Message Nine

The All-inclusive Christ
Becoming Everything in God’s Economy

Scripture Reading: Isa. 22:20-25;
Gal. 2:20; Col. 2:16-17; 3:10-11

1. It is crucial for us to see a vision concerning the all-inclusiveness of Christ, especially as He is revealed in Isaiah—4:2-6; 6:1-8; 7:14; 9:1-7; 12:2-3.
2. God’s intention in His economy is to work a wonderful person into our being; this person is the all-inclusive Christ, the One who is the reality of every positive thing in the universe—Eph. 3:17a; Gal. 4:19; Col. 2:16-17:
   1. The all-inclusive Christ, with all that He has attained and obtained, is the One whom God desires to work into our being—3:10-11.
   2. God intends to work Christ into us so that we may have the full enjoyment of Him and so that He may have the Body of Christ brought forth through our personal experience and enjoyment of Christ—2:19; 3:15.
   3. The content of Isaiah 1 through 12 is the all-inclusive Christ—7:14; 9:6-7.
3. Isaiah 13 through 23 covers the judgment of Jehovah upon the nations, including Jerusalem, and its issue; the key to this section is God’s “firing” and Christ’s replacing:
   1. What we have here is a picture showing us that in the entire universe everything in God’s house and outside of God’s house should be “fired” and replaced with Christ:
      1. In His judgment God discharged, or “fired,” everyone and everything, including the kings of the nations, Shebna the steward, and all the bowls and jars in God’s house—22:25; John 12:31; 16:11.
      2. When God created us, He “hired” us, and when He put us on the cross, crucifying us with Christ, He “fired” us—Gen. 1:26; 5:1-2; Gal. 2:20.
      3. After this firing there is the replacing; the replacement is Christ, Immanuel—Isa. 7:14.
   2. In Isaiah everything is “fired,” discharged by God, and then the discharging God comes in to replace everything with Christ; this is revealed in the Gospel of Mark, and this is Paul’s concept in his Epistles—Mark 8:27—9:13; Gal. 2:20; Col. 2:16-17; 3:10-11.
4. Throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, there is a struggle between man and God concerning replacement—Gen. 3:1-13; Rev. 20:7-15:
   1. In his reaction to God, man tries to replace God, to put God aside, to expel God; and human government rebels against God and exalts man—Gen. 11:1-9.
   2. Satan was the first one to attempt to replace God, to expel God, and to take God’s place in attempting to dethrone God—Ezek. 28:15-18; 1 John 3:4:
      1. In his arrogance Satan declared five times, “I will,” indicating that his intention in his rebellion was to overthrow God’s authority and to exalt himself to be equal with God—Isa. 14:12-14.
      2. Satan’s ambition for position became the motivation of all the rebellions recorded in the Scriptures—cf. Gen. 11:4; Num. 12:1-2; 16:1-11; 2 Sam. 15:10-12; 2 Thes. 2:3-4.
   3. To be an antichrist is to be against Christ and to have something instead of Christ, something that replaces Christ; the principle of antichrist is to deny some aspect of what Christ is, such as His being the Eternal Father and the life-giving Spirit—1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7; Isa. 9:6; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
   4. Now Satan is behind man, trying to do away with God and expel God; even when man wants to do something for God, he does it by putting God aside—Matt. 4:1-11; 16:22-24; 1 Cor. 3:12-15; Num. 18:1.
   5. Because of man’s reaction, God, who had “hired” everyone, eventually “fired” everyone so that He might replace everyone with Christ—Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20; Col. 2:16-17; 3:10-11.
   6. God has replaced everything in His Old Testament economy with Christ; thus, the all-inclusive Christ as Immanuel replaces and becomes everything in God’s economy—Matt. 17:3-5; Col. 2:16-17.
5. Eliakim, the servant of Jehovah who replaced Shebna, is a type of the all-inclusive Christ as the Steward over God’s house—Isa. 22:15-20:
   1. The fact that Eliakim is a type of Christ is proved by Revelation 3:7, where the Lord Jesus applies the word in Isaiah 22:22 to Himself.
   2. God’s house is the divine household, including all the believers throughout the ages, over which Christ is the unique Steward, who takes care of God’s household in every way—Gal. 6:10; Eph. 2:19; 1 Tim. 3:15.
   3. While Christ as God’s Steward serves in God’s house, He also governs, rules, and administrates God’s children, who are under Christ’s care.
   4. Christ is a Father to us, God’s children; as the Father, He is the source and Supplier to support us in everything and in every way—Isa. 22:21, cf. 9:6.
   5. The all-inclusive Christ, as typified by Eliakim, is also the One upon whose shoulder the key of David is set—22:22:
      1. This is the key of the treasury of the house of God, which is typified by the house of David, for the building up of the kingdom of God—39:2 and footnote; 2 Sam. 7:16; Rev. 3:7:
         1. The church is both God’s house and God’s kingdom—1 Tim. 3:15; Matt. 16:18-19; Rom. 14:17.
         2. The key set on Christ’s shoulder is the key for the keeping of all the treasures of the house of God, which are all the riches of Christ for our enjoyment—Eph. 3:8.
         3. Christ is the One who can open and shut the door to the treasury of God’s riches, which are embodied in Him—Col. 2:9.
      2. The key of David opens the whole universe for God—Isa. 22:22; Rev. 3:7:
         1. As the greater David, Christ has built up the house of God, the real temple, and He has set up the kingdom of God, the dominion in which He exercises full authority to represent God; therefore, He holds the key of David—Matt. 1:1; 12:3-8; 16:18-19.
         2. The fact that Christ has the key of David signifies that He is the center of God’s economy; He is the One who expresses God and represents Him, the One who holds the key to open everything in God’s dominion—Col. 1:15-18.
   6. Christ has been driven by God as a peg, or nail, into a sure place, which typifies the third heaven; Christ today is in the heavens as a peg driven into God—Isa. 22:23; cf. 2 Cor. 12:2b.
   7. Christ will become a throne of glory for His Father’s house—Isa. 22:23:
      1. The glory here is the children of God, who are vessels hanging upon Christ as the peg—v. 24.
      2. With the glory there is a throne, and this throne is actually Christ Himself:
         1. The throne signifies the administrative authority and the kingdom.
         2. Christ in His administrative authority is the throne that governs everything within the house of God—6:1; Jer. 17:12; Rev. 5:6; 22:1.
   8. All the riches of the bountiful supply for the enjoyment of God’s children are hanging on Christ as the peg, the holder—Isa. 22:24:
      1. The bowls and jars typify the different ways and means for us to partake of Christ in His riches.
      2. In the house of God all His children are vessels to contain His Spirit as water to quench people’s thirst and His life as wine to cheer people unto rejoicing.
6. In the New Testament Christ’s terminating us and replacing us with Himself is altogether a matter of a grafted life—Rom. 11:17:
   1. Because Christ joined Himself to us, uniting Himself with us, when He died on the cross, we died with Him and were terminated—6:6; 2 Cor. 5:14.
   2. We are united with Christ, and in this union Christ replaces us; replacing demands union, whereas exchanging would annul union with Christ—John 15:4-5.
   3. Now in our organic union with Christ through faith in Him, He replaces us by living in us, with us, by us, and through us—v. 5; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21a:
      1. We need to be infused, saturated, and permeated with the all-inclusive Christ until in our experience He is everything to us—Col. 2:16-17; 3:10-11.
      2. The all-inclusive Christ is in us, but we need to see Him, know Him, be filled with Him, and become absolutely one with Him—1:27; 3:4.
   4. The real church life is a life in which all the saints are “fired” and replaced with Christ; this will make Christ everything in the church—Rom. 12:5; Col. 3:10-11.