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Book messages «Enjoying the Riches of Christ for the Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ»
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The economy of the mystery for the dispensing of Christ

  Scripture Reading: Eph. 3:8-10; Col. 1:15-18; Isa. 9:6; Matt. 16:16-18; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17; Col. 3:4a, 10-11; 2:6; 1 Cor. 6:17

Christ being mysterious and incomprehensible

  The source of the church is Christ; the church comes out of Christ. But who is Christ and what is Christ? Christianity has tried to teach clearly about Christ. Today even a young believer can say something definite about Christ. Yet the more we study the Bible, the more we realize that it is difficult to completely comprehend who and what Christ is. It is easy to understand many other things, but it is very difficult to know Christ completely. Many in Christianity think that they know Christ in a complete way, but in actuality, there is no possibility to completely know Christ. He is too wonderful, too all-inclusive, too mysterious, and too marvelous.

  Even we as men are mysterious. We have three lives: a physical life, a soulish life, and a spiritual life. Yet we do not know ourselves completely. How then can we completely comprehend Christ? We have a mind and an emotion, but where is our mind, and where is our emotion? We have two hearts: a physical heart and a psychological heart. Medical doctors can touch our physical heart, but they cannot touch our psychological heart. We also have a soul and a spirit, but where is our soul, and where is our spirit? I know much about myself, but I am not completely clear about myself. I know that I have a mind, an emotion, and a will; I know that I have two hearts; I know that I have a soul and a spirit; and I know that I have a physical life, a soulish life, and a spiritual life. I have so many good things, but I am not so clear about all these things.

  We are wonderful, but we are not as wonderful as Christ is. Christ is much bigger than we are; He is all-inclusive. Forty years ago I thought I was very clear about Christ, but today, if you ask me about Christ, I must confess that although I know much about Him, I am not very clear about Him. It is not possible to completely comprehend all the things concerning Christ. Therefore, I have no intention of trying to make you clear. Rather, I may puzzle you. If we are going to enjoy Christ, we have to be puzzled. When we are clear about Christ, we are finished with the enjoyment of Christ. Therefore, it is better not to be so clear.

Christ being God and the image of God

  John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” According to this verse, Christ is God. This point is very clear. Colossians 1:15 says that Christ is “the image of the invisible God.” Is Christ God or the image of God? Since God is invisible, how can He have an image? Does anything invisible have an image? To be sure, an image must be visible. As God, Christ is invisible, yet He is the image of the invisible God. This is a puzzle to our mind.

Christ being the Firstborn of all creation

  The latter part of Colossians 1:15 says that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation. This indicates that He is one among the creatures. He is the Firstborn, the first item, of all creatures. Then verse 16 says that “in Him all things were created.” This means that He is also the Creator. Is Christ the Creator or a creature? To be sure, He is the Creator, but He is also an item of creation. I have composed several hymns on the subject of Christ being the creature as well as the Creator. Some have condemned me for teaching this, but I do not care whether or not they condemn me. Rather, I care for Colossians 1:15b, which says that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation. Our Lord Jesus Christ is too wonderful. He is not only the Creator; He is also the creature. He is not only God; He is also man.

  If we recognize that Christ is a man, we have to admit that He is a creature, because man is a creature. Christ partook of blood and flesh (Heb. 2:14), and blood and flesh are items of creation. The so-called systematic theology says that Christ is the Creator and admits that Christ became a man, but it is reluctant to admit that Christ is also a creature. However, as man is Christ not a creature? How could He have blood and flesh without becoming a creature? He is the Creator, yet one day He became a man, a creature with blood and flesh.

Christ being the Firstborn from the dead

  Colossians 1:18 reveals that Christ is the Firstborn from the dead. He is the Firstborn of all creation, and He is also the Firstborn of all the resurrected ones. According to this verse, He is also the Head of the Body, the church. Christ is so many things.

Christ being the Father, the Son, and the Spirit

  Isaiah 9:6 is a puzzling verse, containing many points that no theologian can reconcile. It says, “A child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.” According to this verse, the child is the mighty God, and the Son is the eternal Father. Is Christ the Son or the Father?

  God is triune — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Yet Isaiah 9:6 says that the Son is the Father. Furthermore, according to 1 Corinthians 15:45b, Christ as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. This is confirmed by 2 Corinthians 3:17, which says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” In this verse the Lord is Jesus Christ (4:5). Hence, the Lord Jesus Christ is the Spirit. Is Christ the Son, the Father, or the Spirit? Eventually, we have to say that He is everything.

Christ being all-inclusive

  Many verses in the New Testament show us that Christ is a man (1 Tim. 2:5; John 1:14; 4:29; 19:5; Acts 2:22; Rom. 5:15). Is He man or God? He is both; He is everything. He is God, He is man, He is the Father, He is the Son, He is the Spirit, He is the Creator, and He is also the creature. He is the Firstborn, and He is the last Adam. He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega (Rev. 22:13). He is not the First and the Last only; He is also the Second, the Third, the Fourth, and every letter. He is the Alpha, the Beta, the Gamma, and ultimately He is the Omega. He is everyone, and He is everything (Col. 3:11). According to systematic theology, Christ is the Son only, but the Bible tells us that He is not only the Son but also the Father and the Spirit. Based upon this word some may think that I am for the “Jesus only” theology. No, I do not care for any theology; I only care for the pure word of the Bible. We must forget all the theologies and teachings that we picked up from Christianity and come back to the pure Word.

  In John 14 Philip asked the Lord Jesus to show him the Father. The Lord Jesus rebuked him by saying, “Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how is it that you say, Show us the Father?” (v. 9). In such a word the Lord seemed to say, “I have been with you for three and a half years. Don’t you know Me? Haven’t you seen Me? If you have seen Me, why do you ask Me to show you the Father? Don’t you know that if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father?”

  The Lord Jesus is wonderful and all-inclusive. He is all in all. There is a God in this universe, but without Christ and outside of Christ we cannot find God. God is in Christ, and Christ is God. Is there a real man in this universe? Yes, this real man is Christ. Is there a heavenly Father? Yes, He is Christ. Is there the Son of God? Yes, He is Christ. Is there the Spirit of God? Yes, He is Christ. If we say that Christ is the Son and not the Father or the Spirit, then we cannot say that Christ is all. Yet Christ is all and in all. He is God, He is the Father, He is the Son, He is the Spirit, He is a man, and He is the life. He is everything.

  Eventually, Christ is even you and me. Philippians 1:21 says, “To me, to live is Christ,” and Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” This verse is very puzzling. First, it says that “I am crucified with Christ”; this means that I am brought to an end. Then it says, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me,” yet “I live in faith.” This indicates that, spiritually, Christ has become us. Christ is not only the Head but also the Body (Col. 1:18; 1 Cor. 12:12). Christ is everything.

Christ being in us as our life

  The all-inclusive Christ, the very Christ who is all and in all, is our life (Col. 3:4). Today He is in us, for He cannot be our life without being in us. Some say that Christ is only in the heavens, yet they also say that Christ is their life. How can this be? How could Christ be our life when He is only in the heavens and we are on the earth? This would mean that our life is in the heavens far away from us. This so-called systematic theology is too systematic. Praise the Lord, the Christ who is our life is not only in the heavens! He is also in us, and He is one with us, as 1 Corinthians 6:17 says: “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”

The economy of the mystery

  Ephesians 3:8 and 9 say, “To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel and 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.” The economy of the mystery in verse 9 is the dispensing of the unsearchable riches of Christ in verse 8.

The steps of God’s economy

Creation

  For God to dispense His unsearchable riches is not an easy or simple thing. God’s economy is not first a matter of preaching the gospel. The first matter in God’s economy is creation. In creation God brought all things, especially man, into being. In order for Christ to be dispensed into us, we first needed to be created. If we were never created, how could Christ be dispensed into us? Thank God for His creation! Creation is the first step of God’s economy.

Incarnation

  After creation the next step in God’s economy is incarnation. Creation brings man into existence, while incarnation brings God into man, into His creation. Before incarnation God was God and man was man; these two were separate. Through incarnation, however, God came into man. The issue was a man named Jesus, who was not only man but also God. He is man and God, God with man; therefore, His name is Emmanuel, which means “God with us” (Matt. 1:23).

Crucifixion

  Incarnation brought God into man, but God’s economy was still not complete. After incarnation comes crucifixion. Creation brought us into being, incarnation brought God into us, and crucifixion terminates us. First, Christ brought God into us; then in crucifixion, He brought us to the cross and terminated us (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6).

Resurrection

  The next step is resurrection. Resurrection is to bring us into God. Incarnation brings God into us, and resurrection brings us into God. These steps of creation, incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection are the economy of the mystery. Today this economy is still a mystery to many people, but today we know this economy, this dispensation, of such a wonderful Christ.

Ascension and descension

  After resurrection is ascension. Ascension is to bring man to the throne. Then following ascension is descension. Descension is the coming down of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). What is the work of the Lord as the Spirit today? It is to bring Christ, the Head, into His Body. How much we are built up depends upon how much Christ is wrought into us as the Head. This is the meaning of descension. Today it is altogether a matter of working Christ into us in His descension.

Christ’s second coming

  God needs all the foregoing steps, but this is not yet the end. The end of the steps is Christ’s second coming, the time of the rapture. At this time Christ will be fully wrought into His Body, not in all His believers but at least in a group of overcomers. Christ as the Head will be wrought into this group of overcomers, and these overcomers will be the bride ready for His coming (Rev. 19:7).

Christ bringing the Head into the Body

  We may feel that the preaching of the gospel is to make people happy and peaceful. To Christ, however, the preaching of the gospel is to bring Himself as the Head into people. When I share Christ with you, I am bringing the Head to you. After Pentecost, the Lord as the Spirit — the Spirit of life and the Spirit of power — is constantly working on us to bring Himself as the Head into His Body, that is, to work Himself into us. Salvation is not merely for salvation; salvation is to bring the Head into the Body. Growth in life is not merely for the growth in life; it is to bring the Head more and more into the Body. To overcome our temper is also not merely to overcome our temper; this means very little. To overcome our temper is to bring Christ as the Head into the Body.

  Today we Christians may not have this concept. We are too religious, too natural, too personal, and too selfish. We may think that salvation is something only for us and that to overcome our temper and the world and to be spiritual, holy, divine, and heavenly are a personal matter. Yet all these things are for bringing the Head into the Body. If we care for bringing the Head into the Body, we will be in the heavens. If we care for this, our temper and even the world will mean nothing to us, but if we do not care for bringing the Head into the Body and only care for victory over the world, we will have a difficult job. The more we try to overcome the world, the more the world will overcome us. Likewise, if we are only for brotherly love, we will never have brotherly love. Brotherly love is for the Head to be brought into the Body. Today everything is for bringing the Head into the Body. All the gifts, including the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherds and teachers, are for bringing the Head into the Body. Whatever work we do and whatever we are should be for bringing the Head into the Body. If by our receiving these messages the Head works Himself more into us, that is wonderful; otherwise, these messages are in vain.

The revelation of Christ and the vision of the church

  It is truly difficult to say who Christ is and what Christ is because He is too wonderful and all-inclusive. He is too much for us to comprehend. Many verses are required to make known who Christ is. What I have spoken here is not my own teaching. I am simply opening up the verses concerning Christ.

  The church comes out of Christ’s dispensing. In the Bible both the revelation concerning Christ and the vision concerning the church are marvelous. We can never exhaust the understanding of these two items. Because many of us have been frustrated and distracted by old teachings, it is better for us to forget all these teachings. We may have thought that we knew the church and that we knew Christ. Whenever someone spoke about Christ or whenever we heard the term church, we may have said, “I know that. I know Matthew 16:16 and 18.” Actually, we did not know very much.

A brief summary of the economy of God

  May the Lord be merciful to us to bring us back to the proper understanding of His economy and the realization that we need the dispensing of Christ. God’s creation is to bring us into being, incarnation is to bring God into us, crucifixion is to terminate us, resurrection is to bring us into God, ascension is to bring the Body into the Head, and descension is to bring the Head into the Body. When Christ ascended into the heavens, He brought all of us into the heavens (Eph. 4:8). In this way He brought all of us into the experience of His headship. After ascension He came down as the Head over all things to the church, which is His Body.

  We thank God that He accomplished creation so that we have existence. We are what we are by God’s creation. We thank God that He also accomplished incarnation to bring Himself into us. Then He accomplished crucifixion, not only dealing with sins and the world but also terminating us. After this, in resurrection He brought us into Himself. Then in ascension He brought all the members of His Body into the experience of His headship. Hence, we all are in the heavenlies with the Head (2:6). Then after His ascension He came down as the life-giving Spirit. Now He is working to bring Himself as the Head into us, that is, to bring the Head into the Body. This is the real building up of the Body.

  When we preach the gospel, we bring the Head to sinners. When we edify the saints, we bring the Head into the Body. Whatever we do today must be for the dispensing of Christ as the Head into all His members. Then, at the fullness of the times, at least some members of the Body will be ready, mature, and ripe — good for being taken up. This will be the rapture, the day of the wedding of the Lamb. Now we are not only waiting for that day; we are passing through a process under the dispensing of Christ. This is God’s economy. God’s desire is that all men see what the economy of the mystery is (3:9). Now we are under the dispensing of Christ. God is daily and hourly dispensing all the unsearchable riches of Christ into us.

Learning to walk in Christ by walking in our spirit

  This dispensing is altogether a matter in the spirit. This wonderful, all-inclusive Christ is the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b), and today this life-giving Spirit is in our spirit. “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit” (6:17). Now we all have to learn how to walk in Him. Colossians 2:6 says, “As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him.” He is not in the heavens only as many in Christianity teach. If He were only in the heavens, how could we walk in Him on earth? Today He is the life-giving Spirit who is one with our spirit. Now we must walk in Him. To walk in Him is simply to behave ourselves in our spirit. We must not care for our emotions, our mind, or our will. We must simply care for our spirit and walk in the spirit. Because He is one with us in our spirit, as long as we walk in the spirit, we are walking in Him. If as young persons we have something to say to our parents, yet in our spirit we sense that it is negative, we must not say it. If we have the desire to go fishing or to go dancing, yet in our spirit we sense something negative, we should not go. We must simply take care of our spirit. There is only one way today, which is to walk in Christ who is the Spirit in our spirit. To walk in Christ simply means to walk in our spirit. In this spirit we are one with Him. It is by this kind of walk that His day-by-day and hour-by-hour dispensing of Himself into us takes place. Then the church comes out of such a dispensing. This is the proper church life.

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