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In the beginning of this chapter I would like to consider the world situation as far as the Lord’s interest is concerned. In many countries of Europe the situation is tragic. In France and all the southern European countries, from Portugal to Greece, there is nearly nothing for the Lord. I visited a number of places in Athens, Greece, but all that I found there was superstition. Concerning Scandinavia, there is something for the Lord in Norway, but it is very shallow. The Pentecostal movement in that country is quite prevailing, and it is better than in other places because it is not so wild. In Denmark, however, there is a deeper work for the Lord. In England, Scotland, and Ireland, although there was something for the Lord thirty years ago, the situation today is pitiful. When I was in Glasgow in 1958, a friend told me that in the district where we were staying, many people did not even know who Jesus was. There is still something for the Lord in England, but not as much as a century ago, when most of the important things of the Lord came from there. In Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany, even though there are quite a number of Christians, there is not much at all for the Lord’s interest.
From this we can learn something. Even though there have been revivals in these places throughout history, none of the revivals lasted very long. For example, even as recently as ten years ago there was a revival in Argentina, and thousands of people were brought to the Lord. But if you go there today, very little is left.
Furthermore, when I visited Turkey and some countries in the Middle East — Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Iraq, and Iran — I discovered that there is nothing for the Lord’s interest in these places. In the Far East, China has at least one-fifth of the world’s population. In 1949 there were more than five hundred local churches there and approximately one thousand full-time co-workers. We planned to evangelize the whole of China in ten years, but suddenly, within the space of two years, the country fell into the hands of the enemy. Finally, it is difficult to find anything for the Lord’s interest in Africa.
However, we praise the Lord that today throughout America there are many Christians, and among them a good number are genuinely seeking. They only need to be brought onto the right track. To be on the right track is, first, to know Christ and experience Him as life and everything, not in doctrine or teaching but in daily practice. Moment by moment we need to practice one thing, that is, to apply Christ and appropriate Him in all the events, situations, and conditions in our daily life. Second, to be on the right track is to come together with the seeking ones in the place where we live, without division or any sectarian spirit, to be nothing but “general” Christians. We should not be Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, or Lutheran, but just Christians in general, children of God, who are open to all the believers in Christ and who come together as a living, corporate expression of Christ. The right track, therefore, is to take Christ as our life and everything and then to meet with all the seeking ones purely as a living, corporate expression of Christ. This will bring much blessing from the Lord to His people. The Lord will honor this, and all the positive things that were lost during the past generations will gradually be recovered and experienced by us. We have the assurance that in these last days, before He comes back, the Lord will recover Christ as life and the church as His expression, not by a movement or a revival but by the fellowship of the Body of Christ and the current of life.
In the Scriptures there are two different ways to approach God’s salvation. One way is from our side, and the other is from God’s side. The first way is seen in the book of Romans. This book begins by revealing that we are all sinners under God’s condemnation (1:18—3:20). Then it reveals Christ’s redemption for our justification (Rom. 3:21—5:11). Following this, Romans reveals that not only our works and deeds are sinful, but even our nature, our very being, is sinful. We were all born in Adam, and there is nothing good in our flesh (5:19; 7:18). But this sinful man has been crucified on the cross with Christ (6:6), and now Christ as the Spirit lives within us (8:9-11). Furthermore, while we are walking, living, and doing things in the Spirit, we are members of one wonderful, universal, mystical Body (12:5). Therefore, we must have the Body life (vv. 1-21).
The book of Ephesians, however, is different. Whereas Romans begins with sinners, Ephesians begins with God. The starting point of Ephesians is in the heavenlies, not on the earth, and in eternity, not in time (1:3-4). This book shows us that in eternity past there was within God a desire, a good pleasure (vv. 5, 9). According to His good pleasure God made a purpose, a plan. This plan was made in eternity and for eternity, and thus it is called the eternal plan, or the eternal purpose. It is an eternal plan made in Christ, with Christ, through Christ, and for Christ according to God’s desire and pleasure (vv. 9-11; 3:9-11). After God created all things, He called a number of people according to His selection and His predestination (1:4-5). He redeemed them, forgave them, and regenerated them to make them members of the Body of Christ (vv. 7, 13, 22-23). Now these people must be built up together as a living Body, a corporate vessel, to contain, express, and exhibit Christ to the whole universe (2:21-22; 3:20-21). For this they need to have the Body life (4:1—6:20). Therefore, although the two books begin differently, eventually Ephesians and Romans arrive at the same thing. Romans begins with sinners, and Ephesians begins with God in eternity and in the heavenlies. Both books reveal that God’s plan, His intention, is to manifest and express Himself through Christ, His Son, in a universal, mystical Body composed of many created and regenerated persons. God needs an expression, one that is in Christ and through Christ, and also one that is through a Body of regenerated human beings. Without humanity, God can never be revealed or manifested, for man was created as a vessel for the purpose of revealing, expressing, and manifesting God (Gen. 1:26-27).
This is the reason that God created us with a mind with which to think, an emotion with which to love, and a will with which to make decisions. Without the human mind, God can never be revealed or expressed. Similarly, without the human emotion and will, God can never be manifested. Men were made as vessels for God (Rom. 9:21, 23; Acts 9:15). Many Christians today consider that we are instruments of God, but this is actually a wrong concept. There is a significant difference between a vessel and an instrument. A knife and a hammer are instruments, whereas a cup is a vessel. A vessel is a container. Romans 9:21 says that we are vessels of clay, and 2 Corinthians 4:7 says that we are earthen vessels that contain a priceless treasure. We are containers for Christ and for God.
As vessels we have a mind, a will, an emotion, and a heart. We may use a glove to illustrate this. In order to contain a hand, a glove must have five fingers, because there are five fingers on a hand. Likewise, God created us with a mind, an emotion, and a will because Christ has a mind, an emotion, and a will. The human mind is needed as a container for the mind of Christ, and the human emotion is needed as a container for Christ’s emotion. First Corinthians 2:16 says, “We have the mind of Christ.” If we did not have a mind, we could never have the mind of Christ. Therefore, our mind is a container for the mind of Christ, and our whole being is a vessel for Christ. We are not vessels for milk, eggs, or bread; we are vessels for Christ so that we might contain Him and express Him.
In order to express Christ, we were created by God according to Christ. Man was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26), and Christ is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). Hence, to be created in the image of God is to be created according to Christ. Just as a glove is made in the form of a hand so that it can contain a hand, we were created according to Christ so that we might be proper vessels to contain Him. Christ has a heart, and the heart within us is a container for the heart of Christ. Christ has a mind, and the human mind is a container for the mind of Christ. Christ also has a will, and the human will is a container for the will of Christ. Furthermore, we are vessels not merely to contain Christ but also to be filled with Him so that He may be formed in us (Eph. 3:17, 19; Gal. 4:19). We may put a hand in a glove, but the hand may not be formed in the glove. Only when every finger has been fitted exactly inside the glove can we say that the hand is formed in the glove. Christ may be in us but not yet formed in us. We need to be filled with Christ, and Christ must be formed within us.
We need to be impressed that God created the universe in order for Christ to be expressed through His Body. All the things on the earth and in the heavens, with man as the center (Zech. 12:1), are for the purpose of expressing Christ through His Body. This is also the reason that God selected us as the object of His divine grace. He needed us to be a Body to contain, express, and exhibit Christ to the whole universe.
Now let us consider who Christ is as the content of the vessel. Christ is the mystery of God (Col. 2:2). Without Christ, God is truly a mystery, and no one can understand Him. If you ask unbelievers, even those with Ph.D. degrees, what the meaning of the universe is or what the meaning of human life is, they will tell you that they do not know. Although they may be very knowledgeable concerning science and philosophy, the meaning of the universe and of human life remains a mystery to them. God is a mystery, but Christ is the explanation, definition, and expression of this divine mystery. If we have Christ, we understand the mystery, and we know the meaning of the universe and also of human life. Today Christ as the very mystery is within us as life (3:4). For the present He is our life, and for the future He is the hope of glory (1:27). He is our portion (v. 12), and we are partakers of Him. Daily we experience and enjoy Him as our food, drink, light, life, peace, patience, joy, and everything.
We need to realize that all the material things around us are not the reality but are only shadows (2:16-17). The chair we sit on is not the real chair. The three meals we eat day by day are not the real meals. They are only figures, types, or symbols that signify and point to something real, that is, to Christ as our real life (John 14:6) and our real food (6:48). Moreover, the light in a building is not the real light. Although we may be in a room with a very intense light, without Christ we are still in darkness, because the physical light is only a figure that denotes the real light, which is Christ as the light of life (8:12). Christ is not only food and light to us; He is also a house as our dwelling place. In Psalm 90:1 Moses said, “O Lord, You have been our dwelling place / In all generations.” At the time Moses said this, he was between eighty and one hundred twenty years of age. As an old man he knew that every material thing was not trustworthy and that the eternal habitation of God’s people is the Lord Himself (Rev. 21:22). We must take Christ as our abode and live in Him as our dwelling place (John 15:4). Christ is everything to us. He is our life, our food, our drink, our light, our way, our wisdom, our knowledge, our strength, and our power (Col. 3:4; John 6:35; 4:10, 14; 7:37-39; 8:12; 14:6; 1 Cor. 1:24; Col. 2:3; Phil. 4:13). Christ is also our authority (2 Cor. 10:8; Rev. 2:26), our Husband (2 Cor. 11:2), our Brother (Rom. 8:29), and our Father (Isa. 9:6). Therefore, all the physical, visible things are merely signs and figures of Christ, who is our portion and whom we should enjoy, experience, and partake of moment by moment.
When we receive Christ as our Savior, God reveals Him into us through the Holy Spirit (Gal. 1:15-16). This matter is wonderful and mysterious, but regrettably, many Christians who are genuinely saved do not know that Christ has been revealed into them and is now within them. Thus, when they pray, they think that Christ is in the third heaven, far above and beyond them. However, mysteriously, the more we pray, the more we feel that the Lord is here, within us. Christ has been revealed into us, and He is waiting for us to take Him as our life.
We also need to realize that as regenerated Christians we have two lives, the human life and the divine life. Every Christian has been born twice; first, he was born of his parents to have the human life, and then he was born of God through the Holy Spirit to have the divine life, which is Christ Himself (John 1:12-13; 3:6; 11:25). The problem today is this: What life do we live by? Do we live by ourselves or by Christ, by the human life or by the divine life? Since we have been crucified (Rom. 6:6), we must apply the cross of Christ to our human life (Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:23). This means that we must always take the standing that we have been crucified on the cross. In other words, we are finished, put to an end. It is because of this fact that when we receive Christ as our Savior, we are baptized into water. As crucified persons, we are dead; hence, we must be buried (Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12a). Often I tell candidates for baptism, “Baptism is a funeral, and to be baptized is to be buried. You have believed in Jesus Christ, but now you must know that when Christ was crucified on the cross, you were included in Him. This means that you too have been crucified. Because you are a dead person, we cannot keep you here any longer; we must bury you.” We are crucified, and it is no longer we who live, but it is Christ who lives in us (Gal. 2:20). Christ is our life, and we must live by Him, not by our self. Whenever we are going to live by our self, we must tell ourselves that we are buried in the tomb, and thus it is wrong for us to continue living.
Furthermore, Christ must be formed within us (4:19). For this we must be transformed into Christ’s image (2 Cor. 3:18) and conformed to Christ (Rom. 8:29). Then when we consider something, we will consider it in the same way that Christ does; when we love someone or something, we will love in the same way, manner, attitude, and atmosphere as Christ loves, and in our love we will sense the taste of Christ; and when we decide something, it will be Christ’s decision, for there will be the element of Christ in our decision. This is to have the image and form of Christ.
In this chapter we have covered the first aspect of the Christian life that fulfills the eternal purpose of God. On the one hand, Christ is our portion, and we enjoy Him day by day. On the other hand, Christ is the image that must be formed in us, and we must be conformed to Him. Our whole being must be saturated by and with Christ so that we are transformed into His image. According to human experience, nothing but Christ can fully satisfy us. But we must experience Him in a very practical way. We need to have Christ not just in teaching, theory, or doctrine but in our practical daily life. We need to appropriate Christ in our daily life by enjoying Him moment by moment, experiencing Him and applying Him to all that happens in our daily living. This is the Christian life, and this is the only life that can satisfy us. If we are living such a life, day by day we will be full of peace, satisfaction, and joy. This is the individual aspect of a life that fulfills God’s eternal purpose. In the next chapter we will cover the corporate aspect.
Question: How can we apply Christ as you have described?
Answer: Applying Christ is very simple. We can compare it to turning the lights on by turning a switch on. Before the lights in a building can be switched on, electricity must be installed in the building. Then whenever we need light, we can simply turn the switch on. We have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit with Christ, which means that Christ has been installed in us. Now He is within us, and the only thing we need to do is to switch on.
Question: What if we “blow a fuse”?
Answer: Sometimes we lose our temper, and as a result, we “blow a fuse.” When this happens, we must confess our sin and get connected again. We must confess our weakness and be cleansed by the blood of the Lord Jesus. According to 1 John 1:1-9, when we receive the divine life, the eternal life, we also have the fellowship of the divine life. This fellowship may be likened to the current of electricity. There is a current of the divine life, and this current is the fellowship. Christ Himself is the electricity, and the fellowship is the current. When we confess our sins, the blood of Jesus the Son of God cleanses us from all defilement and recovers the lost fellowship (vv. 7, 9). Then, once again we are in the current of the divine life.
Question: Should we hope for a mighty work of the Spirit in these days before the Lord returns?
Answer: This is a traditional Jewish concept. Judaism has always told people that one day the late rain will come (Hosea 6:3), in other words, that there will be a great revival. However, although for many centuries people have been talking about the late rain, the anticipated revival has still not come. Nevertheless, from the past centuries up to the present the Lord has done many things not in the way of a revival but in the way of life.
Consider, for example, a farm with its crops. Although there is no revival, all the plants that bear fruits and vegetables are quietly producing day by day. This is the power of life, and this is what we need. I have witnessed many meetings in which people shouted, cried, and even claimed to have a holy laughter. However, it was difficult to find any evidence of genuine power among them. Genuine power is certainly not in shouting, rolling, laughing, or jumping; rather, it is in Christ. When we experience Christ, even silently, we are full of power, because the real power is Christ Himself. The apostle Paul told the Corinthians, “Indeed Jews require signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.” To those who are called by God, this crucified Christ is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:22-24). Signs are miracles, manifestations of power, which the Jews sought after. But the apostles did not preach miracles and signs, nor did they preach wisdom and knowledge. Rather, they preached Christ crucified. The crucified Christ is both the power of God and the wisdom of God. Thank the Lord that in century after century there has been the current of life, that is, the current of Christ, and many people have been brought to God through the saving power of Christ as life. The experience of Christ in our daily life is something divinely powerful. Christ as life is real power, but He must be daily experienced by us as our portion and enjoyment (Col. 1:12).
Question: How are the inner sense and the working of Christ related?
Answer: If we would enjoy and experience Christ, first we must be very simple. Teachings and doctrines complicate our experience of Christ. Then we must realize that Christ the Lord is within us (Rom. 8:10; 2 Cor. 13:5), and He lives, acts, moves, and works in us unceasingly. Thus, there is always a certain kind of sense, feeling, or consciousness within us, and we must simply go along with that sense. We should not decide to please God. We can never please Him, because we are good for nothing except to be buried. Since we are in the tomb, why should we come out of the tomb and try to please God? Neither should we attempt to work for God. In the Gospel of John the Lord Jesus said, “Abide in Me and I in you...I am the vine; you are the branches...Apart from Me you can do nothing” (15:4-5). There is no need for us to do anything good. We should simply abide in Christ according to the inner, living sense of the divine life within us. We should go along with that sense and should abide in Christ according to that sense. Then Christ will energize and strengthen us to do many things, and it will not be we who do those things; it will be Christ who does them in us (Phil. 4:13). In this matter we must beware of the enemy Satan’s strategy. At a certain time we may not love the Lord and may frequently lose our temper. When we return to the Lord and begin to love Him again, immediately the enemy will come in and tempt us to make the decision never to lose our temper again. Eventually, however, we will discover that the more we endeavor to control our temper, the more we will lose it. Therefore, we must change our concept from trying to please God to gaining Christ (3:8). Christ is real, and He is living within us. Therefore, we need to be simple and apply Him.
Question: I know that for you this concept has become a reality, but to me it is still only a theory. Is this something that develops with the Lord over several years?
Answer: To analyze our experience in this way is to be too much in the realm of mental consideration. We need to learn to give up our mentality and simply be in the spirit. For example, I can know a great deal about electricity, but if I do not turn the switch on, I will still not have electricity. Similarly, there is a great difference between a menu and the meal itself. Even to have a meal set before us is not the same as actually eating it. Christ is within us; He is real and living. The Lord Jesus said, “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (John 6:57). To eat Christ day by day is to apply Christ to our daily living. Christianity and even Christian teachings are not the same thing as Christ. Christ Himself is what counts. We are not concerned with a religion of dead letters or even with Christian teaching, but rather with Christ Himself as the living reality. The most urgent need among the Lord’s people today is not more teachings; it is the real application and the living realization of Christ.
Question: Should we learn part of the Word and then act on it so that it becomes part of us?
Answer: We must convert our knowledge of Christ into prayer. In this way we transfer our knowledge from the mind to the spirit, and then the knowledge of the Word becomes living food to us. Among Christians today there is too much knowledge, too much exercising to read, study, hear, and listen; in other words, there is too much exercise of the mind and very little exercise of the spirit.
Question: When we see something of Christ in another believer, can that pattern communicate Christ to us?
Answer: Whether or not we receive Christ through the pattern of another believer depends on our prayer. To pray is to contact the Lord. If we are truly influenced by the patience of Christ expressed in a certain brother, we must go to the Lord and say, “Lord, I praise You that here is such a brother who is full of Yourself. Lord, I would like to be filled with You, as he is.” When we pray in this way, we will touch the current of the spiritual life within us. This is the real fellowship and prayer. As we are living and working in the Lord, we can talk to the Lord. Whether or not we receive an answer to our prayer is secondary; contacting the Lord is the primary matter. Real prayer is not to ask the Lord Jesus to do something for us; real prayer is to contact the Lord and absorb Him. Then we will live a life that is spiritual, sanctified, and victorious.
