耶利米书生命读经 · 第40篇

耶利米书的核仁

The Kernel of the Book of Jeremiah

1读经：耶利米书2:13;17:9;13:23;23:5-6;33:16;31:33。在本篇信息中，我要给这卷耶利米

1Scripture Reading: Jer. 2:13; 17:9; 13:23; 23:5-6; 33:16; 31:33 23:5-6; 33:16; 31:33 In this message I would like to give a very brief

外壳与核仁

THE SHELL AND THE KERNEL

2耶利米书可比喻为核桃：外面有硬壳，里面有核仁。我年轻时多次读耶利米书，只摸著这卷书的『外壳』；我没有看见任何『核仁』。渐渐的，主打开了耶利米书的外壳，给我看见核仁。所以，在本篇信息中，我有负担说到耶利米书的核仁。这核仁包括三件事－神向我们所要的；我们在堕落光景里的所是；以及基督对我们的所是。耶利米向我们有力的陈明这三件事，但牠们隐藏在外壳内。要看见这三件事，我们需要『打破』耶利米书的外壳，专注于里面的核仁。

2The book of Jeremiah may be likened to a walnut: on the outside there is a hard shell, and on the inside there is a kernel. When I was young, I read Jeremiah a number of times, but I touched only the "shell" of this book; I did not see anything of the "kernel." Gradually, the Lord has opened the shell of Jeremiah and has shown me the kernel. In this message, therefore, I have the burden to speak a word concerning the kernel of the book of Jeremiah. This kernel includes three matters—what God wants from us, what we are in our fallen condition, and what Christ is to us. Jeremiah strongly presents these three matters to us, but they are concealed within the shell. In order to see these three things, we need to "crack" the shell of Jeremiah and concentrate on the kernel inside

神向我们所要的

what God wants from us

3神向我们所要的，主要的是在二章十三节题起，这节启示神是活水的泉源。神要我们为著我们的生活，接受祂作活水的泉源。这就是说，祂要我们接受祂作我们全人的源头、泉源。我们如何能接受祂作我们的源头？接受神作活水的泉源，惟一的路就是天天饮于祂。藉著喝，我们将流自神这泉源的活水接受到我们里面。饮于神这泉源的重要性，在约翰四章有所说明。主耶稣向那到井旁打水的撒玛利亚妇人要水喝，又对她说，『你若知道神的恩赐，和对你说请给我水喝的是谁，你必早求祂，祂也必早给了你活水。』（10。）她问主从那里能得这活水，主回答说，『人若喝我所赐的水，就永远不渴；我所赐的水，要在他里面成为泉源，直涌入永远的生命。』（14。）主这里的话指明，我们所喝的与我们成为一了。当我们饮于神这活水的泉源，祂就与我们成为一，我们也与祂成为一。我们越饮于神，祂就越与我们成为一，我们也越与祂成为一，而在祂的生命和性情上由祂所构成。

3What God wants from us is mentioned mainly in 2:13, which reveals that God is the fountain of living waters. God wants us to take Him as the fountain of living waters for our living. This means that He wants us to take Him as the source, the fountain, of our being. How can we take Him as our source? The only way to take God as the fountain of living waters is to drink of Him day by day. By drinking we take into us the living water that issues from God as the fountain. The importance of drinking of God as the fountain is illustrated in John 4. To the Samaritan woman who had come to the well to draw water and whom the Lord Jesus had asked to give Him a drink, He said, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water" (v. 10). When she asked Him where He could get this living water, He answered, "Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water gushing up into eternal life" (v. 14). The Lord'sword here indicates that whatever we drink becomes one with us. When we drink of God as the fountain of living waters, He becomes one with us, and we become one with Him. The more we drink of God, the more He is one with us and the more we are one with Him and constituted with Him in His life and nature.

4耶利米二章十三节说，『我的百姓作了两件恶事，就是离弃我这活水的泉源，为自己凿出池子，是破裂不能存水的池子。』在神眼中最邪恶的事，就是离弃祂这源头，这活水的泉源，而转向别的源头。所有别的源头都是偶像。在这节里，偶像被比喻为破裂不能存水的池子。今天人忙著为自己凿出各种的池子。事实上，这些池子都是偶像。我们思想这光景时，需要领悟，神要我们接受祂作我们生命和我们全人的泉源、源头。

4Jeremiah 2:13 says, "My people have committed two evils: / They have forsaken Me, / The fountain of living waters, / To hew out for themselves cisterns, / Broken cisterns, / Which hold no water." The most evil thing in the eyes of God is to forsake Him as the source, as the fountain of living waters, and to turn to some other source. All other sources are idols. In this verse the idols are likened to broken cisterns, which cannot hold water. People today are busy hewing out for themselves all kinds of cisterns. Actually, these cisterns are idols. As we consider this situation, we need to realize that God wants us to take Him as the fountain, the source, of our life and our being

我们在堕落光景里的所是

what we are in our fallen condition

5耶利米书核仁的另一面是暴露我们在堕落光景里的所是。在这事上，耶利米非常深，也非常简单。在十七章九节他说到人心，说，『人心比万物都诡诈，无法医治，谁能识透？』我们的心诡诈到极点，无法医治。我们的心怎样无法医治，我们堕落的性情也照样不能改变。因此，在十三章二十三节耶利米说，『古实人岂能改变皮肤？豹岂能改变斑点？若能，你们这习惯行恶的，便能行善了。』在我们堕落的光景里，我们是败坏、腐化的；我们无法改变、改正、或改良自己。孔夫子的门徒想要用孔夫子的教训改良自己，但他们失败了。我们堕落的人是无法医治、不能改变的。

5Another aspect of the kernel of the book of Jeremiah is the exposure of what we are in our fallen condition. In this matter Jeremiah is very deep but also very simple. In 17:9 he speaks regarding the human heart, saying, "The heart is deceitful above all things / And it is incurable; / Who can know it?" Our heart is deceitful to the uttermost and incurable. Just as our heart is incurable, so our fallen nature is unchangeable. Thus, in 13:23 Jeremiah says, "Can the Cushite change his skin, / Or the leopard his spots? / Then you also may be able to do good, / Who are accustomed to do evil." In our fallen condition we are corrupt and rotten; there is no way for us to change, correct, or improve ourselves. The disciples of Confucius tried to use his teachings to improve themselves, but they have failed. As fallen human beings, we are incurable and unchangeable

基督对我们的所是

what Christ is to us

6耶利米书核仁中的第三件事是基督对我们的所是。

6The third matter in the kernel of the book of Jeremiah is what Christ is to us

大卫的苗

The Shoot of David

7二十三章五至六节说，『耶和华说，看哪，日子将到，我要给大卫兴起一个公义的苗；…祂的名必称为耶和华我们的义。』虽然基督是神，祂却成了大卫的苗或芽。这就是说，祂成为肉体，成了大卫的苗裔。基督作大卫的苗，芽，是柔细的、活的、新鲜的。

7Jeremiah 23:5 and 6 say, "Behold, days are coming, / Declares Jehovah, / When I will raise up to David a righteous Shoot...And this is His name by which He will be called, / Jehovah our righteousness." Although Christ is God, He became a Shoot, or Sprout, of David. This means that He was incarnated to be a descendant of David. As a Shoot, the Sprout, of David, Christ is tender, living, and fresh.

耶和华我们的义

Jehovah Our Righteousness

8基督，大卫公义的苗，称为耶和华我们的义。在我们堕落的光景里，我们是败坏、罪恶、诡诈、无法医治、且不能改变的。我们在神面前怎能是义的？在我们自己里面，这是不可能的，但在基督里，我们就能成为义的。基督来了，为我们的罪死在十字架上，为我们完成救赎。基于基督的救赎，神就能赦免我们的罪，忘记我们的罪，并称义我们。不仅如此，以基督的救赎作根基，基督自己就成了我们的义。不仅我们得神称义，神也将基督赐给我们，作我们的公义。（林前一30。）基督与我们成为一，作我们的义，这是美妙的事实。

8Christ, the righteous Shoot of David, is called Jehovah our righteousness. In our fallen condition we are corrupt, sinful, deceitful, incurable, and unchangeable. How could we ever be righteous before God? In ourselves this is impossible, but we can become righteous in Christ. Christ came to die on the cross for our sins, accomplishing redemption for us. Based upon Christ's redemption, God is able to forgive our sins, to forget our sins, and to justify us. Furthermore, with the redemption of Christ as the foundation, Christ Himself has become our righteousness. Not only have we been justified by God, but God has given Christ to us to be our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). It is a wonderful fact that Christ has become one with us to be our righteousness

神圣的生命

The Divine Life

9我们外面得称义，有基督作我们的义，但我们里面仍是虚空的；所以，我们还需要基督作我们别的事物。我们需要基督作神圣的生命，就是作到我们里面之人里神圣的生命。（耶三一33。）这生命是个律，在我们里面作工，将神丰富所是里的一切，分赐到我们这人里面。神自己这样分赐、这样传输到我们里面，结果我们就不再虚空；反之，我们要被分赐的三一神充满。

9Outwardly, we are justified, having Christ as our righteousness, but inwardly we are still empty. Therefore, we need Christ to be something else to us. We need Christ as the divine life, the divine life that is wrought into our inner being (Jer. 31:33). This life is a law which works in us to dispense into our being all that God is in His rich being. As a result of this dispensing, this transfusing of God Himself into us, we are no longer empty. On the contrary, we are filled with the dispensing Triune God

10我们里面神圣生命内里的律有其性能，使我们与神成为一。在这生命同牠的律里，神是我们的神，我们是祂的子民。神作我们的神，乃是藉著祂神圣的生命；我们作祂的子民，也是藉著神圣的生命。至终，在神圣的生命里，并凭著神圣生命之律的工作，神要作到我们里面，我们也要活祂，并且在祂的生命和性情上（当然不是在祂的神格上）被祂构成。现在我们能看见神向我们所要的，我们在堕落光景里的所是，以及基督对我们的所是。神要我们接受祂作我们的源头，并且每天饮于祂，使祂成为我们里面生命水的河。在我们堕落的光景里，我们是无望的，完全败坏、无法医治、且不能改变。但基督来了，作我们的义和我们内里的生命。在外面，祂是我们的义，使我们得神称义。在里面，祂是神圣的生命充满我们，使我们与神是一，甚至用神构成我们，使我们可以活神。这样，我们就成为团体的身体，三一神的生机体。这就

10The inner law of the divine life within us has the capacity to make us one with God. In this life with its law, God is our God, and we are His people. The way for God to be our God is His divine life, and the way for us to be His people is also the divine life. Eventually, in the divine life and by the working of the law of the divine life, God will be wrought into us, and we will live Him and be constituted with Him in His life and nature but not, of course, in His Godhead. Now we can see what God wants from us, what we are in our fallen condition, and what Christ is to us. God wants us to take Him as our source and to drink of Him every day so that He may become the river of the water of life within us. In our fallen condition we are hopeless, utterly corrupt, incurable, and unchangeable. But Christ has come to be our righteousness and our inner life. Outwardly, He is our righteousness for us to be justified by God. Inwardly, He is the divine life to fill us, to make us one with God, and even to constitute us with God that we may live God. Then we will be a corporate Body, the organism of the Triune God. This is the kernel of the book of Jeremiah.

11是耶利米书的核仁。