What is the content of the fullness? In John 11:25 the Lord said very clearly that He is the life. This indicates that the first item of the fullness is life. If we touch the fullness, we will surely touch life. If we do not touch life, we have not touched the fullness. Perhaps someone would ask, what is life? Life is something living. The first expression of life is that it is living. Whatever has life must be living. This does not refer to something being lively; rather, it refers to something being living, being alive and full of vigor.
With some saints, their goodness is out of themselves, but with other saints their goodness is of God. We can say that the goodness of some saints is merely behavior, but the goodness of other saints is life. The distinction is that the goodness of some people is without vigor; it is the same as something that is dead, without the breath of life. But the goodness of others is full of vigor, full of life. In other words, the goodness of some people is dead, but the goodness of other people is living. Often we contact a group of brothers and sisters who are good, yet their goodness can be compared to a piece of dead wood with no vigor. We touch their goodness, but we cannot touch vigor and life. However, in reading the Epistles of the New Testament, whenever we touch the goodness of the apostles, we touch life.
In the same way, in some Christians we touch goodness as well as life. Some have a meekness that can be compared to the meekness of a stone statue; they are truly meek, but there is no life in their meekness. Some have a meekness that has life within; when we touch that meekness, we touch life. How is it possible to distinguish whether a person’s meekness and goodness is of the self or of Christ? That which is of the self has no life; that which is of Christ has life. That which is of the self is dead; that which is of Christ is living. If we understand this principle, we can easily distinguish the two when we touch them. For example, how can we distinguish between a real flower and an artificial flower when the two are the same color and shape? This distinction lies in that one has no life, but the other has life.
Sometimes we meet a saint who is full of love and diligence, yet all we sense is death; there is no supply of life and no anointing. The more we are loved by him, the more uncomfortable we feel; the more courtesy he extends toward us, the more uneasy we feel; the more diligence and kindness he shows toward us, the more we feel dry within, lacking any anointing. This is because in his love, courtesy, and diligence there is no life; everything is out of himself and a part of his behavior. In another situation a person comes to rebuke us, and speaks a very strong word. Although we may feel some pain, there is still the anointing within, and we can still touch God and be refreshed. At such a moment we should know that this rebuke is of life. Thus, the first content of the fullness is life.
We all know that the church is the fullness of Christ, but how do we know whether a particular church has the fullness? If we touch the anointing, freshness, and livingness in a locality, we should sense that the fullness, the church, is in that locality. However, we can contact a group of fervent saints in a locality and not sense the fullness or any overflow of life among them.
For example, in a Lord’s table meeting two or three brothers pray so loudly that they can be heard by everyone, even without using a microphone; however, those with the sense of life will know that there is no life in their voice. Even though their voice echoes throughout the meeting, it does not touch man’s spirit, and there is no anointing in man’s spirit. Consequently, even though the voice is loud and clear, very few people follow with Amens, and some even cannot say Amen because the prayer has no life; it is short of something living and lacks the anointing.
All of our activities, even our gospel preaching, should follow this principle. If what we do is out of ourselves, it is merely a behavior. We will not only feel dead within, but we will also not have the anointing. If our person has been broken and Christ has been built into us, then what we do is of Christ and is the fullness. The first content, the first sign, of the fullness is life. We know that wherever we touch livingness, freshness, and the anointing, there is life; to touch life is to touch the fullness.
The Gospel of John is a book on the fullness, and it presents life as the first content of the fullness. The Lord has come that man may have life (10:10), and He is the life (11:25). In the fullness there is something called life, and this life is in the Lord. Life is real. Even though man cannot touch life, he cannot deny it. If someone dies, everyone notices immediately, because that person no longer has life. Life is real. If life is present, it is present, and if it is absent, it is absent. If it is, then it is, and if it is not, then it is not. When we put two flowers side by side, people can readily recognize which one is real and which one is artificial because life is very real.
In the church we should not look merely at the outward appearance; we need to touch the intrinsic content of the church. In other words, we need to touch the anointing and the life within; we need to touch the Lord’s living presence. This is the key to all questions, and it enables us to know whether a locality is the church in experience and whether it is the fullness of Christ. If the fullness of Christ is present in a locality, life is also present. This is the first content of the fullness.
In the Gospel of John the Lord Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (v. 25). The Lord is not only life but also resurrection. Undoubtedly, resurrection and life are related; without life there is no resurrection. However, resurrection is one step further than life. Although life is life, it is merely life and has not passed through testing, smiting, or death. However, resurrection is life that has passed through testing, smiting, and death. So life progressing is resurrection.
Before life passes through death, life is merely life, but after life passes through death, it is resurrection. The life that is manifested after passing through death is called resurrection. Please remember that the life, which is the first content of the fullness, is a life that can withstand death, a life that can be manifested even after death.
For example, the prayer of a brother may cause us to touch life, to sense the anointing, and to touch the Lord. However, our sense is sometimes mistaken, but there is another indicator of whether this is of life. If his prayer is of life, prayer will still come forth when he is tested or smitten. Prayer that is of life never dies as a result of testing or smiting. Whatever dies after testing and smiting is definitely not of resurrection. Only what remains after testing and smiting is resurrection. A saint who serves in the church may be devoted and diligent. If we sense the anointing and the presence of the Lord when we are with him, we may conclude that this must be of life. However, he may be stumbled and stop coming to the meetings if he receives a particular dealing from the elders. He may feel that the elders should not “deal with him” because he comes to serve the church; therefore, he withdraws. This indicates that his diligence and devotion are not something in the fullness; it is without resurrection. Whatever is of resurrection can withstand testing, smiting, and death.
Without passing through death, there is no strength, richness, and fullness; once something passes through death, it becomes strong, rich, and full. For two thousand years there has been a continual persecution and killing of Christians. Persecution and killing can destroy only that which is not of resurrection. Anything that is of resurrection is able to pass through persecution and death.
Some conditions appear for a while in the church and then disappear. This shows that these conditions are not related to the fullness. Only that which withstands trials and tests, endures dealings, becomes alive after death, and is manifested after breaking through the suppression of death is resurrection. In this situation of resurrection the fullness is here; resurrection is a sign of the fullness and a content of the fullness.
In the fullness there is not only life but also the life that has passed through death; this is resurrection. Anything that is able to stand is strengthened, made full, and enters into a higher level, even reaching a new realm after being tested, tried, suppressed, persecuted, and put to death. This is resurrection, the strongest sign of the fullness. The expression of a church should be resurrection. If the Lord would have mercy on us and put us in trials, we would see how much is left of us after the trial of death. Our bustling cannot withstand death, our excitement cannot withstand the smiting, and many of our virtues vanish completely once we pass through affliction. This proves that they are all out of ourselves and not of Christ. This also proves that there is no expression of the church and no expression of the fullness of Christ.