Scripture Reading: Eph. 5:25-27; 2:15-16; 1:20-23; 4:7-8, 11, 12; 3:17a
Christ is the embodiment of God and the content of the church. Although all genuine Christians recognize that Christ is the Son of God, not many have an adequate realization that He is the embodiment of God. To say that Christ is the embodiment of God means that in Christ is embodied all that God is. In eternity past, God in Christ made a plan, selected us, and predestinated us, or marked us out. Then in Christ and through Christ God created all things. Eventually, Christ was incarnated, accomplished redemption through crucifixion, was buried, resurrected, and then ascended to the third heaven. Furthermore, He has descended as the Spirit upon His Body. Now He is waiting for people to open to Him and call upon Him so that He may come into them, regenerate them, and make His home in their hearts. One day, He will come back from the heavens by coming out from within His people. Then He will be the King over all the earth, and His chosen people will be co-kings with Him in His kingdom. For eternity, He will be the centrality of the New Jerusalem. It is impossible to exhaust all that God is and all that He has done and will do in Christ.
When I was young, I heard about Jesus, but what I was told was far short of the revelation of Christ as the embodiment of God. Many of us can testify that, before coming into the Lord’s recovery, we did not know Christ adequately as the embodiment of God. However, after we came into the church life, we began to realize that our Christ is the embodiment of all that God is.
As the embodiment of God, Christ is the content of the church. Ephesians 3 says that the Spirit strengthens us into our inner man so that Christ can make His home in our hearts (vv. 16-17). Eventually, we shall be filled unto all the fullness of God (v. 19). This indicates that the content of the church is the embodiment of God.
The church is not simply a group of people who have been saved out of hell, who are waiting to go to heaven, and who beg the Lord to give them peace, joy, and a good life. The church in the Lord’s recovery does not beg God for things. Rather, we in the local churches praise the Lord for all He is to us. Praise Him that the church has the embodiment of God as her content! How we thank the Lord for revealing this to us!
The church is the one new man with Christ as the person. As the person of the new man, Christ is the embodiment of God. Do you realize that the One you are to take as your person is the very embodiment of God? If we see this vision, we shall be beside ourselves with joy. Oh, what a Person we have within us! It is crucial for us all to see that the church is a vessel with the living Christ as its unique content.
In this message we shall consider five aspects of Christ. If we would see these five aspects clearly, we need to ask the Lord to blow away all the clouds that for centuries have kept Christians from seeing Christ in a full way. In previous messages we have pointed out that Christ is unlimited, immeasurable, and unsearchable. He is the all-inclusive One that fills all in all (1:23). He is even the very dimensions of the universe: the breadth, and length, and height, and depth (3:18). What a Christ He is!
Ephesians 5:25 says that Christ “loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” This verse indicates that Christ is a church-loving Christ. Galatians 2:20 says that Christ loved me and gave Himself for me. Although Christians pay attention to this verse, they may not also pay attention to Ephesians 5:25, where we are told that Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for the church.
In 5:25-27 we see that Christ gave Himself up for the church, not merely to save the church from hell and bring her into heaven, but to sanctify her and to cleanse her by the washing of the water in the Word. Through this washing He will present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. The church Christ will present to Himself will be holy and without blemish.
Christ’s purpose in giving Himself up for the church was to sanctify her. He will not only separate the church to Himself from everything common, but will also saturate her with Himself so that she may be His counterpart. This is accomplished by the washing of water in the Word. How Christ loves the church! The Christ who dwells within us is the Christ who loves the church. Having given Himself up for the church and to the church, He is now sanctifying her. In His love for the church, He is cleansing and purifying her to make her holy and without blemish.
According to 5:27, the day is coming when the church will not have spot or wrinkle. Spots come from wounds, and wrinkles come from oldness. Through Christ’s sanctifying work, the church will eventually be without spot or wrinkle. She will be holy and without blemish. To be holy is to be saturated and transformed with Christ, and to be without blemish is to be spotless and without wrinkle. One day the church will be fully transformed. Only Christ can bring the church to such a condition. The Christ who is the embodiment of God is the Christ who loves the church and is cleansing her by the washing of the water in the Word.
I have the assurance that before the Lord comes back, He will fully recover the proper church life. Many Christian teachers, however, do not believe that this is possible. According to them, we cannot have the church life in this age; they say the church life is possible only in the age to come. Those who hold this view say that we should not talk about the church, but simply love the Lord, preach the gospel, and help the believers to be spiritual. Many of those who take such a position are opposed to the Lord’s present recovery. But in spite of all opposition, we have the assurance that the church life will be recovered in full in this age, not in the age to come.
It is contrary to the Scriptures to say that the church life will be in the coming age. The next age will not be the age of the church; it will be the age of the kingdom. In this present age, before His coming back, the Lord must have the church life to shame the enemy. I believe that for centuries Satan, the enemy of God, has been challenging Christ concerning the church. Perhaps Satan has said to Him, “Where is Your church? Show me the church You have promised to build. Some of Your servants even teach that it is not possible to have the church life in this age.” Perhaps Christ is saying to Satan, “Satan, look at the local churches on earth today. Consider how many of My people are testifying that it is possible to have the church life in this age. They are not only for the church life, but are in the church life in a practical way.”
I believe that in the coming years the Lord will spread the church life to England, Germany, France, and Italy. Furthermore, I believe that one day there will be a church in Rome and even in Jerusalem, where the church life began more than nineteen centuries ago. Acts 1:9-12 tells us that Christ ascended from the Mount of Olives, and Zechariah 14:4 reveals that Christ will return also to the Mount of Olives. In the same principle, the Lord began His church in Jerusalem and, I believe, will send the recovery of His church back to Jerusalem.
For years I was deeply troubled by the loss of mainland China. After more than twenty years of labor, in 1948 there were churches in all the leading cities of China. Then suddenly everything was lost. One day, after many years had passed, I saw something encouraging about this. I realized that in the 1920s the Lord desired to have the proper church life. However, because Europe and the United States had been spoiled by religion, the Lord was forced to go to a heathen country in the Far East for the recovery of the church life. Brother Nee once told us that the Lord went to China because it was virgin soil for the cultivation of the church life. However, the Lord knew that, primarily because of language, China was not the best place for the spread of His recovery. Much of what the Lord had revealed to us was buried in the Chinese language. Nevertheless, God used the virgin soil of China as a nursery. Watchman Nee was sown as a seed into this soil, and the church life began to grow. Then, through the loss of mainland China, the recovery was transplanted to the United States. However, the United States is not the goal; it is a stepping-stone for the spread of the recovery to Europe and eventually to Jerusalem. The Lord began from Jerusalem and then spread the church to Greece and Italy. I believe that He will also go back to Jerusalem by way of Italy and Greece. I long for there to be a church in Jerusalem waiting for the Lord Jesus when He returns.
Concerning the recovery of the church life, the Lord Jesus cannot be defeated. When the Japanese army took over the Philippines during World War II, General MacArthur was forced to withdraw. But he vowed to return. As we all know, General MacArthur did return to the Philippines. In like manner, no matter what Satan does to damage the church, the Lord Jesus will return, and His church will be waiting for Him. There may be a church in the city of Jerusalem. Perhaps the meeting hall will not be far from the Mount of Olives, the place from which He ascended and to which He will descend in His coming back. It would be a shame to the Lord Jesus to come back without having a church in Jerusalem ready for Him. The Lord will not suffer such a shame. For this reason, He is waiting for His recovery to spread to Europe and, ultimately, to Jerusalem.
May the Lord inspire us concerning His move in His recovery! May He spread the church life throughout Europe, the Middle East, and to Jerusalem. Perhaps one day we shall hold a prayer meeting in the garden of Gethsemane, which is located at the foot of the Mount of Olives, and pray fervently to the Lord for His coming back!
We all need to enjoy Christ and to experience Him as the church-loving Christ. Because we also love the church, we are one with Him for the spread of His recovery throughout the world and back to Jerusalem. Oh, how Christ loves the church! He is in us as the church-loving Christ. His love for the church makes us willing to give our all for the recovery of the church life.
In 2:15 and 16 we see that Christ is also the new-man-creating Christ. For centuries, Christians have spoken about Christ’s death on the cross without seeing the consummate point that He died for the creation of the new man. He abolished in His flesh the ordinances in order to create in Himself one new man. The cross is not only for salvation, release, and victory; it is also for the creation of the new man. The creation of the new man required that all ordinances be abolished. Praise the Lord that He is the new-man-creating Christ! By abolishing the ordinances on the cross, He has created the Jews and the Gentiles into one new man.
In 1:20-23 we see that Christ is also the all-things-heading-up Christ. God has seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies and has subjected all things under His feet. Furthermore, Christ has been made Head over all things to the church. The headship over all things has been given to Christ as a gift from God.
Chapter four reveals that Christ is the gift-making and gift-giving Christ (4:7-8, 11-12). Because Christ is the Head over all things to the church, He is able to make gifts and to present them to the church. Ephesians 1:22 says that Christ is the Head over all things to the church. The little word to is crucial. It implies transmission. Whatever Christ, the Head, attained and obtained is transmitted to the church, His Body. In this transmission the church shares with Christ in all His attainments. Because all that Christ is and has is transmitted to the church, He is able to constitute us as gifts to the Body.
We have pointed out that it is through His descending and ascending that Christ constitutes us into gifts to the church. By His traveling, by His descending and ascending within us, we are made useful gifts to the church.
When the church life first began in Los Angeles, we all had the sense that we were weak and useless. We wondered how we could possibly take care of the church. However, by Christ’s descending and ascending, many have been constituted into useful gifts. The leadership needed for the spread of the church life is produced in this way. As brothers experience the descending and ascending Christ, they become proper leaders to take care of the churches that are raised up by the Lord. This leadership is not produced by man’s education or training; it is constituted by the descending and ascending Christ. We need to praise the Lord for His traveling, for the marvelous two-way traffic between heaven and earth and between earth and heaven. It is through such traffic that the gift-making and gift-giving Christ produces gifts for His Body.
Finally, as 3:17 reveals, Christ is the home-making Christ. He is no longer homeless, for He is making His home in our hearts. The more Christ settles down in our hearts, the more He can boast to Satan that He has a home in His believers.
May we all be impressed with these five aspects of Christ. He is the church-loving Christ, the new-man-creating Christ, the all-things-heading-up-Christ, the gift-making and gift-giving Christ, and the home-making Christ. What a Christ we have!
