Strange Fire

All saved believers are today's New Testament priests to serve God. This is the universality of the priesthood, a blessing that saints of the Old Testament did not have. Nevertheless, in serving the Lord, there is a danger of serving according to our natural goodness, even serving the Lord in the flesh making use of all our natural talents and gifts which comes from God. On the one hand, we all must serve the Lord, yet on the other hand, we must not serve in our natural man, we must serve in the spirit by the Spirit of God according to God's ordination. The source of our service must be God, and the way we serve must be according to God, and the goal of our service must be to the glory of God.

Last week, I was so deeply touched by the prohibitions in serving God. I cannot and must not serve God with strange fire. The fire I use must be from God that came through the altar of burnt offering. Any fire not from God as the source is a strange fire; any service that I render as a priest to God yet not our from God is a strange fire. I cannot serve God with my natural zeal and enthusiasm. I must be burning in spirit, serving the Lord. If not, all my service is a service in the principle of strange fire.

Do not be slothful in zeal, but be burning in spirit, serving the Lord. Romans 12:11

As I prophesied and also gave the conclusion of the message on, The Basis of All Our Priestly Service—the Fire from the Altar of Burnt Offering, one of the burdens I released was on these verses:

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer, and put fire in them and laid incense on it, and they presented strange fire before Jehovah, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from before Jehovah and consumed them, and they died before Jehovah. Leviticus 10:1-2  

Then Jehovah spoke to Aaron, saying, Drink no wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the Tent of Meeting, that you may not die; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, both to make a distinction between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean; Leviticus 10:8-10  

What struck me most in this portion of the word is God's speaking directly to Aron on the prohibition of strange fire, "Drink no wine or strong drink." This implies that the offering of strange fire has a connection with wine or strong drink. The ministry portion below enlightened me to see clearly the relationship between strange fire and strong drink.

The offering of the strange fire might have been related to the drinking of wine. Right after Nadab and Abihu’s death, God charged the priests not to drink wine [Lev. 10:8-9].…Drinking wine, in the Bible, signifies the over enjoyment of the worldly, natural, or physical, material things. In other words, if we overly enjoy anything of this world, this always makes us drunk. When we are drunk, we are excited and out of control, doing things without regulation. It might have been that the two sons of Aaron were drunk, so they were excited and went beyond themselves to do something without being regulated. This means that they offered strange fire in a presumptuous way. The  offering of strange fire was a sin of presumption. They presumed to do something for God. Actually, that was not a real offering to God but something of their presumption against God’s regulation.

People do presumptuous things because they have overenjoyed something. They are drunk. When the priests are drunk, they lose the discernment of holiness (Lev. 10:10), and they are unable to teach God’s people (v. 11). When we lose our discernment because we are drunk, we are not being regulated; so we surely cannot teach others so that they can be regulated. (CWWL,1979,vol. 2, “Basic Lessons on Service,”pp. 106-109)

The Lord's speaking was so timely; for me and also for the saints in the local church in Gurugram. This message also enlightened our understanding of the word of God through the help of the ministry of the word. Besides, our experiences confirmed the point of truth. Praise the Lord for the ministry of the word!

Lord, save me from offering any strange fire. Lord, save me also from wine and strong drink. Lord, may my priestly service to You be according to your divine ordination.

A Seeking Sister

About three years ago, a new sister was introduced by two of our sisters in the church. We used to visit that seeking sister in her shoe showroom in Galaria Market at DLF-IV, once a week for an hour of home meeting with her. Later, she shifted out of Gurgaon and did work on a few other businesses. I have never met her again since she changed business. But the few home meetings we had and the ministry of the word ministered to her had a deep impact on her Christian life.

Last week I received a call from a sister about this sister informing me of how she prayed and searched the scriptures to find answers to many of her questions concerning her Christian life and her church life. One day, a sister happened to meet her and she fellowshipped what she had been going through. Then I was informed of a possible visitation for a fellowship to which I oblige immediately.

She came to visit me along with the same two sisters with whom I used to visit her for a home meeting. As the case mostly is, I allowed her to release whatever she had within her being. For about an hour she narrated her struggle with the truths of the Bible as many Christians and groups she knows are not in line with what the Bible says. She also has a doubt on baptism itself as she was baptised during her childhood by sprinkling, and she also fellowshipped her understanding of the law, the ten commandments. Her fellowship gave me the ground and point of truths to fellowship. 

Using the Bible, I led her through the main verses concerning baptism and its significances, asking her to read all the Bible verses quoted. Then I expounded the important points on baptism being the fulfilment of God's righteous requirement, the outward confirmation of one's inward belief, the identification with the death and resurrection of Christ, the organic union with the Triune God, the open declaration and testimony of being a Christian, the spiritual transfer from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God, and the baptism into the Body of Christ. I further expounded the timing and examples of baptism in the Bible and encouraged her to consider all these points of truths, pray and make her own decision.

Using the Bible, I also led her to see what the church is in her universal and local aspect, how the local churches were formed and established, and how we are a part of the church and meets as the church wherever the Lord has placed us. I also fellowshipped on the fulfilment of the ten commandments by Christ and how He has replaced the law with Himself as the law of the Spirit of life, and how we practically fulfil the law by living and working according to the Spirit. Later, I invited the sisters to attend the group meeting in one of the homes in Gurugram. The Lord's arrangement was such that the topic at the group meeting was on "What Are We," and we fellowshipped at length on the church and the beliefs and practices of the local the churches. The Lord was sovereign in His arrangment to shepherd a seeking sister.

May the Lord fully recover her and all the saints who are being gained into the church life for the Lord's testimony.

Sister's Short Sojourn

One of our sisters' sojourn on this earth came to an abrupt end last week. We were all taken aback by this surprise sad news that took us all by storm. Initially, it was hard to believe it. But she was no more. The church has lost one sister.

When I was informed of the matter, it came as a shocked reminder of what kind of life I should be living on the earth before my end day came too. Our sister had been very vibrant in life; she took care of her health, diet, physical exercise etc., and was from the upper-middle-class segment of society. Yet when the time for her departure came, she had to leave. God had already number her days and she was taken in due time. The real cause of her demise maybe attributed to heart attack, but the fact that it came so sudden and so soon was what surprised everybody. 

Our sister used to volunteer herself for the literature service in translating hymns and ministry books for a few years. She had a generous heart of taking care of the saints and the church in material offerings. She also loved cooking North Indian food and used to bring her potion for the Lord's day lovefeast. She is well remembered by many saints as one who provides good and tasty food to the saints.

Though as the church we are ready for her burial, funeral, and memorial service, we rather obliged to her family's preferences and participated in whatever the family did. We respect the family's wish, especially of her husband's and children's; they wanted her to be cremated in an electric cremation centre at Delhi. We did not insist on any of our opinions and followed whatever they arranged. We participated in the cremation and prayed for the family she left behind. We also participated in the memorial day service and prayed for the family. Within our capacity, we did our best to help and participate in all the activities which we felt peaceful about.

As we considered and fellowshipped concerning our sister's sudden demise, we all felt the urgency for our need to grow in life and gain Christ. Once the time appointed by the Lord comes, the same fate will be with all. Until that time, we must use every opportunity to love the Lord, pursue Him, gain Him, and grow up unto maturity. The only thing that will count before the Lord is how much of Christ is formed in us during the lifespan the Lord has blessed us. We take this as an instant reminder for the church as a whole to love the Lord, pursue the Lord, and gain the Lord. 

May Christ be formed in us during our short sojourn on this earth. May our sister's short sojourn be a reminder to all of us to pursue Christ.

My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you. Galatians 4:19  

The Jubilee

What touched me most and what I enjoyed most in the recent summer training on the book of Leviticus is on "the jubilee." The truth concerning the jubilee is profound and truly unfathomable. The experience of the jubilee has begun from the day of one's salvation and has been going on and on. 

This time too, I need to design an official calendar for 2019. I had been waiting and praying for the perfect theme until one day in my time with the Lord, the Lord impressed me with the jubilee and the need to experience the jubilee all the days of our Christian lives in all the churches in India. I begin to study and revisit the messages on the jubilee.

After revisiting the truth on the jubilee with the Bible references and ministry materials, the following verses with footnotes were chosen from the Holy Bible, Recovery Version.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to announce the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away in release those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the year of jubilee.” Luke 4:18-19 

Note on “acceptable year”: The New Testament age, typified by the year of jubilee (Lev. 25:8-17). The New Testament age would be the time when God would accept the returned captives of sin (Isa. 49:8; 2 Cor. 6:2) and when those oppressed under the bondage of sin would enjoy the release of God's salvation and keep the New Testament jubilee.

And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. Leviticus  25:10 

Notes on “the fiftieth year”: That the jubilee was in the fiftieth year (vv. 10-11) signifies that the full responsibility (typified by the number fifty) to meet all the requirements of God has been fulfilled so that man does not need to bear any responsibility. Fifty years also signifies the entire course of fallen human life. Thus, the year of jubilee, the fiftieth year, signifies the conclusion of our fallen human life.

 

The year of jubilee is the acceptable year of the Lord prophesied in Isa. 61:1-2 and fulfilled by the Lord’s coming in Luke 4:16-22. In the Old Testament type the jubilee lasted for one year, but in the fulfillment it refers to the entire New Testament age, the age of grace, as the time when God accepts the returned captives of sin (Isa. 49:8; Luke 15:17-24; 2 Cor. 6:2) and when those oppressed under the bondage of sin enjoy the release of God’s salvation (Rom. 7:14—8:2). The believers’ enjoyment of the jubilee in the age of grace, i.e., their enjoyment of Christ as God’s grace to them, will issue in the full enjoyment of the jubilee in the millennium and in the fullest enjoyment in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth.

Then you shall sound aloud the ram’s horn in the seventh month on the tenth day of the month; on the Day of Expiation you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. Leviticus 25 :9 

Note on "Day of Expiation": The sounding of the ram’s horn in the forty-ninth year on the Day of Expiation signifies that the jubilee is based on the expiation for sin, that the full liberty might be proclaimed to all the people (v. 10). This type was fulfilled by the full redemption of Christ as the basis for the proclamation of the full freedom to all the human race (cf. Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47).

Note on “jubilee” in 10: Perhaps related to the word ram; meaning a time of shouting, or a time of the trumpeting of the ram’s horn. The trumpeting of the ram’s horn signifies the preaching of the gospel as the proclaiming of liberty in the New Testament jubilee to all the sinners sold under sin (Luke 4:18-19; Acts 26:17b-18) that they may return to God and God’s family and may rejoice with shouting in the enjoyment of God’s salvation.

The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; you shall not sow nor reap its aftergrowth nor gather from its unpruned vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its produce out of the field. In this year of jubilee each one of you shall return to his possession. Leviticus  25:11-13 

Note on "possession": In the year of jubilee everyone who had sold his possession, his allotted portion of the good land, was returned to it without paying anything to redeem it (vv. 10, 13, 28), and everyone who had sold himself into slavery regained his freedom and returned to his family (vv. 39-41). Returning to one’s possession and being freed and returning to one’s family signify that in the New Testament jubilee the believers have returned to God as their lost divine possession, have been released from all bondage, and have returned to the church as their divine family.

To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me. Acts 26:18 

Note on "open theri eyes": This was to carry out the fulfillment of God's jubilee, the acceptable year of the Lord, proclaimed by the Lord Jesus in Luke 4:18-21 (see note 19¹ in Luke 4) according to God's New Testament economy. The first item of the spiritual and divine blessings of the New Testament jubilee, which are the blessings of the gospel of God, is to open the eyes of those who are fallen and turn them from darkness to light, that they may see the divine things in the spiritual realm. To see these things requires spiritual sight and divine light.

Note on "inheritance":  Lit., a portion; referring to a portion of an inheritance. This inheritance is the Triune God Himself with all He has, all He has done, and all He will do for His redeemed people. The Triune God is embodied in the all-inclusive Christ (Col. 2:9), who is the portion allotted to the saints as their inheritance (Col. 1:12). The Holy Spirit, who has been given to the saints, is the foretaste, the pledge, and the guarantee of this divine inheritance (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:14), which we are sharing and enjoying today as a foretaste in God's New Testament jubilee, and which we will enjoy in full in the coming age and for eternity (1 Pet. 1:4). In the type of the jubilee in Lev. 25:8-13, the main blessings are the liberty proclaimed and the returning of every man to his own possession. In the fulfillment of the jubilee here, liberation from the authority of darkness and the receiving of the divine inheritance are the primary blessings (cf. note 32³ in ch. 20).

For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8:2   

Note on "the law of the Spirit of life": The law of the Spirit of life is the subject of this chapter. The Spirit and life are mentioned in this verse, but only in connection with the working of this law. Life is the content and issue of the Spirit, and the Spirit is the ultimate and consummate manifestation of the Triune God after His being processed through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection and becoming the indwelling, life-giving Spirit, who is life to all the believers in Christ. The law that has freed us from the law of sin, which is of Satan, who dwells in the members of our fallen body (Rom. 7:23, 17), is of this Spirit of life. It is this law, not God nor the Spirit, that works in us to deliver us from the working of the law of sin in our flesh and to enable us to know God and gain God and thereby live Him out. This law of the Spirit of life is the spontaneous power of the Spirit of life. Such a spontaneous law works automatically under the condition that fulfills its requirements (see note 4²). 

Both Satan and God, after entering into our being and dwelling in us, work within us not by outward, objective activities but by an inward, subjective law. The working of the law of the Spirit of life is the working of the processed Triune God in our spirit; this is also the working of the Triune God in us in His life.

The spiritual life revealed in this chapter is fourfold. First, it was the divine life in the Spirit (v. 2). Second, it became life in our spirit through regeneration (v. 10). Then from our spirit it saturates our mind for the transformation of our soul, to which our mind belongs, and becomes the life in our soul (v. 6). Eventually, it will permeate our body and become the life in our body (v. 11), ultimately issuing in the transfiguration of our body (Phil. 3:21), that is, the redemption of our body (v. 23).

The major function of the processed Triune God in indwelling our spirit as the law of the Spirit of life is to free us completely from Satan, who dwells in our fallen nature as the law of sin and of death (7:23-25). This freeing is not only for our subjective justification but even more for our dispositional sanctification.

The calendar was designed with these Bible verses and notes and was thus approved by the brothers as well. Later, it came to my notice that the burden these days is on the experience of jubilee in our Christian life and church-life. The young working saints just had their training on "the jubilee". And the saints in India will be displaying on their walls as a reminder to be in the jubilee. The year 2019 will indeed be a year of jubilee; the return of the captives of sin (Isa. 49:8; 2 Cor. 6:2) to God, and those oppressed under the bondage of sin would enjoy the release of God's salvation and keep the New Testament jubilee. 

Corporate Managment

Since the time the Lord called me to serve full-time I have always been holding the view that I should simple serve as a slave, even a faithful and prudent slave, without any opinion and with all simplicity. The Lord's arrangement in my service is such that I have to serve in the literature service which is legally registered to the government of India and formally set up as a corporate office. I never had any intention to serve in a way of exercising authority or carrying out administrative management. But the service I am assigned to is such that I cannot avoid corporate management. It's no longer a choice, but a must. I wish that someone else can do all the administrative works and I simply follow in obedience what was instructed to me. Now the case is, I am assigned to be that "someone" though not alone, I cannot escape this assignment. I have been praying for wisdom that the Lord be my Head and my wisdom in every corporate affair of the company.

The past two weeks had been filled with fellowship and making a corporate official decision concerning many "company affairs." A brother and I would sit and fellowship for hours on the situation of the serving ones and many official matters. It was a good time of learning from one another how to handle persons, matters and things. At times, we had to take hard and difficult decisions and deny my personal opinion. Even in this way, the Lord is training and perfecting me. By serving in this way of corporate management I am serving Him too.

This is one of the main reasons why I decided to pray specifically for my service the Lord has blessed me with. To pray for wisdom and understanding and take Christ as my wisdom and head. I know no other way nor better way than asking God for wisdom and understanding and taking Christ as my wisdom and understanding in corporate management.

1 Kings3:7 And now, O Jehovah my God, You have made Your servant king in the place of David my father, though I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.3:8 And Your servant is in the midst of Your people, whom You have chosen, a vast people that cannot be numbered or counted for multitude.3:9 Give therefore to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?3:11 And God said to him, Because you have asked for this matter and have not asked for long life for yourself and have not asked for riches for yourself and have not asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for discernment for yourself to understand justice;3:12 I now do according to your words. I now give you a heart of wisdom and understanding, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor will one rise up after you like you.3:13 And I also give you that for which you did not ask, both riches and glory, so that there will be no one among kings like you all your days.
4:28 And they also brought to the place where it should be, barley and straw for the horses and steeds, each according to his charge.4:29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and very much understanding and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore.4:30 And Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the children of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.

All services are for the Lord and to the Lord. The best way to serve in any service is to serve by taking Christ as our wisdom, understanding and discernment, and looking up to Him as the Counselor, Advocate, and Judge.

In His Mercy

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up together with Him and seated us together with Him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, that He might display in the ages to come the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-6

Note on "mercy" from the Recovery Version

The object of love should be in a lovable condition, but the object of mercy is always in a pitiful situation. Hence, God's mercy reaches farther than His love. God loves us because we are the object of His selection. But because of our fall we became pitiful, even dead in our offenses and sins; therefore, we need God's mercy. Because of His great love, God is rich in mercy to save us out of our wretched position into a condition that is suitable for His love.

These days my subjective spiritual experience of God is that He is a God of mercy and I have been enjoying His mercy. I have come to a realisation, and it has been made more firm, that I am at His mercy. For reasons well known or unknown, one thing is sure, God is a merciful God and I am at His mercy. I have come to know of myself too well; my shortages, my weaknesses, my failures, my sins, my worldliness, my naturalness, and the list goes on... I am deeply convinced of my true condition and I can identify myself with Paul in his experience in Romans 7:24 "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?."

The Lord is sovereign in His shepherding that he exposes who I am, to humble me and let me know that without Him and His mercy I am nobody and I am nowhere. The divine light shining and the divine hand touching me proves to me all the more that I am nobody and I am nothing without Him and His mercy. All these weeks, day by day, the exposing and touching of the Lord is painful yet good for me. I no longer dare to think or speak or behave haughtily, or even with a little bit of pride or boasting. 

Once when I was much younger in the Lord and was burning for the Lord I used to condemn every slightest mistake, propagating the perfection of Christ. And such action, instead of shepherding and building up new believers, they shattered and turned back the new believers. Many years have elapsed since then, and many spiritual lessons learned. Now by His mercy, I can only thank the Lord for His mercy; I am at the helm of His mercy.

When I have been exposed to such an extent, I don't even deserve God's grace, theoretically speaking, I need His mercy instead; His mercy reaches further than grace. I am glad that the Lord taught me this important lesson of life. I believe this lesson will remind me unto eternity that He is a God of mercy, I am such a wretched man, and that I am what I am, not merely by His grace, but mostly because of His mercy. Therefore, I even deem it best to cling to the phrase literally, "in His mercy".

Yes Lord, in Your mercy, I am what I am. Ever preserve me in Your mercy from now and unto eternity.

Witness Lee: My Brother and My Teacher

In my recent trip to the USA to attend a summer training, I purchased a book titled, "A Memorial Biography of Brother Witness Lee." This is the first time I got hold of a book which has more detail account of the life and ministry of brother Witness Lee. The first time I heard about him was when I was a student way back in 2001. A rumour about him was being spread as a warning to the students to be aware of as his ministry was falsely dubbed as "cultic." It didn't bother me much then. But when my thirst and hunger for the truth concerning Christ and the church could not be quenched by any books or ministries that I knew of then, I turned to the Lord in desperate prayer to answer my quests. It was then that the Lord introduced me to a brother who introduced the books by brother Watchman Nee. Then to a group of brothers who were meeting as the local church in Chennai and were also pursuing the books by both brother Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. That's when I came to hear more about brother Witness Lee.

Because of the accusation already going on in the campus and online, I was very sceptical about brother Lee. One day a brother took me to the Gospel Book Room in Chennai. I was very interested in Christian literature that I purchased all the Indian print books available then in the book room. I was grace with some 30% discount for the box of books I purchased as a student, both of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. But I hardly read the books by brother Lee due to the obvious reason of false accusation already blinding me. The Lord was sovereign, and He still is, leading me to find it for myself first-hand if the accusations against brother Witness Lee were indeed true or not. It began in this manner...

One night I could not sleep. I didn't know why, then. As I gazed at my bookshelf, I was attracted by the title of a book, "The All inclusive Christ." I picked it out and randomly flipped open to a page where there was an exposition of the good land on "The Mountains and the Hills," from Chapter Seven, The Goodness of the land--Its Unsearchable Riches. I simply could not believe my eyes that I read such a portion explaining my situation of ups and downs. I was so supplied by the Lord's speaking through that book. Never in my life had I felt such life supply by reading a Christian book. I was then full of joy to read on and on, which I did in the following days until I finished the entire book. That was the first book I read of brother Lee, and since then I began to read many other books, one by one. 

I received so much life supply by the pursuit of the ministry books by brother Nee and Lee till today. I thank the Lord that there are brothers who had the Lord's anointing from whom I can receive the Lord's life supply, in the principle of incarnation. This is one of the channels through which I received the life supply of God. I also received the Lord's supply directly from the Lord Himself and also through some other fellow believers. Now looking back I realised that Satan was trying to stop me from receiving the Lord's life supply through brother Witness Lee's ministry. For this ministry is really focussed on helping the believers grow in life and be built up as the church, the Body of Christ.

Till date, I could not keep count of how many books I have read, studied, and enjoyed of the books by brother Witness Lee. There definitely is a life-supply in the ministry of brother Lee. And I am one of the many beneficiaries of this ministry. I never met him personally, I only read and enjoyed his portion in the Body as a minister of the word and of the age. And I will continue to enjoy what the Lord apportioned to him for the entire Body. Despite some opposers subtly trying to defame him and stop his ministry of the word to be enjoyed by the believers, my testimony is, I receive so much life-supply from brother Lee. Whatever opposer may say, my testimony is true: Since I read the ministry books by brother Witness Lee, my love for the Lord Jesus Christ grows all the more, my enjoyment and experience of Christ grows all the more, and I believe, I am also growing in the Lord a lot more than before.

I do not belittle any other Christian ministers and authors too, but I have not come across a minister that ministers life so richly and helps me in my Christian life for the church life as brother Witness Lee does. If anyone can recommend any minister or author, I would love to try them out too. Therefore, despite the Satanic forces of trying to defame and accuse brother Witness Lee, I testify to all men as before God, that brother Witness Lee is my dear brother in the Lord, though he had gone to be with the Lord, his ministry still speaks, and he is my teacher too. I thank the Lord for such a brother in the Lord who helps me see, know, enjoy, and live Christ for the building up of the church, the Body of Christ.

Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for Your bondslave, brother Witness Lee!