Scripture Reading: Col. 2:1-6; John 1:1-4, 11-18
In 2:6 Paul says, “As therefore you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him.” Walking in Christ is based on receiving Christ. Walking in Him comes out of receiving Him.
Many Christians think that to receive Christ is simply to believe in Him. Receiving Christ, however, is not as simple as this. In order to understand what is the proper, genuine, and adequate receiving of Christ, we need to know the Christ whom we are to receive. According to our concept and according to traditional doctrine, Christ is rather simple. Many believers only realize that Christ, the Son of God, is the Savior who loved us and died for us. If we believe in Christ, we are saved. However, the receiving of Christ in a book such as Colossians involves a great deal more than this. We have pointed out that Colossians affords us an extensive revelation of the all-inclusive Christ. This Christ is more vast than the whole universe. According to Eph. 3, Christ is the breadth, length, height, and depth. The Christ whom we have received is immeasurable. He is universally vast.
Although we have received Christ, our receiving of Him goes beyond an initial receiving of Him once for all. On the contrary, we shall continue to receive Him eternally. Receiving Christ can be compared to breathing. Just as breathing is a continual process, so our receiving of Christ should take place continually. Regrettably, however, a great many Christians have had only the initial receiving of Christ. They do not receive Him continuously. Many believers can tell you that at a certain time in the past they received Christ. But they have not continued to receive Him. If we do not receive Christ continually, we shall not enjoy the full benefit of the Christ we have received initially. Many Christians have not continued to receive Christ. Hence, we must realize that our receiving of Him must be consistent and continual.
The Christ we have received according to 2:1-6 is the mystery of God spoken of in 2:2. The fact that Christ is the mystery of God indicates that He is not simple. Rather, He is immeasurable and mysterious. To be sure, God is not simple. He is unlimited, infinite, eternal. How, then, could Christ, the mystery of God, be simple? As the mystery of God, Christ is the immeasurable, infinite, and eternal God.
Although God is eternal, He also has a history. Of course, to say that God has a history is to speak in human terms for our understanding. In the beginning, in eternity past, God had a good pleasure, the desire of His heart. The more living a person is, the greater is his desire for pleasure. Thus, as the most living One, God has the greatest desire. God is living, aggressive, and energetic. As such a living One, He has a good pleasure. Based upon this good pleasure, which is the desire of His heart, God made a plan. The biblical term for this plan is purpose. God is purposeful; He has an eternal purpose based on His good pleasure. This purpose is to have a group of living beings to be His corporate expression.
In order for such a group of beings to come into existence, God created the heavens, the earth, and billions of items. The center of God’s creation is man, who was created with a receiver, the human spirit. Just as a radio receiver has the capacity to receive radio waves, so our spirit has the capacity to receive God. Suppose a person from a primitive part of the world is shown a transistor radio for the first time and is told that it can give forth sounds transmitted through the air. If the radio is properly tuned, that person would be amazed at the sounds. But if the receiver does not function, he may argue that there are in fact no radio waves in the air. A transistor radio may have a beautiful casing, but if the receiver does not work, the radio is useless. Millions of people today are like broken transistor radios. Outwardly they appear very good, but their spirit has been damaged. The receiver within them does not function properly. This is the reason that atheists proclaim there is no God. Because their receiver does not function to substantiate God, they say God does not exist. If a broken radio receiver is repaired, the radio will work once again. In like manner, when our damaged receiver, our human spirit, is regenerated, it can function to substantiate God.
According to Zechariah 12:1, God stretched forth the heavens, laid the foundation of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him. In this verse the spirit of man is ranked with the heavens and the earth. This shows the crucial significance of the human spirit. The spirit of man was created purposely and specifically to be a receiver to take God in. In order for man to exist with a spirit to receive God, there was the need of the earth and of the heavens. The heavens are for the earth, the earth is for man, and man, with his spirit, his receiver, is for God. Through His work of creation, God produced the environment necessary for the fulfillment of His purpose.
Before God could be received by man, He had to first become a man. Therefore, creation was followed by incarnation. In the process of incarnation, God became a man, born of the virgin Mary in a very humble way. According to Isaiah 9:6, the child born to us was the mighty God. This means that the infant born in that manger in Bethlehem was the mighty God Himself. As a child, He grew up in Nazareth, in the despised region of Galilee. He did not live in the mansion of a rich man, but He lived in the house of a poor carpenter. Imagine that Jesus, the mighty God incarnate, lived in a carpenter’s house in Nazareth for about thirty years! The Creator of the whole universe lived on earth in such a way. This is a vital part of God’s history.
To this day, the Jews do not believe in the incarnation. Rather, they would proclaim that their God is not that small. However, we believe and declare that our God became a small man and lived on earth for thirty-three and one half years. According to Isaiah 53 and the four Gospels, the Lord Jesus was a man without form or comeliness. Furthermore, the very One who said, “Let there be light” and caused light to shine out of darkness was the One who worked for years as a carpenter.
At the end of His life on earth, the Lord Jesus was crucified. We need to realize that the One who was crucified was God Himself. In a hymn written by Charles Wesley there are these lines:
Amazing love! How can it beThat Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
God was crucified and hung on the cross for us. Afterward, He was buried in the tomb and took a tour through Hades, the region of death. Although Satan did everything possible to hold Him, on the third day He arose from the dead and came out of the tomb in resurrection. Now, in resurrection, He is the life-giving Spirit. By incarnation God became a man, and in resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit.
After His resurrection, Christ appeared to His disciples a number of times. He was manifested to them on the day of His resurrection, when they were meeting in a room behind closed doors. Suddenly, He appeared with a body of flesh and bones. Thinking that He was a ghost, the disciples were frightened. He said to them, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” (Luke 24:39). Eight days later He appeared again, especially for the benefit of Thomas, who had said that unless he could see in His hands the print of the nails, put his finger into the print of the nails, and thrust his hand into His side, he would not believe (John 20:25). After appearing, the resurrected Christ suddenly disappeared again. Later, when some of the disciples, under the leadership of Peter, were fishing, He was manifested once more and asked them if they had anything to eat. When they replied that they had nothing, He told them to cast the net on the right side of the ship. They did so and caught a multitude of fishes (John 21:6). Then the disciples enjoyed a good breakfast with the Lord, after which He disappeared again. On another occasion, He held a conference with them on a mountaintop, the place He had appointed. Finally, the disciples witnessed the ascension of the resurrected Christ. Ten days later, He descended upon them in a wonderful way as the all-inclusive Spirit. As we all know, through their preaching of the gospel, thousands were added to them.
As we consider all the aspects of God’s history, we see that the history of God is Christ. As the history of God, Christ is the mystery of God. Because the Jews do not have Christ, the God in whom they believe does not have such a history. Apart from Christ, there is neither the history of God nor the mystery of God.
As Christ is the history of God, so the church is the history of Christ. As the history of Christ, the church is the mystery of Christ. In the church we are a continuation of this history.
We have pointed out that the Christ we have received is the mystery of God and the history of God. The Christ we have received is God with His wonderful history. As the all-inclusive One, Christ includes divinity, humanity, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, glorification, and enthronement. He includes all the divine attributes and human virtues. This is the One we have all received.
In 2:1-2 Paul says that he had a great struggle for the saints that “their hearts may be comforted, being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, unto the full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ.” We also need the full assurance of understanding, the full knowledge of Christ as the mystery of God. However, not many even among us have this full knowledge. We need the full knowledge with the full assurance of understanding that we have received the wonderful, unlimited, immeasurable, extensive Christ.
The Christ in Colossians is much more extensive than the Christ in whom most Christians believe. God has given us a gift more extensive than the universe. If we have the full assurance of understanding concerning Christ, we shall say, “Lord Jesus, You are everything to me. You are the mystery of God. Because You are everything, I don’t want anything that is not You, and I don’t need anything.” As the mystery of God, the all-inclusive Christ includes incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, glorification, divinity, and humanity. He is the reality of all the positive things in the universe: food, drink, feasts, new moons, holy days, Sabbaths, clothing, housing, transportation, light. The Apostle Paul was struggling on behalf of the distracted, deluded Colossians to help them have a full knowledge of such a Christ. Paul seemed to be telling them, “Colossians, you have the all-inclusive Christ. Why do you turn to Gnosticism, Judaism, and asceticism? Why do you become subject to so many ordinances? You have the all-inclusive, extensive One, the One who is the mystery of God. May your eyes be opened to see this One you have received.” Oh, we all need a vision of such a Christ!
We thank the Lord that we all have received Christ initially. As we have indicated, this receiving is also continual; it is much more than once for all. Just as we breathe continually, we need to receive Christ continually, even for eternity.
In a previous message we pointed out that one condition for walking in Christ is to be rooted in Him. Being rooted in Christ is equal to receiving Christ. A large tree absorbs moisture through tiny root hairs. Absorption depends on being rooted; it depends on receiving. Do not try to receive too much of Christ at one time. What we need is a continual receiving. In principle, it is correct to say that the more we receive of Christ, the better it is. But in practice we should not try to receive too much at once. We eat our food a little at a time. In like manner, we receive Christ also a little at a time.
We have seen that the Christ we receive is the mystery of God and history of God. Probably, in our initial stage of receiving Christ we did not have this realization concerning Christ. But as we go on with the Lord, we realize that Christ is all we need. Since He is everything to us, we should continue to receive Him without ceasing.
Now we come to the extremely important matter of how to receive Christ. Receiving Christ requires the exercise of our spirit. In order for a transistor radio to receive radio waves, the receiver must be working properly. Likewise, although it is good to improve our behavior, the important thing is that we tune, or adjust, our spirit. Our spirit must be clean, open, and properly adjusted.
The unique way to exercise our spirit is to pray. As we exercise our spirit in prayer, our aim should be to contact the Lord, not first to pray for certain people or things. Simply contact the Lord and allow Him to burden you to pray for certain ones. Do not go to the Lord with your mind filled with things to pray for. If you try to contact the Lord in this way, you will close your spirit. We should come to the Lord with a spirit fully open, worshipping Him, praising Him, and thanking Him. Then we shall know what to pray for, and we shall have much to utter to the Lord in prayer.
As we receive such a heavenly transmission from the Lord, we not only receive the riches of Christ, but we also experience His fullness. This means we are filled to the brim. The fullness is related to the riches. However, we may have the riches without the fullness. Whether or not the riches of Christ become the fullness to us depends on whether or not we are filled with these riches to the limit of our capacity. If the riches exceed the demand, the riches are the fullness. But if they are less than the demand, they obviously are not the fullness. The riches of Christ, being universally extensive, are never less than the demand. Whatever may be our capacity to receive, the riches of Christ will exceed our capacity. The riches are always able to fill us to overflowing. A certain man may be very rich, even a billionaire. But if his wealth is only sufficient to give one dollar to every person on earth, his riches cannot be regarded as fullness. He does not have sufficient riches to make everyone abundantly wealthy. The riches of Christ, however, are universally extensive. They are sufficient to fill everyone to his capacity.
John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh, full of grace and reality. According to John 1:16, we all have received of His fullness grace upon grace. According to John 1, the One whom we have received is the eternal Word, the Word who was with God and who was God, the Word through whom everything came into being. In this Word is life. One day, this Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace. This is part of God’s history, an aspect of His mystery. The mystery of God is Christ, who is full of grace. No demand can exhaust His fullness; no capacity to receive of Him can exhaust His supply. Christ’s fullness can never be diminished by our need or by our capacity. The Christ we have received is a Christ of fullness. Therefore, we need to keep on receiving Him by exercising our spirit to have direct contact with Him. As we pray from our open, adjusted spirit, we shall receive the unlimited source as our supply. Then we shall have the fullness, and in this fullness we shall be rooted and built up. Then we shall walk in Him.
