Shepherding Materials
Volume 5
Knowing the Truth
LESSON FIFTEEN – THE LIFE-STUDY OF THE BIBLE
John 5:39-40 — You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me. Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
THE FEATURES OF THE LIFE-STUDIES
Pointing Out the Central Theme and All of Its Aspects
The Bible is a special work of literature. Although it does not focus on any particular topic, it has a central theme that is comprehensive, encompassing many matters. Over the ages the greatest difficulty for Bible readers has been the difficulty of seeing the Bible’s central light and the comprehensiveness of its light. Thus, their understanding of the Bible has been fragmented and peripheral. They may have understood a point here and a point there, but they have not been able to gain a complete understanding. If we want to have a complete understanding of the Bible, we must see that the Bible has only one center and that this center encompasses many matters; it is comprehensive.
Under this principle the Life-studies have a center. They also contain explanations and definitions of various matters, so they are comprehensive as well. Therefore, when we study the Life-studies, we are always able to obtain the life nourishment from them, and we are also able to gain some knowledge of the truth.
Seeing the Central Theme and All Its Aspects
Let us take the Life-study of Exodus as an example.…The central theme of Exodus is how Christ becomes everything to us. First, He became our Passover lamb. The blood of the passover lamb typifies the precious blood of Christ shed for the forgiveness of our sins (Matt. 26:28; John 19:34; 1 Pet. 1:18-19). There is also the meat, which typifies the generating life of Christ as our supply (John 6:53, 55). Then there is the unleavened bread, which typifies Christ Jesus who is our nourishment of life and who takes away all our sinful and evil things (1 Cor. 5:7-8). Finally, there are the bitter herbs, which indicate that we need to regret and repent, to experience bitterness in the matter of sinful things.
Checking These Types with Our Practical Experience and Applying Them to Our Daily Living
These items added together are comprehensive and not limited to one aspect. Furthermore, they can be checked with our Christian experience.…If we only read about the types and study the doctrines without comparing them to our own experiences, it will not be easy to understand Exodus. However, if we compare our experiences to these types, they are very easy to understand because they are descriptions of our normal Christian living.
THE BENEFITS OF THE LIFE-STUDY MESSAGES
Entering into the Truths of the Bible
Some criticize us, saying that we read the Life-study messages and not the Bible. Those who speak this way are completely misinformed. The goal of the Life-study messages is to bring people into the truths of the Bible. In the past when people read the Bible, they could not find the way to enter in, so they had no way to understand it. This is like having a house with no entryway, no door, and no windows to allow people to enter in. The Life-study messages do the work of paving a way, building a door, and opening a window so that people can enter the house and enjoy everything inside.
Leading People to Touch Life
Another function of the Life-study messages is to bring people into life. The Lifestudy messages are not a set of philosophical or classical writings apart from the Bible. The Life-study messages do not merely expound the Bible and present the truth; rather, they also bring people into the truth to enjoy and experience its riches.…The Lifestudy messages bring us into the depths of the Bible to touch and enjoy the life within (cf. John 5:39-40).
A Factor for Rich Meetings
The richest meetings are those with the Life-study messages as their content. If every Lord’s Day we would take two Lifestudy messages as the content of our fellowship, the meeting would be very rich.
Encouraging One Another to Speak the Highest and Deepest Truths
God’s economy, God’s dispensing, the essential Spirit, and the economical Spirit are certainly very deep terms, but to the new believers, especially the young ones, they will not seem deep for very long. These new ones will gradually become familiar with the terms, and then they will clearly understand them. We must be willing to change our concepts and must encourage the young ones to learn the highest and deepest truths. I believe that if we do so, in the future when the saints speak to each other and even when they preach the gospel, their speaking will be of the very highest quality. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 5, “Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—the Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery,” pp. 359-361, 363-364)
Reference: CWWL, 1984, vol. 5, “Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—the Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery,” ch. 1
O LIVING WORD OF GOD, GOD’S IMAGE TRUE
Study of the Word— The Function of the Word – 801
- O living Word of God, God’s image true,
Thou art the content of God’s written word:
God in Thee we have met, God’s fulness found.
And in the Scripture we Thyself have heard.
- No man has e’er seen God, apart from Thee.
Without the Scripture Thee we’d hardly see;
Thou to the human race God hast declared,
And thru the Scripture Thou art shown to me.
- Perfect embodiment Thou art of God,
A portrait full the Scripture gives of Thee;
In Thee we comprehend God’s image true,
And thru the Scripture Thou art real to me.
- Life-giving Spirit Thou, as well as Word,
Now e’en the Spirit in the Word Thou art;
When thru the Spirit giv’n, I touch the Word,
Fulness divine to me Thou dost impart.
- In Thee I may with God have fellowship,
And thru the Scripture I on Thee may feed;
Thru study of the Word with prayer to God
Thy glorious riches fully meet my need.
- Teach me to exercise my spirit, Lord,
Thy Word to study, so to contact Thee,
That Thou, the living Word, with Scripture, too,
As one my daily manna e’er may be.