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Scripture Reading: Eph. 5:25-32
The Lord has given us a revelation over the last sixty years concerning Christ and the church, and we have published many periodicals and books with messages related to Christ and the church.
The Bible reveals that Christ is not only all-inclusive but also deep and vast; He is unfathomably deep and boundlessly vast. Although Ephesians speaks of the church, its revelation of the church is according to Christ. In Ephesians 3:18 Paul refers to Christ using the words breadth, length, height, and depth. Nothing is wider than Christ, nothing is longer than Christ, nothing is higher than Christ, and nothing is deeper than Christ. Christ is the breadth and length and height and depth of the universe. Christ is not only all-inclusive but also all-extensive. Our Christ is truly inexhaustible.
Christ is universally large, and so is the church — His Body. If my head were bigger than my body, I would be a monster. Regrettably, in Christianity today people speak of Christ, but they do not speak much about the church, the Body. Some even erroneously regard the church as a chapel. The Bible shows that the church is the Body of Christ; it is an inexhaustible mystery. The vision that we have seen for the past sixty years is not simple or superficial. It includes not only the revelation on the surface but also the central vision, the deep mystery in the Bible.
Ephesians 3 presents three crucial points: the mystery of Christ (vv. 4-6), the unsearchable riches of Christ (v. 8), and Christ making His home in our hearts until we become the fullness of God (vv. 17-19). Chapter 4 also presents three crucial points. The first crucial point is that the church is the Body of Christ because it is mingled with the Triune God. The Triune God is mingled with the church — the Spirit is the essence of the Body, the Son is the course of the Body, and the Father is the source of the Body. The Triune God is spoken of in verses 4 through 6, and in verse 6 alone, which says, “One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all,” the Triune God is implied: over all refers to God the Father as the source, through all refers to God the Son as the Lord and Head being the Accomplisher, and in all refers to God the Spirit as the life-giving Spirit being the Executor in us. Therefore, in the reference to the Father in verse 6, we can see the aspects of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. He is over all, through all, and in all. Over refers to the source, through refers to the process, and in refers to the result, the issue, which is the Triune God and the Body of Christ being fully mingled as one.
The second crucial point is that the Body needs to be built up, even though it has been mingled as one with the Triune God. The Body is built up through the growth in life, and the growth in life depends on the increase of God’s element in us. The more God’s element increases in us, the more we grow. Our growing together is the building. We need to grow in life to fulfill our function and build up the Body in love (vv. 13-16).
The third crucial point is that the Body needs to be transformed by putting off the old man and putting on the new man. Transformation produces the new man. The Body is a matter of life, and the new man is a matter of person. We need to put off the old man and put on the new man so that the Body may become the new man (vv. 22-24).
We also need to consider Ephesians 5. On the surface chapter 5 is on ethics and morality, including matters between husbands and wives, such as wives being subject to their husbands and husbands loving their wives (vv. 22, 25). Paul, however, uses this subject to further expound on the deep mystery of Christ and the church. In Ephesians Paul presents many crucial points concerning the church. In chapter 1 he speaks of the church as the Body of Christ, the fullness of Christ (vv. 22b-23). In chapter 2 he speaks of the church as God’s masterpiece, God’s household, God’s kingdom, and God’s dwelling place (vv. 10, 19-22). In chapter 3 he speaks of the church as God’s fullness (v. 19). In chapter 4 he speaks of the church as the new man and of Christ as the person of the new man (v. 24). In chapter 5 he speaks of the church as the counterpart of Christ (v. 25). The church is not only the Body of Christ and the new man but also the counterpart of Christ.
To understand the meaning of being a counterpart, we must look at the first couple in the Bible — Adam and Eve. Eve came out of Adam. When God created mankind, He created only a man, Adam (Gen. 2:7). Then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and He took a rib from Adam’s opened side and built the rib into a woman (vv. 21-22). Thus, Eve came out of Adam. This means that the two had the same life and same nature. When God gave Eve to Adam, the two became one flesh. A man can be considered as only half of one person; a woman represents the other half. A couple is two halves becoming one.
Ephesians 5 shows that the church came out of Christ, just as Eve came out of Adam. When Christ was put to “sleep,” to death, on the cross, His side was pierced, and blood and water came out to produce the church (John 19:34) — blood for redemption and water for life. Hence, the church has the same life and nature as Christ, and the church is one spirit with Christ (Eph. 4:4).
Chapter 5 further shows how this counterpart becomes a glorious counterpart, a beautiful wife. The Bible uses phrases such as glorious, holy, and without blemish to describe the church (v. 27), indicating that Christ would like to gain a beautiful church. A blemish is not related to filth. A precious stone, such as fine jade or a diamond, can be clean and free of filth but still be blemished if it is slightly spotted, chipped, or mixed in color. We can wash our face to be free of filth but still have spots and wrinkles. Christ wants His church to be glorious and holy, without any spot, wrinkle, or blemish. Today the Lord Jesus is removing the church’s spots and wrinkles so that the church may be holy and without blemish.
The Lord can produce such a church because He loves the church and gave Himself up for her (v. 25). The Lord Jesus died on the cross not only to shed His blood to redeem us but also to release the divine life. When He died, blood and water came out of His pierced side (John 19:34). The blood redeemed us from sin, and water signifies God’s life. The water that came out of His pierced side is like the water that came out of the smitten rock in the Old Testament (Exo. 17:6). Furthermore, in John 4:13-14 the Lord Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life,” and in 7:38 He said, “He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” Revelation 22:1 speaks of a “river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street.” The water in these verses is the water of life, which refers to the flowing life of God. The Lord Jesus died on the cross to release this life.
The Lord is also making the church holy and without blemish through the washing of the water in the word (Eph. 5:26). The water of life is in the word. Christ loves the church and gave Himself up for her to release His life and make her holy. Christ not only cleansed the church from sin by His blood, He also is washing away every spot and wrinkle by His life. This life was released on the cross and is embodied in the words of the Bible. Secular books can give people only knowledge; these books cannot give life, because there is no life in them. But God’s life is conveyed through the Bible; it is living and able to supply life. People who read the Bible can all testify that this is the difference between the Bible and other books.
The Bible is the word of God, and in the word of God there is life (John 6:63). Without Jesus’ death on the cross, which released His life, the Bible would be empty today. However, He died and released God’s life. This life is not only in the Holy Spirit but also in God’s word. Whenever we read God’s word, life flows in the word to supply us. This life supplies us within like a stream and flows throughout our being, washing us with its water.
Our body functions according to a metabolic law. We receive food into our being, and the nutrients in the food circulate throughout our bloodstream. The metabolic function in our body supplies our body with necessary nutrients on the one hand, and it removes waste from our body on the other hand. Such a washing clears away all the waste in our body.
When we read the Bible with prayer and our spirit, the life in the words of the Bible washes away the old things within us and takes away our spots and wrinkles “metabolically.” We should never read the Bible without prayer. When we read Ephesians 5:25, which says, “Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,” we can pray, “O Lord, husbands. Oh, husbands. Lord, I need this word. Love your wives. Love; oh, love. Lord, thank You for giving me a life of love, an ability to love, and a desire to love. Even as Christ also loved the church. O Lord, You loved the church. This love is in me so that I can love my wife even as You loved the church.” As we pray-read in this way, life will circulate in our being, and in just a few minutes, we will not only be taught in our mind but also supplied in our spirit. This circulating life will stir up a love for our wife within us and wash away every “spot” of displeasure toward our wife.
Furthermore, the Lord is making the church holy and without blemish by nourishing and cherishing her (v. 29). In Greek, to nourish means “to nurture, to feed.” To cherish is to foster like a mother bird who cares for her chicks by covering them under her wings and warming and caring for their needs. A mother who holds and nurses her child in her bosom is cherishing and nourishing. Through this, the child is supplied with food and is kept warm and comfortable. Such a satisfied child lacks nothing. This is the meaning of cherishing and nourishing.
Christ not only died for us and imparted His life into us so that we might be sanctified; He also put life in His word through the Spirit. When we contact His word by pray-reading, the water in the word circulates within us, taking away the spots, wrinkles, and blemishes in us and causing us to be renewed and transformed. He also cherishes and nourishes us, holding the church in His bosom to give us security, comfort, supply, and everything that we need. As a result, the church becomes glorious, being holy and without blemish. Christ will gain such a holy and glorious church without blemish and will present her to Himself as His beautiful counterpart.
For Christ to accomplish such a work, there is a need for death, resurrection, life, the word, and the Spirit, and there is a need for us to open to Him and be willing to dive into His bosom by pray-reading His Word and living in fellowship with Him. In this way we will enjoy His life and receive the washing of the water in His word. At the same time, we will be cherished and cared for and nourished and fed through His word and the Spirit. When we enjoy Him as everything, we will become holy and glorious, a church that can be presented to Himself having no spots, wrinkles, or blemishes. This is the reason that we cannot merely preach the gospel or teach the Bible according to its surface revelation. We must release the mystery deep in the Bible so that people may become the Body of Christ, be transformed and renewed into the universal new man, and be the beloved and glorious counterpart of Christ, a counterpart that is holy and without blemish.
