Read part 1 here.
The people who seek to know the disposition of our hiding God, to find Him and abide in Him—these are the people who become His priests, carrying out the fellowship and bringing men to God. God desires to have a nation of priests. But do you know what the priestly life is all about? The life of a priest is a life of always praying—always coming to the Holy of Holies, always coming to the throne of God. The Bible asks us to pray, and not just to pray, but to pray unceasingly (1 Thes. 5:17); the Bible also asks us to abide in Him (John 15:4). Actually, praying and abiding are not separate because prayer is not an occasional action, but a condition and disposition of abiding before Him at His throne. The life of a New Testament priest is one of abiding before His throne.
In Revelation chapters 21 and 22, we see two major things: the throne of God and of the Lamb, and the living water. These elements constitute our priesthood today. The throne represents the authority and the living water represents the fellowship. When we approach the throne, we are conquered. It is no accident that every time we go to the Lord, we are subdued by this shekinah glory—something beyond us. And out of this throne comes a river of living water—a supply and direct connection of constant fellowship with our God. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬—𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭. To whomever is conquered by His throne and seeks after the living water, He opens the door and unveils the mystery.
In our life as priests, these two perspectives of the throne and the living water both manifest in a hidden way. How do you submit yourself under authority? That’s hidden—something only you know. How do you produce living water? That’s hidden, too, because our supply isn’t physical. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐢𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬. 𝐖𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫, 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐨𝐝. Other people only look to the physical things; they desire outward endorsement, praise, authority, and respect. But these ones can never recognize who is their hidden authority—and thus their serving has no living water and no power.
If we want to be powerful to save people and to serve, we first need to be conquered. Being conquered isn’t equal to being sorry or feeling bad about our failures. That will not change us, and certainly will not change other people. 𝐈𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐢𝐦, 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐇𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬—𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲, 𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. 𝐖𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐰𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐇𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝. Likewise, He isn’t in our good, religious self, either; when we try to serve others, we can lecture, quote the Bible, and argue, but we will not bring people to salvation until we ourselves are as priests, conquered by His throne, under His authority. Contrary to our own natural desire to serve, the life of a priest is a life of simply abiding and doesn’t require us to 𝑑𝑜 anything. No matter how smart, talented, or good-hearted we are, that will not help us to find Him. In the gospels, God hid Himself from the smart and religious people, yet opened Himself to babes and children. What a disposition!
In being conquered, God is able to supply the living water. We are all sinners. And in His multifarious wisdom, God allows us to fail because, in our failures, we can meet God. But we need to have a real seeking, a real pursuit, real experiences, and real salvation. If we struggle, we know where to go: to the throne of God. Be a priest. Live before Him, under His authority. Learn to be simple, learn to be pure, learn to be submissive. Praise the Lord we have failures! Praise the Lord we are not perfect! Praise the Lord we are sinful! For some people, living in sin is permanent corruption. But when we are touched by our sins, we are saved because we have a spirit and we know where to turn. Then, our personal experiences from this authority bring out the living water! These failures are just signs of wonder for us to be conquered by the throne of God, enjoying and dispensing the flow of living water. Once we have been conquered, we find an overflowing supply of living water—the fellowship. The only reason our life will be dry is because we are not before the throne. 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐝𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫; 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩.
Take David as an example. God loved David—a man after His own heart. And yet David experienced such a serious failure! David saw Bath-sheba bathing, committed adultery and even had her husband killed (2 Sam. 11-12)! In our eyes, he should have been stoned to death. But God didn’t. David turned, repented and was restored back to God. Out of David’s failure and Jehovah’s dealing with him came the continuance of the kingship and the one who would build His temple. We are all sinful; no one is righteous before God. Who can cast the first stone? Our life is not about what is moral or immoral—it is about building up the temple, God’s dwelling place. 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐝𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬. 𝐇𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬. How else can we say that we love Him, even though we don’t see Him physically? How can we love someone who is invisible? He is, and we do. 1 Peter 1:8 says,
𝑊ℎ𝑜𝑚 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒; 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐻𝑖𝑚 𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑗𝑜𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑦…
𝐖𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲. Glory is not something far above us. Full of glory means full of transformation; full of glory means we ourselves are replaced by this very Person—raptured in such a joyful way. This condition of transformation is far beyond any earthly sins or failures; it is overcoming and full of glory. It is sourced from our living before God, being subdued by His throne and enjoying and becoming that living water to carry out the heavenly serving of the priesthood. It is a life full of glory, exultant with joy.
Carrying out the serving of the priesthood, however, is not only an individual pursuit—it is part of the mystery hidden from the ages:
1 𝐶𝑜𝑟. 2:6 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑑𝑜 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙-𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑛, 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝑎 𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑒, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡;
2:7 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑦,
2:8 𝑊ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛; 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑦;
2:9 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛, “𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑒𝑦𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑎𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑛’𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡; 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝐺𝑜𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑚.”
2:10 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑠 𝐺𝑜𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑜𝑑.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐆𝐨𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲, 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬, 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭. God knows everything, and God allows everything for a reason because He loves us. Because He loves us, we love Him. And thus He allows all things to work together for good for those who love God (Rom. 8:28), including not just our salvation or our justification, but also our transformation and glorification unto His eternal purpose on the earth. The way we carry our church life is to hold this key to unlock the mystery. God gave it to Peter, and this very key was passed on Paul, to John, and to all the generations of people who are on this line of life. Today, we can live a joyful and exulting life because we carry this key.
And in the midst of living this abundant, joyful, priestly life comes the true gospel for humankind. As priests, we bring men to God. If we understand this, our life on the earth has meaning; our life is spontaneously attractive and colorful. People are drawn to us because we are gushing out living water. We are not serving the Lord because someone told us to. We simply love Him, and we love His body. This overflowing, living water supplies our individual salvation, our household salvation, our gatherings, and our church life. We have a bountiful and attractive life—one that we live together in a mysterious way. Let us protect this church life and guard this bright testimony. Don’t hide anything and don’t open the door for the enemy to come in. Go to Him and put yourself under Him. Confess and be real. Let this Person inside us judge you today. Let the judgment release the living water in you. Then the gospel will come.
What is the answer to the current chaotic world situation? What is the answer to this pandemic, to these signs of the times? We are! We are the answer to this corrupted, fallen universe. We hold the key to the meaning of our existence. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭, 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬, 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲. We cannot trust man or the world because their default setting is lying—sinful. They are fearful because they are sinful. They are fearful because the hook and the power of death bind them. The older people grow, the more they taste sin. But we are like children—like suckling babes. We don’t even know what sin is. Hallelujah that the reality of our human life—of the true humanity—is not in fear! It is in simply abiding before His throne, enjoying and outflowing the living water. And that makes us qualified to become the true humankind—a mysterious human being, the center of the universe. Hallelujah for the Lord’s multifarious wisdom! How can we not be humbled? How can we not praise? We should stop our religious life and start to live a priestly life, bubbling with living water. We cannot get old. The more we live, the more we should be new!
In this condition, the church life can have living water continually flowing from this hidden source. This very God likes to hide Himself, out of past eternity in the hidden way. 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐇𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬, 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬. And this mystery includes us—our life, our upbringing, our experiences, why we are here and why we are who we are. Out of the throne of the lamb, there is a river of living water. Throughout the entire Bible and throughout 6,000 years of human history, God has worked Himself into us and administered His own eternal plan in such a hidden way. The exercise of His authority and the fellowship between Him and His creation is hidden under His multifarious wisdom. We are living proof of this living yet hidden God. We are the New Testament priests, living out a life that is overflowing with joy and exulting—a true full-of-glory church life.
(𝐴𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 2 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎 𝑔𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 11/20/2020, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑟. 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 1 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒.)