Search
Scripture Reading: Gen. 28:12, 16-19, 22; Exo. 40:34; 1 Kings 8:10-11; Matt. 16:16-18; 1 Tim. 3:15-16; Eph. 5:32
Ephesians 5:32 speaks of a great mystery. Christ with the church is the great mystery in this universe. In these messages our burden is the central thought of God. We have seen clearly from the revelation of the Scriptures that the central thought of God is Christ as the expression of God with His Body, which is the church. So the central thought of God is Christ and the church, or we may say Christ with the church. This is the center of the divine mind, the divine thought, which is clearly seen in the blueprint of the divine plan unveiled in the first two chapters of the Bible. In the picture in Revelation 21 and 22, the last two chapters of the Scriptures, we can also see that the eternal purpose, the ultimate intention, of God is to have Christ expressed through the Body. Hence, Christ and His Body, which is the church, are the great mystery as the central thought of God.
I was a young man when I was saved. Immediately after I was saved, I loved the Word of the Lord very much. Day by day I studied it with great diligence. Later I acquired a great number of books about the Scriptures. All those books told me the same thing, that is, that Christ is the subject and the center of all the Scriptures. At that time I was very happy to know this, and I stressed this very much. Christ is the subject, the center, and the contents of all the Scriptures! Later, however, I found out that this was short of something. In the Scriptures we are told clearly that Christ is the Head (Eph. 1:22; Col. 1:18). Just as a head needs a body, Christ as the Head needs the Body. We are also told that Christ is the Husband (Eph. 5:24-25), and a husband needs a wife. Christ is the divine Husband, the real man. None of us, including the brothers, is a man. We are all really females. Christ is the real man to gain a bride (John 3:29). As the real man, He needs a bride. Therefore, the Scriptures do not reveal to us the Head without the Body. They reveal to us the Head with the Body, Christ with the church. Moreover, they reveal to us a couple, not just the Husband alone but the Husband with the wife.
If you would read the Bible carefully once more, you will realize that the center, the subject, and the contents of all the Scriptures is Christ with the church, the Head with the Body, the Husband with the wife. How can I come to speak with my head and leave my body in my apartment? You can never separate a body from the head nor the head from a body. One thing I appreciate about this country is that wives always go together with their husbands. It is not so in China. In China the wives are separated from the husbands. If the husbands sit in the front, all the wives sit at the rear. That is not scriptural. If you read the Scriptures, you will see that where Christ is, there is the church; where the Head is, there is the Body; and where the Husband is, there is the bride.
Brothers and sisters, the central thought of God is that Christ must have a church as His Body, His Bride, His increase, and His counterpart to express God in a corporate way. In all the Scriptures nothing is more important or vital than this. Nothing is more central than this. This is the very central thought of God. If you ask me what the Lord is seeking after today, I must tell you that the Lord is seeking nothing other than the church as the Body, the bride, and the increase to match Christ and to express Christ in a corporate way. This is the ultimate intention of God.
Let us now see something of Christ and the church in a very brief way from the sixty-six books of the Bible — from Genesis to Revelation. We all know that Christ is the center, but we must realize that Christ is the center with the church. On the fourth day of creation, there is the sun with the moon and all the stars. The sun is a type of Christ; Christ is the Sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:2). The church as the moon reflects His light, and all the saints are the stars. Therefore, in the first chapter of the Bible there is Christ with the church, including all the saints.
Then in the second chapter there is Adam with Eve, the man with the wife. As we have seen, Adam is a figure, and he has an increase, a bride, a counterpart, a part of himself. Here also is Christ and the church. Then in the third chapter there is the seed of the woman, that is, Christ born of a virgin. As you read on, you will see a number of types of Christ, but we will now skip to the time of Jacob. If you read Genesis carefully, you will notice that the revelation concerning Christ does not come to a full measure until Jacob, because Jacob brought in a house for God (Gen. 28:10-22). In the Bible the Lord does not speak of the house of Abraham or the house of Isaac. However, the Scriptures often refer to the house of Jacob, or the house of Israel. Abraham seemingly was an individual person, and Isaac apparently was the same. But with Jacob it is not a matter of an individual person but a matter of a house — the house of Jacob, the house of Israel. Therefore, the revelation of Christ came to a full measure with Jacob.
What is the revelation that Jacob received at that time concerning Christ? In his dream Jacob saw a ladder (v. 12). In John 1:51 the Lord said to Nathanael, “Truly, truly, I say to you, You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” In this way the Lord Jesus referred to this ladder, telling us that this ladder is Himself. He is the heavenly ladder that brings heaven to earth. Jacob received a revelation in a dream concerning Christ as the heavenly ladder bringing heaven to earth. At that time, as a young man, Jacob did something very wonderful. He took the stone that he had used as a pillow, set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon it (Gen. 28:11, 18). Then he called the name of that place Bethel (v. 19), that is, the house of God. He not only said that that place was the house of God, but he even said that the pillar, the stone on which the oil was poured, was the house of God (v. 22). Do you realize that in this picture there is Christ and there is also the church? The heavenly ladder is Christ, and the house of God made with the stone upon which oil was poured is the church.
We have to believe that what that naughty young Jacob did was something done through him by the Holy Spirit. Jacob was homeless, and he was a wanderer, yet he forgot about being homeless. Rather, he cared very much about the house of God. Instead of saying, “This pillar will be my house,” he said, “This is...the house of God” (v. 17). Similarly, in Matthew 16 when Peter received the revelation concerning Christ, he said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16), the heavenly ladder that brings heaven to earth. The Lord right away told Peter, “And I also say to you that you are Peter [or, a stone], and upon this rock I will build My church” (v. 18). If you compare these two visions, you will realize that in principle they are exactly the same. When you truly know Christ as the heavenly One, a vision will come to you in which a pillar is set up, oil is poured upon it, and Bethel comes forth.
The pillar of stone signifies a regenerated and transformed person. Originally and naturally, we were not pillars of stone but pieces of clay — at most, pillars of salt, as Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt (Gen. 19:26). But praise the Lord, we have been regenerated, and we are being transformed. Now we are stones, and the Holy Spirit as the oil is poured upon us. Out of this, the house of God comes into being. All these things happen when you see Christ as the heavenly One and realize Christ as the One who brings God to man and brings heaven to earth. Christ is the One who opens the heavens and brings heaven to earth and God to man. When you realize Christ as such a One, you will sense that there is a great change, a regeneration, even a transformation within you. You will be a stone for the building of the church. The more you realize Christ as the heavenly One who brings heaven to earth and who brings God to man, the more you will be transformed from a piece of clay into a stone, and the more you will be built up upon the rock.
If you know Christ, you must also realize the church. If you truly know the Head, then, to be sure, you will realize the Body. You may say, “Oh, I am a pitiful sinner, and He is the Savior. He died on the cross for my sins to save me from hell and will bring me to heaven to the heavenly mansion.” However, if you only realize Christ as the Savior in such a way, I am afraid that you will never realize something of the church, but if you realize that Christ is the heavenly One who comes to the earth to bring heaven to earth and to bring God to man to be mingled together with man, then there will be a great change within you. There will be a regeneration and a transformation within you. You will be greatly transformed, and you will realize that you are just a stone for the building up of the church upon the rock, which is Christ and the revelation concerning Christ.
Now let us go on from Jacob to Israel, the house of Jacob. The house of Jacob first enjoyed Christ as the Passover lamb (Exo. 12; 1 Cor. 5:7). On the day of the passover, the Israelites put the blood of the lamb on the two side posts and on the lintel (Exo. 12:7), and they ate the flesh of the lamb (v. 8). This signifies that, on the one hand, they enjoyed the redemption of Christ, and on the other hand, they enjoyed Christ as life and the life supply to them. Furthermore, they enjoyed Christ as the unleavened bread (vv. 15-20). Do you realize what God asked them to do after they enjoyed Christ in such a way? God asked them to set up a tabernacle, to build up a house for Him (25:8). The children of Israel enjoyed and experienced Christ in the way of redemption and in the way of life. Immediately after this, God not only commanded but demanded that they set up a tabernacle as His dwelling place among them. Therefore, here again we have Christ and the church.
If you read the book of Exodus once more, you will realize that all the timber, the boards, and the other materials for the tabernacle are types of aspects of Christ enjoyed by the believers to make them materials for the building of the church. What is the tabernacle? The tabernacle is the enlargement, the increase, of Christ as the lamb. If you enjoy the lamb, I enjoy the lamb, and we all enjoy the lamb, eventually this lamb will become the tabernacle through us. The children of Israel could be enlarged into a tabernacle simply because, in type, they experienced and enjoyed Christ and were united with Christ. They received something of Christ, and this very portion of Christ made them materials for the tabernacle. Today we have Christ and we are the church, not by natural goodness or other natural matters but by the Christ who is experienced by us. We are the church by Christ being experienced by us and making us the material of the church. Just as the lamb became the tabernacle, Christ enjoyed and experienced by us becomes the church.
If you experience and enjoy Christ, there is truly a longing within you for the church life. If you have a good contact with the Lord Jesus in the morning, I am sure you will come to the church meeting in the evening. You have enjoyed Christ, yet you realize that you must be in the church for your living. This is why, in many cases, we should not talk to people about the church. We should simply help them to realize Christ. The more they realize Christ, the more they will long for the church. The lamb will become the tabernacle, and Christ will become the church, but He must be experienced and enjoyed by you. First, you have the Passover lamb, and then you will have the tabernacle in the wilderness built up as a dwelling place for God. After the tabernacle was raised up, a number of offerings, typifying Christ, were offered to God. We can never separate Christ, typified by the offerings, from the church, typified by the tabernacle. Where the tabernacle is, there are the offerings. Where the church is, there is Christ, and where Christ is, there is the church.
The entire history of the children of Israel in the Old Testament is a history of the tabernacle and of the temple. In principle, these two are the same. At first the tabernacle was the center of the history of Israel, and later on the temple became the center. This shows us that God’s intention is that we experience Christ so that a building may come into existence. This is the central thought of God. The temple came into being through the experience of Christ in type. After the children of Israel were brought into the land of Canaan, after they enjoyed Canaan, and after they experienced all the goodness of Canaan, the temple came forth. Again, Canaan is a type of Christ, and the temple is a type of the church. Just as the temple is the ultimate issue of the experience and enjoyment of the good land, the church is the ultimate issue of the experience and the enjoyment of Christ by the saints. When we enjoy Christ, the church comes out. After the Israelites enjoyed and experienced all the riches, the goodness, of the good land, they built up the temple as the dwelling place for God. This is a picture of the church coming out of Christ, who has been experienced by us.
Now we come to the New Testament. The record of the New Testament is a record of the Head with the Body, a record of Christ and the church. Christ is the Head, and the church is the Body. A number of years ago some young people in the Far East claimed that they saw the revelation concerning Christ and the fullness of Christ. They said there was no need to talk about the church because as long as we have Christ, everything is all right. It is absurd to say this. If you truly have the revelation of Christ, you will also have the revelation of the church. You cannot have a revelation concerning the Head without the Body. If you do see something of Christ, the church will follow. In Matthew 16:16 Peter saw the revelation from the heavenly Father concerning Christ. He said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Then immediately after that, the Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build My church” (v. 18). If you know Christ, surely you will know the church. It is not possible to have the Head without the Body. Look at the writings, the teachings, the preachings, of the apostles, especially the apostle Paul. How much he speaks concerning the Body of Christ! Nearly all the Epistles written by the apostles stress not only Christ, the Head, but also the church, the Body.
Today the problem among the believers is not mainly concerning Christ but concerning the church. I do not believe that the genuine believers are very wrong concerning Christ, the Head, but regrettably, most of the believers are wrong with the Body. I have been a Christian for nearly forty years, and I have been serving the Lord for more than thirty years. I have to tell you, I have suffered only a little for the Lord Himself, but I have suffered very much for the church. Therefore, there is a great problem related to the Body. As long as you simply speak about Christ without mentioning the Body, you will be considered wonderful, but you will be wonderful “in the air,” not practically. However, if you are going to speak practically concerning the church, you have to be ready to suffer persecution. Today the subtle enemy, the old serpent, is still trying his best to frustrate, to damage, to spoil, even to kill the church life, the Body of Christ. Do you realize what the Lord said to us? He said, “Upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). This proves and reveals to us that the church will be attacked by the gates of Hades, but praise the Lord, we can be at peace. Do not be scared away. You have to take the Lord’s word, because He told us clearly that the church built with living stones on this divine rock can never be defeated by the gates of Hades. All the power of death, all the power of hell, and all the power of the satanic forces cannot prevail against the church, which is built on the solid rock. Nevertheless, we have to realize that here is a real battle. As long as we are going along with the Body of Christ, we have to be ready to suffer for the Body.
Now you can see that the ultimate intention of God is to have the church built up for Himself and for His Son, as a building for Himself and as a Body, a bride, an increase, for His Son. This is the central thought of God. This is the very central thing that the Lord Himself is seeking after. If we see this, we are ready for the last two chapters of the Scriptures concerning the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is nothing other than the ultimate consummation of the divine work throughout the generations. After the old creation, God’s work throughout all the generations is a work for the new creation with a new man — the New Jerusalem — in a new heaven and new earth.
