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Scripture Reading: Eph. 3:8; 1 Cor. 1:9, 30; 2:2; 4:1-2; 2 Cor. 4:7; Deut. 8:7-10; Col. 1:12; 2:6-7a
I. The apostle Paul enjoyed and announced the person of Christ with His unsearchable riches as the gospel to produce the church as the fullness of Christ, the expression and overflow of Christ, for the exhibition of Christ as the multifarious wisdom of God according to the eternal plan of God — Eph. 3:8-11, 16-19; 1:22-23; Acts 17:3, 18; 26:22a, 23; 13:47; Gal. 1:15a, 16a; Phil. 1:18; Col. 1:27b-28; 1 Cor. 1:24, 30.
II. In our living and serving, we should concentrate on enjoying and ministering Christ to dispense Him into others as the unique treasure of untold wealth in the universe, not on any persons, matters, or things other than Christ — vv. 9, 30; 2:2; 4:1-2; 2 Cor. 3:3, 6; 4:7:
А. The proper preaching of Jesus as the glad tidings, the gospel, causes people to realize that they are nothing and that Christ is everything — Isa. 40:15, 17; cf. Phil. 3:7-8.
B. Our Savior, Jesus, is the Holy One, the eternal God, Jehovah, and the Creator of the heavens and the earth, who sits above the circle of the earth; as the Holy One, Jesus is unlimited, unsearchable, incomparable, and high — Isa. 40:12-15, 17-18, 22, 25-26, 28; Rom. 1:20; 11:34; Col. 1:15-18; Heb. 1:2-3; 11:1-3:
1. The way to enjoy the unsearchably rich Christ is to take Him as our real Sabbath rest, stopping ourselves with our living, doing, and activity, and receive Him as our life, person, and replacement; then we will experience Christ as the power of resurrection to be transformed and to soar in the heavens far above every earthly frustration — Matt. 11:28-30; Isa. 40:28-31.
2. God wants us to stop our doing, be replaced by Christ, and keep away from the taste of anything other than Christ — Gal. 2:20; John 6:57; Isa. 55:1-2; 58:3.
C. Christ Himself is our unsearchably rich portion and inheritance; our reward for our priestly service is to eat Christ and enjoy Him as everything to us — Num. 18:20, 31; John 6:57; Gen. 15:1; Psa. 43:4a; Phil. 3:8-9, 14:
1. We can enjoy the riches of Christ by calling on His name — the Lord is “rich to all who call upon Him; for ‘whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved’” — Rom. 10:12b-13.
2. We can enjoy the riches of Christ in His word — we live on “every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God” — Matt. 4:4.
3. We can enjoy the bountiful supply of the Body of Christ and His universal dimensions when we abide in Christ as our prison to live Him for His magnification and to receive God’s visions and heavenly expressions on behalf of the saints — Phil. 1:19-21a; Eph. 3:1, 16-18; 4:1.
4. We can enjoy the treasure of His indwelling presence by loving Him in the midst of consuming pressures and tribulations, which are the sweet visitation and incarnation of grace for the God of resurrection to add Himself to us — 2 Cor. 4:7; 1:8-9, 12; 12:7-10; Rom. 5:3; 8:28.
III. The unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel are revealed in all twenty-seven books of the New Testament; this wonderful, heavenly Christ is the very embodiment of the processed Triune God, reaching us as the consummated life-giving Spirit, so that we can continually receive Him as grace upon grace to be renewed day by day for serving our God in newness of spirit in the gospel of His Son — John 1:14, 16; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 4:16; Rom. 1:9; 7:6:
А. In the Gospels is the Christ who lived on the earth and died on the cross for the accomplishment of redemption.
B. In the Acts is the resurrected and ascended Christ propagated and ministered to men.
C. In Romans is the Christ who is our righteousness for justification and our life for sanctification, transformation, conformation, glorification, and building up.
D. In Galatians is the Christ who enables us to live a life that is versus the law, religion, tradition, and forms.
E. In Philippians is the Christ who is lived out of His members.
F. In Ephesians and Colossians is the Christ who is the life, the content, and the Head of the Body, the church.
G. In 1 and 2 Corinthians is the Christ who is everything in the practical church life.
H. In 1 and 2 Thessalonians is the Christ who is our holiness for His coming back.
I. In 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus is the Christ who is God’s economy, enabling us to know how to conduct ourselves in the house of God.
J. In Hebrews is the present Christ, who is now in the heavens as our Minister and our High Priest, ministering to us the heavenly life, grace, authority, and power and sustaining us to live a heavenly life on earth.
K. In the Epistles of Peter is the Christ who enables us to take God’s governmental dealings administered through sufferings.
L. In the Epistles of John is the Christ who is the life and fellowship of the children of God in God’s family.
M. In Revelation is the Christ who is walking among the churches in this age, ruling over the world in the kingdom in the coming age, and expressing God in full glory in the new heaven and new earth for eternity.
N. Such a wonderful, all-inclusive, all-extensive, and universally rich Christ is the Christ now, the Christ today, and the Christ on the throne in the heavens, who is our daily salvation and moment-by-moment supply — Heb. 8:2; 4:14-16; 7:26; Rom. 5:10.
IV. God’s goal in His economy is not merely to redeem His people and save them from the world, typified by Egypt, but to bring them into Christ, typified by the good land, so that they may possess Him and enjoy His unsearchable riches — Exo. 3:8; Deut. 8:7-10; Col. 1:12; 2:6-7a; Eph. 3:8:
А. The riches of the good land typify the unsearchable riches of Christ in different aspects as the bountiful supply of the Spirit to His believers — Deut. 8:7-9:
1. The waterbrooks, springs, and fountains signify Christ as the flowing Spirit — John 4:14; 7:37-39; Rev. 22:1.
2. The valleys and the mountains signify the different kinds of environments in which we may experience Christ as the flowing Spirit — cf. 2 Cor. 6:8-10.
3. Wheat typifies the incarnated Christ, who was crucified and buried to multiply Himself (John 12:24), and barley, being the first-ripe grain (2 Sam. 21:9), points to the resurrected Christ as the firstfruits (1 Cor. 15:20).
4. Vines typify the Christ who sacrificed Himself to produce wine to cheer God and man — Judg. 9:13; Matt. 9:17.
5. The fig tree speaks of the sweetness and satisfaction of Christ as the life supply — Judg. 9:11.
6. The pomegranates signify the fullness, the abundance and beauty, and the expression of the riches of Christ as life — Exo. 28:33-34; 1 Kings 7:18-20 S. S. 4:3b, 13.
7. The olive tree typifies Christ (Rom. 11:17, 24) as the One who was filled with the Spirit and anointed with the Spirit (Luke 4:1, 18; Heb. 1:9); olive oil typifies the Holy Spirit, by whom we walk to honor God and whom we minister to honor man (Gal. 5:16, 25; 2 Cor. 3:6, 8; Judg. 9:9).
8. Milk and honey speak forth the goodness and sweetness of Christ — Deut. 6:3; Exo. 3:8.
9. Stones signify Christ as material for building God’s dwelling place — Isa. 28:16; Zech. 4:7; 1 Pet. 2:4.
10. The iron and copper are for making weapons (Gen. 4:22; 1 Sam. 17:5-7) and typify our spiritual warfare by which we fight the enemy (2 Cor. 10:4; Eph. 6:10-20); iron also signifies Christ’s ruling authority (Matt. 28:18; Rev. 19:15), and copper, Christ’s judging power (1:15); the mountains from which copper is mined signify Christ’s resurrection and ascension (Eph. 4:8).
B. By enjoying the riches of the land, the children of Israel were able to build up the temple to be God’s habitation on earth and the city of Jerusalem to establish God’s kingdom on earth.
C. Likewise, by enjoying the unsearchable riches of Christ, the believers in Christ are built up to be Christ’s Body, the church, which is Christ’s fullness, His expression (1:22-23), and which is also the habitation of God (2:21-22; 1 Tim. 3:15) and the kingdom of God (Matt. 16:18-19; Rom. 14:17).
D. Ultimately, God’s habitation and God’s kingdom will consummate in the New Jerusalem in eternity for the fulfillment of God’s eternal economy; this miraculous structure of treasure is the goal of our enjoying and ministering the unsearchable riches of Christ as the treasure of the gospel — Rev. 21:1-3, 22; 22:1, 3.
