THE INFLUENCE OF THE CHILDREN OF THE KINGDOM
UPON THE WORLD
As Salt
As we have seen, salt is used to kill corruption and leaven. Where there is salt, there is no leaven. The seed of the salt of the earth is sown in Matthew 5:13 and is developed in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8: "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." These verses say that we should purge out the leaven and keep the feast with unleavened bread. This simply means we should be the salt and not allow any leaven to exist.
Then we need to read Ephesians 4:22-24: "That you have put off, as regards to your former manner of life, the old man, which is being corrupted according to the lusts of the deceit; and are renewed in the spirit of your mind, and have put on the new man, which according to God was created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." Here the old man is a kind of corruption, and the new man is a kind of salt. Because the new man bears the righteousness and holiness of God, he is the salt. We were the old man, but we have been renewed and transformed into the new man. Now we are no longer leaven corrupting others, but instead we are salt killing the corruption.
As Light
Matthew 5:14 says that we are the light of the world. This seed is developed in Philippians 2:15-16a: "That you may become blameless and guileless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, for my boasting in the day of Christ." The seed of the Lord’s disciples being the light of the world reaches its fullest development in Revelation 1:20: "The mystery of the seven stars which you have seen on My right hand and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are seven churches." This verse shows us not merely a small lamp but a lampstand. In Matthew 5 there is only a small lamp, but in Revelation 1 there are seven lampstands. This is the full development of our being light to the world. Revelation 2:5 says, "Remember therefore whence you have fallen and repent and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent." This verse also shows that Christians as the church must eventually be a lampstand. In Matthew 5 there is merely a lamp; in Revelation there is the full development of the lampstands shining in the darkness.
(The Kingdom, Chapter 43, by Witness Lee)
