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Scripture Reading: Rom. 16:25-26; Eph. 5:32; Col. 2:2-3, 9; 1:27; Eph. 3:3-4, 9; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 8:4, 6
In the writings of Paul the word mystery often recurs. In Romans 16:25-26 he says, “The mystery, which has been kept in silence in the times of the ages...has now been manifested, and through the prophetic writings, according to the command of the eternal God, has been made known to all the Gentiles for the obedience of faith.” There is a mystery, then, hidden in times past but now, according to the command of the eternal God, made known to man. This passage does not tell us much else about the mystery.
Ephesians and Colossians further expand the meaning of this mystery. Ephesians 5:32 says, “This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.” There are two parties to this mystery: Christ and the church. Then Paul prayed that the Colossians might fully understand and know “the mystery of God, Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden” (Col. 2:2-3). The mystery concerning Christ, then, is the mystery of God. Ephesians 3 has three references to the word mystery: “By revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I have written previously in brief, by which, in reading it, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ...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” (vv. 3-4, 9). By putting these passages in Colossians and Ephesians together, we can see that the mystery has two aspects. There is the mystery of God, which is Christ, and there is the mystery of Christ, which is the church. Christ and the church, then, are the mystery.
A mystery is something hidden, hard to understand, or difficult to explain. Thoughtful people have always wondered what the meaning of the universe is. Why do the heavens exist? Why is there an earth? Why are there plants and animals and so many other things? Why are we here? What is the meaning of human life?
Philosophers and teachers have put out a great many books dealing with this mystery in an attempt to explain the universe and the meaning of life. They have done a poor job. The mystery is still hidden from them.
Scientists, too, have labored to grasp the nature of the universe and the reason for life. Their mentality is exhausted in trying to comprehend the universe, yet they still have discovered very little.
You are also a mystery. Can you believe that there is no meaning to your existence? If there is none, why do you have such a good mentality? Why do you have so many faculties, like two eyes and two ears? Surely your life has meaning. You do not exist merely to get dressed or to fill up on hamburgers! The reason for man’s existence still baffles the philosophers.
The mystery of the universe, Paul tells us, has been hidden “throughout the ages” (v. 9) and was not made known “in other generations” (v. 5). This means that it was hidden from eternity (the ages) and from the earlier generations of time. Even the angels did not know. Nor did Adam, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, or even the wise Solomon. Isaiah and the other prophets were in ignorance of this mystery too, as was John the Baptist. This mystery was hidden in God Himself. He alone knew about it.
It is not insignificant that today this mystery has been made known. We know about it from the Bible. Yet sad to say, even many Christian teachers and scholars do not see this mystery, in spite of their having read through the Bible perhaps several times. It is possible to see the black and white letters without seeing the mystery. Paul uses a variety of terms to convey what this mystery, now revealed, is. He refers to it as economy, dispensation, purpose, will, and pleasure.
To say that Christ is the mystery of God is to say that He is God’s definition and explanation. God is unknown, but Christ is His expression and embodiment. Yes, Christ is God; He is also God’s description and embodiment. Apart from Him we cannot find God. This is the problem of our Jewish friends. They put Christ aside yet insist that they have God. They do not have God, because He can only be realized in Christ.
The Trinity has been a puzzle to Christian scholars since the first century. Even in the first chapter of Genesis we find the Trinity hinted at. The word God in Hebrew is plural in number, not singular. Then in verse 26 the three pronouns referring to God are plural: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” How could the one God refer to Himself as “Us”? Why does He use a plural possessive Our? This problem has bothered the scholars for centuries.
Let us come to the New Testament. One day after His resurrection, just before He ascended to the heavens, the Lord Jesus met with His disciples on a mountain in Galilee. There He charged them to go and “disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). Notice that the three are here, yet name is singular. There is something of a mystery about this name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Even earlier the Lord was talking with His disciples on one occasion and told them that He would be going away. This news troubled them. In answer to Thomas’s question, Jesus said, “I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). At this point Philip asked that they be shown the Father; the disciples would be satisfied if the Lord would do this for them. The Lord replied, in effect, “What do you mean, ‘Show us the Father’? I have been with you for three years or so. Why do you ask to see the Father?” Then He said, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works” (v. 10).
Notice, however, that the Lord did not say that He is the Father. In the past when I read John 14, sometimes I would ask the Lord, “Lord, why did You not just plainly say, ‘I am the Father’?” His reply to Philip seems so roundabout. If He had directly said that He was the Father, it would have prevented much theological debating all these centuries. But the Lord is not that simple. Neither is the Trinity that simple.
Suppose some say, “Brother Lee, show us Witness Lee. Then we will be satisfied.” I would reply, “What? I have been speaking to you all this time, and you still want me to show you Witness Lee! Don’t you know that Brother Lee is in Witness Lee, and Witness Lee is in Brother Lee? When you see the one, you see the other.” I would not come out and say that Brother Lee is Witness Lee. To do so would mean that I could be easily explained!
Later on in this same chapter, the Lord said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter...the Spirit of reality” (vv. 16-17). Yet in the very next verse He said that He Himself was coming (v. 18). One verse indicates that it is the Spirit who was coming, and the next verse declares that the Lord was coming.
This confusing way of talking continues with regard to who it is who would be in the disciples. Verse 17 says that the Spirit of reality “shall be in you,” whereas in verse 20 the Lord said, “In that day you shall know that I am...in you.” The Spirit’s indwelling the disciples meant the Lord’s indwelling of them. Yet the Lord did not openly say that He was the Spirit or that the Spirit was simply Himself. He chose to talk in this mysterious way, making us wonder whether there are two in us, the Spirit and Himself, or only one.
Paul, the great apostle who received the revelation concerning this mystery, refers to Christ in the flesh as the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45). Our forefather Adam was the first Adam. The last Adam, Paul says, became a life-giving Spirit. In the same book he says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit” (6:17). He further tells Timothy, “The Lord be with your spirit” (2 Tim. 4:22). From these verses it is clear that the Lord must be the Spirit and also that we must have a spirit. Otherwise, how could we be one spirit with Him, and how could He be with our spirit?
“Christ in you” (Col. 1:27) is another word of Paul’s. Is he speaking figuratively? How could we possibly contain Christ? However mysterious it sounds, it is a fact that Christ is in us; we can testify to this mysterious reality. He is like the electricity that makes the lamps give light; we cannot explain how it works, but we experience its benefits.
In Galatians 2:20 Paul goes a step further. “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” Christ is not only within us; He is living in us. Paul is describing his experience. Can we also testify that Christ lives in us? Does having Christ live in us seem like a strange way of talking, or is this our reality?
God had no way to reach us except through Christ. Christ as the Spirit is the reaching of God to us. God first passed through creation; before then He was not the Creator but only God. By creating the world and all the things in it, He took a step to reach us. Then at a certain time He took a further step, the incarnation. By this means He became one with one of His creatures, man. That is why He was called Emmanuel, meaning “God with us” (Matt. 1:23); God the Creator became a man. He lived in a carpenter’s humble home for thirty years. Then He came forth to minister, passing through the villages in Galilee and Judea. As a man He tasted all the aspects of human life. Then through the cross He entered into death. That wonderful death terminated all the things of the old creation. He descended into the lower parts of the earth. After three days He emerged from death and entered into resurrection. At this point He was transfigured. From being a man in the flesh, He became the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). With all these experiences He ascended into the heavens, where He was crowned, enthroned, and glorified. God gave Him the highest name and made Him not only Lord but also Head over all things.
His story is still not over. On the day of Pentecost He descended from that throne. He reached us, God’s chosen people and the believers in Christ. He has entered into us and is now one with us. He indwells us. Such is Jesus Christ, the mystery of God.
In the New Testament we are not given ten commandments. To those who are under the New Testament economy, God’s word is that they believe in His Son. Not to believe is disobedience and rebellion against God. To perish there is no need to rob a bank, commit fornication, or tell lies. It is sufficient to refuse to believe in Jesus Christ. Even if you are a model human being, living a highly ethical life, if you will not believe in the Lord Jesus, you will perish. God’s only command to those who are not saved is that they believe in His Son.
After we are saved, this same principle holds true. God is not interested in our doing. He has one commandment for us. What He wants is that we live Christ. Yet if we think back on the number of times we have repented, we will realize that our repentance has mostly been over our failure to be loving, humble, or honest. Do we repent for our failure to live Christ? For all too many of us, this is not in our concept. We are ethics-centered, not Christ-centered. As Christians, we should be “Christ-men,” but from our way of living, perhaps we could more accurately be called “moral men”!
You may feel that for years you have heard of living by Christ. You may have a heart to do so. In fact, you may have tried and tried again to live Him. Yet your efforts have been unsuccessful and you have given up. Why is it that you have not succeeded?
It is because we are buried in a seven-layered tomb! The first layer is the fall of man. The second layer is our natural life. After man was created, he fell; because of the fall, he has his natural life with its own inclinations and intentions. The third layer, and the thickest, is human culture. To live by the culture into which we were born comes naturally, but to live Christ seems like a strange notion to us. The fourth layer is religion, which also affects all mankind. Whether we are very set in our religion, like the Muslims, or consider ourselves atheists, we nonetheless are religious. The fifth layer is ethics or morality. The concept of morality is embedded deep in our being. To be pleasant and considerate of others is needed in human society, but in order to live Christ we must be above ethical considerations. The sixth layer of our tomb is our virtues, closely related to ethics. What we esteem as virtues, others may not agree with. We may appreciate patience, but others may regard quickness as a virtue. We may like humility, but others may think ambition is desirable. Whatever our virtues, they are a layer of the tomb in which we are buried. The last layer of the tomb is spiritual seeking. To seek holiness, victory, and spirituality can be a layer of the tomb that buries us from the living Christ.
To get out from under these seven layers of the tomb requires prayer. Yet how shall we pray? We may resolve to live Christ and then begin our day by praying, “Lord, help me to love my wife today.” To have such an attitude is a help to human society, but it is altogether a frustration to our living Christ. Even if we pray, “Lord, we want to have the best church life,” this praying too is a frustration. To make up our mind to love our wife or to improve the church life or to achieve anything prevents us from living by Christ.
Do not pray for this and that. Simply pray that you may be infused with Christ and by Him. Pray by contacting Him. Then, as each day goes by, without your intending to do or be anything, you will live and move and have your being in the Spirit. Spontaneously you will fulfill His commandment: “Walk by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16). Christ will be lived out of you. Your whole being will be set on your spirit (Rom. 8:6). With your mind set on your spirit, there will be the living by Christ. This is what God wants.
To live by Christ is the crucial focus of God’s economy. The New Testament centers on the fact that the all-inclusive Christ as the processed God is now dwelling in our spirit. We are one spirit with Him. All He wants us to do is to live Him. We may try to have an impressive church life, but if we are devoid of this living by Christ, the recovery is still empty. The content of the recovery is this very living by Christ, this Christ who is the all-inclusive Spirit and the mystery of God.
