When Saul, who later became the Apostle Paul, was struck down by the Lord on the road to Damascus, he immediately asked,

“Who are You, Lord?”
— Acts 22:8, 9:5, 26:15

Until this time he had served God in a traditional, religious way, but as a result of seeing this vision his entire life was turned upside down, and in turn he and those who served with him turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6).

In the same way, if we are to follow and serve the Lord in an acceptable manner, our life must be one of vision. We must see a vision of Christ, and within that vision we must allow the Lord to tear down what we think we have and what we think we know, just as Saul did, to bring us into the real knowing of Christ Himself.

In a key respect, however, we are different from Saul. That is, as one who was unsaved he had no idea he needed such a vision, but we have at least seen something of the Lord and of His salvation. So, we must not be passive, being satisfied with what we already have. Rather, based upon what we have already seen, we need to seek the Lord to bring us into something more, for,

“To everyone who has, more shall be given.”
— Luke 19:26

We will not receive the kind of outward vision that Saul did, but however the Lord reveals Himself to us, we will begin to know Christ inwardly in a much deeper way.

In my own Christian life the brother who has probably helped me the most is Witness Lee, the co-worker of Watchman Nee. In his writings he often shares the story of how, in 1932, after being saved for about seven years, he became completely dissatisfied with his Christian life. He was a faithful, seeking young Christian who was not worldly and who read and studied his Bible diligently. Yet, as he says, he was convicted that he was very short in his experience of Christ; he had so much knowledge, but very little experience of Him.

So, for a period of about six months he would rise up early every morning to go to a mountain near his home in China and pray, even with tears, regarding his lack of knowing Christ. It was soon after that time that the Lord began to use him in a remarkable way, and did so throughout the rest of his life.

In his short book, The Heavenly Vision, Brother Lee seems to draw upon this experience when he states,

In order to see the vision of Christ, you may need to pray earnestly for a period of time. You may need to cry out to the Lord day by day, saying, “Lord, reveal Yourself to me that I may see. Lord, I do not just need to know—I need to see. I need to be impressed by the vision concerning Yourself.”
— Page 26

In this way we may become those who do see a vision of the glorified, heavenly Christ, and like Saul our entire Christian life and service to the Lord will then be revolutionized.

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— 30 November 2022 —