To the holiest place I'd come

I did not change the truths seen by Brother Nee in the Lord's recovery, but I admit that I have changed some practices. We cannot use the way from fifty years ago, because that would be holding on to oldness. Today everything on the earth is advancing. The truth can never be changed, just as no one can change the laws of science, because they were created by God. Similarly, the Bible is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16) and can never be changed. Those who criticize me for changing the truth actually do not know the truth. Since I was twenty years old, I have devoted myself to studying the Bible every day. I am still receiving light from the Lord and continuing to publish messages. The changes I am making are absolutely worthwhile. In 1961 I wrote eighty-five hymns, one of which says, "To the holiest place I'd come,/ There within the veil to be;/ There to touch the throne of grace,/ Let life's water flow thru me" (Hymns, #769). When I went to Manila and led the young people to sing this hymn, everyone was enlivened. There are doctrines in this hymn, but they are not dead doctrines. Rather, they are words that convey living experiences. Therefore, as soon as people sing it, they are enlivened.

If we are in the wilderness far off from the tabernacle, we can, by God's mercy, still enjoy the open manna as a normal experience in the wilderness. But this is too shallow, too outward, and too far off. God wants us to enter into the Holy of Holies and to be so intimate and close to Him, touching the golden pot. The hidden Christ as the heavenly hidden manna is here in God's divine nature. We cannot find Him in any other place. Today God's divine nature is in our spirit. Although we have the golden pot, the problem is that often we are far off from our spirit. You need not be quarreling or fighting with others in order to be out of the spirit. Even when you joke with the brothers you are outside the spirit. Also being religious is much different from being in the spirit. By being religious we are carried out to the wilderness. The golden pot is in the ark, and the ark is in the Holy of Holies, and the Holy of Holies is joined to our spirit. I like the hymn which says,

In my spirit deeper still
I would touch the Lord I love,
Touch Him in His hidden depth
And His hidden manna prove.

Within the Holy of Holies is the very Christ who is the ark of God containing the golden pot. This Christ comprises the divine nature and contains the hidden manna, for the hidden Christ is within the divine nature. In order to touch this special portion, this topmost portion, of Christ, we must touch the divine nature. In principle, everyone who enjoys this portion is in the Holy of Holies.