CONCERNING GOD
The first item revealed in the Scriptures is God. Concerning God, there are two sides in the revelation of the Scriptures. There is the objective side, and there is the subjective side. Objectively speaking, first, God is God. He is the God who is high above in the heavens with glory and majesty. As such, He is outside of us and is completely objective to us. Second, He is our Creator. All things in heaven and on earth were created by Him, and we also were created by Him. He is our Creator, and we are His creatures. Third, He is the sovereign Master. There really is a sovereign Master in the universe. Fourth, He has become our Redeemer. We sinned and became fallen, and He came to redeem us; this also is objective. Fifth, He is our good Shepherd, and we are His flock. The shepherd is outside of the flock. The shepherd loves the sheep, and the sheep also love the shepherd. Nevertheless, to the sheep, the shepherd is objective. Sixth, He is our Master. He owns us, and we serve Him. Our relationship with Him is like that of a servant to a master. All these items concern the objective aspect of what God is.
However, in the Scriptures there is also the subjective aspect concerning God. First, God is our Father. This is subjective because He has given us His life and nature. Second, He is the life-giving Spirit. As the Spirit, He enters into us just like air. This is also subjective. Third, He is our life. If He were outside of us and merely objective to us, there would be no way for Him to be our life. It is only by coming into us to live in us subjectively and to be mingled with us that He can be our life. Fourth, He is light. In the Scriptures, this light is called the light of life. “The life was the light of men” (John 1:4b). This is not an objective light outside but a subjective light inside. Fifth, He is our breath. Sixth, He is our living water and food to be taken into us. All these are subjective.
Christianity has fallen very deeply into the tradition of religion. In their concept they think that this God is too great, too majestic, too glorious, and too transcendent. They say that on the one hand, we must honor Him, and on the other hand, we must humble ourselves to prostrate before Him as we worship. When we say that He is our living water and our food to be taken into us, they consider this altogether a blasphemy against God and an insult to God in that we lower God and exalt ourselves. Therefore, the opposers in America say that I came from China to teach heresy there. They say, “We have a hymn of praise that says, ‘How great Thou art.’ However, this certain Mr. Lee comes and changes our hymn to ‘How small Thou art.’” Yes, God is so small to the extent that we can eat Him. You cannot eat a big cow unless you slaughter it and cut it up into small pieces. After going through a process, the cow can be conveniently eaten. Is the cow big or small? It was a big cow, but now it has become small pieces. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the bread of life…which comes down out of heaven…so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (6:48, 50, 57). Is this heresy, or is this the truth? This is the truth. Nevertheless, the opposers grope blindly only from behind and are not willing to take a look at the front. If only they would be willing to come to the front, they could see seven openings with just a glance.
I am not merely telling you about fighting the battle for the truth in America. I want to show you that even though you have been saved, edified, and nurtured in a local church, I know for a fact that even up until tonight in your religious concept, you still consider Jesus Christ as the Lord of all, the great Lord, who is high above. Within you there is not much enjoyment of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, I would like to ask you, “How much of Jesus have you eaten today?” I am not asking you how many times have you prayed and how many times have you meditated. I know that some of you enjoy meditating, and I also believe that some of you like to listen to messages and dislike the way the church meets today. However, we know that in order to enjoy our food and its flavor we cannot be too concerned about manners. Suppose you are invited to a feast, but you dare not move or make any noise; you just eat slowly. This kind of eating is only a half enjoyment; it is not the full enjoyment. However, if you eat with big mouthfuls, saying, “It’s delicious! It’s delicious!”, this kind of eating is full of enjoyment. Perhaps you think, “Brother Lee, this speaking is for a three-year-old child from the countryside.” I do hope that you would all become three-year-old children from the countryside. Just be simple and come to enjoy Christ. Get rid of your religious concepts. Today the Lord Jesus will say, “Foolish child, I already humbled Myself through incarnation, I died for you on the cross, I even entered the tomb, and I resurrected from the dead to become the life-giving Spirit. Today I am just like the air to you. Don’t make Me so great. I have been so great from eternity; I have been in My greatness long enough. I don’t want to be so great any longer. Today I want to become small to enter into you.”
(The Subjective Truths in the Holy Scriptures, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee)
