Search
Week 9 — Day 1
Acts 10:36 ...Announcing the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ (this One is Lord of all).
Matt. 1:23 “...They shall call His name Emmanuel” (which is translated, God with us).
In order for us to enjoy God’s dispensing, we need to consider all the aspects of who Christ is and what Christ is.39 When speaking about Christ, whether it be in what He is, in what He has accomplished, in His person, in His work, or in any other aspect, the Bible always shows us that He is all-inclusive and infinite.40 What He is, is so much and so limitless. That is why even though the Bible uses sixty-six books to depict Him, it still cannot describe Him fully.41 [Therefore, for our purpose here we shall only be able to cover some of Christ’s titles and some of the many aspects of His person.]
Lord, in Greek Kurios, denotes Jesus Christ as the Lord of all, who possesses all (John 20:28; Acts 2:36; 10:36). It is often used as a substitute for the title Jehovah in the Old Testament, as in Mark 1:3. Mark 1:3 quotes the word of the Old Testament in Isaiah 40:3. In the word of the Old Testament, it was Jehovah. In the quotation in the New Testament, it becomes the Lord. This indicates that the Lord in the New Testament is a substitute for Jehovah. Another Greek word, Despotes, is used to denote either God or the Lord Jesus as the Master of the slaves (Luke 2:29; Acts 4:24; Rev. 6:10; Jude 4; 2 Pet. 2:1; cf. 1 Tim. 6:1-2). In the Old Testament the Master of the slaves is called Adonai, but in the New Testament, in the Greek, He is called Despotes.42 Furthermore, in the New Testament “the Lord” is a divine title of the Triune God. Hence, the Lord is a title not only of the Lord Jesus Himself as the Son of God but also a title of the Triune God.43
The name Jesus was given by God. The angel Gabriel told Mary that the child she would conceive was to be called Jesus (Luke 1:31). Later, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and also told him to call the child Jesus (Matt. 1:21). Hence, “Jesus” was a God-given name.
Luke 1:31 says, “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus.” Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Joshua (Num. 13:16), which means Jehovah the Savior, or the salvation of Jehovah. Therefore, Jesus is not only a man but also Jehovah, and not only Jehovah but Jehovah becoming our salvation.44
Christ, in Greek Christos (Matt. 1:16b), equals Messiah in Hebrew (John 1:41; Dan. 9:26). Both of these terms mean the anointed One (Psa. 2:2). Christ is God’s anointed One. Christ is a title of commission. To be anointed means to be appointed by God to be His Christ, to be His anointed One, for the accomplishing of His eternal economy (Luke 4:18-19). The anointed One of God accomplishes God’s economy in His salvation. In the New Testament the two titles, Jesus and Christ, are often used as a compound title, either Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus (Matt. 1:1a, 18a; 1 Tim. 1:15-16).45
Jesus was the name given by God, while Emmanuel, meaning God with us, was the name called by man. Jesus the Savior is God with us. God is He, and He is God incarnated to dwell among us (John 1:14). He is not only God but God with us. Without Him we cannot meet God, for He is God. Without Him we cannot find God, for He is God incarnate.
According to Matthew 18:20, whenever we are gathered together into the name of Jesus, He is with us. This is Emmanuel, God with us. The presence of Jesus in our gatherings is actually God with us.46
Week 9 — Day 2
Rom. 9:5 ...The Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
1 Tim. 2:5 For there is one God and one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
2 Cor. 3:17 And the Lord is the Spirit...
On the side of truth, Romans 9:5 says that Christ is God, who is over all and blessed forever.47 We need to be deeply impressed with the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ is the very God who is over all and blessed forever. He is the infinite God. Concerning Him, Isaiah 9:6 says, “For a child is born to us...and His name will be called...Mighty God.” We praise Christ for His deity, and we worship Him as God...blessed forever.48 Confucius of China was very good and was revered as the greatest sage, yet he never dared to say, nor has anyone else ever said, that he was above all and was God blessed forever. Rather, he said, “Anyone who sins against heaven can no longer pray to heaven.” This indicates that he admitted that he was man, not God. But when Christ was on the earth, He not only lived out God, but He also told people plainly that He was God. Furthermore, He proved that He was God by signs and wonders and by the words of life.
The words spoken by Christ were simple yet mysterious. They were not only lofty but also full of life supply. He said, “I am...the life” (John 11:25; 14:6). We have life, but we are not life; Christ, however, is life. Our life is fragile, but His life is transcendent. In Him is life (1:4); only He is life [1 John 5:11-12].
The Lord Jesus is the life, the light, and the sovereign Master. Therefore, His disciple John wrote in the very beginning of his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not one thing came into being which has come into being” (1:1-3). He is the Creator, the sovereign Master of heaven and earth, and the real and living One.49
First Timothy 2:5 says that Christ is also man. It is more difficult to speak of Christ as man than to speak of Him as God. Man is very ordinary; there is almost nothing special about being a man. However, the apostle Paul said, “For there is one God and one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” This means that the Lord Jesus is not only God but also man; hence, He is qualified to be the Mediator, the go-between, of God and men. This does not mean that He tired of being God and became a man instead, after which He became God again. Rather, in eternity He was God and not man, but two thousand years ago He was born of the virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit to be a man. Since then He is both God and man; He is the God-man.
The Lord Jesus not only lived a human life but was eventually crucified for our redemption. Moreover, He was resurrected from death and became the life-giving Spirit in resurrection (1 Cor. 15:45b). Therefore, 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” If the Lord were not the Spirit today, He could not have an organic relationship with us. The Lord’s intention is not only to live by Himself but to enter into us that we may become His members to be His corporate Body for His expression. However, for Him to enter into us He has to be the Spirit. Both in Greek and in Hebrew the word spirit may also be rendered breath. The Spirit is like the breath, the air. This does not mean, however, that the Lord as the Spirit is no longer a person. As the Spirit, He is still God, and He is also man as a person. Today the God-man Jesus Christ is the Spirit. This is truly a mystery.50
Week 9 — Day 3
1 Cor. 1:30 But of Him [God] you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Col. 3:4 ...Christ our life...
Eph. 3:8 ...The unsearchable riches of Christ...
In [1 Corinthians 1:24 and 30] the wisdom of God denotes the divine way....As wisdom to us from God as God’s way, Christ is righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Actually, these are three steps of the way. This understanding is, of course, related to our experience.51 Christ as the righteousness from God to us...is not only for justification concerning our past offenses, but is for our living today. It enables us to be right and just toward God, man, and everything else in procedures and methods. Christ is dispensed from God into us to be our life, power, and wisdom, so that we can live out this righteous living and be righteous in every word, deed, movement, and action.
Christ as the sanctification from God to us (1 Cor. 1:30) is not only sanctifying us in position, but in disposition also, so that we can be set apart to God from everything common....Through Him, the divine dispensing is continually transmitted into us, sanctifying our whole being — spirit, soul, and body — making us holy, full of the divine element to live out an excelling living.52
If we are those who exercise our spirit, call on the Lord’s name, and enjoy Christ as our unique portion, we shall not only become righteous and sanctified, but we shall also experience Christ as our redemption. This means that in our experience we shall be brought back to God. Whenever a sister quarrels with her husband or debates with him, she is far away from God....But when she enjoys Christ and thereby becomes righteous and sanctified, she is brought back to God....Redemption also includes termination.... [Furthermore,]...when Christ terminates us, He replaces us with Himself....When we are replaced, we are transformed and reconstituted of Christ. Is not this the wisdom of God? When we experience Christ as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, we truly have Him as wisdom to us from God.53
Colossians 3:4 says that Christ is our life. We live and move on earth because we have life; once we die, we cannot move any longer. As Christians we have not only the human life but also the Lord Christ in us as our surpassing life. He is the Spirit to be our life, by which we may live and walk and be transcendent and excellent, as He is.54
In Ephesians 3:8, [the apostle Paul uses a phrase] the unsearchable riches of Christ.... The [unsearchable] riches of Christ are all that He is....What Christ is does not refer to what He has; the emphasis of what Christ is, is on His being.55 All the types, shadows, and figures of Christ in the Old Testament are descriptions, explanations, and definitions of what Christ is....The riches of Christ are also seen in prophecies [and] in the fulfillment of the prophecies.... [Moreover, in the Bible,] Christ is typified...by trees and plants,...animals,...minerals,...and persons....[In addition,] all the positive things in the universe point to Christ. For example, Christ is the real gravity. Without Him, we would drift away. If Christ did not hold us in place, we would not be able to stand. Christ is the One with the true holding power. According to Hebrews 1:3, He upholds the entire universe. [Furthermore,] the riches of Christ also include both human virtues and divine attributes. Christ is the real love, patience, and forgiveness. Apart from Christ, we cannot love, be patient, or forgive, not even in relation to our wife or husband. But when we have Christ, we have all the human virtues and divine attributes.56
Week 9 — Day 4
Gal. 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me...
4:19 My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you.
Phil. 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and hope that...Christ will be magnified in my body...
Christ is not merely our Savior. Rather, He is God, man, the Spirit, our wisdom — righteousness, sanctification, and redemption — our life within, and the One who is all-inclusive and unsearchably rich.
No Longer We Living, but Christ Living in Us
Paul said that Christ is the treasure that we contain as earthen vessels, vessels that are worthless and fragile (2 Cor. 4:7). We are earthen vessels, yet within us, the earthen vessels, is Christ as the treasure. Therefore, to experience and enjoy Christ, we first must not live by ourselves but let Christ live in us (Gal. 2:20).
Christ Being Formed in Us
In Galatians 4:19 Paul says, “My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you.” This means that we need to pass through a period of travailing in order for Christ to be formed in us. When we were newly saved, the life in us was like an infant in the beginning stage of pregnancy. Christ is our life, but at first we do not have much inner sense of life and do not know how to live by Him. It takes nine months of pregnancy for a baby to be fully formed in the mother’s womb. Likewise, we need to continually practice living by Him and thus pass through a time of travailing that Christ may be formed in us.
What kind of life should we live today as Christians? Is it merely a life of normal human relationships or a life of morality? We should live a life of having Christ formed in us. This is not an easy thing because we are too natural and too accustomed to living by our natural life. Unconsciously we still live a proper life, a righteous life, but not a life of having Christ formed in us. If we do not live by Christ, we still cannot have Christ formed in us even if we have no faults. To have Christ formed in us and to be faultless are altogether two different things. Copper and gold may be very much alike in appearance, but their inner content is altogether different, and their degree of preciousness is also quite distinct. We may live by our natural life and even become perfect men, but we are still human beings; we are merely copper, not gold. Only a life that allows Christ to be formed in us is a life of gold.
Magnifying Christ
In Philippians 1:20 Paul said, “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 through death.” What Paul hoped for here was not that morality, kindness, normal human relationships, or patience may be magnified, but that Christ may be magnified. Our problem today is that after we are saved, we keep trying to be a proper Christian living a pure and faultless life. Whereas formerly we had an irritable temperament, now we hope to be gentle; whereas in the past we had a wrong attitude, now we hope to be proper. However, even if we become faultless, that is still not Christ. The question is, What do we express? Whether we express temper or patience, both are wrong because neither is Christ. The only One whom we should express is Christ.57
In the apostle’s suffering in his body, Christ was magnified, that is, shown or declared to be great (without limitation), exalted, and extolled. The apostle’s sufferings afforded him opportunity to express Christ in His unlimited greatness....To magnify Christ under any circumstances is to experience Him with the topmost enjoyment.58
Week 9 — Day 5
Phil. 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ...
3:8 ...I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ.
10 To know Him and the power of His resurrection...
Like Paul, we should hope that we magnify Christ, as always, whether through life or through death. This means that, instead of letting others see our patience, humility, sanctification, goodness, and perfection, we should let them see Christ being lived out in us. We live Him out to such an extent that for us “to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21a).
In order to live and magnify Christ, Paul said that he suffered the loss of all things and counted them as refuse that he might gain Christ (Phil. 3:8). The “all things” to which Paul refers are not the worldly, material things; rather, they are the things implied in verses 5-6, things of lofty thoughts and profound logic, such as religion, philosophy, culture, morality, and especially the law given by God through Moses. Paul was zealous for the law to such an extent that he said that he was blameless according to the righteousness which was in the law. However, after he was saved, the things in which he trusted in his flesh, including the righteousness of the law, he counted as loss because they became replacements of Christ that distracted him from Christ and made it impossible for him to experience Christ, live Christ, and magnify Christ. Hence, he cast all those things aside completely, counting them as refuse on account of the excellency of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He aspired to experience Christ, gain Christ, and be found in Christ (v. 9).
To know the excellency of Christ is one thing, while to experience Christ is another thing. Paul first received the revelation to know the excellency of Christ. Then, because of such knowledge, he was willing to pay the price by considering all things to be loss, refuse, that he might gain Christ. He desired Christ to such an extent that he longed to “know Him” and “the power of His resurrection” (v. 10). Such knowledge is not objective doctrine but subjective experience. To know the excellency of Christ Jesus is by revelation, but to know Christ is by experience. It is to have the experiential knowledge of Him, to experience Him in the full knowledge of Him. Eventually, Paul experienced and enjoyed Christ; that is, he had the experiential knowledge of Him and experienced Him in the power of His resurrection. To experience Christ requires us to be in the power of His resurrection, not in our natural life. We can know, experience, and enjoy Christ by the power of His resurrection.
In conclusion, from the preceding twelve items we can see clearly that in actuality to be a Christian is to believe not in a religion but in Christ. What Christianity should offer to people is not religion but Christ. This Christ is excellent, living, and pleasant. He is God, He is man, and He is the Spirit who enters into us. Subjectively, He is in us to be our wisdom: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption; He is in us to be our life; and He is in us as the One who is all-inclusive and unlimitedly rich with the bountiful supply to be everything to us.
Toward such a One our reaction should be that it is no longer we who live, but it is Christ, who is God, man, and the Spirit, who lives in us. He is waiting to be formed in us, He wants us to live Him out and express Him, even to the extent that for us to live is Christ. We should consider the knowledge of Christ as something excellent and aspire to know such a Christ and the power of His resurrection. Thus, the power of Christ’s resurrection will operate in us so that our living is full of the experience and enjoyment of Him.59
Week 9 — Day 6
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us...
1 Cor. 15:45 ...The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.
Rev. 1:4 ...Grace to you and peace...from the seven Spirits who are before His throne.
To experience, enjoy, and gain [Christ] is not that simple. We can do this only by being in the full ministry of Christ in His three divine and mystical stages.60
In the first stage — incarnation [revealed in the four Gospels] — Christ61 was the Son of Man in the flesh.62 In the second stage — inclusion [covered in the twenty-two books from Acts to Jude] — Christ is the pneumatic Christ, the life-giving Spirit....In the third stage — intensification [unveiled in the book of Revelation] — Christ is the sevenfold intensified Spirit.63
The first stage of Christ’s full ministry was the stage of His incarnation, from His birth through His human living to His death.64 Simply speaking, in [this] stage...He accomplished four great things. First, He brought God into man; second, He united and mingled God with man; third, He expressed God in His humanity and lived out God’s attributes in His human living as His human virtues; and fourth, He accomplished His judicial redemption.65
The second stage is the stage of His inclusion, from His resurrection to the degradation of the church.66 [In] the stage of His inclusion, Christ accomplished three great things. First, He was begotten as God’s firstborn Son; second, He became the life-giving Spirit; and third, He regenerated the believers for His Body.67 We need to see why we call it the stage of inclusion. In His first stage He possessed only two elements — divinity and humanity. This was a little more complicated than what He had prior to His incarnation. Before His incarnation, in eternity past, He possessed only one element — divinity. From the time of His incarnation, when He put on human nature, He possessed humanity in addition to His divinity; hence, He had two natures. After His death and resurrection, more elements were added to Him in His resurrection. In His resurrection, the last Adam, Christ in the stage of His incarnation, became the life-giving Spirit. This “becoming” made Him the Christ of inclusion, with the divine element and the human element included in Him, with the element of His death and its effectiveness included in Him, and with the element of His resurrection and its power included in Him. Hence, in the Old Testament there is the type of the holy anointing ointment (Exo. 30:22-25)....The holy anointing ointment typifies the compound, life-giving Spirit whom Christ became in the stage of His inclusion.68
Now we want to see the third stage of Christ’s full ministry, the stage of His intensification, from the degradation of the church to the consummation of the New Jerusalem.69 In the third stage...Christ is accomplishing three great things. First, He is intensifying His organic salvation; second, He is producing His overcomers; and third, He is consummating the New Jerusalem.70
In his Epistles, especially in 2 Timothy, Paul spoke thoroughly concerning the degradation of the church.... The first thing that happened in the degradation of the church was the turning away from the apostles’ teaching [2 Tim. 1:15]....Paul also said to “pursue...with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Tim. 2:22). Not having a pure heart and not calling on the Lord also indicate the degradation of the church. Finally, Paul said, “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you” (4:22). If we do not experience the Lord’s being with our spirit and therefore lose the presence of grace, that is the degradation of the church. We need to be careful about this. Our highest enjoyment and experience is that our Lord is with our spirit....Today, Christ is the Spirit, and if we want to experience and enjoy Him, we must be in our spirit.71
1. Oh, what a life! Oh, what a peace!
The Christ who’s all within me lives.
With Him I have been crucified;
This glorious fact to me He gives.
Now it’s no longer I that live,
But Christ the Lord within me lives.
2. Oh, what a joy! Oh, what a rest!
Christ now is being formed in me.
His very nature and life divine
In my whole being inwrought shall be.
All that I am came to an end,
And all of Christ is all to me.
3. Oh, what a thought! Oh, what a boast!
Christ shall in me be magnified.
In nothing shall I be ashamed,
For He in all shall be applied.
In woe or blessing, death or life,
Through me shall Christ be testified.
4. Oh, what a prize! Oh, what a gain!
Christ is the goal toward which I press.
Nothing I treasure, nor aught desire,
But Christ of all-inclusiveness.
My hope, my glory, and my crown
Is Christ, the One of peerlessness.
1. O glorious Christ, Savior mine,
Thou are truly radiance divine;
God infinite, in eternity,
Yet man in time, finite to be.
Oh! Christ, expression of God, the Great,
Inexhaustible, rich, and sweet!
God mingled with humanity
Lives in me my all to be.
2. The fulness of God dwells in Thee;
Thou dost manifest God’s glory;
In flesh Thou hast redemption wrought;
As Spirit, oneness with me sought.
3. All things of the Father are Thine;
All Thou art in Spirit is mine;
The Spirit makes Thee real to me,
That Thou experienced might be.
4. The Spirit of life causes Thee
By Thy Word to transfer to me.
Thy Spirit touched, Thy word received,
Thy life in me is thus conceived.
5. In spirit while gazing on Thee,
As a glass reflecting Thy glory,
Like to Thyself transformed I’ll be,
That Thou might be expressed thru me.
6. In no other way could we be
Sanctified and share Thy vict’ry;
Thus only spiritual we’ll be
And touch the life of glory.
7. Thy Spirit will me saturate,
Every part will God permeate,
Deliv’ring me from the old man,
With all saints building for His plan.
