Our Lord Jesus is our food, our drink, and our clothing (1 Cor. 10:3-4; Gal. 3:27). We eat of Him, we drink of Him, and we put Him on as our clothing. In the wilderness the Israelites ate the spiritual food, the manna, and drank of a spiritual rock which followed them. Paul told us that the rock was Christ. Paul also told us that “as many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” This means we put Him on as our spiritual clothing. Hallelujah! He surely is the reality of all our daily necessities.
The Lord Jesus is also our treasure within us (2 Cor. 4:7). As we enjoy Him by eating of Him and drinking of Him and putting Him on as our clothing He becomes our treasure. Such a treasure within us is God dispensed into us.
He is also our savor, a fragrant smell outside of us (2 Cor. 2:14). Christ has infused us with God, and this infused God becomes a sweet fragrance for others to enjoy. This is the issue of God’s dispensing Himself into us.
He is also our dwelling place. Christ is our home. We are living and dwelling in Him. Paul aspired to be found in Christ (Phil. 3:9a). When we stay in a house a long time, that house becomes our dwelling place. Christ is our dwelling place so that God can dispense Himself into us.
According to Colossians 1:27 Christ is our hope of glory. We have a hope waiting for us. We are going into glory. Glory is our goal! We can arrive at our goal by being infused with God all the day. God infuses us and dispenses Himself into us, and this dispensing brings us into glory. This is our hope.
Christ is the Firstborn Son of God (Col. 1:18; Rom. 8:29; Heb. 1:5-6). According to Colossians 1:18 the Lord Jesus is the Firstborn from among the dead. This means He is the Firstborn in resurrection, in the new creation. Romans 8:29 says that “whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He should be the Firstborn among many brothers.” Through His resurrection He has brought forth many sons of God, many brothers of the Firstborn. Hebrews 1:6 says, “And, when He brings again the Firstborn into the inhabited earth, He says, And let all the angels of God worship Him.” In His first coming He was God’s only begotten Son (John 1:18; 3:16). Through the process of the death and resurrection the only begotten Son became the Firstborn among many brothers (Rom. 8:29). So at His second coming He will not be the only begotten but the Firstborn among many brothers.
Ephesians 1:22 says that “He subjected all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church.” God’s great power that operated in Christ gave Him to be Head over all things to the church. The headship of Christ over all things is a gift from God to Him. It was through God’s surpassingly great power that Christ received the headship over the whole universe. He is Head of all things so that God might be dispensed into us.
Christ is the Head of the Body (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22-23). Christ is not only the Head of all things in a general way, but also the Head of the Body, the church. Whatever Christ, the Head, attained and obtained is transmitted to the church, His Body. In this transmission the church shares with Christ all His attainments: the resurrection from among the dead, being seated in His transcendency, the subjection of all things under His feet, and the headship over all things.