晨興聖言-...啟示包羅萬有的基督(W2-1)

第二週 • 週一

W2-d1-ch

晨興餧養

太九14~15 那時,約翰的門徒到耶穌跟前來,說,為甚麼我們和法利賽人常常禁食,你的門徒倒不禁食?耶穌對他們說,新郎和伴友同在的時候,伴友豈能哀慟?…

 

      從馬太福音的記載,我們看見所有與基督有關的事,都發生在宗教之外。在那時,猶太教是真正的宗教,是根據神的聖言所建立的。但是,凡與基督有關的事都發生在猶太教之外;換句話說,基督與宗教毫不相干。

      馬太一章的記載告訴我們,基督的出生如何是在耶路撒冷以外,遠離聖殿的地方成就的,與聖別的祭司無關。…神乃是差遣祂的使者到被人藐視之地的一個小城—加利利的拿撒勒去。神差祂的使者到一個窮苦人家的女孩,一個童女那裏。實際上,一切與這個女子並她情形有關的事物都在耶路撒冷、聖殿、聖別的祭司體系,以及典型並真正的宗教之外。基督的出生與宗教完全沒有關係,完全是在宗教之外成就的(李常受文集一九七○年第二冊,三至四頁)。

信息選讀

      然後,馬太二章繼續告訴我們,人如何尋見這位基督。…祂不是在耶路撒冷被尋見,不是在聖殿被尋見,更不是被任何祭司或是聖民所尋見。我們都熟悉有關天上的星如何在外邦地,向一班沒有聖經,沒有真實宗教的人顯現的記載。我們也知道,那些外邦的星象家如何運用他們天然的心思,推論猶太人的王應當生在耶路撒冷。他們這樣作,使得許多嬰孩的生命後來被殺害。但最終他們找到了耶穌。…當他們來到耶路撒冷時,希律王召集了經學家和法利賽人;他們是一班有聖經知識的人。他們都給了希律王正確並準確的引經,就是彌迦書五章二節的話,那裏說到基督將出生在伯利恆。他們有知識,有準確的聖經章節,卻沒有一個人去看基督。他們只為着聖經,卻不為着基督。

馬太三章向我們陳述引進基督的原則—這也完全是在宗教之外。施浸者約翰向人引薦基督。他生來就是祭司,但他卻不留在祭司體系裏,也不留在聖殿中,甚至不留在耶路撒冷城裏。我們讀到他乃是在曠野裏。他留在一個野的地方,甚至他自己也變成野的。他身穿駱駝毛的衣服。根據利未記十一章,駱駝乃是不潔淨的動物。

約翰沒有教導人有關宗教的事,他乃是呼召人要悔改,改變他們的心思,改變他們對宗教和文化的觀念。他沒有告訴他們去作甚麼事,他乃是為他們施浸,埋葬他們,了結他們。約翰說,『我是將你們浸在水裏,…但那在我以後來的,…祂要將你們浸在聖靈…裏。』〔太三11〕…耶穌是由一個野人,用與宗教毫不相干的方式引薦的。

      馬太四章告訴我們,耶穌被引進之後,有一些親愛的人跟隨了祂。他們是誰呢?是大祭司麼?是經學家麼?都不是。他們乃是加利利的漁夫。有些是在海裏打魚的,有些是補網的—他們都是沒有學問的人,但是他們跟隨了耶穌。他們開始跟隨耶穌的地方,不是在耶路撒冷,也不是在聖殿,甚至也不是在聖地,而是在當時稱為『外邦人的』加利利(15)。…基督的出生,基督的被尋見,基督的被引進,以及被人跟隨,都完全遠離宗教。…耶穌來了:祂不僅出生了,也達到成年;祂出來盡職事,把自己薦與人。…祂來到人那裏,人不需要去尋找祂(李常受文集一九七○年第二冊,四至八頁)。

參讀:基督與宗教相對,第一章。

WEEK 2 — DAY 1

Morning Nourishment

W2-d1-en

Matt. 9:14-15 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but Your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, The sons of the bridechamber cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they?…

From the record of Matthew we see that all things related to Christ took place outside of religion. In that day Judaism was the genuine religion, the religion founded according to God’s holy Word. But everything concerning Christ took place outside of that. In other words, Christ had nothing to do with religion.

The record of Matthew 1 tells how the birth of Christ was accomplished outside of Jerusalem, away from the temple, having nothing to do with the holy priests…God sent His angel to a little town in a despised country, Nazareth of Galilee. He sent him to a girl, a virgin, in a poor family. Practically everything related to this girl and her situation was outside of Jerusalem, the temple, and the holy priesthood—the typical and genuine religion. The birth of Christ had nothing to do with religion; it was absolutely accomplished outside of religion. (CWWL, 1970, vol. 2, “Christ versus Religion,” p. 3)

Today’s Reading

Matthew 2 then proceeds to tell us how people found this Christ…He was not found in Jerusalem; He was not found in the temple; neither was He found by any priest or any holy people. We are all familiar with the account of the heavenly star appearing in a pagan country to people with no Bible and no genuine religion. We know also how those heathen magi exercised their natural mind, concluding that the King of the Jews should be born in Jerusalem. In so doing, they caused many young lives to be taken. But eventually, they found Jesus…When they came to Jerusalem, King Herod called the chief priests and scribes, those who had the knowledge of the Bible. They all gave Herod the proper and exact quotation, Micah 5:2, telling that Christ would be born in Bethlehem. They had the knowledge, they had the exact scriptural references, but none of them went to see Christ. They were for the Scriptures, they were for the Bible, but they were not for Christ.

Matthew 3 relates to us the principle of the introducing of Christ— this also is absolutely outside of religion. John the Baptist was the one who recommended Christ to the people. He was born a priest, but he would not remain in the priesthood; he would not stay in the temple or even in the city of Jerusalem. We read that he was in the wilderness. He stayed in a wild place, and even he himself became wild. He wore camel’s hair. The camel, according to Leviticus 11, was an unclean animal.

John did not teach people about religion—he called on them to repent, to change their mind, to change their concept about religion and culture. He did not tell them to do something; he baptized them, he buried them, he terminated them. John said, “I baptize you in water,…but He who is coming after me…will baptize you in the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 3:11). [Jesus] was recommended by a wild person in a wild way with nothing to do with religion.

Matthew 4 tells us that after Jesus was introduced, there were some dear ones who followed Him. Who were they? The high priests? The scribes? No. They were Galilean fishermen. Some were fishing in the sea, others were mending their nets—they were unlearned people, but they followed Jesus. They began to follow not in Jerusalem, not in the temple, and not even in the Holy Land, but in Galilee, a place then considered as “of the Gentiles” (v. 15)…The birth of Christ, the finding of Christ, the introducing of Christ, and the following of Christ were entirely apart from religion…Jesus came: He not only came in His birth, but He also came of age; He came forth to minister; He presented Himself to the people…He came to the people; there was no need to go and find Him. (CWWL, 1970, vol. 2, “Christ versus Religion,” pp. 3-6)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1970, vol. 2, “Christ versus Religion,” ch. 1

 

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