And when you come and see, do not see Him after the flesh. When Jesus came into His own country, the people said, "Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us?" (Matt. 13:55-56). They knew everything, but this was the knowledge of Jesus according to the flesh. In Matthew 22:43 we read that David in spirit called Him Lord. Do not follow those people in the flesh, but follow David in the spirit.
Now let us apply this practically to the present situation. If you would come to see the local church—for example, the church in Los Angeles—that is good. But do not see it after the flesh. If you see it according to the flesh, you will say that there are many peculiar people. We should not know any man after the flesh, but after the spirit. Once we knew Christ after the flesh and considered Him the little man of Nazareth, but now we know Him no longer in this way (2 Cor. 5:16). We know Him after the spirit; in spirit we call Him "Lord." Forget about the outward things, forget about the flesh; try to see the church not after the flesh, but after the spirit. If you beheld the tabernacle in the Old Testament outwardly, you could only see the outer badger skins (Exo. 36:19). There is no beauty with the badger skin; it is quite mean and common. But what was within the tabernacle? Oh, there was the gold, the silver, the precious stones—the beauty of precious things. Would you rather see the church outwardly or inwardly? Outwardly speaking, the church is clothed with badger skin—there is no beauty, just the toughness and even the wildness. But, hallelujah, within there is something of glory. Within, there is Jesus; within, we have Christ.
How can we find Christ? By the Bible? Yes, we need the Bible, but we must see the living star.
This matter of the star is not just in the Book of Matthew. All the main things of the Bible, as a rule, begin in the Old Testament and go right through the New Testament to the end of the Bible. With this matter of the star there is no exception. It is mentioned and revealed first in Numbers 24:17, "There shall come a star out of Jacob." According to the context of that verse, this star that comes out of Jacob is Christ. Christ comes as the star. Then immediately in the very opening of the New Testament, we have the star again. The wise men said: "We have seen His star in the east" (Matt. 2:2). They did not say, "We have seen a star," or "We have seen the star," but, "We have seen His star." No doubt this is the fulfillment of the prophecy in Numbers 24. The star prophesied in the Old Testament now has come and was shown to these wise men. We have seen clearly that the revealing of this star was absolutely outside of religion. The Lord God never cares for religion; anything that becomes religious, He will pass by.
(Finding Christ by the Living Star, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee)