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Scripture Reading: Gal. 1:16; 2:20; 4:19; Eph. 3:17-19; 4:13; John 6:63; Rom. 8:2, 9-11; 2 Cor. 3:17-18; 1 Cor. 12:3
As the mystery of God, Christ is everything in God’s eternal plan. Christ is God the Creator, the Firstborn of creation, the means of creation, and the center and Head of all that has been created. He is also the Firstborn from the dead, the Head of the church, and the One whom God intended would have the first place in all things. This is the Christ whom God intends would be our life and everything, and this is the Christ whom we have received. We now possess this very Christ in our spirit. We all should spend some time to pray and meditate before the Lord concerning all the items of whom Christ is.
As the mystery of God, Christ is not only our life and everything, He is also the reality of every positive thing in the universe. All the physical things that we see, taste, and touch are not real. They are merely figures and shadows, the reality of which is Christ Himself. The food that we eat every day is not real. If we do not have Christ, we are surely hungry and without food, because Christ is the real food for our whole being. Christ is the real food for our spirit, our soul, and our body. The Scriptures reveal that man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God and also that Christ Himself is the Word of God (Matt. 4:4; John 1:1). From this we can see that Christ is the real food. According to the same principle, we know that Christ is our real life. The physical life that we received from our parents is not the real life. If we do not have Christ, we do not have life; we are just dead people. This is clearly stated in 1 John 5:12, which says, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” In His eternal plan God has made Christ to be our real food, our real life, and the reality of all positive things in the universe.
This revelation needs to become clear to us to the point that we say to the Lord, “Lord, if I do not have You, I have nothing, and I am nothing.” We all need to see that even we ourselves are not real. I am not a real person, and you are not a real person. If we do not have Christ, we are nothing; we are through. Christ is the only real man. In fact, not only is Christ the only real man, but apart from Christ there is no real God. The real God is in Christ, and Christ is the reality of God. If there were no Christ, God would be merely a term or a name to us. We would have no way to realize Him. Christ is the real essence and element of the Godhead. Apart from Christ everything is but a name. Nothing is real, and everything is a failure without Christ. He is the real man, the real God, and the reality of every positive thing in the universe.
The fact that Christ is everything cannot simply be a doctrine to us; it must be realized in our experience. Do we have a mind? We do have a mind, but we need the realization that Christ is our real mind (1 Cor. 2:16). Do we have wisdom? We may think that we have wisdom, but we have to realize that our wisdom is nothing. Christ is the real wisdom (1:30). Do we have knowledge? We may have some knowledge, but Christ is the only real knowledge (Col. 2:3). Do we have love? We may have love, but we have to realize that Christ is the real love (Rom. 8:39; 2 Cor. 5:14; Eph. 3:19; 1 Tim. 1:14). Do we have patience? We may think that we have patience, but real patience is Christ Himself (cf. Gal. 5:22). We must realize that Christ is everything and that Christ also fills everything — He is the “One who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:23). Is there a God? There is a God, but this God is in Christ. Is there man? There is man, but this man is in Christ (John 1:14; 1 Cor. 15:47). Is there a Son? There is a Son, and this Son is Christ. Is there life? There is life, but only Christ is the real life (John 14:6). Is there light? There is light, and this light is Christ Himself (8:12). Every morning when we put on our clothes, do we have the sense that Christ is our real covering and our real clothing (Rom. 13:14; Gal. 3:27)? When we are preparing to lie down on our bed, do we have the realization that Christ is our true rest, our real bed (Matt. 11:28)? When we are on our way home, do we have the feeling that the Lord is our home, our dwelling place (cf. Psa. 90:1; John 15:4)? When we are walking upstairs, do we realize that Christ is our real stairs and that apart from Him we can neither go up nor down (cf. 1:51)? When we are going out of a door, do we tell the Lord, “Lord, You are my door, my entrance and my exit” (10:9)? Do we experience Christ as the reality of all these items? Can we tell the Lord, “Lord, You are my sun, my moon, and my way” (Mal. 4:2; Col. 2:16-17; John 14:6)? Our goal is not merely to understand the Bible according to the printed black and white letters. Rather, we are coming to the living Word of God to gain the deep sense that Christ is everything and to be brought into this experience. This is what God planned in eternity past, and this is what God is doing today. Although very few of the Lord’s children realize this, God’s intention is that Christ would be everything to us. Since this is God’s intention, we must learn the practical way to experience, contact, and apply Christ. How do we do this? How do we experience Christ, how do we contact Christ, and how do we apply Christ? The answers to these questions are found throughout the Scriptures.
Our experience of Christ has five progressive stages. Galatians 1:16a says, “To reveal His Son in me,” and 2:20a states, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” The first verse speaks of Christ being revealed in us, and the second verse speaks of Christ living in us. Verse 19 of chapter 4 says, “My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you.” This verse reveals that Christ can be formed in us. Ephesians 3:17 speaks of Christ making His home in our hearts: “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” Verse 19 goes on to say that we are “filled unto all the fullness of God.” Finally, verse 13 of chapter 4 says that we will eventually arrive “at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Together these verses reveal five stages of our progressive experience of Christ — Christ is revealed in us, Christ lives in us, Christ is formed in us, Christ makes His home in us, and Christ’s measure becomes our measure.
God’s desire is that Christ would be revealed in us, live in us, and increase and expand within us to the extent that Christ would be formed within us. When God created man, He created him in His image (Gen. 1:26). Who is the image of God? Colossians 1:15 says that Christ “is the image of the invisible God.” Since Christ is the image of the invisible God, and man was created according to the image of God, we can say that man was created according to Christ. A glove is created according to a hand. As such, it has four fingers and a thumb, just like a hand. The reason that a glove is created according to a hand with four fingers and a thumb is so that a hand can fit into the glove. Why was man created according to Christ? Man was created according to Christ so that Christ would be able to “fit” into man. God created man with a mind, an emotion, and a will. These parts of man are like the fingers of a glove, and Christ is like the hand that comes into the glove. Our mind, emotion, and will were all made for Christ. Today Christ may have already been revealed in us, but has Christ spread into our mind, emotion, and will? Has Christ been formed in us yet? Although we were created according to Christ, many of us may have a mind, emotion, and will that are absolutely without Christ. Christ as the hand has not filled any of the “fingers.” If there is no Christ in our mind, emotion, or will, then Christ has not yet been formed within us. Thus, we all need to allow Christ to fill our mind, emotion, and will.
From time to time a husband may get angry with his wife. Those who are husbands among us may also have this experience, but when this happens, are they able to say to the Lord, “Lord, right now I am angry with my wife, but even in my anger You are in me. You are in my anger.” We should not think that this is impossible. When the Lord was on the earth, sometimes He became angry, and as those created according to Christ, anger is one of our emotions (cf. Eph. 4:26). Thus, the question is not whether we become angry, but whether Christ has filled our emotions. In like manner, we need to consider whether Christ has filled our mind and our will. If a glove has not been filled with a hand, then the glove has not yet been formed; likewise, if we have not been filled with Christ in our mind, emotion, and will, then Christ has not yet been formed within us.
Only when Christ is formed within us by expanding and increasing into every part of our being, can He make His home in our hearts; and only when Christ has made His home in our hearts, will we have the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. First, Christ is revealed in us. Then He lives within us, is formed within us, and makes His home in our hearts. Finally, the result of Christ being revealed in us, living in us, being formed in us, and making His home in our hearts is that we arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. This is what God planned and intended in eternity past for a Christian to be — a person who is full of Christ. God desires that we would be filled with Christ not only in our spirit but also in our mind, emotion, will, and heart. At His coming, even our body will be full of Christ. At that time He will be glorified in us and through us, and we will be in His glory.
While the five items that we have mentioned above reveal five stages of our experience of Christ, we also need to consider where Christ is today and how we can contact Him. For this, let us consider a second group of verses. John 6:63 says, “It is the Spirit who gives life,” and Romans 8:2 says, “The law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.” These two verses reveal that the Spirit is the Spirit of life who gives life. Verses 9 through 11 continue, “But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.” These verses indicate that the Spirit — who is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead — dwells within us. Second Corinthians 3:17-18 reads, “The Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” These two verses contain three key phrases: the Lord is the Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord, and the Lord Spirit. The final verse in this group of verses is 1 Corinthians 12:3: “Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; and no one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.” From this we see that whenever a person says, “Lord Jesus,” he is in the Holy Spirit. The important thing to see in all the above verses is that Christ today is the Spirit, and as the Spirit, He lives within us.
In what way is the Lord as the Spirit in our spirit? The Lord is within us in His person; He is a living person within us. Often we may ask the Lord to give us strength, power, or energy. We must realize, however, that the Lord never deals with us in this way. When the Lord comes to us to do something for us, He always comes to be with us as a person. Brother Nee once likened the way we view the Lord to the way a patient views a doctor. He said that many times we pray to the Lord in the same way that a sick person asks his doctor for a dose of medicine. One day we come to the Lord to ask for one dose, and the next day we come to ask Him for another dose. But Brother Nee pointed out that the Lord never gives us merely a dose; He always gives us Himself. The Lord Himself as a whole and living person is the dose. Moreover, the Lord never gives us only a little bit of Himself. When the Lord gives, He gives His whole person. Today Christ is living within us as a living and complete person.
The Lord who lives within us is the Spirit. This Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord, the Lord Spirit, and the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit is also the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2). What does it mean for the Spirit to be the Spirit of life? This means that the function of the Spirit today is to make Christ real to us as life. Christ is life, and the Spirit is the Spirit of life in our spirit in order to make Christ real to us as life. In addition, this life, which is Christ Himself, has a function. To illustrate this we can consider the experience of a baby. What is the first way in which the life of a baby functions? The first function of a baby’s life is its consciousness or sense. When you speak to a baby, there is a reaction. This reaction is the consciousness, or sense, of the baby’s life. When you put something sweet into a baby’s mouth, the baby tastes it and swallows it. However, if you put something bitter into a baby’s mouth, although he has never heard of the word bitter, he will immediately spit it out. Why is this? This is the result of the function of the sense of life. We must realize that Christ is living within us as a living person and as life. Then we must realize that this life has a primary function, which is the consciousness, the sense, of life. You may say that you do not feel Christ, but I am sure that you do have some sense of the spiritual life that is within you. This sense proves that Christ is within you. You have such a sense because you have Christ within you, and because you have Christ within you, you have such a sense. The sense of life is the simple means by which we are able to apply Christ. In fact, the sense of life is just Christ Himself.
Applying Christ in this way is very delicate, yet it is very simple. We can liken this to electricity. When I was a little boy, I was amazed by electricity. Electricity was so wonderful and mysterious to me, and I simply could not understand it. However, although I could not understand it, electricity was nevertheless very real. In like manner, the Lord is the Spirit, and all spiritual matters are as real as electricity. To apply electricity, all we must do is turn on a light switch. If we turn on the switch, the electricity works. Similarly, the way in which we are able to experience spiritual matters and the simple means by which we can apply Christ is the sense of life. Sometimes after we have been speaking with a brother or sister for a while, we have the sense that we have spoken enough. This sense is Christ within us. Sometimes while reading the Bible, we have the sense that we should stop our reading and go to pray. If after having such a sense, we continue to read and do not go to pray, then we are not applying the cross, and from that moment on, it is not Christ but we who are reading the Scriptures. We are not applying Christ to our reading of the Scriptures.
Today Christ is in our spirit as the Spirit. This Spirit is the Spirit of life, of which the primary function is the consciousness, the sense, of life. Whenever we have a sense or registration in our inner parts, we have to realize that this is Christ. When we have such a sense, we should say, “Lord, this is You. I will go along with You. I will apply You to my living and to this very thing that I am about to do. It is no longer I who do it, but it is You who are doing it.” The sense of life within us is Christ Himself, and by going along with the sense of life, we apply Christ to our living.
However, in order to go along with the sense of life, there is one prerequisite — we must realize that we have been crucified and are dead, buried, and finished. We must realize that we are no longer the ones who are living, but that it is Christ who is now living within us. In order to apply Christ, we must apply the death of Christ. Each of us must realize that it is “no longer I...but...Christ” (Gal. 2:20). It is “no longer I...but...Christ” in the bad things and “no longer I...but...Christ” in the good things as well. Even in studying the Scriptures it is “no longer I...but...Christ.”
The way for us to apply Christ is to apply the death of Christ and go along with the sense of life. This must be very clear to us. Christ is the Spirit, the Spirit is the Spirit of life, the Spirit of life is in our spirit, the primary function of life is the sense of life, and the sense of life is Christ Himself. If we go along with this sense, applying the death of the cross to our self and old man, then we will experience and apply Christ. As a result, Christ will be our life in a very practical way.
For many of us the matters that we have been considering in this chapter may be quite new. As a result, when we go to have some fellowship with a certain brother or sister, we may not remember any of this. Thus, to learn to apply Christ requires us to practice. Many of you know how to drive a car. The first time you got into the driver’s seat, you probably did not know how to drive, but after a certain amount of practice you became used to driving and were able to do it. Just as it requires practice to learn to drive a car, it also takes practice to learn to apply Christ in the way we have discussed above. We need to love the Lord, receive the revelation of God’s eternal plan that Christ is life and everything to us, and take the ground that we have been buried. When we are about to have some fellowship with one of the brothers or sisters, we have to practice all these things. We should say to the Lord, “Lord, I love You. You are everything in God’s plan. I now realize that You are my life and my everything. I know that I have been buried and am finished. Right now, it is no longer I who live, but it is You who are living in me. It is not I who am going to fellowship with this brother; it is You who are going in me. I do not trust my mind. I am through, and I have been buried. Lord, at this very moment You are my life and my everything.” This is the way that we should practice.
If we practice in this way and have such an attitude, there is no doubt that the Holy Spirit will be the reality to us, and we will experience Christ. Christ will have the ground and will take the opportunity to occupy our mind, emotion, will, mouth, and language. Through our practice in such a way, Christ will have the opportunity to gain His rightful place within us. He will be able to make His dwelling place within us, and we will be full of Christ. As a result, we will be right with God and at peace within. Then we will be a people whose mind, emotion, and will are filled with Christ. Deep in our emotion there will be the element of Christ. Christ will be in all our feelings. Christ will also be in our mind and our will to the extent that our thoughts will be full of Christ, and our decisions will have the reality of Christ. If we become such people, do you think that we will have problems with sins and the world? We will not, because Christ will be the One living within us. We will be finished, and Christ will be living, so we will have nothing to do with sins and the world. This is very simple. Now we realize where Christ is today. Christ is very close to us and is even one with us. Christ today is the Spirit in our spirit. Thus, we must practice to experience Him, contact Him, and apply Him as such a One within us.
