Prayer: Lord, in coming to Your Word, we are coming before You. We bow down our heads and worship You. We open our entire being to You. Open Yourself to us, and open Your Word to us. We want to have open fellowship with You in which there is nothing between us and You and nothing between any of us. Lord, remove every veil and shadow so that Your light can shine brightly. Speak enlightening and clear words to us so that we may be brought into the light. We are fallen; we need Your continual salvation. We ask You to show us our inner condition, cover all our shortcomings, and fill up every lack. Give us the ability and the utterance to speak forth Your mystery, and grant us a spirit of wisdom and an open mind that we may understand Your Word and see the mystery in Your Word. We need revelation to see the eternal mystery in Your heart. Lord, we rely on the cleansing of Your precious blood; we take You as our sin offering and trespass offering. Under this cleansing we enjoy Your presence and eat of You. Lord, cover us against all the troubles and attacks from Your enemy. We thank You for sanctifying this time so that we can be gathered quietly before You and learn to know You, the truth, and the way of glory. We worship and exalt You. We love You. Amen.
In the previous chapter we saw that the fullness of God is the overflowing of the riches of God to become His expression. In other words, the fullness of God is the expression of the riches of God. The riches of God are all that God is, that is, God Himself, His attributes. God’s attributes are the nature, character, and characteristics that He possesses. For example, God is life, love, light, holiness, righteousness, and power. These are God’s attributes, His riches. God is also grace, kindness, and glory. When the riches of God overflow, they become the expression of God.
Furthermore, man was created for God’s expression. In explaining this point we need to see that man is created in God’s image. Image is a matter of expression. God created man in His image for man to express Him. But how can man express God? In order for man to express God, man must have God’s riches; that is, man must first have all that God is. This includes God’s life, love, light, grace, and other attributes. After man has gained, is filled, and overflows with God’s riches, these riches become the fullness enabling man to become God’s expression. In the beginning of the Bible, man was created in God’s image, and at the end of the Bible, man becomes God’s fullness, the very expression of God.
It is crucial for every Christian who is truly saved to know the wonderful truth that Christ is our life. Who can be someone else’s life? No one can be life for another person. In the six thousand years of human history no philosopher ever declared that he was life. Moreover, no one ever said that he would become man’s life. At the most they were able to say only that they were teachers or masters, but they never said that they were life or that they were life for their disciples. In the past six thousand years only one man, the Lord Jesus in whom we believe, ever said, “I am...the life” (John 11:25; 14:6), and only He said, “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly” (10:10). The Lord came that man would not merely have life but that man would have it abundantly.
Sixty years ago, before I was saved, I heard a famous travelling preacher quote John 10:10: “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly.” Although I did not understand what he was saying, I was impressed by this verse. After I was saved, I began to study this verse and to study the topic of Christ being our life, and I bought many books concerning Christ as our life. Although some of the books were concerning the overcoming life and also concerning the secret of taking Christ as life, none of them spoke clearly and thoroughly concerning Christ as life. I studied this matter for at least ten years after I was saved.