If we have this realization of the Man-Savior as we contact Him, our contact with Him will be different. Our realization of the Lord makes a great difference in our contact with Him. This can be illustrated by our contact with people. If you do not know a person’s status and qualifications, this will influence the way you contact him. For example, if you do not know that a certain man is the principal of the school but consider him a janitor, this will surely influence the way you contact him. But if you know that he is the principal, your way of contacting him will be different. It always makes a difference in contacting others when we know their status, qualifications, position, and office. In like manner, if we know the Man-Savior’s status and office, this will affect our contact with Him.
Today many believers pray to the Lord and contact Him in a way that is far from adequate. They do not have much appreciation of the Lord’s status, position, and qualification. They do not have much understanding of the process through which He passed in order to be inaugurated into His heavenly office.
Before the Man-Savior was inaugurated in His ascension, He passed through the process of creation, incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. The creation came into being through Him. Concerning this, John 1:3 says, “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being which has come into being.” Furthermore, Colossians 1:16 says, “In Him were all things created in the heavens and on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and unto Him.” Christ also passed through incarnation: He as the Word, which is God, became flesh (John 1:1, 14). Through incarnation, He brought the creating God into His creature, into humanity. He lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years, and we need to know Him in His human living. Eventually, He went to the cross through which He entered into death and had a tour of the region of death. Following this, in His resurrection He conquered death and nullified it (2 Tim. 1:10). Because death could not hold Him (Acts 2:24), He walked out of death and entered into resurrection. After His wonderful resurrection and in resurrection, He ascended to the highest place in the universe; He ascended to the heavens.
In His ascension the Man-Savior was crowned with glory and honor. In His ascension He was also enthroned to be the Administrator over the whole universe. Furthermore, in His ascension He was made the Lord of all and the Christ to carry out God’s eternal plan to propagate Himself on earth to produce a Body to match Him for His expression. Now when we contact Him we should contact Him as such a One. When we contact Him, we need to have the realization of what He is, a realization of His status, position, and office.
We thank the Lord that we are no longer “skating” on the surface of the Word. In His mercy He has broken through the “ice” and opened the depths of the Scriptures to show us all these treasures.
Recently, I heard of some words of appreciation spoken by certain Christians concerning the expounding of the Bible among us. However, some of them do not feel good that we use some new expressions, expressions not used by others in teaching the truths of the Bible. I admit that during the past thirty years we have introduced quite a few new terms and expressions to convey the truths buried in the Word of God. However, we have not invented any teaching; on the contrary, we have simply discovered what is revealed in the Bible. We cannot improve nor should we alter the divine truths. But, by the Lord’s grace, we can and should improve or adjust the discoveries of the deeper truths conveyed in the Holy Word.
The truths we discover in the Word often need new terms to denote them. However, this is not something unusual, for this is the situation in man’s culture. New terms and expressions are always needed to denote new discoveries. For example, a few centuries ago did we have the words “computer,” “vitamin,” and “X-ray”? No, we did not have these terms because those things had not been discovered. But as soon as something new is discovered, there is the need for an expression or term to designate it. The principle is the same with using new terms and expressions to convey the truths in the Bible. “Triune God” and “Trinity” were new expressions used by the early teachers of the biblical truths to denote the triune Godhead. Some deeper aspects of the truth concerning God’s New Testament economy, which the Lord has shown us in recent years, require new expressions.
Let us use the word “economy” as an illustration. It is not likely that as recently as twenty or twenty-five years ago this word was often used in Christian writings. Instead of the word economy, many teachers used the word “dispensation,” a word that has caused much confusion. What is a dispensation? Some think that a dispensation is merely a period of time. Actually, according to the Bible, the real, genuine, and basic meaning of dispensation is economy—God’s household administration to work Himself into His children. God’s economy is a matter of the Triune God dispensing Himself into the tripartite man. Our use of the expression “God’s economy” is just one illustration of the fact that the Lord’s recovery is going on. In the going on of the Lord’s recovery we need to use certain terms and expressions to convey the truth.
We praise the Lord for what He has shown us from the Word regarding the ascension of the Man-Savior. The more we consider His ascension, the more we are in the heavens, for we are in His ascension. Our Christ today is not only the One through whom everything was created, the One who became incarnate, the One who lived on earth, the One who died on the cross for our sins, and the One who resurrected from among the dead. Today our Christ is the One who, after passing through the lengthy process of creation, incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, has ascended to the highest and is in the heavens. In His ascension, He was crowned and enthroned, and He was made the Lord and the Christ to possess all and to carry out God’s commission so that God’s economy, His eternal plan, may be fulfilled on earth among us and through us in this age. How wonderful that we have such a Christ in ascension!