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Scripture Reading: Col. 2:9-10; Eph. 3:8; Col. 1:19; John 16:15
We need to see the difference between the fullness and the riches of God and of Christ. In John 16:15a the Lord said, “All that the Father has is Mine.” All that the Father God is and has, is the Son’s. This means that the riches of God in His fullness are the riches of Christ. The Lord also said that all that the Son is and has is declared as reality to the believers through the Spirit (vv. 14-15).
Now we need to consider the items of the riches of God. God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness. God is also life, power, wisdom, mercy, kindness, grace, peace, faithfulness, patience, joy, glory, and salvation. He is our spiritual food, our spiritual drink, our clothing, our dwelling place, and our healing. He is our hope, honor, glory, and beauty. We need to read the Bible just to find out what God is. He is so many items to us. Whatever God is, is an item of His riches. Hebrews 5 indicates that our faculties need to be exercised and trained to discern what God is (v. 14). Our faculties, or senses, are not trained to know these things.
We need to see that the riches produce the fullness. We enjoy the riches, and we become the fullness. A husky American man is the fullness of America because he has eaten, digested, and assimilated all the riches of America. Ephesians 1:23 tells us that the church as the Body of Christ is the fullness of Christ. The church is the fullness of Christ because the church enjoys all the riches of Christ. The church enjoys Christ as life, wisdom, light, and love. Day by day we feed on Christ and drink of Him to enjoy Him. We enjoy His riches, and eventually, we become the fullness. The riches are the content, and the fullness is the manifestation, the expression. The fullness is the expression of all the riches, and all the riches are the content of the fullness.
God’s fullness is the manifestation, the expression, of God’s riches (Col. 1:19; Eph. 3:19). All that God is, is manifested, expressed, in Christ the Son. The fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ (Col. 2:9). What dwells in Christ is not only the riches of the Godhead but also the expression of the riches of what God is. Thus, God’s riches have become the riches of Christ. When Christ expresses all these riches, this is the fullness of Christ. John 1:16 says, “Of His fullness we have all received.” This does not say that we receive of His riches, but of His fullness. The riches are the content; the fullness is the content with the expression. We receive the riches from Christ’s fullness.
The difference between the riches and the fullness can be illustrated by a cup of water. A cup which contains water has the riches of water, but these riches cannot be seen until the water fills the cup to overflowing. Now the riches have become the fullness, which is the expression of the riches. When we drink the water, we receive the riches of its fullness. The riches are the content; the fullness is the expression, the manifestation. We receive the content, not the fullness, but we receive of the fullness, from the fullness.
John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace and reality. Then verse 16 says that of His fullness we receive grace upon grace. We receive grace upon grace, not fullness upon fullness. We do not receive the fullness. We receive the content, the riches. The fullness is the expression, the manifestation, of the riches. The apostle did not preach the fullness. He preached the riches of Christ in a full way to produce the church as the fullness of Christ (Eph. 3:8; 1:22-23). From Christ’s fullness we receive His riches, and eventually we become the fullness of Christ. This means that we become the expression, the manifestation, of the riches of Christ. The riches produce the fullness.
When the riches of Christ are full, that is the fullness of Christ. The church receives the riches of Christ from the fullness of Christ. Then these riches fill the church, and the church becomes the fullness of Christ. Actually, the riches of God are the riches of Christ, and the riches of Christ are the riches of the church. The riches of God become the fullness of God. Then Christ receives of this fullness, and the riches of Christ become the fullness of Christ. Then of this fullness, we partake of the riches of Christ to become the fullness of Christ. The fullness of Christ is the Body of Christ, which is the full expression of all that Christ is. All the items of what Christ is are the riches, and the full expression of what Christ is, is the fullness. Always keep in mind that the riches are the items as the content, and the fullness is the expression of the content.
All the items of what God is are the riches of God, and all these items produce the fullness. Christ received of this fullness to partake of all that God is. Then these riches became the content of Christ to become His fullness. Then of this fullness of Christ, we receive the riches of Christ. When we are filled with the riches of Christ, we become the fullness of Christ. We do not receive the fullness. Instead, from the fullness we receive the riches. So of His fullness we all received, not fullness upon fullness but grace upon grace. When our inner man is strengthened by the Spirit, Christ can make His home in all the parts of our being until we are filled unto the fullness of God (Eph. 3:16-19).
Now we need to consider the riches of Christ. The items of His riches in the Scriptures are much more numerous than the items of God. Whatever God is, dwells in Christ, but the Bible does not tell us that God is the door, the Lamb, or the offerings. Christ is the door (John 10:9), the Lamb (1:29), and the reality of all the offerings (Heb. 10:5-10). With Christ we also have the element of incarnation because Christ is not only the complete God but also the perfect man. With Him there are the elements of crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
Christ is also the way (John 14:6). This means that He is the way for us to enter into God. Also, He is the way for us to behave as Christians. The way for us to live and to deal with people is Christ. Christ is our way not only for us to enter into God but also for us to live. If we have Christ, we have the way to live, the way to behave, and the way to do things.
John 10 says that Christ is the door. According to this chapter He is not the door to heaven but the door to the sheepfold. Judaism as the religion of the law is the sheepfold. Christ was the door of the sheepfold for Moses, David, and all the prophets such as Isaiah and Jeremiah. To them He was the door through which they entered into the custody of the law. In the New Testament, Peter, John, James, and Paul experienced Christ as the door to come out of the fold of Judaism with its law. Through Christ as the door all the early disciples came out of the custody of the law. The thieves and robbers in John 10 signify those who came into Judaism, but not through Christ (vv. 1, 8). These were the unbelieving Pharisees who opposed Christ.
In John 10:9 the Lord said, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved and shall go in and go out and shall find pasture.” When the pasture is not available, in the wintertime or in the night, the sheep must be kept in the fold. In the Old Testament, before Christ came, it was the time of night. Thus, God’s flock was put into the fold to be kept in custody during the night. When Christ came, the day dawned. Thus, the flock had to be released from the fold into the pasture. Christ is the living pasture as the feeding place for the sheep.
Christ was the door for all the Old Testament sheep to enter into Judaism for protection, for being kept in custody. When Christ came, they needed to be let out of the fold of Judaism to enjoy Him as their living pasture. They entered into Judaism through Christ and were released from Judaism through Christ.
We need to apply this revelation to ourselves. Christ is also the door for us to come out of any religious fold into Himself as the rich pasture. Formerly, this religion may have been our protection. But when we met Christ, it became a bondage. Christ then became the door to us to release us from the bondage of religion so that He could become our pasture. If we are enjoying Christ, He is the door and the pasture to us, and we are out of the fold. Without Christ, we would be kept in the fold. When someone realizes Christ as his enjoyment, he will come out through Christ as the door to enjoy Christ as the pasture.
The sheep to which the Lord referred in John 10 were those in Judaism. He went on to say, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must lead them also, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one Shepherd” (v. 16). The other sheep are the Gentile believers (Acts 11:18). The one flock signifies the one church, the one Body of Christ (Eph. 2:14-16; 3:6). The Lord would bring the Jewish and Gentile believers together to make them one flock, one Body. Thus, there should no longer be any fold but only the one flock and the one Shepherd.
The way to get people out of the religious fold is to help them enjoy Christ. When they enjoy Christ, He will become the door to them to release them from the fold. When they come through the door, Christ will become their pasture. The only thing that can keep us from becoming a religious fold is the enjoyment of Christ. Only the enjoyment of Christ can keep us in a proper relationship with the Lord. Without the enjoyment of Christ, we will become a fold. But when we enjoy Him, He becomes the door to release us and the pasture to feed us. Christ is the door for us to be released from bondage and the pasture for us to enjoy.
