I’ve believed the true report

Second Corinthians 3:18 speaks of the believers being mirrors reflecting Christ. Our whole being should be open, and we should be open not only outwardly but also inwardly. When our whole being is open to the Lord, the Lord Spirit will touch our spirit, and His image will be imprinted into our spirit and reflected from within our spirit. This is a deep experience; it is much deeper than merely eating a little manna and drinking a small amount of living water. We pay much attention to pray-reading and treasure pray-reading, but if we merely pray-read without letting the Lord write or inscribe in us, it will be too shallow. We must open up and allow the Lord to touch the depths of our being. Only then can we declare, "I have passed the riven veil... I am living in the presence of the King" (Hymns, #551).

After a period of time enjoying the riches in the Holy Place, a believer begins to realize that behind the veil there is something deeper, richer, and higher. He also realizes that his fallen nature, the flesh, is a separation, a veil. Even though he has enjoyed a rich portion of the Lord, now he knows that there is something richer that he is not yet able to touch because of this separating veil. Eventually, he sees in the Bible that Christ's death not only deals with his sins, but also deals with the flesh. The Lord's death has rent, torn, the flesh. Spontaneously, by the indwelling Spirit, such a believer crucifies his flesh; that is, he puts his fallen nature to death. Furthermore, the Spirit works to arrange circumstances which will cause him to be put into death. In this way he experientially passes through the riven veil. The chorus of a hymn says,

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
I have passed the riven veil,
Here the glories never fail.

Hymns, #551

We may sing these words in a very superficial way without realizing what they mean. If we would pass through the riven veil, we need both the Spirit working within and the coordination of the circumstances outwardly. This is why in Romans 8 we have the Spirit and also all things (v. 28). The Spirit and all things work together to put us into the death of Christ so that we may pass through the riven veil and thereby enter into the Holy of Holies to enjoy God in full.

Since the anointing is the gentle rubbing and moving of the Holy Spirit in us with God's element, when we obey its teaching, we have the increase of God's element within and are led to live before His face at every time and in every place, abiding in Him and fellowshipping with Him in an uninterrupted flow. Thus, we obtain His abiding in us and enjoy the topmost blessing of His presence. At such a time we enter into the realm mentioned in the chorus of Hymns, #551, which says, "I have passed the riven veil, here the glories never fail...I am living in the presence of the King." This is our passing through the veil of the flesh to live before God, our entering into the Holy of Holies, our living in our spirit to have fellowship with God face to face.

There is a hymn that speaks of passing the outer court, the outer veil, and the inner veil (Hymns, #551). This is related to the tabernacle and the outer court. The outer veil was the veil at the entrance to the Holy Place, and the inner veil was the veil separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, this inner veil was torn from the top to the bottom (Matt. 27:51).

Hymns, #551 is a Pentecostal hymn. In the last century, a group of Christians felt that Christianity was too dead and deadening and that it had fallen into rituals and letters and was short of the Spirit and life. From their study of the Word they saw that at the apostles' time, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon people. Therefore, a group of Christians in England began to pray and seek for the Holy Spirit. They testified that they prayed to such an extent that they also received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This was the start of the Pentecostal movement.

The Pentecostal movement developed and spread to the United States in the beginning of the twentieth century. It first prevailed in Massachusetts and then continued on to the West until it reached the Los Angeles area. At the same time, a group of Christians in a certain place in Pennsylvania on the East Coast claimed that they had received the so-called gifts of the Holy Spirit. Thus, based on the account in Exodus 15, they called the place where they were Elim (v. 27), indicating that they were not dry but rather full of the living water. Those who met there wrote this hymn. Then in 1934 this song spread to China and reached our hands. In October of the same year, Brother Watchman Nee had an Overcomers' Conference in Hangchow. Because this hymn could stir up our spirit very much, he asked me to translate the chorus into Chinese, and we sang it in the meetings.

In 1963 and 1964, when we were preparing the English hymnal, we selected the entire hymn. Then in 1966 and 1967, when we were recompiling the Chinese hymnal, we translated the entire hymn into Chinese. The first stanza of this hymn says,

I've believed the true report,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!
I have passed the outer court,
O glory be to God!
I am all on Jesus' side,
On the altar sanctified,
To the world and sin I've died,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!

The third stanza says,

I have passed the outer veil,
Hallelujah to the Lamb! Which did once God's light conceal,
O glory be to God!
But the blood has brought me in
To God's holiness so clean,
Where there's death to self and sin,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!

The outer court here typifies the world. Here it says that we should forsake the world instead of remaining in it. We need to be sanctified on the altar so that we can pass from the outer court through the first veil into the Holy Place, where there is the showbread table as our divine and all-inclusive supply.

The fourth stanza says,

I'm within the holiest pale,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!
I have passed the inner veil,
O glory be to God!
I am sanctified to God
By the power of the blood,
Now the Lord is my abode,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!

The inner veil typifies our self, the fallen man, and the flesh of sin put on by the Lord Jesus (Rom. 8:3). When the Lord Jesus was crucified and died, the veil of the temple was split in two from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51). This indicates that when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, our fallen man, our natural man, was also crucified there. This abolished our self, which is what separates us from God, in order that we may have an open way into the Holy of Holies to contact and enjoy God. Thus, not only God dwells in the Holy of Holies, but we also dwell in the Holy of Holies.

Stanza two says,

I'm a king and priest to God,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!
By the cleansing of the blood,
O glory be to God!
By the Spirit's pow'r and light,
I am living day and night,
In the holiest place so bright,
Hallelujah to the Lamb!

This is a description of "dwelling in the Holiest Place and living within the veil."

According to our Christian experience, the Holy of Holies today refers to our spirit. First Corinthians 3:16 says, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" Today we are God's temple. The temple of God has three parts: the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. First Thessalonians 5:23 says that as the temple of God we also have three parts: body, soul, and spirit. The body, which is the outward appearance, typifies the outer court; the soul, which is within the body, typifies the Holy Place; and the spirit, which is enveloped by the soul, typifies the Holy of Holies.

Only the saved ones can be the temple of God, because the temple of God is the dwelling place of God, the place in which God dwells. The unsaved ones do not have God dwelling in them; hence, they are not the temple of God. We all have God's indwelling. Today He is the Spirit dwelling in our spirit. In the Old Testament God dwelt in the Holy of Holies of the temple. In the New Testament God also dwells in the Holy of Holies—our spirit. Therefore, Romans 8:16 says, "The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit." This proves that God dwells in our spirit.

Today this God who is above all dwells in our spirit! This is tremendous. If the President wanted to come and stay in our home, we would all be surprised to receive such a great honor and would treat him as a distinguished guest. How much greater God is than the President, yet He comes to dwell in our spirit! How wonderful this is! When God dwells in us, our spirit becomes the Holy of Holies. Because the presence of God is in the Holy of Holies, the throne of grace is there. The throne of grace indicates the presence of God, which is God Himself. God comes into our spirit to give grace to us.