經文: 「我一看見，就仆倒在祂腳前，像死了一樣。祂用右手按著我，說：不要懼怕！我是首先的，我是末後的，又是那存活的；我曾死過，現在又活了，直活到永永遠遠；並且拿著死亡和陰間的鑰匙。」— (聖經·啟示錄 1章17-18節)
耶穌復活升天後六十多年，祂向所愛的門徒約翰顯現，約翰就仆倒在主面前像死了一樣。當摩西向主求告：「求祢顯出祢的榮耀給我看。」(出埃及記 卅三18)，上帝回答：「你不能看見我的面，因為人見我的面不能存活。」(出埃及記 卅三20)，因為人罪惡的本性，無法面對上帝聖潔的光，一遇見那光必死無疑，我們必須治死老我方能接近聖潔的上帝。約翰見到耶穌向他顯現，就仆倒在祂腳前像死了一樣，可見連約翰都無法面對、接近那聖潔的光。
耶穌用右手按著他說：「不要懼怕……我是……那存活的，我曾死過，現在又活了，直活到永永遠遠。」，這就是要提醒約翰，連耶穌都要通過死亡，才能獲得復活的榮耀；因此無論是救主自己，或是摩西、或是約翰或是門徒，要得榮耀的唯一通路——就是治死有罪惡天性的老我，才能有份於上帝的生命。
那些渴望耶穌向他們顯現的信徒，必須確認一個事實——若不捨棄自己以及世俗一切的慾望，就無法與耶穌合一，耶穌也無法在靈裡向我們顯現。其實門徒們蠻熟悉這真理，耶穌曾向他們說：「愛父母過於愛我的，不配作我的門徒，愛兒女過於愛我的，不配作我的門徒。不背著他的十架跟從我的，也不配作我的門徒。得著生命的，將要失喪生命，為我失喪生命的，將要得著生命。」(馬太福音 十37-39)。耶穌也曾說：「一粒麥子不落在地裡死了，仍舊是一粒；若是死了，就結出許多子粒來。」(約翰福音 十二24)。是的，那愛惜生命的，必要失喪生命。耶穌向我們提出一個挑戰，要捨己背起自己的十字架來跟從祂。
我們一直在尋找每天能時時刻刻與主同在的祕訣，讓我們緊記一個原則——置諸死地而後生。靠著耶穌的力量，我們與祂同釘十字架，當「死」的力量在我們身上發動，我們就要向罪死，向世界死，向眼目的情慾死，向自傲自滿的心死；惟有治死老我，才可以浴火重生，此乃屬靈的定律。彼得對耶穌說：「主啊！萬不可如此，這事必不臨到祢身上。」但耶穌說：「你不體貼上帝的意思，只體貼人的意思。」(馬太福音 十六22-23)；反之，當門徒們願意背起十字架跟隨耶穌，甚至到死的地步，耶穌就說：「我就常與你們同在，直到世界的末了。」(馬太福音 廿八20)。
—《 神 的 心 意 》
(每日靈修 7月19日)
作者：慕安德烈
編輯：榮華興
『 John: Life from the dead 』
Scripture: “And when I saw him, I went down on my face at his feet as one dead. And he put his right hand on me, saying, Have no fear; I am the first and the last and the Living one; And I was dead, and see, I am living for ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hell.” — (Revelation 1:17-18)
Here we have, sixty or more years after the resurrection, Christ’s manifesting Himself to the beloved disciple. John fell as dead at His feet. God had said to Moses, in answer to his prayer “Show me Thy glory:” “Thou canst not see My face: for man cannot see Me and live.” Man’s sinful nature cannot receive the vision of the Divine glory, and live; it needs the death of the natural life for the life of God in glory to enter in. When John fell as dead at Christ’s feet, it proved how little he could endure the wonderful heavenly vision.
When Christ laid His right hand upon him and said, “Fear not; I am He that liveth, and was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore,” He reminded him that He Himself too had passed through death ere He could rise to the life and the glory of God. For the Master Himself and for every disciple, for Moses and for John, there is only one way to the glory of God — death to all that nature which has been in contact with sin and cannot enter heaven.
The lesson is a deep and most needful one to all who long that Jesus shall manifest Himself unto them. The knowledge of Jesus, fellowship with Him, and the experience of His power is not possible without the sacrifice of all that there is in us of the world and its spirit. The disciples had experience of this. Christ had from His first ordination charge (Matt. 10:37-39) — where He had spoken about forsaking father and mother, about taking up the cross, about losing our life for His sake, down to the days before His death, when He said: “Except a corn of wheat die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit”; “He that loveth his life shall lose it” — made this the one great charge: Deny self; bear the cross, and follow Me.
We are seeking to find out the secret of getting into such touch with the Lord Jesus that His abiding presence shall be our portion every day. Let us accept the lesson — through death to life. In the power of Christ Jesus, with Whom we have been crucified, and Whose death now works in us, if we will yield ourselves to it, death to sin, death to the world with all its self-pleasing and self-exaltation, is to be the deepest law of our spiritual life. Peter said to Christ: “Spare Thyself” (Matt. 16:22-23); Jesus said to him: “Deny thyself.” The disciples had followed Christ even to the Cross. That was what fitted them to receive the Master’s word: “Lo, I am with you alway.”
— God’s Best Secrets by Andrew Murray
「 19 July 」
