What is the church? We need to look to God to open our eyes to see a spiritual fact and know the Body of Christ. This is a great and profound matter. A person with no vision and no revelation is unable to understand this. Even if a person has light and revelation, he still needs to take heed before the Lord to have some understanding. If a person is negligent, the light he sees concerning such a mysterious thing as the Body will flash past him.
We may have an impression and comprehend many spiritual matters without being taught. But it is difficult for our natural man to comprehend the mystery of the church, the Body of Christ. If we are a little careless, the light will fade away. The problem with many Christians is not a shortage of light concerning the church, the Body of Christ. Rather, the problem is that they disregard the light they have. We need to pray, asking the Lord to firmly fix the light within us, just as Joshua prayed for the sun not to set (Josh. 10:12-13). We need to ask the Lord to firmly fix and intensify this light.
Those with some spiritual experience know that spiritual light may flicker within us. For example, if we wake up at night and consider the Lord, we may receive light. However, if we are lazy and go back to sleep, not caring for the light, the light will fade away. When we receive light, we need to immediately pray, asking the Lord to retain the light and not let it fade away. After such prayer, we will sense that the light has been kept. The light will be shining in us when we rise in the morning, and it will stay within us the whole day. This light will also shine brighter and brighter in our spirit for many days. We will clearly see the fact shown to us by that light.
With some brothers and sisters, when the Lord’s word is released in a meeting, light flashes in them like lightning in the sky. They feel quite good. However, they need to be careful lest the light gradually diminish and completely fade away by the time they leave the meeting. Therefore, when we listen to a message, we need to pray and ask the Lord not to allow the light to fade away but rather to retain the light within us so that the light can shine brighter and brighter until the full day.
We have all experienced the flashing of light within us during our private prayer or when walking. If we are casual and negligent, the light will vanish in a moment. It is, therefore, best to carry a notepad. Even while sleeping at night we should keep a notepad by the pillow. If light flashes in us when we wake up at night, we should immediately write down the inward feeling. For example, we may be riding in a car when the following words flash within us: “Of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace” (John 1:16). At that moment we should quickly pray, “O Lord, please retain this light for me. Lord, have mercy on my shortage in spiritual matters; do not let this light pass away.” Then we need to write down the word fullness in our notepad. We may ask, “Lord, what is the fullness? O Lord, open my eyes to see the content of the fullness.” In this way the Holy Spirit will unveil in us, scene by scene, that the contents of the fullness are life, resurrection, light, and the way. Under the shining of the Holy Spirit, the portions concerning the fullness in the Gospel of John 1 through 21 will vividly appear before our eyes.
What we read in the Bible may not seem useful at the time of our reading. But when we receive a vision, everything we have read will return; the pertinent words will shine forth. We can then worship the Lord and fellowship with Him. We can ponder on life as an element of the fullness and apply it to ourselves and to the church. Thus, we will be brought into a great enlivening vision. This vision will become a light that will illuminate those whom we contact and also will bring them into the light.
We should not consider the vision of the great mystery of the church to be a small matter. We need to seriously look to the Lord so that whenever we have a slight sense within, we would ask the Lord to retain that sense for us; whenever we have a slight comprehension and seeing, we would ask the Lord to retain and magnify the light. We need to tell the Lord, “Lord, this is the dawning light; this is the sun rising up in the morning. I do not want this sun to set; I want this light to shine brighter and brighter until the full day.” If the brothers and sisters are willing to do this, many of them will be enlightened, seeing and understanding what the Body of Christ is in this age.
Ephesians speaks of the church as the fullness of Christ (1:22-23). Everything related to the church must be the overflow of Christ; anything that is not of the fullness is not the church. What is the fullness of Christ? The fullness of Christ is the overflow of Christ. This can be compared to our being the fullness of Adam, the issue of Adam. Someone may ask, “Where is Adam?” Then we should respond with confidence, “Adam is here. I am Adam. Are you looking for Adam? Adam is right here; I am Adam’s fullness.” May we all be blessed by the Lord so that when people ask where Christ is, we can say, “Christ is here.” The church is the Body of Christ, the fullness of Christ, the overflow of Christ.
The first time the Bible speaks of the fullness is in John 1. We have already seen some of the contents of the fullness from John’s writings. The first item of the content of the fullness is life. When we visit a locality, we can sense and touch whether the church in this locality has life. The content of the fullness also includes resurrection, light, and the way. Whether a church has Christ’s overflow depends on whether there is the life supply, the manifestation of resurrection, the shining, and the way in this church. All of these items are tests.