God is embodied and expressed in Christ (John 1:1, 14; 1 Tim. 3:16; Col. 2:9), and Christ is realized and experienced as the Spirit (John 14:16-17; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17; Rom. 8:10; Phil. 1:19). The Spirit is the very constituent of the church which is the Body of Christ, His fullness (Eph. 1:22-23; 1 Cor. 12:12). Now the Body of Christ is expressed in all the local churches, for the local churches are the expressions of the universal church (1:11-12). The local churches are the expression of the Body, the Body is the realization of Christ as the life-giving Spirit, and Christ is the embodiment of God. Thus, in the local churches we have God, Christ, the Spirit, and the church. This is why the local churches are so rich. Where can you meet God with His purpose? In the local churches. Where can you gain Christ with all His riches? In the local churches. Where can you participate in the intensified life-giving Spirit? In the local churches. Where can you be a practical part of the Body? In the local churches. Oh, the local churches mean so much to us! Hallelujah! Amen! We are no longer wanderers—we are people in the local churches! We have reached our destination and have come home! We are home for eternity! Here in the churches we have God with His purpose, we have Christ with His riches, we have the intensified life-giving Spirit, and we have the proper church life. Here the Bible is not only open—it is real. Hallelujah for the local churches! We really have something to be excited about!
God’s revelation began with God Himself and continued with Christ and the Spirit until it reached its goal in the local churches. Without the local churches, we do not have the goal of the divine revelation. Here the shortage among the Jews, many Christians, and even many so-called spiritual people becomes evident. The Jews have God, most Christians have God and Christ, and the improved Christians also have the Spirit, but very few Christians have the proper church life in the local churches. Today, in the local churches, we have God, Christ, the Spirit, and the church.
The issue of the progress of the manifestation of God is the church. God is embodied in Christ, Christ is realized and experienced as the Spirit who imparts life to us, and the Spirit issues in the churches. When we experience and realize Christ as the life-giving Spirit, the issue is the church life. The church is the Body, the fullness of Christ. The progress of this revelation is God, Christ, the Spirit, the church, and the local churches. This is the revelation of God in His Holy Word. In this, we can see how God is realized by us and how He is actually expressed and manifested.
God firstly took the step of being incarnated, of being embodied in Christ. If you want to meet God, you must meet Christ. Do you want to come to God? Then you must come to Christ. Outside of Christ, it is impossible to touch God. God is embodied in a practical and real man by the name of Jesus Christ. When you meet Him, you meet God. When you touch Him, you touch God. When you gain Him, you gain God. When you receive Him, you receive God, because He is the very embodiment of God Himself. This Christ is realized and experienced by us as the life-giving Spirit. He is not only our Savior, our Redeemer, our Lord, our holiness, and our righteousness; He is the very life-giving Spirit. His being our Savior, Redeemer, and Lord is for Him to be the life-giving Spirit. What we actually and practically have today is the life-giving Spirit. Most Christians have missed this very crucial point, for the subtle enemy has done his best to hide this matter. In the past years, we have given many messages and printed a number of books concerning Christ as the life-giving Spirit, but some Christians do not see it. Rather, they oppose it. This is the subtlety of the enemy.
If Christ were only our Savior, Redeemer, and Lord, how could the church be practically produced? The Savior does not produce the church directly; neither does the Lord produce the church directly. In order for the church to be produced, there is the need for Christ to be the life-giving Spirit. In knowing Christ as the life-giving Spirit we must not rely upon our mentality, for it is too limited to comprehend this. Although we cannot understand it thoroughly, we can experience it. Check with your experience. Your daily experience testifies that the Christ whom you enjoy is the life-giving Spirit within you. Not only is Christ Himself wonderful, mysterious, unlimited, and unsearchable, but even the food we enjoy each day is beyond our understanding. Although we cannot know food by exercising our mentality, we can know its taste by our experience. By our experience, we know what food is. Do not pay attention to theological talk. Those who engage in this talk are snared by the over-exercise of their mentality. We just care for the pure Word in the divine revelation and for our personal, practical experience. Our experience testifies that the very Christ whom we enjoy each day is the life-giving Spirit, Do you not have the reality of the living One within you? This is the very Christ whom we are enjoying, experiencing, and partaking of in our spirit. This is the life-giving Spirit who is Christ Himself. Thus, God is embodied in Christ, and Christ is realized and experienced in us as the life-giving Spirit.
This experience issues in the church. The more we experience Christ in this way, the more we long for the church. This experience creates a hunger and a thirst deep within. Formerly, when we were not in the local churches, we could not specify what we were hungry and thirsty for. But after coming into the church, we realized that our experience of Christ had created a hunger and thirst for the church life. When we came into the church life, our hunger and thirst were satisfied. This satisfaction creates within us a deeper appreciation of Christ, and this in turn causes us to enjoy Him more and more. The more we enjoy Christ, the more we long for the church life; the more we long for the church life, the more we get into the church; and the more we get into the church, the more we appreciate and enjoy Christ. This is a glorious cycle, and we can testify that we are in it.
The purpose of this ministry is not to render knowledge to the saints. It is to help the saints open their eyes, mind, heart, and spirit to see God’s revelation. Whatever we minister matches our experience. Today we are here for the testimony of Jesus which issues from the genuine experience of Christ as the life-giving Spirit. Thus, I say, once again, that God is embodied in Christ, Christ is realized and experienced as the life-giving Spirit, and the experience of Christ as the life-giving Spirit issues in the church life. The church is the Body, the expression and the fullness of Christ. As such, it must have its local expressions. The universal church is the Body, the fullness, of Christ, and the local churches are the expressions of this universal church. We are in these expressions today. Hallelujah!