Lord, we trust in Your unveiling and in Your wisdom.

[jidong xiao]

随着启示，我们还需要悟性。我们也许看到一些东西，却不明白我们所看到的。譬如，假设你参观一家大工厂，看各种的机器。你看到这些机器，却可能对它们一无所知。机器虽然已经启示给你，你仍然需要明白。神圣事物的原则也是一样，我们除了启示，还需要智慧来领悟。为这缘故，保罗祷告求智慧和启示的灵。

约翰著作的思想绝对是神圣的。这些著作并不包括道德教训或哲学观念。相反的，这些著作满了神圣的事。“神圣”一辞指关于神或属于神的事物。关于神或属于神自己的事物是神圣的，而神圣的事物乃是奥秘的。我们无法领会、理解这些奥秘的事物。神是真实且无限的。我们不过是人，怎能领会祂？这是不可能的。我们没有领悟神的能力。但我们感谢祂，祂给我们造了灵。神在祂的救恩里，将我们已死的灵重生了，又将祂神圣的生命分赐到我们的灵里。祂甚至将祂自己作为赐生命的灵赐给我们，住在我们的灵里。我们只有在我们重生的灵里，才彀资格看见约翰著作中奥秘事物的启示。我们人的心思不彀资格看见这启示。我们天然的心思不可能看见这样的事。感谢主，我们有重生的灵，甚至有调和的灵，就是我们那调和着神圣之灵的重生之灵。因此，我们该转向这调和的灵，并且祷告：“主，我们信靠你的揭示和你的智慧。主，我们信你要给我们看见约翰著作中的东西。主，你怎样向使徒约翰揭开幔子，求你也照样向我们开启。主，我们需要幔子再次揭开。怜悯我们，再次揭示那些奥秘。给我们智慧，领会并理解你在约翰书信中所要给我们看见的。”

Along with revelation, we also need understanding. We may see certain things, but we may not understand what we see. For example, suppose you visit a large factory and look at various kinds of machines. You see the machines, but you may not understand anything about them. Although the machines have been revealed to you, you still need understanding. The principle is the same with divine things. In addition to revelation, we also need wisdom for understanding. For this reason, Paul prayed for a spirit of wisdom and revelation. 

The thought in John's writings is absolutely divine. These writings do not contain ethical teachings or philosophical concepts. On the contrary, these writings are filled with divine matters. The word "divine" denotes something that concerns God or that belongs to God. The things concerning God and belonging to God Himself are divine, and anything divine is mysterious. We are not able to grasp, to lay hold of, these mysterious things. God is real and infinite. How can we, mere human beings, comprehend Him? This is impossible. We do not have the capacity to comprehend God. But we thank Him that He created us with a spirit, and in His salvation He has regenerated our deadened spirit and has imparted His divine life into our spirit. He has even given us Himself as the life-giving Spirit to dwell within our spirit. Only in our regenerated spirit are we qualified to see a revelation of the mysterious things in the writings of John. Our human mentality is not qualified for this. There is no possibility of seeing such things with our natural mind. Thank the Lord that we have a regenerated spirit, even a mingled spirit, our regenerated spirit mingled with the divine Spirit. Therefore, we should turn to this mingled spirit and pray, "Lord, we trust in Your unveiling and in Your wisdom. We believe, Lord, that You want to show us something in John's writings. Lord, as You opened the veil to the Apostle John, open it again to us. Lord, we need the reopening of the veil. Have mercy on us, and unveil the  mysteries again. Grant us the wisdom to understand and lay hold of what You want to show us in the Epistles of John."