The seven sons of Scevas in the Book of Acts offer us a window. They
zealously went around the country attempting to cast out evil spirits. But
the evil spirit replied, “Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you?”
(Acts 19:14-15).
Without a doubt, the message preached was correct: “I adjure you by Jesus
whom Paul preaches.” All doctrinal bases were covered. But the
messengers were wrong – constitutionally. Our messages, or interpretations
for that matter, simply must match the Christ that has been constituted and
formed in our inward being. For this inward constitution of Christ to take
place, the interpreter has to have gone through certain amount of dealings
and chastening. Our interpretations have to match our inward constitution
and be an overflow of Christ formed from deep within.
The Lord does grant us inspirations to peer into His Word and come up with
precious revelations. Many Christians have had this wonderful experience.
But it is never meant to bypass our urgent need to mature and possess
greater measure of Christ.
Paul says, “When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child,
reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things” (I
Cor. 13:11). Clearly, our maturity in the life of Christ has much to do with
our speaking. Hence our greater need is not so much the ability to
interpret the Word, but to allow the Lord to inscribe His Word in our inner
being so that maturity starts to take place.
There is nothing like a matured Christian sharing the Word of God. As he
speaks, Christ comes forth. Find a mature Christian, try it next time and
just watch and listen.
May the Lord grant us mercy to love His Truth. May the Lord inscribe His
commandment deep in the tablet of our hearts so that we might become a
people constituted with His Word.
Oliver Peng
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