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Scripture Reading: Col. 2:11-12, 20; 3:1-5, 9-11
In eternity past God made a plan concerning what He would do in the times and generations of the ages. He planned to make Christ the center and Head of all creation. Christ is the mystery of God (Col. 2:2). As such, He is the faithful image of the invisible God and the Firstborn of all creation (1:15), the Firstborn from the dead and the Head of the Body, which is the church (v. 18), the portion from God to us (v. 12), and even the kingdom (v. 13). We can share Christ, receive Christ, and walk in Christ. God also intends that Christ would be something to us that is more subjective than all the above items. God intends that Christ would be our very life and element (3:4; cf. Eph. 2:5). God desires that Christ would come into our spirit as the Spirit to mingle together with us and to be our element (1 Cor. 6:17). In God’s plan Christ is meant to be our life, our element, and everything to us.
Not only has God planned that Christ would be our life and everything, but He has also made Christ to be the reality of all positive things in the universe. All the physical things that we see are merely figures and shadows of the reality, which is Christ (Col. 2:17). All physical things are not real. Only Christ is real. The food we eat is not the real food; it is merely a figure. Christ is our real food (John 6:35, 57). The house that we live in is not our real dwelling place. Our real dwelling place is Christ (cf. 15:4). The Lord is our dwelling place forever (Psa. 90:1). He is our eternal habitation, our eternal dwelling place (cf. Rev. 21:22). The physical life that we inherited from our parents is not the real life; it is merely a shadow, a figure. Christ is the real life (John 14:6). Thus, in the eyes of God if you do not have Christ, you do not have life. First John 5:12 says, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” Christ is also our real light and our real way (John 1:4; 1 John 1:5; John 14:6). All visible physical things are not real; they are simply figures and shadows of the reality, which is Christ Himself.
God intends that Christ would be everything to you. What do you desire? Do you desire the good land with its springs? Christ is the good land and its springs (cf. Deut. 8:7). Do you desire hope and peace? Christ is both hope and peace to us (Eph. 1:12; 2:14). Do you desire wealth? If so, Christ is our real wealth (cf. Eph. 3:8; Phil. 4:19) and our real treasure (2 Cor. 4:7). Do you need food to eat or a home in which to live? Christ is both of these things. Do you wish to receive a letter? Christ is even our letter (3:3). Do you need clothing? Colossians 3:10-14 reveals that we can put on Christ as our real clothing. Do you need a head? Christ is our Head (Eph. 1:22). In fact, if you do not have Christ, you are a person without a head. Do you desire philosophy? Christ is much more than philosophy (Col. 2:3). We can never exhaust all the items of what Christ is to us. Christ is truly everything.
Although Christ is everything, there is a problem. The problem is that although we have Christ within us, we do not apply Him in our daily life. We have Christ, but when we are thinking about something, we do not think by Christ. We have Christ, but when we are going to do something, we do not do it by Christ. We have Christ, but when we speak with people, we do not speak by Christ. This can be likened to owning a nice car but not knowing how to drive it. We have received Christ into us, but we do not apply Christ to our daily living.
Christians today often speak about doing what is right as Christians. Day by day they seek the Lord for His will so that they can know what they should or should not do. This kind of seeking, however, is short. Rather than seeking simply to know whether or not we should do a particular thing, we need to ask, “If I do this particular thing, will I be doing it alone, or will Christ be doing it with me?” This is what we must endeavor to know. When we are engaged in a particular activity, we must check to determine who it is that is acting. Are we acting alone, or is Christ acting in us and through us? In Galatians the apostle Paul testified, saying, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (2:20). We may often inquire, “Lord, is this right for me to do?” but we should also check to see whether we are acting by ourselves or whether it is Christ who is living in us.
One day a young brother asked me, “Brother Lee, why do some say that Christians should not go to movies?” In response to his question, I did not give him a long answer; I simply asked him, “When you go to a movie, does Christ go with you?” The young brother answered me, “Of course, Christ does not go with me to the movie.” Let alone going to movies, I would also ask, when we go to preach the gospel, who is the person who is going to preach? Do we go by ourselves to preach the gospel, or is Christ within us the One who is going to preach? When we visit another saint, do we visit that saint alone, or does Christ within us do it in us and with us? In other words, when we are doing all the things that we do in our daily life, do we truly apply Christ in what we are doing? If we have the revelation that Christ is everything to us, we will check. Day by day, moment by moment, and in whatever we are doing, we will check to see whether or not what we are doing is Christ living within us. We will check to see whether or not we are applying Christ in everything we do.
To apply Christ in everything we do and to experience Christ as everything to us, we need not only the revelation of who Christ is, we also need to be brought to our end. In Paul’s short Epistle to the Colossians he refers to this numerous times. He says that we are dead (2:20; 3:3), that we have been buried (2:12), that we have to put off the old man (3:9), and that we have been circumcised (2:11). Why does Paul refer to all these experiences? He does so in order to make clear that God’s intention is that we would be brought to our end and that, in fact, we have been brought to our end already. Why is this God’s intention? God intends that we be brought to our end because He desires that Christ would be everything to us. We have to be “out” so that Christ can come in; we have to be dethroned so that Christ can be crowned; and we have to be brought to our end so that Christ can be everything to us.
This principle is clear when we consider that God created us as vessels to contain Christ. God created man in His image (Gen. 1:26) so that man would be a vessel to contain Christ (Rom. 9:21-23; 2 Cor. 4:7; 2 Tim. 2:20-21). However, before anything can be put into a vessel, the vessel must be empty. If there is something in the vessel, we must pour it out before we can fill it with anything else. Thus, as vessels made for the purpose of containing Christ, we must be emptied of everything that is not Christ before we can be filled with Christ. There is a major difference, however, between us and an ordinary vessel. If an ordinary vessel is filled with something, it is very easy to empty it out. But if we are filled with things other than Christ, it is not so easy to empty us of all these things. The reason is that we are living vessels — we have a mind, emotion, and will. Although the Lord desires to fill us with Himself, we may not always want to receive Him. It is very difficult to deal with living vessels. This is why we all must be brought to an end and finished. If we are no longer living, then it will be very easy for Christ to fill us with Himself and become everything to us.
The Bible reveals that Christ is our life and everything. It also reveals that we have already been crucified and buried with Christ. The problem, however, is that although we are dead, we are still living. We have so much confidence in our self. We are so active, strong, and alive in our self, and it is very difficult for us to forget about our self. We may realize that God’s intention is to make Christ everything to us and that we have been crucified with Christ, yet we must admit that we are still very living.
Faced with such a situation, what must God do? What must God do to bring us to the point where we are able to be filled with Christ, to apply Christ in everything we do, and to take Christ as our life and everything? To bring us to this point, God must put us into circumstances in which we will experience suffering. There is no other way for God to bring us to an end but to allow us to pass through suffering. Through the pressure and burning of our environment our strong self will be put to death. Only genuine sufferings can bring us to an end, for the more we suffer, the more we will realize that we are nothing and Christ is everything. Everyone who desires to seek the Lord must pass through suffering. No one is an exception. This is the only way that God can bring us to the point where we are nothing and Christ is everything to us.
Recently, a sister asked me a very good question. She said to me, “Brother Lee, it seems that we have discovered a certain fact. Although it is very strange to us, it seems that often when there is a sister who loves the Lord and seeks after Him, her husband is against the Lord, and regardless of how much this sister prays for her husband, it seems that her prayers are not answered. Conversely, it seems that often when there is a brother who loves the Lord and seeks after Him, his wife is very much against Him. Why is this? Why is it so difficult to find a couple where both the husband and the wife love the Lord? In addition, why is it so often the case that parents who love the Lord have children who do not love the Lord, and children who are pursuing the Lord have parents who are against the Lord? Why is it so difficult to find an entire family who loves the Lord?” The answer to this question is that God’s intention is to put us into a situation of suffering, a situation that we have no way to run away from. It is true that some husbands are a great source of pressure to their wives, that some wives are a burning to their husbands, that some children are a great pressure to their parents, and that some parents are a burning to their children. This is all under the sovereign hand of God.
When trying to find someone to marry, all the young people try to find the best person. They consider at great length who would be the best one for them to marry. After many years of experience, however, I have no trust in this kind of consideration. There was once a young brother who was trying to find the right sister for him. He considered one sister after another but was not satisfied with any of them. Eventually, after much consideration he was satisfied with one. According to his feeling, this one was the best sister for him. After this brother had been married for some time, however, one day he came to me and said, “Brother Lee, I repent.” I asked him, “What do you mean that you repent? What do you repent of?” He then said, “I repent of the choice that I have made regarding my marriage. I repent of choosing the sister whom I have chosen.” When I heard this, I told him, “Brother, you did your best to choose the best one, and eventually, you got the best one. You must have faith that this sister is the best one for you. No other sister could be better for you. You have chosen the one prepared by God for you. Your choice was under God’s sovereignty. You and all your choices are under the hand of the Lord. You may be able to make a mistake, but God can never make a mistake. He is sovereign.” According to our view, our spouse may be the worst, but according to God’s view, he or she is the best.
God is surely sovereign over whom we marry. He has chosen the best spouse for us. God is sovereign over all our circumstances and is arranging all our situations for one thing — to bring us through pressure and burning. We have so much confidence in our self, and it is so difficult for us to forget about our self. Thus, the only way for us to be saved is for God to put us into situations that will press us, burn us, and bring us to an end. We may need not only one wife but also several children to be the pressure and the burning power to bring us to an end. When we are brought to an end, we will be able to say to the Lord, “Lord, I am finished.” We will not say this based on our knowledge of this doctrine, but based on our experience we will say, “Lord, I am finished.” Then the Lord will answer us, “It is very good that you are finished. Now I can be your life in a practical way. Now is the time for Me to be your all.”
The more we have the revelation that Christ is all in all to us, the more we will have to be burned and pressed in order to actually experience Christ in this way. There are no exceptions to this principle. All seeking believers have to pass through certain pressures and suffer certain hardships. The more we see Christ and seek Christ, the more we will experience suffering. On the one hand, to experience Christ is to enjoy something, but on the other hand, to experience Christ is to suffer something. The reason that this is the case is that in order to experience Christ we have to be put to death. We are all too strong in our self. Thus, there is no other way for us to be brought to an end and for Christ to be everything to us but for us to be put to death by passing through suffering.
The Lord’s hand is sovereign over us. The Lord knows exactly who we are and exactly what we need. If we long for a deeper experience of Christ, the Lord knows the way to grant us what we desire. The only way is to bring us through suffering. Only genuine suffering can bring us to an end, and only genuine suffering can put us to death. The more we suffer, the more we will realize that we are nothing, and the more we suffer, the more we will realize that Christ is everything.
In light of this we can see why Paul uses in Colossians 1:11 the expression unto all endurance and long-suffering with joy. Why would Paul mention endurance and long-suffering at the opening of this Epistle? He mentions these things because he knew from his experience that God must put us to death so that we might be able to experience Christ as everything to us. He knew that to pass through the experience of being put to death requires endurance and long-suffering.
Suppose there is a brother who is very active and clever and also very strong in his temper. Let us suppose that this brother also loves the Lord very much. He has seen something of Christ, and he longs to experience Christ in a practical way. For this brother to arrive at the point where he experiences Christ in this way is not so easy. It is rather hard for such a strong brother to stop himself and to experience Christ in whatever he is doing. He has the heart and the longing to experience Christ, but he is just not able to stop himself. As a result, he is unable to have much experience of Christ.
Before this brother can gain a deeper experience of Christ in which Christ becomes everything to him, this brother must first suffer many hardships. Thus, the Lord will exercise His sovereignty and will control everything related to him and his environment. The Lord will bring him into a specific situation in which he will experience hardship after hardship. For three, five, or even ten years this brother will pass through suffering after suffering. After all these years of suffering he will be brought to the point where it will be very easy for him to apply Christ to his daily living. Through the hardships in his environment he will lose all confidence in himself, and he will be brought to the point where he not only realizes that he is finished, but he also sees that he is nothing. When he reaches this point, it will be so easy and even automatic for him to apply Christ to his daily living. In whatever he does, he will automatically go to the Lord, trust the Lord, and fellowship with the Lord. It will also be easy for him to cooperate with the Lord’s leading. The realization that he is nothing will make it very easy for him to experience Christ. In whatever he does, he will be one with the Lord. When this brother comes to read the Scriptures, he will pray, “Lord, I am nothing. You are my all. You are everything to me. I am about to read the Scriptures, but I do not want to read them by myself. Lord, I would like to read with You. Lord, I am nothing. I would like for You to read the Scriptures with me.” Eventually, this brother will be able to say, “It is no longer I who read the Scriptures, but it is Christ. It is not I but Christ.” When this brother comes before the Lord to pray, he will have the same feeling. He will tell the Lord, “Lord, I am nothing. You are everything to me. I do not want to pray by myself. Lord, I would love for You to pray with me.” Through this kind of fellowship with the Lord, he will eventually be able to confess, “It is no longer I who prays, but it is Christ who prays in me. I am nothing. Christ is all.”
Saints who meet a brother like this will immediately sense the presence of Christ. Whenever they contact him, they will sense that he is a man who is living Christ, walking with Christ, and lost in Christ. They will realize that he is a man who is filled with Christ and who has been blended and mingled with Christ. This is because by this point Christ is with him in whatever he does and in whatever he says. At this stage Christ has become life and everything to him in a practical way.
At this point in this brother’s experience it will also be very easy for him to be builded together and joined with the other saints. The building will become very real to him, and he will become a very useful brother. Because he realizes that he is nothing and Christ is everything, it will not be difficult for him to realize the genuine building of the church. He will also be a person who is very easy to deal with. At this time this brother is both broken and mature.
This is God’s plan — to bring us through sufferings so that we will realize that we are nothing and be able to experience Christ as our life and everything. For this we all need to go to the Lord and pray. We all need to pray that the Lord would give us more revelation of His desire and direct our hearts into this way. I do believe that in these last days the Lord is going to recover His people back to the experience of Himself according to God’s eternal plan. Christ is the mystery of God. As such, He can be experienced by us as our life and everything.
