It is crucial that we see a vision of Christ and thereby receive the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. I can testify that by giving so many messages on Christ from the book of Colossians, I have been greatly helped to have the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. The knowledge of Christ contained in this book has made a deep impression on me. According to Colossians, Christ is the portion of the saints, the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation, the Head of the Body, and the Firstborn from among the dead. In Colossians we have a revelation of the all-inclusive and all-extensive Christ.
If we have gained the excellency of the knowledge of Christ from Colossians, we shall be able to testify not only that Christ is peace and joy, but that He is the portion of the saints, the mystery of God, and the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead. Yes, the book of Colossians does reveal that Christ is our peace. But in this book peace is not revealed in an ordinary way. Rather, in Colossians 3:15 we see that the peace of Christ arbitrates in our hearts. Simply to say that Christ is peace does not require much excellency of knowledge concerning Christ. However, to know that Christ is the arbitrating peace in our hearts does require the excellency of the knowledge concerning Him.
In Philippians 3 Paul uses a number of extraordinary expressions. In this chapter Paul does not say that Christ is our joy, peace, or rest. Rather, he speaks of gaining Christ and being found in Him; of knowing Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings; and of being conformed to His death. First, we need to see all these matters. Then we need to pray that the Lord would grant us the grace to experience Him.
Many Christians do not know the Christ revealed in Colossians and Philippians. They know the Lord Jesus as their Savior and Redeemer and also as their joy, peace, and rest. But they have not yet come to know Him as the portion of the saints, the image of God, the Firstborn of all creation, or the Firstborn from among the dead. Oh, how we all need the excellency of the knowledge of Christ!
To know Christ in all these aspects is truly to experience Him and enjoy Him. We need to enjoy the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings that we may be conformed to His death and know the power of His resurrection. For this, we need to forget the things which are behind and stretch forward to the things which are before (v. 13). May we all forget the things behind and go on to something higher, deeper, and more profound concerning Christ.
In verses 7 through 11 Paul brings us higher and higher. These verses are not all on the same level, but are like ascending steps of a staircase. Each verse brings us higher and higher until we reach the peak in verse 11. I would encourage the saints to consider the points in these verses carefully and in detail. We need to ponder them with much prayer and pray-reading so that our knowledge may increase more and more. We should not be content with simply an elementary knowledge of spiritual things. We need to learn what is the excellency of the knowledge of Christ and what it means to count all things to be refuse; what it is to gain Christ and be found in Him; what it is to know Him, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings. We also need to grasp what it means to be conformed to the death of Christ. We need to ask the Lord to show us all these things. We need to inquire of Him concerning every matter in these verses. Because these matters are deep, we cannot understand them quickly or easily.
We should not be satisfied to remain superficial Christians. The book of Philippians is not an elementary writing; it is a book in the “graduate school” of spiritual experience. Thus, we should not be content merely with a general knowledge of this book. On the contrary, we need to become familiar with the extraordinary expressions Paul uses in this Epistle. Before we can have the experience, we must become familiar with Paul’s expressions. This will bring us out of our oldness and save us from being so common and general in speaking of Christ. May the Lord grant us mercy that we may have more knowledge of Christ in order to have more experience of Him.