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Scripture Reading: 9, Eph. 3:11; John 3:26-30; 2 Cor. 5:1
Prayer: Lord, we thank You for this time that we can come together to learn something of Yourself. Lord, we do feel that we are not competent to minister before You in such a matter, so we do trust in You for all the need. Lord, we look to You that You would open Your Word to us that we may see from Your Word, through Your Word, and in Your Word something about Yourself and something about Your Body. Lord, do reveal to us the heavenly things that we may have the heavenly vision in these last days. In Your precious name we ask. Amen.
The church is a great subject in the Bible. In these few chapters we will be able to see only some practical principles concerning the church without getting into many details.
First, the church is something of God’s eternal plan, His eternal purpose. It is something planned by God in His eternal plan, something purposed by God in eternity and for eternity. Ephesians 3:10-11 gives us the scriptural ground to speak of the church as something of God’s eternal purpose. Verse 11 says, “According to the eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The Greek word for purpose means “plan.” God has purposed a purpose, He planned a plan, and this purpose, this plan, is called the eternal purpose. In eternity past, before the foundation of this world, before the heavens, the earth, and all things were created, God made such a purpose for something in the future, in eternity to come. Therefore, it is called the purpose of eternity, the eternal purpose. Moreover, many passages in the New Testament tell us that this purpose was purposed not only in Christ but also for Christ.
Now we must ask what this purpose is. Verse 10 says, “In order that now to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the church.” The eternal purpose of God is that He would have a church. In the whole universe only the church is the subject, the center, and the content of God’s eternal plan. This should make us very clear that our being saved to be the members of the church is something not only for this present age; it is something purposed, planned, long before the foundation of this world.
In eternity past and for eternity to come, God planned and purposed to have a church in Christ and for Christ. Therefore, the church is not a temporary matter but an eternal matter. The church is in this age and throughout this age, yet it is from eternity past and for eternity future. It is an eternal matter in the eternal purpose of God, and it is the center, the subject, of God’s eternal plan. God planned in eternity past to have a church, and God expects to have the church in eternity to come.
Throughout all the generations before the New Testament time, the church was a mystery. Mystery indicates that something was hidden that no one knew about. Do you know why God created the heavens, the earth, and thousands and thousands of items? Do you know why God created the race of Adam, the human people? You need to answer this question by saying, “It was to have the church.” The intention, the desire, of God is not to have heaven, not to have the earth, and not to have many different items. The intention, the desire, of God in this universe is to have the church. Therefore, everything is for the church. We may illustrate this with a brother I once met. This brother was busy day by day with so many matters in order to build a house and prepare its furniture. One day I asked him what all these preparations were for. He replied that it was so that his son could have a bride. This is exactly an illustration, a type, of what God did in creation in order for Christ to have a bride. Heaven, earth, and all things created by God are a “new house” for Christ so that He may marry His bride. They are the preparation for Christ to have the church.
The church is the central thought of God’s intention, but before the New Testament time God never told anyone about this. In the Old Testament times people looked up to the heavens and could say, “Oh, it is so wonderful.” Abraham once looked up to the heavens to count the stars, and the psalmist in Psalm 8 said in the night, “When I see Your heavens, the works of Your fingers, / The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, / What is mortal man, that You remember him, / And the son of man, that You visit him?” (vv. 3-4). However, if we could ask Abraham and the psalmist what the heavens were made for, they would not know. They could only say that the heavens magnify the glory of God. However, please remember that the heavens are not only for the glory of God to be manifested but also as a preparation for Christ to have the church.
The heavens, the earth, and all things are for the church, but before the New Testament time God never told this to anyone. Adam did not know it, Abraham did not know it, Moses did not know it, and David did not know it. It was a mystery; no one in the Old Testament times ever knew it. Is this still a mystery to you today? Before you read this message, you may not have been clear why God created all things, but now it is no longer a mystery.
The New Testament tells us that the church was a mystery hidden in God. Ephesians 3:9 says, “To enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things.” From the beginning of the world the purpose of creation was hidden in God as a mystery. All creatures could see that there is a creation, but no one knew what the purpose of it is. One day the Lord came, and He died, resurrected, ascended, came down as the Holy Spirit, and raised up a number of persons. Some of these persons were apostles, prophets, and teachers, who received the revelation. The mystery hidden in God was revealed to them at that time. They saw and came to know that the purpose of creation is to have the church. The church was a mystery hidden in God in the past generations until it was revealed to the apostles and prophets in the New Testament time.
The first thing we have seen is that the church is something of God’s eternal purpose, and the second point is that this purpose was hidden in God as a mystery. Now we must see what the church is. Some may quickly say that the church is the Body of Christ and the house of God. Since the Brethren were raised up by God in 1828, they wrote many books on these two aspects of the church. Whenever you meet the Brethren and talk with them, they may tell you that the church is the Body of Christ and the house of God. From the time of the Brethren until today, nearly all the seeking Christians have come to know this. This is one hundred percent correct, but I wish to speak in a more subjective way. The Body of Christ is subjective, but there is still something more subjective than this. The Body of Christ and the house of God are the function of the church, but these aspects do not show us the nature and the source of the church.
The term that can help us to see the source and the nature of the church is increase. The church is the increase of Christ. Therefore, Christ is the source of the church and the nature of the church. The church is something out of Christ; it is Christ Himself increased and enlarged. This term to describe the church is more subjective.
Christ is the very source of the church, and Christ is the very nature, even the very essence, of the church. If a person were to grow one hundred times larger than he is now, he would still be the same person but in an increased and enlarged way. In the same way, the church is Christ Himself increased and enlarged.
The scriptural support for this is John 3:30. In this verse John the Baptist speaks of the Son of God, Christ, by saying, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” More than thirty years ago I was taught from this verse that in our daily lives Christ must be increased, enlarged to be everything, and we must be decreased, reduced to nothing. I was much helped by such a teaching. In all my daily life by the grace of God I tried to be reduced. “No longer I...but...Christ” (Gal. 2:20) simply means I am reduced and Christ is increased. However, the correct meaning of John 3:30 is not what I was taught.
In these last few years we have received the correct meaning of this verse according to its context. Verse 26 says, “They came to John and said to him, Rabbi, He who was with you across the Jordan, of whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.” The disciples of John saw that all men came to the Lord Jesus. They were not happy, so they came to John, their rabbi, and told him about it. Verses 27 through 29 say, “John answered and said, A man cannot receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves testify of me that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice. This joy of mine therefore is made full.” By the context of these verses we may know that all who come to the Lord to be redeemed by Him are the Lord’s bride, and the Lord is the Bridegroom. John the Baptist is not this Bridegroom; he is the friend of the Bridegroom. It is the Lord who is the Bridegroom who will have the bride.
Following this, the next verse says, “He must increase.” What does this mean? This simply means that Christ will have a bride, and the bride is His increase. In the previous verse there is the bride, and in this verse there is the increase. We should underline these two words, bride in verse 29 and increase in verse 30. The increase in verse 30 is the bride in verse 29.
We can rightly understand how the bride is the increase by means of the types in the Old Testament. The first type of this kind is Eve as a bride to Adam to be Adam’s increase. Eve was the first bride, and this bride was the increase of Adam. Adam was a bachelor, a single person. One day the Lord God caused this bachelor, this single Adam, to sleep. While he was sleeping, God opened Adam’s side, took a rib out of him, and made this rib into a woman as a bride to match this bachelor. This rib became a counterpart to match the single Adam. Now this bachelor was no more single. There was a couple, yet this bride, this wife, was the increase of Adam. Previously Adam was single, but now he had a wife, a counterpart, to match him. Genesis 2 tells us that these two became one flesh. These two were not two persons but one person as two counterparts; the wife was a counterpart of the husband, and the husband was the counterpart of the wife. They two were a complete person, a couple. By this we can see that a wife is the increase of her husband. If we look at a husband and wife today, we may not realize that the wife is something out of the husband. But if we could see Adam and Eve standing together, we would immediately be able to see that Eve was something out of Adam as the increase of Adam.
Eve was formed from a rib of Adam, indicating that the bride is the increase of the bridegroom and comes out of the bridegroom as a part of the bridegroom. Therefore, the church is a “rib” of the last Adam. The church is a part of Christ, something coming out of Christ. One day God caused Christ to sleep on the cross, and while Christ slept there, God opened Christ, and something came out of Christ. John 19:34 says that blood and water came out of His side. The blood is for redeeming, to redeem us from sins, and the water is for life-giving, to impart life to us. By this we become the members of Christ. Corporately speaking, we become the corporate Body of Christ, and this very corporate Body is the bride, the increase of Christ and the counterpart to match Christ. We all must realize what the church is. The church is the increase of Christ.
In the third chapter of the Gospel of John we see the words bride and increase. Now we must see another word, regeneration. We must be regenerated, reborn, by Christ. John 3 is a chapter on regeneration, but for what purpose does God regenerate people? Regeneration is to produce a bride for Christ. It is to produce all the members of the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ is a bride to match Christ as His increase. Therefore, John 3 speaks of regeneration, the bride, and the increase. How can we be a part, a member, of the bride of Christ? It is by regeneration. Christ has to impart His life into us to make us a part of His bride. Thus, by regeneration Christ gains a bride, and this very bride is the increase of Himself.
Ephesians 1:23 says that this increase is the fullness of Christ. The church is the Body of Christ, which is the fullness of the One who fills all in all. Christ is unlimited, so He needs a Body to be His fullness. As the bride, the church is the increase of Christ, and as the Body, the church is the fullness of the Head. A head without a body is very poor, for it has no fullness. A person’s body is the fullness of his head, and a big body is a bigger fullness. The church, which is the Body of Christ, is the fullness of the Head. The bride is the increase of the Husband, and the Body is the fullness of the Head. That the church is the increase of Christ shows us the source, the nature, and the essence of the church. The very source, the very nature, and the very essence of the church are nothing less than Christ Himself, because the church is one hundred percent out of Christ and a part of Christ. It is Christ Himself increased and enlarged.
Now we know why God created the heavens, the earth, so many items, and the human race. It was simply for Christ to come into His creation, to be incarnated into the human race, to impart Himself to the human race, in order to make a part of the human race a part of Himself. Without the heavens, the earth, and so many items it would not be possible for the human race to exist, and without the existence of the human race it would be impossible for Christ to be increased. In order to have a human race for Christ to be increased, there is the need of the universe as an environment in which and by which the human race can exist. If the sun in the heavens were only a little farther from the earth, we would die from the cold, and if the sun were a little nearer, we all would be burned. But now the temperature on the earth is just right to fit the purpose that we may live. In addition, all the vitamins in the animal and vegetable lives were intended by God for man to exist. If we study the universe with such a point of view, we will be very happy and see that the entire universe was made and arranged by God for the purpose that the human race may exist so that Christ may come to be incarnated, to become a man, to impart Himself to the human race, to make a part of the human race a bride for Himself as His increase. Now we can see the central position that the church has in this universe. The universe is for the human race, the human race is for the church, and the church is the increase of Christ.
The fourth point that we must see is the function of the church. Now we may come back to the Body of Christ and the house of God. To Christ the church is a Body; Christ is the Head, and the church is the Body. To God the church is a house; God is the Resident, and the church is the residence. In principle, the Body and the house are the same. In the New Testament our body is likened to a house. Second Corinthians 5:1 says that our body is a house, a dwelling place. The Body is a container to contain the life of the Head, and the house is also a container, a residence, to contain the One who dwells in the house. The Body is a vessel, and the house is also a vessel. Where is Christ contained? Christ is contained in the Body. Where is God contained; that is, where does He dwell? God dwells in His house. In principle, to speak of the Body or the house is the same because both the house and the Body are containers, vessels, to contain God and Christ.
However, there is still a difference. The Body as a container is to express the life that it contains. Therefore, with the Body there is the aspect of expression. All that we are, all we can do, and all we have are expressed through our body. It is by means of a person’s body that he can speak, walk, demonstrate his wisdom and knowledge, and do many things. The body is a container to express what it contains. However, the main point of a house is not to express something. With a house the main point is rest, completion, and accomplishment. To accomplish something, we need a house. In these days we are endeavoring to publish a little magazine entitled The Stream, and we will now publish some more messages in booklet form. For this we need a room in a house. A house is for resting and for the completing of a purpose. Christ needs the church as a Body to express Himself, and God needs the church as a house to rest and to do His will, to accomplish His eternal purpose.
Now we know what the source, the nature, and the essence of the church are and what the function of the church is. To Christ it is a Body; it contains Christ to express Christ. To God it is a house; it contains God for God to rest in it and to accomplish His will through it. This is the function, the duty, of the church.
Now we may see a practical point, the practice of the church. How the church is practiced is a great issue for the believers. First, we must realize that the church was formed and founded universally, the church is built up universally, and the church is practiced universally, in the whole universe, and among the human race. From the time of Pentecost the Lord began to establish His church, to practice His church, not only in one place, in one locality, but in many places, in many localities, in locality after locality and place after place. Moreover, this was not only in one age or generation but in age after age and generation after generation.
We all know the meaning of the word universal. It refers to time plus space, what is throughout all time and throughout all space. Localities are a matter of space, generations are a matter of time, and space plus time equals the universe. Therefore, the Lord formed, founded, establishes, builds up, and practices His church universally. In place after place, time after time, city after city, nation after nation, and generation after generation the Lord practices the church universally.
However, while the Lord practices the church universally, there is still the local aspect. I must ask you to be very sober-minded in this matter because today in Christianity there are some wrong speakings, saying that there are two different kinds of churches, one being the eternal and universal church and the other being the local churches. We must say no to this. This is a wrong speaking. We can only speak of different aspects of the church, not different kinds of churches.
The local churches comprise the universal church, and the one universal church is the local churches. We may illustrate this with our human body, which is one whole with many members. The body is the members, and the many members are the body. They are not two things but exactly one thing in two different aspects. If we look at it as a whole, it is a body, but if we look at it as the parts, there are many, yet the parts are still one body. Can we separate our body from its members? This is ridiculous. However, I am sorry to say that even today some people preach and teach that the universal church is something other than the local churches.
It is impossible to separate the universal church from the local churches. Without the local churches where is the universal church? This is like asking where a body is apart from its members. If we do not have the church in Jerusalem, the church in Antioch, the church in London, New York, San Francisco, or Los Angeles, or the local churches in Taiwan and Japan, where is the universal church? The universal church is a composition of all the local churches, and all the local churches are just part after part of the one universal church. All the local churches throughout the generations and in all the places are the members composed together as one universal church. We should not have the thought that the universal church is something other than the local churches. This is an error, a wrong teaching, and a kind of heresy.
Today especially, we hear many people talking about the universal church, but where is the universal church? I have been studying this matter for more than thirty years, and up to today I cannot say where the universal church is if it is apart from the local churches. I would challenge someone to point to where the universal church is. On the other hand, I can point to where the local churches are. Nineteen hundred years ago there was one in Jerusalem, one in Samaria, one in Antioch, one in Corinth, one in Ephesus, and another one in Rome. Today there is one in Los Angeles and another one in New York. I can point to many local churches, but can someone point to where the universal church is? The universal church is so great, but we cannot point to it. We must not blindly follow those wrong and foolish teachings.
Where the local churches are, there the universal church is. We cannot say that besides the members there is a body. Rather, we must say that a body is with the members, not in addition to the members. By this we can see what the universal church is. The universal church is the totality, the ultimate consummation, of the composition of all the local churches.
We may use the term the universal church, but its proper use depends on what kind of interpretation we have. The universal church is an issue of all the local churches throughout all the generations and throughout all the places. All these local churches throughout all the generations and places, added and composed together as one, are called the universal church. Without the local churches and besides the local churches, there is no universal church.
Let us be clear about this. Eventually, we will see who is right and who is wrong in this matter. The Bible shows us and reveals to us that in this universe there is only one church, which is the Body of Christ expressed in many parts in many places throughout all the generations. A part of this Body was expressed nineteen hundred years ago in Jerusalem. Another part was expressed at the same time in Antioch, and today a part is expressed in our own locality. In one aspect, the church is universal, and in the other aspect, it is local. It is universal as a whole and local in its parts, and all these parts added together and composed as one, are the Body of Christ.
Therefore, the church is practiced universally by being practiced locally. Without the local practice there is no possibility of the universal practice. Where is the practice of the universal church? Is it on the moon, in the third heaven, or in Paradise? We cannot find such a thing in the entire universe. Strictly speaking, there is no universal practice of the church; there is only the local practice. Since the day of Pentecost all the local practices of the church added together and composed together as one are corporately called the universal practice. What is the universal practice of the church? It is the composition of all the local practices.
I simply cannot tolerate to hear so many of the Lord’s servants preach foolishly, telling people that besides the local churches there is a universal church. I would ask where, besides the local churches, is the universal church? We can never touch it. The practice of the church, strictly speaking, is local. Without the local church we can never have the universal church, and without the local practices we can never have a universal practice of the church. In the New Testament there are twenty-seven books, including the twenty-one Epistles plus the seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3. Which Epistle was addressed to the universal church? At most, an Epistle may say that it should be read by other churches. First Corinthians, for example, was meant for the Corinthians as well as for all the believers in every place. However, it was not addressed to the universal church. We must be clear about this and concentrate all our attention on the local expressions of the church.
