The basis of the coordination of the living creatures has a number of aspects.
The basis of our coordination as living creatures is, first, that we all are out of Christ. You are out of Christ and I am out of Christ; therefore, we can coordinate together.
By His blood the Lord has purchased us for God “out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9). No matter what our race or nationality may be, we all are out of Christ and we can coordinate together as one entity in Christ. If we were not of Christ and if we were not in Christ, we could not coordinate together. But although in Adam we have many differences, in Christ we can be blended together and we can coordinate together.
We are not only out of Christ—we also have the same life, the life of Christ. Outwardly we are quite different, but inwardly we all have Christ as our life (Col. 3:4). Therefore, we have the same life.
In 1933 I visited some Japanese brothers and sisters in the Lord. I could not understand Japanese, and they could not understand Chinese. Nevertheless, when we knelt down to pray together, we had a sense of freshness and sweetness in our spirits. This indicates that we, the living creatures, all are out of Christ and that we all have the same life, the life of Christ. If we reject everything that is not Christ, we will be one entity in Christ and we will be able to coordinate together.
Another aspect of the basis of coordination is having the same heart’s desire to express Christ. Deep within many believers, including those who have fallen away from Him, is the desire to express Christ and glorify Him. To glorify the Lord, to express Him, is to live Him out. As a genuine living creature, every Christian who has experienced the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum has such a desire to express Christ.
The basis of our coordination is that we are out of Christ, that we have the life of Christ, and that we wish to glorify Christ and express Christ. Now, because of this, we can coordinate together.
A proverb says, “Birds of a feather flock together.” Since we all are out of Christ and have the same life and the same desire to express Christ, we are “birds of a feather” and we “flock together” to become one entity in Christ. This is the basis of our coordination.
I hope that every believer will understand the we cannot be Christians in isolation. Basically, as believers in Christ we are a collective entity, and we cannot do anything alone. The vision in Ezekiel 1 shows us that we need to be corporate and that we need to be in coordination.
Coordination is necessary for God’s expression. We have pointed out that the four living creatures are for God’s expression in Christ. In order for God to have a corporate expression of Himself in Christ, we need to be joined together and knit together with all the saints and thereby become one entity. If we are isolated, we cannot express Christ adequately.
Each of the living creatures has four faces. However, if we were to look at the living creatures one by one, we could not see all four faces at the same time. Only when the living creatures are coordinated together can we see all four faces simultaneously. This indicates that as individual believers we cannot express Christ completely and adequately. For the corporate expression of Christ, we need to be joined together, knit together, and coordinated together.
Coordination is also necessary for God’s move. The spreading of the gospel of God, the advancement of God’s move on earth, the execution of God’s will, the progress of the church of God—all this requires coordination. It is impossible for us to accomplish these things as individual Christians. Through our experience in serving the Lord, we have learned that coordination is necessary for every aspect of God’s move. The great wheel of God moves according to the coordination of the living creatures.
Furthermore, coordination is necessary for God’s administration. In Ezekiel 1 the throne of God’s administration is upheld not by any individual living creature but by the coordination of all four living creatures. Thus, coordination is necessary for God’s expression, God’s move, and God’s administration.