To say that God is over all of us signifies God’s sovereign authority. In business corporations people are either over others or under others. God is over us and we are all under Him. This means that He is sovereign over us and that He has the authority over us. We have already seen in chapter thirty-eight that when we submit to the inner throne, we experience the flow of the divine life. When you go shopping, do not “throw the throne away.” When you get into the department store, do not dethrone God. You have to enthrone Him. You have to realize that you are under God and that God is over you. God is sovereign and God is the authority over you. You must submit yourself to His authority.
The unbelievers do not have God over them or above them in their experience, but what about our experience? For God to be over us is not a doctrine. We should always be under God’s sovereignty. Our home and our family must be under God’s authority. If we are going to enjoy the triune existence applied to us today, we should be under God’s authority, under His sovereignty. He is over us and we are under Him, so we need to submit ourselves to Him.
On this earth today everybody likes to have freedom. Also, everyone likes to be over everyone else. Today, however, we have to realize that God is our authority and we have to submit ourselves under His authority. We should not be like the unbelievers who do not want to be under anybody, but we are the believers having God over us as our authority.
The one God and Father is also through all. We all should ask ourselves whether God was able to get through us today. Did He get through us or did we frustrate Him? On certain streets or lanes there is a sign which reads—“No Thoroughfare.” This, of course, means that you cannot get through on this street. In my early days as a Christian, God was struggling to get through me quite often. Actually and outwardly I was very ethical, moral, and good. However, God could not get through me easily as a young believer. At that time, on most of the lanes and on most of the streets within me there was a sign which read—“No Thoroughfare.” God could not get through. The young saints among us especially need to ask themselves whether God has gotten through in them in certain matters. You may come to the meetings regularly, but this does not mean that you let God through. God must be over us and He also must be through us. The question is—do we give Him the thoroughfare? Most of the time in us or with us God only sees a “dead end.”
Many times all the avenues in our being are blocked and God cannot get through in us. Do you believe that God can get through you all the time? Most of the time God does not have a freeway in us, but instead He runs into “many red lights.” The basic problem that we have with God is that we do not give Him a thoroughfare. Your character may be excellent and there may be nothing wrong in your behavior morally speaking, yet all the avenues and streets within you are blocked to God. It is a very precious thing that we would give God a thoroughfare through us. Quite often, we do not let God get through in us for a whole day. This means that we do not have much enjoyment of God for our existence. We Christians have God, but because He could not get through us, we do not enjoy Him as our existence. He is over us and He is in us, yet He could not get through us. Paul’s teaching here is altogether experiential.
Paul then goes on to say that God is in all. Paul begins with over all, continues with through all, and ends with in all. First, you must be under God’s sovereignty, and then you must give Him a thoroughfare all the time. As a result, He can abide in you. Paul is not talking about an objective God, but his description is altogether subjective. For God to be over us, through us, and in us is experiential and subjective that we may enjoy His presence as our existence. We exist by this God who is over us, through us, and in us.
All of us as believers have God, but do we have God in our experience that is over us, through us, and in us? Is God really over you, through you, and in you? Maybe your job, your business, your education, or a promotion is over you, but not God. Many things are getting through you daily. You may give a thoroughfare to many things, but not to God. A lot of things may be right now abiding in you, but not God. God may not be above you, through you, and in you. We may have a God who is merely in the third heavens, far away from us. Paul, however, unveils the very God of the Body of Christ who is over the Body, through the Body, and in the Body. This is the subjective God for our daily existence. We need to be honest before the Lord to allow this word to “check us out” so that we can see where we really are. If we would really open to the Lord, we may see that we are off and that we are not under Him, we are not letting Him through us, and we do not give Him the rule within us. He wants to be such a God to us, but we may not agree with Him.
What we have been fellowshipping is a preapplication of the New Jerusalem to us today in the church life. In the church life today we must have God existing with us in this way, applied to our daily experience. Daily we must be under Him, daily we must let Him go through us, and daily we must give Him our inner room that He may stay in us. Then we exist with Him. Most saints, however, do not exist with God over them, through them, and in them.