In Acts 26:18 we see the work that we must do today for the increase and building up of the Body of Christ, and in this verse we see the all-inclusive contents of our divine commission.
In particular, today we want to see that we need to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light; we need to pray over this portion so that we may have our eyes opened and we may be turned from darkness to light.
As we live in the continuation of the book of Acts, we need to see what is our commission from the Lord.
In Acts 26:18 Paul shares what is his commission from God, and since he’s our pattern in the Lord, his commission is our commission, our divine commission.
We need to bring this verse before the Lord and pray this verse again and again so that we may be infused with the all-inclusive contents of our divine commission.
On one hand there are things that we have to do by cooperating with the Lord to bring others into, and on the other, this divine commission applies to us, for we need to be enlightened, brought into light, receive forgiveness of sins, and enjoy Christ as our inheritance.
Before we can open people’s eyes, our eyes need to be open first, that is, we need to not only have a doctrinal knowledge of God and His economy but a spiritual seeing under the divine light.
May we not settle for knowing our divine commission in doctrine but see the Lord, repent, be filled with Him, have forgiveness of sins, and enjoy Christ as our all-inclusive portion with the saints in the light.
To accomplish our divine commission as seen in this verse is to carry out the fulfillment of God’s jubilee, the acceptable year of the Lord, which was proclaimed by the Lord Jesus in Luke 4:18-21 according to God’s New Testament economy.
Christ came to proclaim the jubilee, He brought us into the jubilee, and now we are one with Him to proclaim the jubilee, the acceptable year of the Lord, thus fulfilling our divine commission to bring people out of darkness and into light, out of death and into life, and out of the world and into the church to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as their portion.
We need to pray over the contents of our divine commission in Acts 26:18, asking the Lord to make these matters our experience and reality so that we also can bring others into this experience and reality (Eph. 3:8).
First we have to enter into the jubilee, enjoy the jubilee, and live in the jubilee, and then we need to carry out our divine commission to bring others into this experience and reality.
Our Divine Commission is to Open their Eyes; We need a Fresh Vision of Christ and God’s Economy!
The first aspect of the divine commission is “to open their eyes”, that is, to open people’s eyes.
Before we can open others’ eyes, our eyes need to be open; therefore, we need to pray for a spirit of wisdom and revelation to understand and see more and more of Christ, the Body of Christ, and the divine dispensing for the divine economy (see Eph. 1:17; 3:5; cf. Rev. 4:6; 3:17; Matt. 6:6).
We need to exercise our spirit to have the wisdom to know the mystery of God, and we need to have revelation from God’s Spirit that He may show us the vision by opening the veil.
When we pray, we need to enter into our private room and pray in secret, so that the Father would speak to us and unveil us to see His economy. We need secret times with the Lord; we need a root system, an unseen spiritual growth, by praying in our private room.
We simply cannot go on with the Lord without new knowledge of the Lord and a new vision of Him (see Acts 26:16; Phil. 3:8b, 10a, 13; cf. Deut. 4:25).
We may be like the Israelites, entering into some enjoyment of Christ as the good land, but we may “languish in the land”, that is, we may lose our spiritual freshness, our original impressions may be blunted, and we may not enjoy the Lord in a fresh way.
We need to be fresh with the Lord, always seeing more; whenever we touch the Lord, He commissions us in a fresh way to open other’s eyes.
We need to realise that being a minister and a witness is not a matter of teaching or knowledge but of the Lord’s appearing and having a fresh vision of Him and His economy.
The things in which we have seen the Lord and the things in which the Lord will appear to us are the things that we must minister to others (see Acts 22:14-15).
The Lord keeps appearing to us, thus giving us vision after vision of His glorious person.
Our divine commission, therefore, is first for us to see a fresh vision of the Lord and have much secret time with Him to enjoy Him and have His appearing, and then to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is (Eph. 3:9).
There’s something hidden in God’s heart, something that is the reason for which He does things; Job didn’t know what this was, but today in the New Testament age we know – it is God’s economy.
Job went through so many things and sought to find what’s the meaning and the reason for things, but all that God wanted is to empty Job of his self-righteousness so that He may fill Job with Himself.
The reason things happen to us is God’s economy.
We need to be before the Lord, spend time with Him, see Him afresh day by day, and even be desperate before Him, especially as things happen; the more real we get with the Lord, the more real He will become to us.
When we are brought into a seeing, a spiritual seeing of Christ, God, and His economy, we can cooperate with Him to carry out our divine commission to open others’ eyes.
Lord Jesus, open our eyes! Grant us a fresh vision of the all-inclusive Christ and of God’s economy. Oh Lord, give us a spirit of wisdom and understanding that we may see more and more of Christ, the Body of Christ, and the divine dispensing for the divine economy. We want to touch You in a fresh way, have Your fresh appearing, and have our eyes opened to see You! Amen, Lord Jesus, when we see You we can carry out our divine commission to open others’ eyes that they may see Jesus, God’s economy, and the divine dispensing!
Our Divine Commission is to Turn them from Darkness to Light, being Luminaries in the World
The second aspect of our divine commission is to “turn them from darkness to light” (Acts 26:18).
God is light; for us to see light we need to be in His presence, and in His presence we can enjoy Christ as the allotted portion of the saints in the light (Col. 1:12).
Before we were saved, we were in darkness – we were even darkness itself; when the gospel came to us, the light came, and we repented, turned to God, opened to Him, and His light came within us.
When we believed into the Lord, the light of life came into us, and we received God as light to dispel our darkness. Light is the presence of God, and whenever we turn to God within, His presence becomes the shining light, and we can enjoy Christ as our allotted portion.
Before we can carry out our divine commission to turn them from darkness to light, we ourselves need to be people who are full of light (see Luke 11:34-36).
When our eye is single, our whole body is full of light; when our heart is single for the Lord, our whole being is full of the divine light, and we will have no dark part in us. We need to open to the Lord and ask Him to fill us with His presence to such an extent that there’s no dark part in our being.
In the light we can enjoy Christ as our God-given portion (see Col. 1:12).
The Lord Jesus came as the light of the world (John 8:12), and when we receive Him, we have light, we are turned from darkness to light, and we ourselves become light in the Lord (Matt. 5:14).
The word of God is also light, and the opening of God’s word give us light, imparting understanding to those who are simple and single in heart for the Lord (Psa. 119:105, 130).
By enjoying the Lord as light and by being in His word, we become the light of the world, just as a city situated upon a mountain cannot be hidden; we were once darkness, but praise the Lord, we are now light in the Lord!
And as we get together in the church life and enjoy the Lord together, we walk in the light, and the church is a golden lampstand bearing the light of God (Rev. 1:20); whenever we meet together, we get light.
We need to be luminaries in the world, holding forth the word of life (Phil. 2:14-16). We do not have light of ourselves, but because we have Christ as life, we can hold forth His word of life by applying it, presenting it, and offering it to others by our living of Christ, and we therefore bring others out of darkness into light.
We need to tell out the virtues of the One who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9). He called us out of darkness, out of anything that we were before – which was a situation of darkness, and into His light.
Our experience of the Lord as light in our daily life can confirm that we have Him as light; we need to carry out our divine commission to bring others from darkness into light.
The way we should speak to others is simply by telling them our testimony of how the Lord as light is real and living to us; others may argue and debate with a doctrine we present to them, but they cannot argue with our experience and testimony.
Lord Jesus, fill us with the light of Your presence to such an extent that there’s no dark part in our being! Amen! We want to walk in the light, enjoy You as light, walk as children of light, and enjoy Christ as our God-given portion in the light. Amen, Lord, may our whole being with our daily living be in the divine light so that we may live as luminaries in the world, holding forth the word of life. Lord, we want to carry out our divine commission to turn others from darkness to light by telling out the virtues of the One who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, msg. 7 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Propagating the Resurrected, Ascended, and All-inclusive Christ as the Development of the Kingdom of God (2018 fall ITERO), week 9, The Divine Commission according to the Heavenly Vision for the Continuation of the Book of Acts in the Unique Flow of the Divine Stream.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Take time to behold Him, / The world rushes on; / Spend much time in secret / With Jesus alone. / By looking to Jesus / Like Him thou shalt be; / Thy friends, in thy conduct, / His likeness shall see. (Hymns #643)
# Oh! Vast Unmeasured Portion, / Oh! Bountiful Supply, / In light the saints enjoy Thee, / And Thou dost reign thereby. / Within the Father’s bosom / Beloved Son Thou art; / The sweetness of the Godhead / To us Thou dost impart. (Song on, Christ in Colossians)
# Glorious vision, I have seen it: My life is meant for God’s economy! / Earthly bondage, I have left it: My heart outpours for the Lord’s recovery! / Divine Trinity, Divine dispensing: Christ to be life as Spirit real is He; / Churches of God, Body of Christ, New Jerusalem—how I long to see. (Song on, The Uniqueness of the Lord’s Recovery)
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