In this message we will continue to consider Christ as the mystery of God.
In Colossians 2:16 and 17 Paul says, “Let no one therefore judge you in eating and in drinking or in respect of a feast or of a new moon or of the Sabbath, which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body is of Christ.” These verses reveal that as the mystery of God, Christ is the body, the reality, of all the shadows.
In verse 16 Paul covers matters related to daily life, weekly life, monthly life, and yearly life. Eating and drinking are daily, the Sabbaths weekly, the new moons monthly, and the feasts yearly. All the aspects of our living are shadows of Christ. Eating and drinking signify daily satisfaction and strengthening (1 Cor. 10:3-4), and the Sabbath signifies weekly completion and rest (Matt. 11:28-29). Without completion, we cannot enjoy rest. Rest always comes from completion and satisfaction. When we have finished a certain matter and are satisfied with it, we are then able to be at rest. After God completed His work of creation on the sixth day, He enjoyed rest on the seventh day (Gen. 2:1-3). Hence, the Sabbath signifies completion and rest on a weekly basis.
A new moon signifies a monthly new beginning with light in darkness (John 1:5; 8:12). Just as the new moon marked a new beginning in Old Testament times, so Christ affords us a new beginning with light in darkness today. Before we came to the Lord, we were in darkness, like all unbelieving Jews today. But after believing in Him, we now enjoy Christ as our new moon with light in darkness.
The feasts signify yearly enjoyment and joy (1 Cor. 5:8). Three times a year, God’s chosen people came together for the annual feasts, which were times of enjoyment, of rejoicing together before the Lord. Although the feasts were enjoyable, they were simply shadows of Christ. He is the real food, drink, completion, rest, new moon, and feast. Daily we eat and drink Him, weekly we have completion and rest in Him, monthly we experience a new beginning in Him, and throughout the year He is our joy and enjoyment. Daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly Christ is to us the reality of every positive thing.
All these items of the ceremonial law are a shadow of the spiritual things in Christ, which are the things to come. The body in Colossians 2:17, like a man’s physical body, is the substance. The rituals in the law are a shadow of the real things in the gospel, like the shadow of a man’s body. Christ is the reality of the gospel. All the good things in the gospel belong to Him. This all-inclusive Christ is the focus of God’s economy. Hence, there is no room for Jewish religion or Greek philosophy—there is room only for the all-inclusive Christ. Although Paul was once very strong in Judaism, when he received the revelation concerning Christ, he realized that both Greek philosophy and Jewish tradition were nothing. In God’s economy only Christ counts for anything.
As the body of shadows, the all-inclusive Christ is the reality of all the positive things in the universe (cf. Rom. 1:20; Eph. 3:18). Because the universe with the billions of things and persons in it was created for the purpose of describing Christ, He, in revealing Himself to His disciples, could easily find in any environment something or someone to serve as an illustration of Himself (Col. 1:15-17; John 1:51; 10:9-11; 12:24; Matt. 12:41-42). The Old Testament uses six major categories of things as types to describe Christ: human beings, animals, plants, minerals, offerings, and foods. Christ is typified by human beings, such as Adam (Rom. 5:14), Melchizedek (Heb. 7:1-3), Isaac (Matt. 1:1), Jonah (12:41), and Solomon (v. 42). Christ is typified by animals, such as a lamb (John 1:29), a lion, an ox, an eagle (Ezek. 1:10), and a gazelle (S. S. 2:9). Christ, who is the tree of life (Gen. 2:9), is typified by plants, such as the vine tree (John 15:1), the apple tree (S. S. 2:3), the fig tree, the pomegranate tree, and the olive tree (Deut. 8:8); the different parts of a tree are also types of Christ, such as the sprout, the stump, the branch, the root, the shoot, and the fruit (Isa. 11:1, 10; 4:2; Luke 1:42; Rev. 5:5).
Christ is also typified by minerals, such as iron, copper, silver, and gold (Deut. 8:9b, 13), and different kinds of stone: the living stone (1 Pet. 2:4), the rock (1 Cor. 10:4), the cornerstone (Matt. 21:42), the topstone (Zech. 4:7), the foundation stone, and precious stone (1 Cor. 3:11-12). The offerings that typify Christ include the burnt offering, meal offering, peace offering, sin offering, trespass offering, heave offering, wave offering, and drink offering (Lev. 1—7; Exo. 29:26-28; Num. 28:7-10; cf. John 4:24). Christ is typified by foods, such as bread, wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, milk, and honey (6:35; Deut. 8:8-9a; 26:9). In the New Testament Christ is the Spirit of reality who makes the untraceable riches of all that He is real to us, guiding us into Himself as the divine reality (John 14:6a; 1 John 5:6; John 14:17; 16:13). The elements of the reality of all the types are in the Spirit, and the Spirit transfuses and dispenses all these riches into us through the Lord’s words (Phil. 1:19; John 6:63; Col. 3:16; Eph. 6:17-18; Rev. 2:7).
We need to experience Christ as the reality of every positive thing in every part of our daily life. We who believe in Christ should consider all things and evaluate all things according to Christ, who is everything to us in a practical way. Christ, the mystery of God and the substance of every positive thing, is everything to us: our breath, drink, food, light, clothing, and our dwelling place (John 20:22; 4:10, 14; 7:37-39a; 6:35, 57; 1:4; 8:12; Gal. 3:27; John 15:5, 7a). As we consider all the positive things in the universe, we should evaluate them according to Christ. If we consider all things according to Christ, our daily living will be changed. What a tremendous revelation this is! The Christ whom we have received is not a narrow Christ. On the contrary, He is full, rich, unlimited, and all-inclusive. He is not only our Redeemer, Savior, and life—He is everything to us.
According to the principle in the Bible, the first in a certain category often includes all the other items in that category. The book of Revelation says that Christ is the Alpha and the Omega (22:13). This does not mean, however, that Christ is only these two letters and not all the letters in between. Because He is the first letter, He is also all the other letters. The principle is the same with respect to the slaughter of the firstborn in the book of Exodus (12:29). The firstborn of the Egyptians represented all the Egyptians. Likewise, when the Bible says that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation, it implies that Christ includes every item of the creation. This concept is confirmed in Colossians 2, where Paul says that such things as eating, drinking, feasts, new moons, and Sabbaths are shadows and that Christ is the body, the substance, of these shadows.
Christ, who is superior to all things in Greek philosophy and Jewish religion, is the body, the reality, of all the shadows in the Old Testament, such as feasts, Sabbaths, new moons, eating, and drinking. This is, however, altogether different from pantheism, the satanic belief which identifies God with material things in the universe. According to the Bible, we can say that Christ is the reality of all the positive things in the universe; He is the reality of our food, our drink, and the new moon, a new beginning with light in darkness. But we cannot turn this around and say that our literal food, clothing, and houses are Christ. That would be the grossly heretical doctrine of pantheism. This is devilish, and we repudiate it without reservation. Nevertheless, we have the biblical ground to say that Christ is the reality of every positive thing in the universe: He is the door, the pasture, the Shepherd, the light, and the life (John 10:9, 14; 8:12; 14:6). Therefore, we can say that Christ is everything to us, the reality of all positive things.
Many things in the environment of our daily living are also shadows of Christ. For example, the food that we eat is a shadow, not the real food. The real food is Christ. Christ is also the real drink. The clothing that we wear to cover us, to beautify us, and to keep us warm is also a shadow of Christ. Christ is the One who truly covers our nakedness, who keeps us warm, and who imparts beauty to us. Christ is also our true dwelling place and real rest. The houses in which we live are a shadow of Christ as our dwelling place. The rest that we enjoy at night is also a figure of Christ as our rest. Even the satisfaction that we enjoy after a good meal is not the real satisfaction but a shadow of Christ as the reality of satisfaction.
Every day, week, month, and year we need Christ. All the positive things in our daily life, weekly life, monthly life, and yearly life must be Christ. Christ must become everything to us, not merely in a doctrinal way but in the way of experience. Christ should be our completion, rest, new beginning, enjoyment, joy, food, drink, and satisfaction. Although Christ is universally vast, He is also all the detailed aspects of our practical daily living.
Whatever we do day by day should remind us of Christ as the reality of that thing. As we eat our meals, we should take Christ as the real food and pray to Him in this way: “Lord Jesus, I do not simply thank You for this food and take it into me. Lord, I take You as the reality of this food.” When we drink some beverage, we should also drink Christ. As we put on our clothing, we should be reminded that Christ is the real clothing, and we should experience Him as such. As we put on our material clothing, we should also put on Christ. It is easy to enjoy Christ in this way. Even our breathing should remind us of the necessity of breathing Christ spiritually.
If we follow the practice of taking Christ as the reality of all the material things in our daily life, our daily walk will be revolutionized and transformed. It will be full of Christ. When we eat and drink, we shall take Christ as our spiritual food and drink. Everything that we do will remind us to contact Christ, to enjoy Christ, to experience Christ, and to have Christ as our everything. To practice this day by day is truly to enjoy Christ.
According to God’s mathematics, only Christ has value. Doctrines and opinions do not matter. What matters is the Christ who is for our daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly life. If Christ is truly everything to us in our daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly life, there will be no need for us to express our opinion. We have Christ as our unique factor, reason, element, and source.
It is significant that after speaking of Christ as the body of the shadows, Paul goes on to say, “Let no one defraud you by judging you unworthy of your prize” (Col. 3:18). According to the context, the prize is the enjoyment of Christ as the body of all the shadows. The enjoyment of Christ is truly a prize. Today we may enjoy Christ as our reward, our prize. This prize is not only the objective Christ but particularly the subjective enjoyment of Christ. According to verses 16 through 18, to be defrauded of our prize is to be defrauded of the subjective enjoyment of Christ daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. The Jewish believers were distracted from Christ by the Judaizers, whereas the Gentile believers were carried off by certain philosophical concepts. Both were defrauded of the subjective experience and enjoyment of Christ. We need to check whether we experience and enjoy Christ in a practical way daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. It is very possible that we, like the Colossians, have also been defrauded of our prize. We should not allow anyone to defraud us of this prize, and we need to enjoy Christ in all the small details of our daily living.
According to 1:26, the word of God completed through the ministry of Paul was “the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations but now has been manifested to His saints.” This mystery is Christ in us, the hope of glory (v. 27). Although we may have considerable knowledge of the Bible, we do not have the completion of the divine revelation unless we adequately experience Christ daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. Our need is for the subjective Christ to become our enjoyment to complete the divine revelation within us. If we are short in the experience and enjoyment of Christ, we are also short concerning God’s revelation. His revelation needs the experiential Christ as its completion.