A MAN IN HEAVEN
Some Christians tried to argue with me in the past, saying it is wrong to tell people that Christ is in heaven as a man. They said that Christ was a man only up to the time when He was crucified. Then after being resurrected, He was no longer a man. Those were preachers who said that they believed in the Bible word by word. So I replied, “What about Acts 7:55-56, where Stephen, while he was being stoned, looked up and saw Jesus as the Son of Man in the heavens? My Jesus, according to the Bible, is still a man in the heavens. And what about the time when the high priest asked Jesus at the judgment whether He was the Son of God? Jesus told him that he would see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God in the heavens, and that he would also see the Son of Man coming back in the clouds (Matt. 26:63-64). Of course, there was nothing they could say to such Scriptures. And I must add today that we will see the Son of Man for eternity. In the New Jerusalem, Jesus is there as the Lamb. For the Lord to be the Lamb, He must have the humanity. The Son of God, without His humanity, could never be the Lamb. When He became flesh and dwelt among us, He was called the Lamb of God. The Lamb always has something to do with the matter of incarnation. If He were not incarnated as a man, how could He be the Lamb of God? In eternity, He will be the Son of Man forever.
THE SON OF MAN IN THE MIDST OF THE CHURCHES
In Revelation 1:13 John saw a vision of the Son of Man in the midst of the local churches. “And in the midst of the lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment reaching to the feet, and girded about the breasts with a golden girdle.” After the Lord’s resurrection and ascension, John saw Him walking in the midst of the local churches as the Son of Man. We all need His humanity.
I have the full assurance that if we will spend our time to enjoy Christ in His humanity, all the local churches will be so bright and shining, practical and real. Christ did not reveal Himself to John as the Son of God. He is the Son of God, but He did not come in that way. He came in the form of the Son of Man. This shows us that the Son of Man is for the local churches. All the local churches need the humanity of Jesus. We must take Him as our food, enjoy Him, and masticate His humanity all the time. We must even pray, “O Lord Jesus, You are the real man, and You are the food of the priesthood. You are the fine flour with which we make the meal offering to bring to the tent of meeting as a present to God the Father.” We will see that even to pray in this way will make a difference; there will be the nourishment. We will be nourished with His humanity, and this nourishing will swallow up all our weaknesses. The humanity of Jesus will make us spiritually healthy. If you do not believe me, put it into practice and see. When you are going to lose your temper, just say, “O Lord Jesus, I take Your humanity. I am going to lose my temper, but I take Your humanity, Lord.” Then you will see what will happen to your temper.
DIVINITY AND HUMANITY
I am sure that we all have seen the difference between Hebrews chapter one and chapter two. Chapter one shows us that Christ is the Son of God; it even mentions that He is God Himself. Chapter one tells us of His divinity, but chapter two speaks of His humanity. In chapter one, He is God, but in chapter two, He is man. It is at the end of chapter two that we find the succor, aid, support, help, and supply. This comes not so much from Jesus as the Son of God, but from the humanity of Jesus. The man Jesus is the succoring One; He is the aiding One; He is the supporting One; and He is the supplying One. Our help and support come mainly from His humanity. His divinity may be sufficient to succor and supply some angels, but to succor and supply us, He must have His humanity. If we are going to enjoy His succoring, we must feed upon His humanity. This is the meal offering.
Many of you have been in Christianity for years. But according to your realization, was there any meal offering in the so-called Christian service? Was there any nourishment from the humanity of Jesus in those services? From my experience, I can tell you that there was nothing but words. There was no meal offering. Even among the local churches I feel that we do not have enough of the meal offering. We must look to the Lord for His mercy that from now on, in all the meetings, what we present to God would be mainly the meal offering. We must bring something of our experience of the humanity of Jesus to the meetings. Then our meetings will be so enriched, and we will be nourished in a priestly way to have the real priesthood.
BEHOLD THE MAN
Eventually I must say, “Behold the Man.” This is what we find in John 19:5: “Then Jesus came out, wearing the thorny crown and the purple garment. And he said to them, Behold the man!” He was crowned then with a crown of thorns, but He is crowned today with a crown of glory. At that time He wore a purple robe, but now He wears a priestly robe. He is crowned with glory and clothed with the priestly robe to care for all the local churches. So, “Behold the Man!” We all need to see this Man, for this Man is our aid, our help, our support, our supply, and our all. This Man is our food for the priesthood.
(Christ as the Reality, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee)
