THE APOSTLES’ LIFE
The New Testament is the story of those who lived, walked, and worked in spirit. When I was young, I read books on the life of Paul and the life of Peter. But those books did not tell me that Peter and Paul were living, walking, and moving in their new being. Instead, the books said that Peter and Paul were full of power or full of the Holy Spirit. According to the concept of these books, power suddenly was poured upon Peter, a fisherman, and Paul, a learned man, and they were enabled to speak. But if we see the light on the matter of the spirit as our real person, we shall see the book of Acts in a new way. The Apostles were people living in their new being, in their regenerated spirit indwelt by Christ, the all-inclusive Spirit.
JOHN ON THE ISLAND OF PATMOS
The New Testament ends with the case of the aged Apostle John on the island of Patmos. Although John was elderly, he was still living in his spirit. In Revelation 1:10 John says, "I was in spirit on the Lord’s day." Because he was in spirit, he saw the local churches. Then in spirit he saw the judgment of God exercised upon the world (Rev. 4:2, ff.), he saw the Great Babylon (Rev. 17:3, ff.), and he saw the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:10). In his spirit, in his new being, his new personality and person, John saw the churches, the world, Babylon, and the New Jerusalem. As one who is growing old, I hope to be one day like John. I long to be able to say that I was in spirit on the Lord’s day, that I heard a voice, that I turned to see it, and that I saw all the local churches. How good that would be! I would also like to testify that in spirit I saw the world under God’s judgment, the fall of the Great Babylon, and the coming of the New Jerusalem. This is not a dream; it is a realization in spirit. How much we need to be in spirit! We need to live, walk, and work in spirit.
Our spirit is no longer an organ, and our soul is no longer our person; today our spirit is our person, and our soul is just an organ. We need to say, "Soul, simply be an organ. Don’t talk to me, because you are no longer the person. You are my organ. Don’t make any proposals to me, for I don’t want to live by you anymore. Instead, I will use you as an organ. Soul, don’t you know that today my person is the regenerated spirit indwelt by my dear Lord Jesus Christ? If you know it, then you must go to the grave and rest there." I hope that we all shall see this crucial matter.
(The Spirit and the Body, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee)
