What we have within us is not simply life or the Spirit, but Christ Himself as the very glory of God. This Christ will present the church to Himself as a glorious church. However, He will do this not in a religious way, but in the way that is according to God’s economy. This means that He will expand within us and saturate us with Himself until we have been wholly swallowed up by the inner glory. Then He will come forth from within us.
Most Christians expect Christ to come from the heavens. I am very familiar with the verses which speak of this. On the one hand, Christ will come from the heavens. But on the other hand, much to the surprise of many, He will come from within us. Objectively Christ is in the heavens, but subjectively and experientially He is in us. As the One indwelling us, He will come from within us.
Since the day Christ came into us, He has been seeking a way to come out through us. It is easy for Him to get into us, but it is not easy for Him to get out of us. For example, we can easily sow a seed into the soil, but it takes time and it requires a process for this seed to grow out from the soil. Nevertheless, just as the seed eventually grows and comes out from the earth, so Christ eventually will saturate us, swallow us up, and then come out through us.
Most Christians today miss the mark of God’s economy because they are veiled by religious concepts. They simply do not know what God’s economy is. The contrast between religion and God’s economy can be illustrated by the Lord’s human living. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, the temple with all its rituals, practices, and ordinances was still in Jerusalem. In the temple the priests presented the offerings, burned the incense, and lighted the lamps. However, God was not in the temple—He was in the Lord Jesus. Sometimes the Lord stayed in the home of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary in Bethany. He visited with them and spoke with them in a normal, human way. Nevertheless, while He was in that house in Bethany, the priests continued to perform the rituals in the temple. With the priests in the temple we see the practice of religion, but with the Lord in Bethany we see God’s economy. God’s economy is to work Himself into man. His economy was carried out not in the temple, but in that house in Bethany, for there Christ, the embodiment of the fullness of God, was present. Those who worshipped in the temple were practicing their religion, but Lazarus, Martha, and Mary enjoyed the presence of the Lord Jesus. The local churches today should not be like the temple in Jerusalem, but be like that home in Bethany. This means that the churches should not be places of religion, but be places where God’s economy is being carried out.
Religion teaches that God will bring us into a sphere, a realm, of glory. According to the religious concept, the Lord will instantaneously transport us into this objective glory. Until then we must behave ourselves and seek to order our lives according to the Scriptures. In everything and in every way we must try our best to be scriptural. Then, according to this teaching, we shall be qualified one day to be caught up into the realm of God’s glory.
Contrast this concept with the economy of God. According to God’s economy, the glory has already come into us and is now dwelling within us. This glory is the very Christ who is our life and our person. Christ will present a glorious church to Himself not by suddenly coming down upon the church, but by expanding within the church until the church has been wholly permeated, saturated, and swallowed up with Himself. How different this is from trying to please God in an outward way! Glorification is altogether a matter of Christ’s expanding within us and swallowing us up with Himself. This is God’s economy.
Let us turn from religious teachings and give ourselves absolutely to God’s economy. The Bible reveals that in His economy God is working Christ into us. On the day we repented and believed in the Lord Jesus, Christ came into us as the element of glory. Now He is in the process of presenting a glorious church to Himself by spreading Himself within us. According to Ephesians 3:17, Christ’s expanding within us is actually His making His home in our heart. Christ is saturating us and even “eating us up.” This will go on until He comes out of us. By this process Christ is presenting the church to Himself as a glorious church.