Eve was formed from a rib of Adam, indicating that the bride is the increase of the bridegroom and comes out of the bridegroom as a part of the bridegroom. Therefore, the church is a “rib” of the last Adam. The church is a part of Christ, something coming out of Christ. One day God caused Christ to sleep on the cross, and while Christ slept there, God opened Christ, and something came out of Christ. John 19:34 says that blood and water came out of His side. The blood is for redeeming, to redeem us from sins, and the water is for life-giving, to impart life to us. By this we become the members of Christ. Corporately speaking, we become the corporate Body of Christ, and this very corporate Body is the bride, the increase of Christ and the counterpart to match Christ. We all must realize what the church is. The church is the increase of Christ.

In the third chapter of the Gospel of John we see the words bride and increase. Now we must see another word, regeneration. We must be regenerated, reborn, by Christ. John 3 is a chapter on regeneration, but for what purpose does God regenerate people? Regeneration is to produce a bride for Christ. It is to produce all the members of the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ is a bride to match Christ as His increase. Therefore, John 3 speaks of regeneration, the bride, and the increase. How can we be a part, a member, of the bride of Christ? It is by regeneration. Christ has to impart His life into us to make us a part of His bride. Thus by regeneration Christ gains a bride, and this very bride is the increase of Himself.

Ephesians 1:23 says that this increase is the fullness of Christ. The church is the Body of Christ, which is the fullness of the One who fills all in all. Christ is unlimited, so He needs a Body to be His fullness. As the bride the church is the increase of Christ, while as the Body the church is the fullness of the Head. A head without a body is very poor, for it has no fullness. A person’s body is the fullness of his head, and a big body is a bigger fullness. The church, which is the Body of Christ, is the fullness of the Head. The bride is the increase of the Husband, and the Body is the fullness of the Head. That the church is the increase of Christ shows us the source, the nature, and the essence of the church. The very source, the very nature, and the very essence of the church are nothing less than Christ Himself because the church is one hundred percent out of Christ and a part of Christ. It is Christ Himself increased and enlarged.

Now we know why God created the heavens, the earth, so many items, and the human race. It was simply for Christ to come into His creation, to be incarnated into the human race, to impart Himself to the human race, in order to make a part of the human race a part of Himself. Without the heavens, the earth, and so many items it would not be possible for the human race to exist, and without the existence of the human race it would be impossible for Christ to be increased. In order to have a human race for Christ to be increased, there is the need of the universe as an environment in which and by which the human race can exist. If the sun in the heavens were only a little farther from the earth, we would die from the cold, and if the sun were a little nearer, we all would be burned. But now the temperature on the earth is just right to fit the purpose that we may live. In addition, all the vitamins in the animal and vegetable lives were intended by God for man to exist. If we study the universe with such a point of view, we will be very happy and see that the entire universe was made and arranged by God for the purpose that the human race may exist so that Christ may come to be incarnated, to become a man, to impart Himself to the human race, to make a part of the human race a bride for Himself as His increase. Now we can see the central position that the church has in this universe. The universe is for the human race, the human race is for the church, and the church is the increase of Christ.
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