他要荣耀我。(约十六14)

今日的宗教敬虔运动,完全没有新约的艰苦实况,不需要耶稣基督的死,要的只是虔诚的气氛、祷告和热心。这一类经验不是超自然的,也并不神奇,不需要神的热情,没有被羔羊的血染红,没有圣灵的印记,也没有任何记号,叫人看见了惊异说:“这是神大能的作为。”而惟有“神大能的作为”才是新约圣经唯一所谈论的。

新约的信徒经历,是个人对主耶稣基督热切的爱慕。任何其他所谓信徒经历,都与耶稣本身脱节,没有重生,没有重生进入基督活着的神的国,只是一个以耶稣为模范的意念而已。在新约中,耶稣基督是救主,早在他成为榜样之前。今天他被派去当宗教的领袖,一个纯粹的例子。他是领袖,但他远不止于此;他是救恩本身,他就是神的福音。

耶稣说:“真理的圣灵来了……他要荣耀我。”当我委身于新约的启示,就接受了神所赐的圣灵;祂会向我解明耶稣的作为,把耶稣基督为我所作的客观事实,变作我的主观经历。

祈祷◆噢,主啊,唤醒我、激励我,以致我那必死的身体,能真正顺服祢的灵。

November 29: The Absoluteness Of Jesus Christ

“He shall glorify Me.” John 16:14

The pietistic movements of to-day have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them; there is nothing about them that needs the Death of Jesus Christ; all that is required is a pious atmosphere, and prayer and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous, it did not cost the passion of God, it is not dyed in the blood of the Lamb, not stamped with the hall-mark of the Holy Ghost; it has not that mark on it which makes men say, as they look with awe and wonder – “That is the work of God Almighty.” That and nothing else is what the New Testament talks about.

The type of Christian experience in the New Testament is that of personal passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Every other type of Christian experience, so called, is detached from the Person of Jesus. There is no regeneration, no being born again into the Kingdom in which Christ lives, but only the idea that He is our Pattern. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is Saviour long before He is Pattern. To-day He is being despatched as the Figurehead of a Religion, a mere Example. He is that, but He is infinitely more; He is salvation itself, He is the Gospel of God.

Jesus said, “When He the Spirit of truth is come . . . He shall glorify Me.” When I commit myself to the revelation made in the New Testament, I receive from God the gift of the Holy Spirit Who begins to interpret to me what Jesus did and does in me subjectively all that Jesus Christ did for me objectively.