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In the New Testament Christ has a particular title. Christians are familiar with many of the titles of Christ: Lord, Redeemer, Savior, Messiah, Son of God, Son of Man, the seed of woman, the seed of Abraham, and the seed of David. But in Colossians 2:2 we see a very particular title of Christ — the mystery of God. The last part of this verse reads, “Unto the full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ.” Christ is the mystery of God.
God is altogether a mystery. Nothing in the universe is as mysterious as God. Although God exists, no one has ever seen Him (John 1:18). However, God appeared to Abraham. How could God have appeared to Abraham without Abraham seeing Him? This certainly is not logical. Acts 7:2 says that the God of glory appeared to Abraham. Nevertheless, the Bible says that no one has ever seen God. This is a mystery.
In the Old Testament God appeared at least once in the form of a man. In Genesis 18 Abraham was sitting one day by the door of his tent, and he saw three men coming to him. Verse 2 says, “He lifted up his eyes and looked, and there were three men standing opposite him.” One of these three was Jehovah. After greeting them, Abraham had a large meal prepared for them, a meal consisting of cakes, a calf, curds, and milk. Thus, Abraham not only saw God but served Him a meal. How can we say that Abraham did not see God? Furthermore, according to Genesis 18, Abraham took a walk with Him and talked to Him. Therefore, when the Bible says that no one has ever seen God, it is a mystery.
Colossians 1:15 says that Christ is the image of the invisible God. Anything with an image must be visible. How then can the invisible God have a visible image? Is God visible or invisible? And how could He appear in the form of a man before the incarnation of Christ? Two thousand years before the incarnation, God appeared to Abraham in the form of a man. This is a mystery, and I cannot explain it. According to Colossians 2:2, Christ is the mystery of God. I cannot provide an adequate definition of this mystery. If I could, it would no longer be a mystery.
God is a mystery, and the mystery of God is Christ. In other words, God as a mystery is embodied in the person of Christ. Therefore, Christ is the embodiment of God as the universal mystery. In all of history there is not another person as mysterious as Christ. He surely is mysterious. Today all nations use Christ’s calendar. The calendar of all mankind is the calendar of the mystery of God.
Like Christ, the church also has a number of titles. The church is the gathering of the called ones, the household of God, the Body of Christ, and the one new man. According to Ephesians 3:4, the church also has a particular title — the mystery of Christ. When we consider Ephesians 3:4 in context, we see that the mystery of Christ is the church. Thus, Christ is the mystery of God, and the church is the mystery of Christ. God is a mystery, Christ is the mystery of God, and the church is the mystery of Christ. Hence, the church is actually a mystery within a mystery. The church is a mystery in the third stage. The first stage is God Himself as the mystery, the second is Christ as the mystery of God, and the third is the church as the mystery of Christ.
My burden in this chapter is not to share about the mystery; it is to have fellowship with you concerning the experience of the Christ who is the mystery of God. Christ is the center of all mysteries. Nevertheless, such a Christ can be experienced by us. In Philippians 1:19-26, for example, we see some mysteries. The first of these mysteries is found in verse 19: “I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” This Spirit is a mystery. Why does Paul here speak of the Spirit of Jesus Christ? Why does he not call this Spirit the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit? No doubt, the Spirit here refers to the Holy Spirit. This is the only time in the entire Bible that the Spirit is called the Spirit of Jesus Christ. In Acts 16:7 we have the Spirit of Jesus, and in Romans 8:9, the Spirit of Christ. But in this verse we do not have merely the Spirit of Jesus or the Spirit of Christ but the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This is a mystery, for we cannot adequately understand it.
A second mystery is found in Philippians 1:20: “According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or though death.” We see here that no matter what was to happen to him, Paul’s desire was that Christ would be magnified in his body. What does it mean for Christ to be magnified? Does it mean that Christ is made greater? Christ is already great. Does He then need to be enlarged? In Ephesians we are told that Christ fills all in all (1:23). How great He is! Many years ago some astronomers said that two hundred forty million solar systems form a galaxy and that forty billion galaxies form the unique center of the universe. Nevertheless, the Bible says that Christ fills all in all. Although Christ is so great, He still needs to be magnified.
In Philippians 1:21 Paul says, “To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” In verse 23 Paul says that his desire was to depart to be with Christ. In one verse Paul says that for him to live is Christ, but in another verse he says that he wanted to depart and be with Christ. At that time was Christ present with Paul, or was He absent from Paul? Christ surely was present with Paul. Why then did Paul still expect to be with Him? This is a mystery. The experience of Christ is altogether a mystery.
The more mysterious we are, the better. However, this mystery must be our living, not a performance. Our Christian living is a mystery. Our Christian love and humility are also mysterious. The humility taught by Confucius was not a mystery. But when we Christians live out humility, this humility is mysterious. Whatever we live out from within us should be mysterious. Regarding our humility, others should say, “We cannot explain the kind of life this person lives. Although he is humble, his humility is different from that of others. His love is also different. It seems that he does not love anyone, but actually he loves others. His love is mysterious. There seems to be no limit to his love.” Although human love is limited, the proper love lived out by a Christian is unlimited. Hence, it is a mystery.
Often I have heard people say, “I simply cannot tolerate this anymore. This situation has exhausted my patience.” If our patience can be exhausted, this indicates that it is not the patience of Christ. We Christians need to live out a patience that is unlimited. The more the circumstances exhaust our patience, the more patient we are, for our patience is inexhaustible. This is a mystery. It causes others to wonder how we can be so patient.
To magnify Christ is to express Christ without limitation. It is to show to the whole universe that the very Christ who is our life and by whom we live is unlimited. According to the human concept, Christ is limited. But when people see us living by Him, they will realize that He is not limited. If the apostle Paul had not been put in prison, no one would have understood how unlimited Christ was. It was through Paul’s imprisonment that the Christ by whom Paul lived was expressed as the unlimited One. Because Paul’s endurance was Christ Himself, it would have been impossible to exhaust his endurance no matter how long Paul had been kept in prison. Hence, it was inexhaustible and unlimited. Sometimes Christians ask others to pray for them because they are coming to the end of their endurance. Such endurance is not Christian endurance, for it is not endurance magnified. The Christ whom we experience as endurance cannot be exhausted. If we live by Him, He will be magnified; that is, He will show forth His exhaustlessness. Because Paul’s endurance was Christ, it was unlimited. Such an unlimited endurance is the magnification of the unlimited Christ. To the universe this is a mystery.
Like endurance, our faithfulness, patience, and humility must also be unlimited. Any attribute we have through living by Christ will be unlimited and thus mysterious. By this we can see the difference between the human virtues and the virtues that are the magnification of Christ. All human virtues are limited. For example, human tolerance will eventually be exhausted. But the very magnification of Christ lived out of us cannot be exhausted. This mystery subdues the devil, the demons, and all the evil angels. It also convinces everyone. Any proper human being will be convinced by seeing the magnification of Christ. Our Christian patience is a mystery because it is the magnification of Christ. This is not merely Christ manifested; it is Christ manifested as the unlimited One.
Even our forgiveness of others needs to be a magnification of Christ. In Matthew 18 Peter asked the Lord how many times he should forgive his brother. He asked if he should forgive him even seven times. But the Lord told him that he must forgive seventy times seven. This is inexhaustible forgiveness. Such forgiveness is the magnification of Christ. Our forgiveness is the inexhaustible Christ Himself. Again and again, throughout the years, we forgive others. This unlimited forgiveness is Christ magnified in us.
Because the Christian virtues should be inexhaustible, often God will not reduce our sufferings. Rather, in order to magnify Christ, often He will increase them. In order to magnify Christ, it is necessary that we suffer. Suppose you pray, “O God, my Father, You are kind and merciful. You know that I cannot endure very much. Please reduce my suffering.” If God answered your prayer and reduced your suffering, Christ would not be magnified. We need the sufferings for the manifestation of Christ. As our sufferings increase, Christ is magnified all the more. However, do not be concerned about what kind of suffering enables us to magnify Christ. Instead of analyzing this matter, we should simply love the Lord and experience Him.
When sufferings increase, we may think that our heavenly Father is cruel and merciless. Remember, this word about magnifying Christ was spoken by someone in prison. The longer he was in prison, the more he magnified Christ. To be magnified means to be enlarged. As we have pointed out, to magnify Christ means to express Him as the One who is unlimited. He is magnified through the increase of our sufferings. Do not be afraid of suffering, for it is a joy to magnify Christ through suffering. Many Christian teachers realize that the book of Philippians is a book of joy. Over and over again, in this book Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord. When we are in a pleasant environment, it may not mean very much to be joyful. But to rejoice when we are in prison means a great deal.
The experience of Christ is a mystery, and whatever we experience of Christ is unlimited. If we see this vision, it will not only control our life but also strengthen our Christian walk. God’s intention is to magnify Christ through us. The church life is the sum total of our Christian living. We all live by Christ, and our Christian living is added together to make the church life. Our Christian life is a mystery, and whatever of Christ we live out is also a mystery. We all are mysterious because Christ lives in us. For example, we may speak by Christ, but our speaking by Christ is a mystery. Although it is a mystery, it is nonetheless a fact. What we are experiencing of Christ today is a mystery. Day by day our living is mysterious. Thus, when we come together as the church, we are a complete mystery. The sum total of all these mysteries is the church life. This mystery manifests the One who is unlimited.
In order for Christ to be lived out by us, He must be in us. Paul says, “To me, to live is Christ.” This means that we can live to be Christ. As we are living to be Christ, we still expect to be with Him. Thus, Christ is present, yet absent. This also is a mystery showing that Christ is unlimited. Because we are limited, we cannot be both absent and present. The Christ we are experiencing is unlimited. Therefore, He can be present and absent.
The Christ whom we experience and by whom we live is different from what we think He is. Experiencing Christ and living by Him is a mystery. If you think that you are experiencing Christ, you may not be experiencing Him. But if you think that you are not experiencing Him, you are probably experiencing Him. As you are experiencing Christ, you may not sense that you are experiencing Him. He is not only mysterious but also abstract, invisible, and intangible. When you feel like rejecting Christ and giving Him up, you have a certain sense within. This sense is different from the sense that you have most of the time. Perhaps now you do not feel that you are experiencing Christ. You may feel that you are just experiencing yourself. Do not be robbed — you may actually be experiencing Christ. However, when you abandon Christ and give Him up, you have quite a different sense within. When you have that sense, then you can realize that you had been experiencing Christ. This shows that the experience of Christ is mysterious.
Those in the Pentecostal movement often try to make Christ someone who is not mysterious. But anything that is not mysterious is not real. If your experience is not mysterious, it is not the real experience of Christ. Christ is here, yet He is not here. It is the same with God. The Bible says that no man has ever seen Him, yet He has appeared to men. It is difficult to say whether Christ is abstract or concrete. People always try to make the mysterious Christ so concrete that He is no longer mysterious. This is a false performance.
In the past many of us have claimed to have had wonderful experiences. But after a certain period of time, we no longer thought that those experiences were wonderful. Rather, we realized that they were a performance. Although we may not have such so-called wonderful experiences in the church life, we cannot deny the fact that we have experienced Christ. We have experienced something that cannot be erased from our being. This is Christ as our mystery.
This type of mysterious experience produces the genuine growth in life. The so-called wonderful experiences actually do not help us to grow in life. It is these mysterious experiences of Christ that help us to grow.
The experience of Christ is altogether a mystery, and this experience is unlimited, for it is Christ magnified. Any experience that is not mysterious but is easily understood should be doubted. The genuine experiences cannot be understood; they are mysterious. Suppose someone would say, “I simply do not understand what happened to me yesterday. I can’t tell whether or not I loved the Lord. I simply don’t know. If I say that I loved the Lord, I will sense an accusation within that I did not love Him. But if I say that I didn’t love the Lord, I would be telling a lie. I love the Lord, yet I dare not say that I love Him.” This is a real experience. However, suppose someone says, “Praise the Lord! Yesterday, by the Lord’s grace, I was very humble.” This kind of humility is a performance. But, on the other hand, suppose someone says, “I couldn’t tell whether I was humble or not. Maybe I was humble, but it also seemed to me that I was proud.” This is a real experience of Christ as humility. This kind of experience of Christ is visible yet invisible, tangible yet intangible. Such an experience is unlimited; it is enduring because it is the magnification of Christ.
If you are certain that what you are experiencing is an experience of Christ, that is not normal, and you should question it. The only thing we can be sure of is our salvation. The more you are assured of salvation, the better. You should be able to say, “Praise the Lord that I have been saved! Heaven may pass away and the earth may be removed, but my salvation cannot be questioned. I have the full assurance of salvation.” However, the subtle enemy will not easily allow any to have the assurance of salvation. At every opportunity he raises a question about this and causes doubt. This doubt is the strongest assurance of salvation. If you have never doubted your salvation, it is an indication that you are probably not saved. Your doubt is the strongest confirmation and assurance that you are saved. Although Satan does not want us to have the assurance of salvation, he may push us to have the false assurance of other things. For example, some may say, “I have the assurance that I am an overcomer. Yesterday I received the assurance that I am among the firstfruit. By the Lord’s grace I am now one of the hundred forty-four thousand” (Rev. 14:1). We need to doubt this type of assurance. Do not have any assurance of your experience, for all experiences of Christ are mysterious. I believe that we all are now experiencing Christ, but in a mysterious way. The church is mysterious because the universal mystery is here. Thus, the church is a mystery within a mystery.
We magnify Christ by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Although this supply is bountiful, it is not visible. We may not sense that the supply is bountiful; nevertheless, it is bountiful. Christ can never be exhausted. Many of us may feel that we are weak, but this weakness is a mysterious weakness, for actually we are not weak. Some, however, may claim to be strong, but their strength is not real. All the experiences of Christ are a mystery. This is the magnification of Christ.
When you sense that you are experiencing Christ, that may not be real. But when you doubt whether or not you are experiencing Christ, that may be real. The experience of Christ in our Christian life is mysterious. A mystery is something that we cannot understand or explain but that we can simply accept.
In Philippians 2 Paul says that he was ready to be poured out as a drink offering. That was to take place at the end of his race when he was martyred. In Philippians 3 Paul says that he had not yet attained, that he was forgetting the things that were behind and stretching forward to the things ahead to gain the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Thus, at the time of writing the book of Philippians, Paul was still running the race. He did not have the assurance that he had obtained the prize. He had this assurance only at the time he was martyred. In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul says that he was running the race and fighting to subdue his body, lest after preaching to others, he himself would become disapproved. First Corinthians was written rather early in his ministry, but Philippians was written close to the time of his martyrdom. If you read the writings of the apostle Paul, you will see that, on the one hand, he had assurance and that, on the other hand, he did not have assurance. First Corinthians 7 reveals that the experience of Christ is mysterious. In this chapter the apostle Paul says something by himself (v. 25). But at the end of the chapter he says, “I think that I also have the Spirit of God” (v. 40).
The experience of Christ is both tangible and intangible, both abstract and concrete. God, Christ, the church life, and our Christian experience are all a mystery. We cannot make this mystery altogether solid, tangible, or visible. It would be foolish for us to try. The more mysterious we are, the better. If we do not have any experience, we will not have any mysterious questionings about what is happening within us. The more we love Christ, pursue Him, and live by Him, the more we will doubt whether or not we are actually experiencing Christ. This shows that our Christian life cannot be explained, for it is a mystery. The more mysterious we are, the more experiences of Christ we will have. The entire matter of experiencing Christ is a mystery.
