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IV. Entering Into the WorkWhile in Shanghai in October 1933, Watchman Nee received Witness Lee as his guest. Witness Lee stayed with him for about four months, and during that time he did a number of things to train Witness Lee. A. Watchman Nee Trains Witness LeeConcerning some of these things, Witness Lee was clear what he was doing, and concerning others he was not clear at the time. Witness Lee spent much time with him. They were together for many hours, and Witness Lee always gave him the opportunity to speak. Witness Lee would not speak, for he realized that the more he spoke, the more foolish he was. Witness Lee gave all the time to Watchman Nee. He never talked with Witness Lee about vain things but always took the opportunity to speak with him mainly about four matters.
Watchman Nee helped Witness Lee know the Lord as life. Before Witness Lee stayed with him, he loved the Lord and had already obtained a great deal of doctrinal knowledge of the Bible. But he was not clear concerning life. It was not until Witness Lee spent time with him that his eyes were opened to see the matter of life.
One afternoon as they sat together, neither of them said a word. Witness Lee was seated on a sofa and Watchman Nee in a rocking chair. While he was rocking, he began to ask Witness Lee, “Brother Witness Lee, what is patience?” Witness Lee was puzzled. The question was too simple. Surely we all know what patience is. But since this question came from his mouth, it had to be of considerable import. Witness Lee dared not answer. While he was rocking, he continued, “What is patience?” Witness Lee did not understand what his intention with him was at that time. Watchman Nee had a burden, but Witness Lee did not comprehend it. Eventually Witness Lee said, “Well, patience to me is a sort of endurance. When people ill-treat you and persecute you, yet you endure the suffering, that is patience.” Watchman Nee shook his head and said, “No!” Then Witness Lee said, “Please tell me, what is patience?” He answered, “Patience is Christ.” Witness Lee could not understand it. It sounded like a foreign language to him. Witness Lee asked, “Brother, what do you mean by saying that patience is Christ? Would you explain it to me?” Watchman Nee only continued rocking. He offered not a word of explanation. “Patience is Christ,” he repeated. Witness Lee was not only puzzled but deeply bothered. They remained in that state for a long time. Witness Lee would not raise any other question, and Watchman Nee would say nothing else. Witness Lee was very eager to know what he meant, but after a long period with no explanation forthcoming, Witness Lee was fully disappointed. It was late in the afternoon, and eventually he said, “Brother Nee, the time is gone; I must return to have my dinner.” He replied, “All right.” When Witness Lee returned to the guesthouse, he was really troubled. He went to his room and prayed, “Lord, what does it mean that patience is Christ?” The Lord spoke to him in those days, and his eyes were opened. He saw that Christ Himself was his patience. Witness Lee declared, “Real patience is not a kind of behavior, but just Christ lived out from me. I saw it!” It was in this way that Watchman Nee helped him so greatly in the matter of life. During these times of fellowship Watchman Nee also related to Witness Lee the history of the Lord’s move with him from the year he was saved up to that day. Witness Lee was not fully in the church, nor was he in the work in those first ten years of the Lord’s recovery; so Watchman Nee used hour after hour to convey the things to him concerning the Lord’s move in those years, not in a brief way but in full detail. At the time Witness Lee did not understand his reason for relating those things to him, but later he knew. He purposed to perfect Witness Lee and build him up. He was laying a good foundation. Watchman Nee instructed Witness Lee in matters concerning church history from the first century to the present. He recounted all the main things that occurred concerning the church, and the way he did it was deeply significant. He did it from the aspect of the Lord’s recovery and with the goal of the Lord’s recovery in view. Watchman Nee also helped Witness Lee grasp the living way to know the Bible.Witness Lee had been helped by the Brethren to know the Bible in the way of letters, but he helped Witness Lee know the Bible in the way of life. In all their conversations together, Witness Lee received much help from him in these four matters. A good foundation was laid for his work, even up until the end of Witness Lee’s life, in the matters of life, the church, and the work. One afternoon while Witness Lee was studying, Watchman Nee came to his room and threw two sets of used books on his bed. He said, “Here are some books for you,” and immediately left. One group of books was John Nelson Darby’s five-volume Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, and the other group was a four-volume set of Henry Alford’s New Testament for English Readers. Witness Lee realized that his purpose in giving him these two sets of books was to perfect him in knowing the Word of God. B. Watchman Nee Tests Witness LeeIn addition, Watchman Nee also put Witness Lee into a position where he could participate in the work and minister in the local church in Shanghai. This afforded Witness Lee an excellent opportunity to learn how to serve the Lord. Before putting him into such a situation, however, Watchman Nee tested him. His way of testing was secret. In the beginning Witness Lee did not know what he was doing; he did not realize that he was being tested. In the previous years while they were corresponding, Watchman Nee did not really know Witness Lee. But when they stayed together for a longer period of time, he was observing and secretly putting Witness Lee to the test. First, immediately after arriving in Shanghai, Witness Lee was asked to speak in the general Sunday morning meeting. This caught him by surprise, but he gave a rather long message on the pathway to glory from Matthew 13:53-17:8. At that time the church in Shanghai met in two halls. The main hall was hall one while hall two was somewhat secondary. Not long after Witness Lee arrived in Shanghai, the brothers arranged for him to hold a conference in hall two. He believed that this was according to Watchman Nee’s instructions in order to test him a little. Witness Lee spoke every night. He was on the test for about a week. Watchman Nee was not there, but whatever Witness Lee said found its way to him. Witness Lee must have passed the test for he was later charged to speak regularly in the first hall. One day Watchman Nee brought him a bundle of letters from various places. Various persons had written him asking questions about the church, church practice, life, and about the interpretation of the Bible. He said, “Witness, I am too busy. I do not have time to devote to all these things. Would you reply to these letters and answer all their questions for me?” Witness Lee never imagined that this could be a test, but it was. Witness Lee said to him, “There are probably some questions to which I will not know the answer.” He replied, “That does not matter; if you have questions, just ask me.” By the Lord’s mercy Witness Lee answered all of the letters. The longest answer he wrote was on sects and the structure of the church. Watchman Nee appreciated it very much and published it in the fourth and fifth issues of Collection of Newsletters. Watchman Nee’s third overcomer conference was held in Shanghai in January 1934. Many co-workers and saints attended the conference from different places throughout the country. It started on a Monday. Nearly all the outsiders arrived on the Lord’s Day before the conference began. On the morning of the Lord’s Day, while they were all waiting for Watchman Nee to come and speak, a short note was delivered to Witness Lee from him asking him to speak in that meeting. Both Witness Lee and the attendants were all surprised that he did not show up in that meeting. But Witness Lee spoke in the meeting according to his request and acquired some new experience.
During that ten-day conference, Witness Lee received much help from Watchman Nee’s messages. They were indeed marvelous, marking a real turn in both his Christian life and in his church life. His eyes were opened to see Christ in His preeminence in all things according to God’s eternal plan. He took brief notes on all Watchman Nee’s messages, which he eventually published in the March and April issues of The Present Testimony in 1934. One day before the conference, they were having fellowship together. At that time Watchman Nee asked Witness Lee how he daily studied the Bible. He replied that he was in Acts and Colossians. Immediately Watchman Nee said that these two books were a very good match. At first Witness Lee did not understand what he meant, but eventually he was helped to see that Acts reveals to us how Christ ascended to the heavens and was made both Lord and Christ (2:36), whereas Colossians reveals that Christ should have the preeminence in all things and should be all and in all in God’s economy (1:18; 3:11). There was never another person in Witness Lee’s entire Christian life who helped him know the Scriptures in such a profound and living way, especially regarding the revelation of Christ with the church. On one occasion the first hall in Shanghai arranged to hold a gospel meeting, but no one knew who the speaker would be. Many thought that Watchman Nee would speak. Witness Lee was feeling quite relaxed and prepared to hear a message from him. He hoped also to learn more concerning how to preach the gospel. About an hour before the meeting, there was a knock at Witness Lee’s door, and a note was passed on to him. It said, “Brother Witness, you give the message on the gospel tonight.” It shocked Witness Lee! He thought, “What should I do?” At any rate, he had to speak.
That night Witness Lee spoke from John 16 concerning the Spirit convicting the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He pressed the people with the matter of sin because we were born of Adam, of righteousness because we can believe in Christ, and of judgment because we follow Satan. He told the people that here are three persons-Adam, Christ, and Satan. We were all born sinners in Adam, but now God has offered us the opportunity to get into Christ to be justified by taking Him as our righteousness. By believing in Christ we are transferred out of Adam into Christ. However, if we do not believe in Christ, we will remain sinful in Adam, and one day we will be together with Satan sharing God’s judgment upon him. As he delivered this message, he could not see Watchman Nee in the meeting. He did not know where he was, and no one told him where he was. But after a period of time had elapsed, one day as they were walking down the street, Watchman Nee suddenly turned to him and said, “Brother Witness, not many in this country can give a message from John 16 on the three points of sin, righteousness, and judgment and on Adam, Christ, and Satan as you did. I encourage you to go on.” When Witness Lee heard this, he said to himself, “How did he know this?” Eventually, he discovered that while he was speaking Watchman Nee was standing behind the door listening to his word. He heard everything. By that time Witness Lee was aware that he was continually testing him. C. Vision of the Work as One Flow
In 1934, after Witness Lee had been in Shanghai for about four months, Watchman Nee came to see him one day. He said, “Brother Witness, we the co-workers here all feel that you should move your family to Shanghai and work together with us. Bring this matter to the Lord, and see how He will lead you.” Witness Lee brought the matter to the Lord, and at this time his eyes were opened to see a very significant matter. He saw from the book of Acts that there was only one flow, one current on the earth; it began from the throne of grace and came down to Jerusalem. From Jerusalem it took its course through Samaria, traveling to the north to Antioch; then from Antioch it turned westward to Asia Minor and to Europe. He saw that in the entire book of Acts there was only one current of the Lord’s work on this earth and that there was no record of the work of anyone who was not in the current. When Barnabas separated from Paul and began another current, the account of his work in Acts terminated (Acts 15:36-41). The later co-workers, such as Timothy and Apollos, after being raised up by the Lord for His work, all were merged into one flow of the Lord’s move, though they did not need to go to Jerusalem for this purpose (Acts 16:1-3; 18:24-28). The Lord revealed to Witness Lee that the flow of His work in China must be one. Since it had begun from Shanghai, he should not go to the north and keep another flow. If the Lord was going to do something in the north, he must first enter into the flow in Shanghai; then eventually the flow in Shanghai would travel to the north. Although a work was already started in the north, he became crystal clear concerning the one flow. With this vision in view, he returned to the north following Watchman Nee’s conference, stayed for a while, and then returned to Shanghai to stay and work with him. Hence, here was one flow and one current of the Lord’s work in China.
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Impression |
Lord's Calling
© 2003. Living Stream Ministry. |
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