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Scripture Reading: Matt. 16:16; Acts 10:36; Eph. 1:21-23; Col. 1:18; Phil. 2:9; Rev. 19:16; 22:13; John 8:12; 11:25; 10:9; 14:6; 4:42
The topic we will consider in this book is Christ in His excellency, or Christ in His supreme preciousness. No person, matter, or thing in the universe is more precious than the Lord Jesus. The expression Christ in His excellency or Christ in His supreme preciousness is not my invention. This thought has long existed in the New Testament and is used in reference to the Lord Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul says that every saved one has a treasure within him. Who is this treasure? By reading the context of this verse, we can see that this treasure is the glorious Christ. He has come into us to be the treasure within us.
Furthermore, Paul says that he did not consider that only the Lord Jesus Himself is excellent, but even the knowledge of the Lord Jesus is the most excellent thing. The Chinese people appreciate the teachings of Confucius, but no one regards the knowledge of Confucius’s teachings as the most precious thing. When I was young, I really liked the principles of The Great Learning by Confucius, but I never considered them something very precious. However, when I was saved at the age of nineteen, I began to read the Bible, and my eyes were opened wide to know the Lord Jesus. At that time I felt that in the Bible the words describing the Lord Jesus were not only sweet but also precious, and they were even excellent. Therefore, I truly liked to read the Bible, especially the New Testament. I delighted in it to such an extent that I was completely captured, especially by the words that I read concerning the Lord Jesus. The entire summer of that year I did not leave my house except to go to the Lord’s Day meetings; I just stayed home reading the Bible. Even my mother was astonished, wondering what it was that had captivated her son to the extent that he would not leave the house for an entire summer and that apart from the time spent eating and sleeping, all he did was read the Bible. Even while eating I was reading the Bible. Furthermore, I shut myself up alone every night to read the Bible. The more I read the Bible, the more I sensed its preciousness. I read it again and again, and even when I went to bed, I still laid there reading it.
In those days kerosene lamps were used instead of electric lights. I was always reluctant to blow out my lamp. I would read even one verse of the Scriptures over and over, and there would be a real sense of sweetness and preciousness within me. I read the Bible until I was so tired that I had to go to sleep, but I would leave the Bible open at the verse that I had enjoyed and place it beside my pillow. When I woke up, before I even lifted my head from the pillow, the first thing I would look at was that particular verse, and I felt that it was so precious.
I am really captivated by the words in the Bible concerning the Lord Jesus, so I can truly understand why Paul would say, “The excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8). Paul was born into a Jewish family, and he was a genuine Judaizer. He had been under the training of Gamaliel, a famous teacher of Judaism at that time; therefore, he was influenced by the Jewish religion basically through Gamaliel. Furthermore, history tells us that he was born in a big city — what Americans today would call a university town — because there was a Greek university there. Paul was educated there, so his Greek was very good. All the scholars acknowledge that the Greek Paul used in writing the New Testament was superb. Thus, Paul was one who had tasted the full flavor of the Jewish religion and also had been deeply soaked in the Greek culture with its profound philosophy and literature.
The so-called Western culture today evolved from a tripodal culture, which includes first the Hebrew religion, second Greek philosophy and culture, and third Roman government and law. Among these three, the Hebrew religion and the Greek philosophy and culture are most important. Paul received a profound training in both of these aspects. Thus, he could boast that he was a Hebrew and also a Pharisee. (At that time the Pharisees were the moralists and the cultured gentlemen.) As to the righteousness which was in the law, he was zealous to keep the law, and he could be considered a high level, genuine disciple of the Jewish religion. On the other hand, his Greek was very good, and he had a high appreciation for the Greeks.
It was at that time that he was zealously persecuting and killing the believers of Jesus. He thought that the believers of Jesus were a low-class people, of the sect of the Nazarene of Galilee. He thought that all those people had been enchanted and deceived, so he had to eradicate them. He could not allow his countrymen to be deceived by these people, so he wanted to cut them off. We all know this story.
As Paul was on his way to bind and arrest the believers of Jesus, the Lord Jesus appeared to him from heaven. In Paul’s understanding, Jesus had been crucified and buried in the earth. Yet, on the day that Paul was on the road to Damascus with the intention to arrest and persecute the believers of Jesus, suddenly there was a voice from heaven and the flashing of a great light. When the great light flashed around him, he fell to the ground and heard a voice from the heavens saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). Saul was very surprised. Knowing that this voice was coming from the heavens, he had the fear of God and cried out, “Who are You, Lord?” The Lord Jesus answered, “I am Jesus, whom you persecute” (v. 5). This made him even more surprised. He may have thought, “I persecuted Stephen; I persecuted the believers of Jesus. Was Jesus not crucified? Was He not buried? How can He say that I am persecuting Him?” Here the Lord wanted Paul to know that He had resurrected from the dead and had ascended; therefore, He could appear to him from heaven. Paul not only heard a voice, but he also saw a great light with his own eyes; this was the Lord’s special grace to him. Hence, from that time onward, Paul had a great change of concept. It was at that time that he received the revelation from the heavens.
I truly believe that after Paul met the Lord on the road to Damascus, he received a heavenly revelation and suddenly became clear. Previously, when he was under the teaching of Gamaliel, he was full of knowledge concerning the tabernacle, the altar, the Ark, the golden lampstand, the table of the bread of the Presence, and other things, yet he could not understand their significances. It was not until the time the Holy Spirit came to him that he understood all these things. He now knew that the Ark was Christ and that the altar was the cross. He understood what the golden lampstand and the table of the bread of the Presence were. He realized that the entire Old Testament was concerning Christ. Thus, he began to appreciate Christ. This was why he says in Philippians 3 that he regarded the knowledge of Christ as most excellent. The knowledge of the Jewish Bible and the Greek culture is good, but it is not most excellent. The knowledge of Christ as the Son of the living God and as the Lord of all is the most excellent thing. Therefore, in the Epistles that Paul wrote, he repeatedly uses the word excellency.
The Greek word that is translated as “excellency” in English as a noun is rendered as “most precious” in Chinese. In Greek the word means to reach the zenith, that is, to be excelling to the utmost. This word is very close to super-excelling — unsurpassably excellent. In Paul’s knowledge, Christ surpasses everything. What Paul meant is that Christ excels not only in His position but even more in His virtues, His being, His substance, His nature, and all His attainments. As God, He is exceedingly divine. As man, He is the Man of men. He is the Holiest of the holy, and the Man of all men. Although these words are profound, they still cannot truly express Paul’s original meaning. What he meant to say was that he had studied the Hebrew religion and had received a deep training in the Greek culture, but to him the knowledge of these matters could not compare with the knowledge of Christ. Thus, the knowledge of Christ is supreme and ultimate.
I would like to testify to you that I was saved before reaching the age of twenty, and now I am nearly eighty; in these nearly sixty years I have been reading the Bible almost every day and have worn out several Chinese Bibles. I have been in America for twenty-two years, and I have also worn out several English Bibles. In my study I have more than forty different English versions of the Bible. Now I have been working together with some brothers on the Recovery Version of the New Testament in English, and for each book I have spent at least several months writing the footnotes. In order to write the footnotes I needed to read the works of many people and check with the authoritative references. After studying the Bible in this fine and detailed way for many years, I confess that the Bible is truly the Book of books. This is why in English it is called “The Book,” meaning that the Bible is the unique book, the book over all other books. This Bible is truly very precious! We may illustrate the preciousness of the Bible in the following way. I have been with the American brothers for twenty-two years, and they have often said, “Brother Lee, no matter which book of the Bible you take up, after you have written some footnotes and explained the verses in a training, that book becomes a new book.” Once, they said, “We used to think that there was nothing in 1 and 2 Peter and that these Epistles were very dry and boring to read, but since your recent speaking, 1 and 2 Peter have become rich and fresh, full of revelation and light.” They also said to me, “In the past almost no one liked to read Exodus, but ever since you released the messages in the Life-study of Exodus, everyone feels that this book is truly precious. We see that the entire book of Exodus is full of the riches and revelations of Christ that bring us into the reality of Christ. It is truly very precious.”
Let me give you another example. In 1975 when I covered the Gospel of John in Washington, D.C., I gave thirty messages, and later I gave tens of other supplementary messages. Thus, now the printed Life-study of John has fifty-one messages. Recently, however, I have had a burden to come back to speak on the essence of the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is simply inexhaustible.
The biblical revelation of the Lord Jesus is very mysterious and precious. No wonder Paul says, “What things were gains to me, these I have counted as loss...on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:7-8).
In this chapter we will look at ten major points concerning the surpassingness of Christ based on the verses in the Scripture Reading above.
Matthew 16:16 says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Lord Jesus Christ is surpassing because He is the Son of the living God. The living God means that God not only has life, but He also moves. God moves in the universe, so He is the living God. Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God.
Acts 10:36 says, “The word which He sent...in announcing the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ (this One is Lord of all).” Christ is the Lord of all. The word all actually includes all people, matters, and things. The Lord Jesus is the Lord of all people, matters, and things. He is the Lord of all. I have preached the gospel based on this verse of the Bible many times. In mainland China I said that everything has its owner, master, and lord; there is nothing in the universe that is without a lord. Who then is your lord? You may say that your parents are your lord, but when you grow up, your parents can no longer be the lord over you; in the end your parents will become dependent on you. The wives may say, “Our husbands are our lords.” However, when your husbands get sick, they have to depend on you and can no longer be your lords. Then who is really our Lord? Only the Lord Jesus is our Lord. It is truly marvelous that those who believe in any religion do not say that they believe in a lord; only those who believe in the Lord Jesus say that they have believed in the Lord. This is because only the Lord Jesus is the Lord in the universe; no one else is the Lord.
May I ask you who the Lord in the universe is? Heaven and earth are so great and we humans are so meaningful, yet can you say that we do not have an owner? We do have an owner; Jesus is our Owner. We all belong to the Lord Jesus. He is our Lord. Only what He says counts. As parents, children, husbands, and wives, we all rely on Him. He is the Lord of all. He truly is surpassing. None of the great philosophers, anywhere and at any time, such as Confucius, Socrates, and Plato, ever dared to call himself Lord. On the contrary, Confucius only said, “He who offends heaven cannot pray.” His word indicates that he was not the Lord. But the Lord Jesus said, “I am the light of the world,” “I am the life,” I am the door,” and “I am the way.” No other person has said these words. Over the past two thousand years many have believed these great words spoken by the Lord Jesus because these are true words. Jesus is Lord; He is the Lord of all.
Christ is our Lord, and even more He is the Lord of all. He is not only the Lord but also the Head. Ephesians 1:21-23 says that He is “far above all rule and authority and power and lordship and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come” and that God “subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” Jesus Christ is the Head of all and the One who fills all in all. He is not only above all as the Head; He is also in all as the One who fills all. He fills the heavens, the earth, and all things. He is truly marvelous and surpassing. He is far above all rule and authority and power and lordship. According to the original language of the Bible, this passage refers to Satan’s administrative personnel and helpers in the air. Christ is far above all these and everything that is not only in this age but also in the coming age. Furthermore, God subjected all things under Christ’s feet and gave Christ to be Head over all things to the church. Christ was given to be Head over all things for the sake of the church. The church is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.
Without Christ, man is vanity. The wise King Solomon said, “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity” (Eccl. 1:2). Without Christ, your house is vanity, your car is vanity, and your Ph.D. is vanity; being a parent is vanity, being a son or daughter is vanity, and being a husband or wife is vanity. Everything is vanity. Without Christ, all persons, matters, and things are vanity; only Christ is the reality. Christ should fill all people, matters, and things. Only Christ is superior; everything before our eyes is inferior. Only Christ is true and real; He is the surpassing One.
Today Christ is the Head of the church. Colossians 1:18a says, “He is the Head of the Body, the church.”
Fifth, Christ has the preeminence in all things. Colossians 1:18b says, “He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things.” If we would allow Christ to have the preeminence in all things and in everything, then we will be blessed. We should let Him have the preeminence in everything: in our married life, in our family life, in our parent-child relationships, in our buying and selling of property, in our bank accounts, in our education, and in all our business affairs. Christ should have the first place in all things.
Philippians 2:9 says, “Therefore also God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.” God not only exalted Christ to the highest position; He also bestowed on Him the name which is above every name. In the universe today the name Jesus Christ surpasses all other names; it is above every name.
Revelation 19:16 says, “He has on His garment and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. I truly believe this word. I often give the following illustration. Today even the atheistic Communist countries use the Western calendar. Do you know whose calendar this is? It is the calendar of the Lord Jesus Christ. All the Chinese people know that when a country uses a certain person’s calendar, the country belongs to that person. This year is the one thousand nine hundred eighty-third year of the Lord Jesus, and the entire world today uses this calendar. This clearly shows that the earth is our Lord Christ’s. There have been many great men throughout the ages, but all of them died, and no one remembers most of them. However, the Lord Jesus Christ is different; the more people oppose Him, the more transcendent He is; the more people oppose Him, the more people believe in Him; the more people oppress Him, the more He multiplies.
Before I left Shanghai in 1949, I calculated that there were no more than three million Christians, including the Catholics, in China at that time. A couple of years ago, a report in a Hong Kong newspaper said that there are thirty to forty million Christians in mainland China. In one county of a certain province alone, there are one hundred fifty thousand Christians who are calling on the Lord’s name, pray-reading His Word, and enjoying Christ. If you read history carefully, you will see that the clever kings would not persecute the Christians, because they knew that whoever persecutes the Christians will never have a good end. Hitler, who was the worst persecutor of God’s people in modern times, had a very pitiful end, dying without a proper place for burial. History also tells us that any government that persecuted Jesus Christ has fallen very quickly. The Manchu dynasty in China was ended because it instigated the Boxers to kill the Christians. This is known as the Boxer Rebellion in modern Chinese history. Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. No one else is lord, neither the Roman Caesars nor Napoleon nor Hitler; only Jesus Christ is the Lord. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Christ is the First, the Last, the Beginning, and the End. The First, the Last, the Beginning, and the End are all He. Revelation 22:13 says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” When I first read the Bible, I did not understand this word; I felt that the Bible was somewhat repetitive. I thought that the First and the Last were the same as the Beginning and the End. However, the Bible says that Christ is the First and the Last; He is the first One, and He is also the last One; He is the Beginning and the End. Is this repetitive? I gradually received the light to understand that the First means the first One, and the Last means the last One. Hence, one of the hymns we sing says,
As to the first, Christ is the foremost; as to the last, Christ is the hindmost. The beginning is He, and the end is also He. He is always the First; no one precedes Him. He is also the Last; no one is behind Him. Furthermore, He is the Beginning and the End. You can be the first, but you may not be the originator. You can also be the last, but you may not be the finisher. Christ is not only the First but also the Originator; He is not only the Last but also the Finisher. In other words, in this universe from beginning to end, all is Christ.
We have already seen that Christ is surpassing, eternal, unlimited, and complete, but how does this relate to us? The relationship depends on His being the light, the life, the door, and the way. In John 8:12 the Lord Jesus said, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” In 11:25 He said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” In 10:9 He said, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved.” In 14:6 He said, “I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Dear friends, who among you does not want these four things? Who does not want light, life, a door, and a way? Everyone wants these four things. I would also like to tell you that for our whole life and even until eternity we will always need light, life, a door, and a way. This light, this life, this door, and this way are the Lord Jesus. Christ Himself is the light, the life, the door, and the way.
Finally, Christ is the Savior of the world. The Lord Jesus was in a city of Samaria called Sychar when He told a Samaritan woman about the living water of life. After that woman believed in the Lord, she left her waterpot and went away into the city to testify to all the people. Many Samaritans came to the Lord Jesus because of that woman’s testimony. Then many more believed because of the Lord’s word, and they said to that woman, “It is no longer because of your speaking that we believe, for we ourselves have heard and know that this One is truly the Savior of the world” (4:39-42). Hallelujah, our Lord Jesus is the Savior of the world!
This is the Christ of supreme preciousness; He is truly surpassing. He is the Son of the living God, the Lord of all, the Head over all things, the One who fills all in all, the Head of the church, the One who has the first place in all things, and the One who has obtained the name which is above every name. Moreover, He is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the First, the Last, the Beginning, the End, the light, the life, the door, the way, and the Savior of the world. The One whom we have obtained today is such an excellent Christ.
