Colossians 1:27 says “To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” God had a mystery that even the angels did not know. This mystery was hidden in God Himself, until one day He became flesh to accomplish the mystery (Eph. 3:9). Then He called the apostles and prophets and revealed the mystery to them (v. 5). Since this was done in the New Testament age, it is called the New Testament economy. Hence, God’s New Testament economy is to carry out the mystery of God, and this mystery is the content of the New Testament economy. This mystery has its glory, and this glory is rich.
In the New Testament the riches of this glory are expressed especially among the Gentiles. God’s economy in the Old Testament was expressed only in the small sphere of the Jews who occupied a small piece of land. However, after God became flesh, lived on the earth, chose the apostles, went to the cross to die, resurrected, ascended, and accomplished this mystery, He sent His apostles to the lands of the Gentiles to bring this mystery to them. The glory of this mystery expressed among the Gentiles is far greater than the glory in the Old Testament and the economy of God expressed among the Jews. Therefore, Paul said, “What are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles.” What are the riches implies that the riches are indescribable. Since there is no way to speak of or describe them, what are is used as the description.
Today we all enjoy this glory and are in this glory. Nevertheless, Christianity has almost completely lost this glory. In Christianity this glory has been restricted and covered. If you go to visit the Vatican, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, you can see only material things, not anything that is related to the mystery of God’s economy, not to mention the glory of God in the New Testament.
The mystery of God may be compared to the sun, and the glory of this mystery is the sunlight. The sunlight and the sun are one. Just as the glory of God is God expressed, the glory of this mystery is the expression of the mystery itself. When sunlight is obscured by the clouds, the sun itself is hidden, but when sunlight appears, the sun is expressed. The expression of the sun is the glory of the sun, which is the sun itself. In the same way, when God hides Himself, the glory recedes, and when God is expressed, the glory shines, since glory is God Himself. In this New Testament age, what we receive and enjoy is exactly the glory of this mystery.
Colossians 1:27 tells us what this mystery is. This verse says, “What are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ....” Christ is the mystery. Then it continues to say, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” This means that the glory of this mystery is nothing other than the shining of Christ in you. Today the glory of this mystery has become a glory among the Gentiles and even within the Gentiles. Christ Himself has become a glory in you and me. As we have said, Christ is this mystery. He is the “sun.” When Christ shines in us, He becomes the glory in us. Then this glory in us becomes a hope, which is called the hope of glory. Therefore, Christ, the glory, and the hope are just one. We can compare them to the sun, the sunlight, and the heat of the sun, which are actually one entity. Without the sun, there is no sunlight, and without the shining of the sun, there is no heat. These three are one.
Perhaps some may still not understand what we are saying here. However, we can check with our experience. Before we were saved, we had no hope or glory within us. At that time all we had inwardly was vanity and darkness without any hope or glory. The reason for this can be seen in Ephesians 2, which tells us that we were dead in offenses and sins, without Christ and God, and having no glory or hope (vv. 1, 11-12). In our life in the past there was nothing that made us feel glorious. However, beginning from the day that we believed in the Lord, we felt glorious within. In Matthew 17:1-3 the Lord Jesus was transfigured on the mountain. Peter was there, but he could not comprehend the glory. All he could say was, “It is good for us to be here” (v. 4). Today we should not merely say that it is good; we have to say that it is glorious. This is because Christ has entered into us, and He is in us as our glory.
The riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles refers not only to Christ but also to Christ in us becoming the hope of glory. Therefore, when we go door-knocking, we not only bring Christ to people, but we also give them the mystery, the glory, the riches, and the hope in God’s New Testament economy. Only this is the true announcing of Christ.
Although Paul’s utterance in Colossians 1:27 is simple, it includes many crucial words, such as mystery, glory, riches, hope, and Christ. These five items are one. The main substance of this verse is these five words, and these five are one. What is hidden in God is the mystery. When it is expressed, it is glory. When it comes to the Gentiles in the New Testament age, it is the riches. When it enters into us, it becomes the hope. The mystery, the glory, the riches, and the hope are all one person, who is Christ. We need not only to see this but also to proclaim this. We proclaim Him, because He is mysterious, glorious, and rich, and He is our hope of glory.
America is the top and largest Christian country. There are numerous Christian bookstores that contain tens of thousands of publications. It is a pity, however, that none of these publications convey to us the vision regarding the above five words. They do not have the mystery, the glory, the riches, the hope, and Christ. Hence, the Lord needs a recovery, and this is our burden. In fact, this is a great ministry, a great commission. The Lord’s recovery is not to recover anything else. It is only to recover the glory and the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, among you and me, which is Christ in us as the hope of glory. We need to see this. We do not need only the objective Christ, the Christ in letter that is taught in Christianity. What we need is a living Christ, who enters into us and becomes our glory, hope, and the riches that we enjoy inwardly. These riches and glory are what we announce. Therefore, Paul said that we announce Christ. We are announcing Him as such a One.
For this reason, what the Lord wants to recover is our full release from Christianity. I hope that we can all see this. Whether or not the Lord can come back depends not merely on our going door-knocking but on how much we know Him inwardly, how much glory He has within us, and how much we have enjoyed His riches. These are the key points. He is our glory, our enjoyment, and our riches within, and much more, He is our coming hope, our longing. Our door-knocking is for this purpose, our home meetings are for this, and our teaching of Life Lessons is also for this. No matter what we do, we do it for this. Even if we become angry, our anger must be Christ. There is no need for anything if it is not for begetting Christ.
Today the Lord needs tens of thousands of people to beget Christ. I hope that we are this group of people. When we go door-knocking, we have to go with the feeling that we are going to beget Christ. This is very valuable; it is not a small matter. In the future we need hundreds of persons of this kind going out to knock on doors in Denmark and England. All the more, we need persons of this kind to go to America and knock on the doors of the old Christianity.
Recently I have received many letters telling me that the new way is truly workable. One letter came from Dallas, Texas, saying that an entire family—the mother, the son, and the daughter-in-law—are rejoicing because of the benefit reaped from the new way. If there were one thousand new ones who all testified that they are filled with Christ, that they know nothing but Christ, and that Christ is their gentleness or anger, their studying, working, door-knocking, home meeting, speaking, singing, and their everything in every place, the whole earth will truly be filled with hope. We all need to have this vision.