In this message we shall consider the matters of apprehending the dimensions of Christ and of knowing the love of Christ (Eph. 3:18-19). In verse 18 Paul speaks of the breadth, length, height, and depth, but he does not say to what these dimensions refer. Surely they refer to Christ. We need to be strong to apprehend with all the saints the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ.
In verses Eph. 3:16-19 the word “that” is used four times: “that He would grant you...to be strengthened...into the inner man,” “that Christ may make His home in your hearts,” “that you...may be strong to apprehend...and to know,” and “that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.” In each case the Greek word rendered “that” may also be rendered “in order that.”
The first “that” is the result of Paul’s prayer. Paul bowed his knees unto the Father and prayed that He would grant us to be strengthened into our inner man (vv. 14-16). Thus, the result of Paul’s prayer is that the Father would grant us such a strengthening.
The second “that,” found in verse 17, is that Christ may make His home in our hearts through faith. This is the result of being strengthened into the inner man.
Some may say that the third “that” is parallel to the second, but I agree with those who claim that it is a further result. This means that the second “that” is the result of the first, that the third is the result of the second, and that the fourth is the result of the third.
In chapter three Paul prayed that we would be strengthened. If we have been strengthened into the inner man, Christ can then make His home in our hearts with the result that we are strong to apprehend with all saints what is the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ and to know the knowledge-surpassing love of God. The result of all this is that we are filled unto all the fullness of God. Here we see several steps. From Paul’s prayer we go on to being strengthened; from being strengthened we proceed to Christ’s making His home in our hearts; and from this we progress to the apprehending and the knowing and finally to being filled unto all the fullness of God. It is by these steps that we can apprehend the dimensions of Christ and know His knowledge-surpassing love.
The fullness of God is the expression of God. We have pointed out that the Body is not the riches of Christ, but the fullness of Christ (1:23). As the riches of Christ are being digested and assimilated into us, they are metabolized. By this process of metabolism we become the fullness of Christ as His expression. Many Christians regard the riches and the fullness as synonymous. The riches of Christ are the various aspects of Christ for our enjoyment, whereas the fullness is the result, the issue, of the enjoyment of these riches. For example, when we eat and digest the riches of American foodstuffs, we become the fullness of America. As the fullness of America, we are the expression of America. Ephesians 3:19 does not say that we are filled with the riches of God, but that we are filled unto the fullness of God. This means that we are filled with the result that we become the expression of God. The expression of God today is the church, which is the Body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Hence, the fullness of God in 3:19 is the fullness of Christ, which is the Body, in 1:23. The Body is constituted through our enjoyment of the riches of Christ.
Chapters one and two cover the revelation of the church, and chapter three covers the constitution of the church. In chapter three we see that Paul, who was a leading one and a pattern, received the revelation and enjoyed the riches of Christ. These riches were metabolically constituted into his being to make him a part of the Body. All who would follow him to be today’s apostles and prophets must be the same as Paul in these matters. Then the church will be constituted to become the fullness of Christ and the fullness of God. In order for this to take place, Paul prayed that we might be strengthened into our inner man with the result that Christ could make His home in our heart and thereby occupy, possess, permeate, and saturate our whole inner being with Himself. In this way we are filled with Christ, and we become strong to apprehend the dimensions of Christ and to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ. Eventually, we shall be filled with Christ to such an extent that we become the fullness of God.
As we pass through all these steps, we need to apprehend the dimensions of Christ. The Greek word translated “apprehend” means not only to know, but also to grasp, to lay hold of intensively. In order to grasp the dimensions of Christ, we need all the saints; for this we must lay hold of Christ corporately.
The dimensions of Christ are the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth. These dimensions are the dimensions of the universe. Only God Himself knows the measurements of the universe. We can measure the distance from one point in the universe to another, for example, from the earth to the moon, but we cannot measure the universe itself. Now the very dimensions of the universe are also the dimensions of Christ.
Christ is our real universe. Elsewhere we have pointed out that Christ is our earth, our good land, and also our sun and morning star. Now, according to verse 18, we have the boldness to say that Christ is our universe, for His dimensions are the dimensions of the universe. Ephesians 1:23 speaks of the fullness of Him who fills all in all, and 4:9 and 10 reveal that He who descended into the lower parts of the earth also ascended far above all the heavens that He might fill all things. When we enter into the new heaven and the new earth to dwell in the New Jerusalem, we all shall realize that Christ the Lord is our universe.
In our experience of Christ, we firstly experience the breadth of what He is, and then we experience the length. This is horizontal. When we advance in Christ, we experience the height and depth of His riches. This is vertical. Firstly we experience Christ spreading as the breadth and the length. Later we experience Him rising up as the height and finally descending as the depth. As we shall see, our experience of Christ must eventually become three-dimensional, like a cube.
If we have only the length of Christ, without any breadth, our experience will be a “line,” that is, an experience that is long and narrow to an extreme. Our experience of Christ, however, should not have only one dimension, like a line, but it should have two dimensions, like a square, and then three dimensions, like a cube. It is of great importance that we all have a two-dimensional, or a “square,” experience of Christ. If we have only a “line” experience of Him, this “line” will eventually continue until it reaches an extreme. All extremists are “one-liners,” those whose experience of Christ is on a single “line.” If you experience Christ properly and normally as the breadth and the length, you will be kept from going to an extreme. Do not go too far out on the “line” of a narrow and long experience of Christ. Rather, experience Him in a “square” way as the breadth and as the length. By experiencing Christ continually as the breadth and length, our experience will be like a solidly woven “carpet,” not a long, single “thread.”
Some examples will help to make this matter clear. For a number of years, I listened to a certain great Bible teacher. He was extremely knowledgeable in the Scriptures. Although he spent very little time in prayer, he was constantly reading the Word and writing notes in his Bible. After talking about the Bible for a period of time, he would excuse himself in order to smoke his pipe. Then he would resume his discussion of the Scriptures. With him there was a “line” of only one dimension — an extreme emphasis on studying the Bible — but there was not the normal spreading of Christ in two dimensions as a “square” in his experience.
A sister in my home town also had a “line” experience. She did not read the Bible, but devoted a great deal of time to prayer. Being extremely earnest in prayer, she decided to fast and pray for many days. On the seventh day some of the brothers and sisters came to me very concerned about her situation. When we visited her, she was in bed, weakened because of seven days of fasting. We encouraged her to take care of her health, but she was offended by our suggestion. On the very next day, she died. This is an example of how a “line” experience can lead people to an extreme, even lead them astray. Sooner or later every “line” experience leads astray. Therefore, we need to be balanced. These two examples show that we need to take time both to pray and to study the Word.
Another extreme experience relates to the church meetings. Not long ago some among us decided that they no longer needed the meetings of the church. They preferred simply to enjoy the Lord at home. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the Lord in our homes, but we should not stretch such an experience until it becomes an extreme. Others, on the contrary, care only for the meetings. In their Christian life they reserve no time for prayer, for Bible study, or for enjoying the Lord at home. All they care about is the meetings. This also is an extreme.
How easy it is to have “line” experiences of a single dimension! It seems that not many saints desire the two-dimensional experiences, like a carpet. In order to have an experience of Christ like a solidly woven carpet, we need to be balanced in many ways. To be balanced is to be enriched. We need both the breadth and the length; we need the two-dimensional, “square,” experiences of Christ.
In order to experience Christ in His universal dimensions, we need the church life. We need to experience Christ with all the members of the Body. In particular, we need the church meetings, for in the meetings we are balanced. Through messages and the testimonies of the saints, we are balanced. If we experience the dimensions of Christ in the church life, we shall gradually be woven into a “carpet.” We shall not be thin lines of “thread.” What is needed today is not lines of “thread,” but a “carpet” woven through the balanced experience of Christ in the church.
When we experience Christ in this way, we find that His breadth and length are immeasurable. Christ is immeasurable in His spreading forth. As we experience Christ in His spreading, we come to see that the dimensions of the universe are the very dimensions of Christ.
After we experience the breadth and length of Christ, we begin to experience the height of Christ and then the depth. Do not think that we firstly experience the depth of Christ. No, firstly we ascend and then we descend. Before we can have the depth, we must have the height. The spiritual experiences of the depth of Christ come from the experiences of the height of Christ. This means that firstly we grow upward and then we are rooted. Therefore, the proper understanding of the experience of the height and depth of Christ is contrary to our natural concept, which places depth before height.
In our experience of Christ, we should go on from the two dimensions to three, from a “square” to a “cube.” A cube is solid. Both in the tabernacle and in the temple the Holy of Holies was a cube. The dimensions of this cube in the tabernacle and temple respectively were ten cubits and twenty cubits. The New Jerusalem will be an eternal cube, twelve thousand stadia in three dimensions. The church life today must also be a “cube.” Furthermore, our experience of Christ in the church must be “cubical,” three-dimensional, with many lines going back and forth in all three directions. When we experience Christ in such a three-dimensional way, we are solid. In our experience of Christ we are firstly a “square” and then a “cube.” When we become a cube, we cannot fall, and we cannot be broken. Christ is the universal cube, and the church life today is also a “cube,” not a “line” nor even a “carpet.” What about our experience of Christ? May the Lord open our eyes to see that our experience of Him must be a “cube.” As we go back and forth and up and down in our experience of Christ, we eventually have a solid “cube.”
In verse 17 Paul speaks of “having been rooted and grounded in love.” We are God’s farm and God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9). As God’s farm we need to be rooted for growth, and as God’s building we need to be grounded for building up. Thus, in verse 17 Paul has in mind the matters of life and building. In speaking of our having been rooted and grounded, Paul indicates that the experience of Christ is for life and building. As those who have Christ making His home in our hearts and who are strong to apprehend the dimensions of Christ and to know His knowledge-surpassing love, we must have both the life and the building. All that we experience of Christ must be for this.
Paul says specifically that we are rooted and grounded in love. In order to experience Christ, we need faith and love (1 Tim. 1:14). Faith enables us to receive and realize Christ, and love enables us to enjoy Him. Both faith and love are not ours but His. His faith becomes our faith to believe in Him, and His love becomes our love to love Him. The love in which we are rooted and grounded is the divine love realized and experienced by us in a practical way. With such a love we love the Lord, and with that same love we love one another. In such a love we grow in life and are built up in life. Paul’s thought here regarding the relationship between the experience of Christ and the matters of life and building is surely deep and profound.
The more we grow up, the more we are rooted. Although this is opposed to our natural concept, it nonetheless corresponds to our experience. If you consider your experience, you will realize that you have had the sense, not firstly of being rooted and then of growing up, but of growing up and then of being rooted. As we grow upward, we are rooted downward.
In the first part of verse 19 Paul says, “And to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ.” The love of Christ surpasses knowledge; yet, we can know it by experiencing it. According to our mentality, the love of Christ is knowledge-surpassing. Our mind is not able to know it. But in our spirit we can know the love of Christ through our experience.
The love of Christ is Christ Himself. Just as Christ is immeasurable, so His love is also immeasurable. Do not regard the love of Christ as something belonging to Christ. This love is Christ. Because Christ is immeasurable, His love is knowledge-surpassing; yet we can know it in our spirit, not by knowledge but by experience. If we compare what we have so far experienced of the immeasurable love of Christ to all there is to experience, it is like comparing a raindrop to the ocean. Christ in His universal dimensions and in His immeasurable love is like a vast, limitless ocean for us to experience.
