Thank God that we have the Bible! This Bible is a complete revelation. Although it consists of sixty-six books, it has only one revelation. This revelation is a complete whole; it is complete in its entirety. In this complete revelation there is one central point. Although believers throughout all the ages have read the Bible extensively, most of them have missed the central point. The central point in the Bible is very clear; it is Christ as our life. Christ is not only life, but He has become our life. This is the central point of the Bible.
Christ becomes our life to fulfill God’s plan. God has an eternal will, and in this will He has a plan. His plan is to gain a group of people to express Him. For man to express God, it is necessary for God to enter into man to be his life. Consider this: If God does not enter into man and live out Himself through man, how can God express Himself, and how could man express God? Perhaps you have seen a variety show featuring two performers, one of whom speaks while the other acts out the gestures. Similarly, I can hide behind a brother, while he acts out whatever I say. It seems that this is an expression of me, but it is actually not so; he is expressing himself. The only way for me to be expressed through him is for me to enter into him and live out myself through him. However, this is impossible for me to do. I cannot enter into him, much less can I live out through him. Therefore, I cannot express him, and he cannot express me. This, however, is the very thing God can do. God can work Himself into us. In other words, God has become our life. Only God is able to do this; no one else can do this. God has wrought himself into man. This is God’s central point in the Bible. When God becomes our life, He is Christ, and this Christ is the Spirit.
Genesis 1 reveals to us that God created man in His image and after His likeness. We have to insist on asking why He would create man thus. There are two answers. The first answer is that God had to create man to be like Himself. If you have your picture taken, and it does not turn out to be like you but looks like a tiger or a demon, this picture does not express you. Likewise, since God wanted man to express Him, He had to create man to be the same as He is. According to the Bible, man is a “photograph” of God because man was created according to God’s image and likeness for God’s expression. The second answer is that God created man to be like Him so that one day He could enter into man. If you have something that needs to be contained, you need to find an identical container, such as a box that is of the same size and shape as that thing. For example, if the thing to be contained is round, you need to find a round box. If the thing to be contained is square, you need to find a square box. The best illustration of this is a glove. A glove is made entirely according to the shape of a hand so that the hand can fit into it. One time I saw someone making a glove with one section for the thumb and one other section for the four fingers. This was a mixed-up item. I greatly disapproved of what I saw, for that was not a glove but a mitten. A proper glove must have separate sheaths: one for the thumb, one for the index finger, one for the middle finger, one for the ring finger, and one for the little finger. Everything must be according to the shape of a hand so that the hand can properly fit into it. God created man in His image and after His likeness for the same reason. God wanted to one day enter into man and feel comfortable in man. God desires to enter into you that He may put you on and make His home in you.
Furthermore, Genesis 2 reveals that in the creation of man, God breathed the breath of life into man’s body. The breath of life was a wonderful thing. According to the Bible the breath of life became the spirit in man, because the word breath in Genesis 2:7 is translated into spirit in Proverbs 20:27. In other words, the word spirit in Proverbs 20:27 and the word breath in Genesis 2:7 are the same in Hebrew. This shows that the spirit of man is the breath of life that was breathed by God into man in the beginning. When God created man, He used two materials. One material was physical, that is, the dust of the ground. God used the dust of the ground to form the body of man. The other material was spiritual, that is, the breath of life; it was intangible yet living. The body made of dust was tangible, but not living. When the breath of life entered into man, man became a living soul. Thus, man has a body on the outside and a soul inside, and within the soul there is a spirit, which is the organ for him to receive God.
God’s creation of man was very special. First, God created man to be like Him that man might have His image. Second, God created man with a spirit as a receptacle. Therefore, when you consider a man, on the one hand, he has an image that is the image of God; on the other hand, he has a spirit within him that is solely for the purpose of receiving God. This spirit may be likened to the receiver installed in a radio for the sole purpose of receiving radio waves.
We know that in Genesis 1 and 2 God had not yet practically entered into man. Man was still an empty vessel. Although man had the image of God outwardly and was a receptacle to receive God inwardly, God had not entered into him yet. After God created man, He placed this empty vessel before the tree of life. If you read and understand the Bible, you can see that the tree of life signifies God as our life. The tree of life is God Himself. God’s intention in putting man before the tree of life was for man to receive God into him. Moreover, at the outset the Bible speaks clearly that the way to receive God is by eating. We know that if we want to receive anything into us, we need to eat it, but the things we eat must be organic. In other words, if you eat a piece of stone, it will not have any organic reaction within you; it is inorganic and cannot be absorbed into your bloodstream or cells. But if you eat something nutritious, an organic process will take effect within you. For example, a few hours after you eat a piece of fruit, it will become your cells and eventually will become you. It is often said that you are what you eat. Whatever you eat, that is what you will be. If you eat mangoes, then you will smell like a mango. I sometimes tell the Americans that they smell like cows because they drink so much milk and eat a lot of steak. Therefore, if you eat beef, you will become a “cow.” This kind of speaking does not sound nice. However, if we eat Christ, we will become Christ. Do you believe this?
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