A New Beginning

"At the beginning of the new year, when we consider our failures, the desolation of the church, the sinners who have not yet been saved, and the will of God that has not been fulfilled, we should mourn, weep, fast, and pray. I feel that there is little that is worthy of celebrating and being merry. Delicious food should be replaced with an empty plate; fasting should replace feasting."

The unique purpose that God wants to accomplish in the universe is a matter of the Spirit and life.

All the things that God created in the universe declare and signify matters related to the spiritual life. Although man’s spirit and soul are the reality of man, he is expressed through his body. All the tangible physical things in the universe were created to express the invisible spiritual things.

God’s ordination of years, months, and days shows His care and goodness to living things, revealing that He desires to give them repeated opportunities for growth. When man fails in this year, this month, or this day, he may still have another opportunity to have a new beginning the next year, next month, or next day.

At the end of the year, man’s business, academic work, or housework comes to an end, and he can prepare to have a fresh beginning in the new year. Similarly, at the end of each year we should review our spiritual condition and prepare to have a new beginning in the Lord; we should evaluate our past and look forward to the future, forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before.

Although some believers have been saved for many years, they have never had such a “new year” in the Lord. In the Old Testament God required the Israelites not only to have a new beginning every year but also to have a new worship at the beginning of every month.

The new beginning of a year, month, or day is always through and with the light-bearers—the sun, moon, and stars; this signifies that our spiritual life always has a new beginning as we encounter God or meet Christ, because God is light.

The cycles of years, months, and days ordained in the universe are for the existence and growth of living beings; all the living beings on earth depend on the changing cycles of years, months, and days.
 
Regarding these changing cycles of years, months, and days, there are two points that correspond to spiritual principles:

Resurrection is a renewed beginning; creation is merely a beginning, which is something that never existed before and came into being; however, resurrection is not only a beginning but a renewed beginning of something that already existed before, fell into death, and now has a new beginning again.

These cycles follow the light-bearers, such as the sun, moon, and stars. God is light, and Christ is the reality of the sun. The change of spiritual years, months, and days follows God and Christ.
 
In the spiritual journey of believers, certain changes, such as being saved and being revived, are great, like the change of a year; therefore, in the Old Testament, keeping the passover, which typifies being saved, is considered the first month, the beginning of a year. Other changes, such as dealing with or giving up things, are smaller, like the change of a month; still other changes, such as having a feeling of wrongdoing or indebtedness, are even smaller, like the change of a day.

Since the believers are not only men but also men of Christ and children of God, at the end and the beginning of a year, they should not merely experience an outward, physical new year without experiencing an inward, spiritual new year. We should conclude all our business, profession, academic work, and housework before man and be prepared to welcome a new beginning. More importantly, we should conclude our old spiritual life before God and be prepared to welcome a new spiritual beginning.

Our doing so is not according to what is natural but according to what we should do, because in the Bible God often had a new move at the beginning of a year.

The Bible records at least seven things that God did on the first day of the first month:

1. God dried up the earth that was judged by the flood. There was no dry land for living beings to dwell on and survive. When Noah was six hundred and one years old, which was the beginning of the last part of Noah’s life, the land became dry at the beginning of the year. This typifies being delivered out of a death situation in order to enter into a new age of resurrection. However, many believers are full of death waters. There is no dry land on which the Lord’s life may have the opportunity to grow in them. At the end of the year, as a new year is about to begin, we should let the death waters diminish in us as the last days of the year pass by. Moreover, we should allow the dry land, which signifies Christ, to emerge in us so that the divine life can have a new beginning and there can be new growth at the beginning of the year.
    

2. God asked the Israelites, God’s chosen people, to raise up the tabernacle. After they fell into Egypt as slaves, they were delivered out of Egypt by God. At the beginning of the year, they began to serve God. Although the believers in Christ have been saved, many still do not serve God. Even though they may have many things, such as a house and a career, they have not raised up the tabernacle for God. At the beginning of the new year, we should raise up God’s tabernacle in order to begin our service to God.
    

3. God asked the Israelites to purify the holy temple, which was the enlargement and solidified form of the tabernacle. However, by the time of Hezekiah, the Israelites closed the temple and stopped serving. Thus, on the first day of the first month, Hezekiah reopened the gate of the temple, repaired and purified it, and resumed the service. Some believers formerly were serving, but they stopped serving. As a new year begins, they should resume their service. Today the service of the church is exceedingly desolated. In order for us to have a new beginning in the new year, we must cleanse ourselves as the priests did in the days of King Hezekiah.
    

4. Ezra began his journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. By the time of Ezra, the Israelites had been captured by a Gentile nation and were a people without a nation. A remnant among them rose up to leave the land of captivity. Some believers in Christ are in captivity in the world. At the beginning of a new year, they should rise up to be delivered from the world.
    

5. Ezra asked the Israelites to forsake their heathen wives. Although they had been delivered from Babylon, they still had the Babylonian element. Therefore, they needed to remove the things of Babylon from them. As a new year begins, we need to not only be delivered from the world but also remove the things of the world from us. It is not sufficient to come out of the world; the world must also come out of us.
    

6. God’s word came to the Israelites. At the time of Ezekiel, the Israelites wanted to be delivered from Egypt, and the word of God came to them, saying that Egypt would be delivered to Babylon. At the beginning of each year, the believers who trust in the world should receive God’s word and know that the world is untrustworthy and will be judged.
    

7. God asked the Israelites to purify the holy temple. In the future when the Israelites are restored and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, God will require them to purify the temple at the beginning of the year. At the beginning of each year, we should purify ourselves and our service to God.

Of these seven matters, the first matter establishes a principle—going from a death situation into resurrection in order for the divine life to grow within us. The second and third matters may be grouped together, for both are related to service, one to the beginning and the other to the resumption. The fourth and fifth matters may be grouped together, for they are related to our being delivered from the world as well as the world being removed from us. The sixth and seventh matters may be grouped together, for they are related to receiving God’s word and purifying the service to God.

The Bible does not explain in detail how God’s people ate, drank, and celebrated during the new year, but several times the Bible says that His people mourned and fasted on this day. According to this principle, since the believers today are in desolation, their celebrations of the new year may not be pleasing to God.

At the beginning of the new year, when we consider our failures, the desolation of the church, the sinners who have not yet been saved, and the will of God that has not been fulfilled, we should mourn, weep, fast, and pray. I feel that there is little that is worthy of celebrating and being merry. Delicious food should be replaced with an empty plate; fasting should replace feasting. Many of the vows that we offered to God have not been fulfilled; many of our desires toward God have not been fulfilled; many of us are defeated; the sinners whom we care for have not been saved; the weak ones have not risen up; many of the elders, co-workers, and responsible ones for home meetings, district meetings, and group meetings have not fulfilled their responsibilities; the work has not been done effectively; and the church has not been managed well. In this light there is little to celebrate. This should cause us to beat our breast, mourn, weep, fast, and ask God for mercy. When we speak concerning this point in a message, we should endeavour to touch the feeling of the saints deeply.


December 30, 1956
(Excerpt taken from Witness Lee's Personal Notes, CWWL, 1956, vol. 3)