A GREAT LIGHT
After defeating the enemy, the Lord Jesus went to Galilee of the Gentiles (Matt. 4:12-17). If we had no record in the Bible, we could never realize that His going to Galilee was the shining of a great light. He went there to shine upon all the people sitting in darkness. It was not simply an outward preaching; it was a shining. Why did those young fishermen follow the Lord Jesus when all He said to them was, "Follow Me" (Matt. 4:18-22). He did not preach very much. To Peter and Andrew He said, "Follow Me," and they followed Him. The Lord Jesus, the Nazarene, told people to follow Him and they did. Peter and Andrew left the boat and the sea; James and John left the net and their father. Why would people leave everything and follow Him? As a great light, He shined upon them. When the Lord Jesus came to that fishing wharf, He shined upon those young fishermen, and they followed Him. Many of us have experienced the same thing. I can testify that I experienced the shining of the Lord Jesus as a great light. In a sense, He has shined upon all of us. Even today we are still under His shining. We can never get away from Him; the shining binds us to Him.
The Apostle Paul, when he was Saul of Tarsus, persecuted the church. On his way to Damascus, the Lord Jesus shined upon him from the heavens (Acts 9:3-5). Saul said, "Who art thou, Lord?" The Lord Jesus said, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." Paul experienced the shining of the Lord Jesus, and he was blinded by it. We have all been blinded and attracted by the shining of the Lord Jesus.
When the Lord Jesus came to shine over the ones sitting in darkness, only the young people were caught. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were mending the nets with their father. Only the two sons followed Him; the father did not. All the ones He called were young people. If you are not preoccupied, you are young. When the Lord was born, two old seekers of God, Simeon and Anna, were in the temple. They did love the Lord. However, the Lord Jesus did not go to the temple and call them. He went to the seashore and called the young people. In any country a fishing wharf is a dirty place where many low-class people may be found. Yet, the Lord Jesus went to the fishing wharf to find the young fishermen. The Lord Jesus shined upon these young, uneducated fishermen and said to them, "Follow Me." They left everything and followed Him. The young ones, the wild ones, the backward ones, the uneducated ones, the dirty ones—these followed the Lord Jesus.
The young people are the right persons for the Lord’s move today—not only in the U.S.A., but also in Europe, in Africa, and in the whole world. Perhaps Simeon and Anna had died by the time the Lord Jesus came out to minister. Nevertheless, the Lord Jesus did not go to the temple and call the old people to follow Him. Rather, He went to the fishing wharf to find some young fishermen who were not preoccupied. They were dirty and they were empty, but they were not preoccupied. To be preoccupied is to be old. They were without religion, without Bible knowledge, and with only a poor background of fishing, but the Lord Jesus called them to follow Him. The principle is the same today. We all need to be young and unoccupied. The Lord will never use any old, preoccupied people for His move upon the earth. We all should be the young fishermen, not young preachers or young priests or young Pharisees, but young fishermen who are so simple, so empty, and so unoccupied. These are the right persons for the Lord’s kingdom.
(The Kingdom, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)
