«　WEEK 9　DAY 4　»

　　1 John 2:20 And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know.

　　27 And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him.

　　All the prophets in the Old Testament typify the Holy Spirit as the anointing ointment in the New Testament. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit, the anointing ointment, has entered into us personally and directly to be our Prophet. The law in the Old Testament represents and declares the nature of God's life, which is love, light, holiness, and righteousness. Today the nature of God's life has entered into us directly, so there is no longer any need for an outward law to declare it to us. In the Old Testament everything was a shadow, a type, a representation, but in the New Testament the reality has come…. In the Old Testament the representatives through whom the Holy Spirit gave revelations were the prophets. Today the Spirit of revelation, typified by the prophets, is in us, and the Spirit gives us revelations directly. (CWWL, 1955, vol. 4,”Further Talks on the Knowledge of Life,” pp. 303-304)

　　Today the law of life within us has replaced the law of the Old Testament, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit has replaced the prophets of the Old Testament. Although we still keep the law, we are keeping an inward law, not an outward law. God's life is the law in us, and the Holy Spirit, as the anointing ointment, is the Prophet in us.

　　Can we be a prophet to others? For example, if a saint wants to go to a certain place, he may come to us for fellowship, asking,”Should I go to a certain place? Would you seek an answer from God for me?”…It is not right for him to ask us, because we are not his prophet, but it is also not right for him to only ask himself, because he is not a prophet only in himself. Instead, he should seek the leading of the Spirit as the anointing ointment within him; the Spirit anointing within him is the Prophet. The responsible brothers in the church are not our prophets, the coworkers are also not our prophets, and we, needless to say, are not others' prophets.

　　The Spirit who inspired people to be prophets in the Old Testament is now the Spirit as the anointing ointment within all of us. Since the Spirit is anointing us from within, we no longer need an outward representative to be our prophet…. In the Old Testament the Spirit of God came upon certain people and moved only them. But now the Spirit has entered into all of us to be our Prophet. The Spirit who inspired people to be prophets has entered into us today as the anointing to be our Prophet personally and directly. (CWWL, 1955, vol. 4,”Further Talks on the Knowledge of Life,” p. 303)

　　In the New Testament the Holy Spirit has replaced the work of the Old Testament prophets. Today we have prophets in the church. Some can prophesy, while others can exhort and comfort. But we do not have personal prophets to come and tell us what we should do…. Everyone can know God directly and be led of God and know God's will directly. Do you have a prophet? I am ashamed that many people have considered me a prophet, that is, the kind of personal prophet mentioned above. The danger of a worker is to burden himself with the work of a prophet. When there are too many personal prophets, the proper place of the New Testament prophet is annulled. The New Testament church does not need any spiritual giants to act as personal prophets to teach others what they should do. That is the work of the Holy Spirit, not the work of the prophets. The main work of the New Testament prophets is for building up, encouraging, and consoling men. This is the work that God's workers should do today. (CWWN, vol. 42, pp. 242-243)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1955, vol. 4,”Further Talks on the Knowledge of Life,” ch. 17; CWWN, vol. 42, ch. 32; CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 3,”The Exercise of the Spirit and the Building of God,” ch. 3; CWWN, vol. 53,”The Ministry of God's Word,” chs. 3-4