In the previous chapter, we saw from the Word that in the Godhead, in God's plan, in the universe, in the church, and in the Christian life Christ is everything. Christ is the center and the circumference. Christ is the life today and tomorrow. He is everything to us.
We also saw that throughout the history of the church the enemy, Satan, has been doing his best to frustrate people from knowing Christ in such an all-inclusive way. In his subtlety he often utilizes something good and sometimes even something which has been ordained and given by God so that he can frustrate God's people from knowing Christ as the center and circumference. For instance, Judaism with its worship in the Old Testament time was something ordained by God. God ordained the Old Testament service and worship for the purpose of bringing people to Christ. God set up many types in the Old Testament time, such as the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the priests, the kings, and the prophets, for the purpose of bringing people to Christ. The types are the means, the instrument, used by God to bring people to Christ. However, Satan, the enemy, came in to utilize even these God-ordained things to frustrate people from knowing Christ.
Galatians 3:23-24 says, "But before faith came we were guarded under law, being shut up unto the faith which was to be revealed. So then the law has become our child-conductor unto Christ that we might be justified out of faith." Faith here refers to the faith we have in Christ, the faith by which we receive Christ as everything. The apostle told us that before this faith came, we were guarded, kept in custody, under law. The law was given by God and used by God to keep His people in custody. Before faith came, God's people were guarded under law, being shut up unto the faith. The function of the law was to shut up God's people unto the faith which was to be revealed. The law has become our child-conductor. In ancient times, people used a slave to take care of their children. When the children were very young, they could not take care of themselves to go to school. The parents asked the slave to escort, to conduct, the children to the schoolmaster. The law was used by God as a slave-guard, as a child-conductor, to escort God's children to the Master—Christ. This was the purpose of God in giving us the law. The law is not the master or the schoolmaster but the child-conductor who guards us and brings us unto the Master—Christ—that we might be justified out of faith. This shows us that God uses many things, such as Judaism, gifts, the law, and even the gospel, to bring people to Christ.
But the enemy is very subtle. The very law given by God to bring people to Christ is utilized by Satan to frustrate people from Christ. This was the reason that the book to the Galatians was written. The law was given by God to bring people to Christ, but Satan came in to utilize the law to hold people, to prevent people from going to Christ, and to frustrate people from knowing Christ as everything. Instead of being a means, an instrument, to bring people to Christ, the law has become a hindrance and a separator, separating people from Christ.
Now let us consider the matter of gifts. All the New Testament gifts are instruments and means used by God to bring people to Christ and to lead people to know Christ, to express Christ, to experience Christ, and to realize Christ. Yet through the generations many gifts have been utilized by the enemy to frustrate people, to hold people, and to prevent people from knowing Christ in a deeper way. As a brother who has been serving the Lord for a long time, I can testify to you faithfully that I have seen a number of people with gifts—the gifts of healing, speaking in tongues, and even ministering. But I regret to say that it is hard to talk with many gifted persons about Christ in a deeper way. When you talk to some Christians about speaking in tongues or healing, they are very excited. But when you tell them that Christ is dwelling in their spirit, that they have to fellowship with this Christ, and that they have to be dealt with by this Christ, they are not interested. They have no ear and no heart for these things.