Now let us consider who Christ is as the content of the vessel. Christ is the mystery of God (Col. 2:2). Without Christ, God is truly a mystery, and no one can understand Him. If you ask unbelievers, even those with Ph.D. degrees, what the meaning of the universe is or what the meaning of human life is, they will tell you that they do not know. Although they may be very knowledgeable concerning science and philosophy, the meaning of the universe and of human life remains a mystery to them. God is a mystery, but Christ is the explanation, definition, and expression of this divine mystery. If we have Christ, we understand the mystery, and we know the meaning of the universe and also of human life. Today Christ as the very mystery is within us as life (3:4). For the present He is our life, and for the future He is the hope of glory (1:27). He is our portion (v. 12), and we are partakers of Him. Daily we experience and enjoy Him as our food, drink, light, life, peace, patience, joy, and everything.
We need to realize that all the material things around us are not the reality but are only shadows (2:16-17). The chair we sit on is not the real chair. The three meals we eat day by day are not the real meals. They are only figures, types, or symbols that signify and point to something real, that is, to Christ as our real life (John 14:6) and our real food (6:48). Moreover, the light in a building is not the real light. Although we may be in a room with a very intense light, without Christ we are still in darkness, because the physical light is only a figure that denotes the real light, which is Christ as the light of life (8:12). Christ is not only food and light to us; He is also a house as our dwelling place. In Psalm 90:1 Moses said, “O Lord, You have been our dwelling place / In all generations.” At the time Moses said this, he was between eighty and one hundred twenty years of age. As an old man he knew that every material thing was not trustworthy and that the eternal habitation of God’s people is the Lord Himself (Rev. 21:22). We must take Christ as our abode and live in Him as our dwelling place (John 15:4). Christ is everything to us. He is our life, our food, our drink, our light, our way, our wisdom, our knowledge, our strength, and our power (Col. 3:4; John 6:35; 4:10, 14; 7:37-39; 8:12; 14:6; 1 Cor. 1:24; Col. 2:3; Phil. 4:13). Christ is also our authority (2 Cor. 10:8; Rev. 2:26), our Husband (2 Cor. 11:2), our Brother (Rom. 8:29), and our Father (Isa. 9:6). Therefore, all the physical, visible things are merely signs and figures of Christ, who is our portion and whom we should enjoy, experience, and partake of moment by moment.
When we receive Christ as our Savior, God reveals Him into us through the Holy Spirit (Gal. 1:15-16). This matter is wonderful and mysterious, but regrettably, many Christians who are genuinely saved do not know that Christ has been revealed into them and is now within them. Thus, when they pray, they think that Christ is in the third heaven, far above and beyond them. However, mysteriously, the more we pray, the more we feel that the Lord is here, within us. Christ has been revealed into us, and He is waiting for us to take Him as our life.
We also need to realize that as regenerated Christians we have two lives, the human life and the divine life. Every Christian has been born twice; first, he was born of his parents to have the human life, and then he was born of God through the Holy Spirit to have the divine life, which is Christ Himself (John 1:12-13; 3:6; 11:25). The problem today is this: What life do we live by? Do we live by ourselves or by Christ, by the human life or by the divine life? Since we have been crucified (Rom. 6:6), we must apply the cross of Christ to our human life (Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:23). This means that we must always take the standing that we have been crucified on the cross. In other words, we are finished, put to an end. It is because of this fact that when we receive Christ as our Savior, we are baptized into water. As crucified persons, we are dead; hence, we must be buried (Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12a). Often I tell candidates for baptism, “Baptism is a funeral, and to be baptized is to be buried. You have believed in Jesus Christ, but now you must know that when Christ was crucified on the cross, you were included in Him. This means that you too have been crucified. Because you are a dead person, we cannot keep you here any longer; we must bury you.” We are crucified, and it is no longer we who live, but it is Christ who lives in us (Gal. 2:20). Christ is our life, and we must live by Him, not by our self. Whenever we are going to live by our self, we must tell ourselves that we are buried in the tomb, and thus it is wrong for us to continue living.
Furthermore, Christ must be formed within us (4:19). For this we must be transformed into Christ’s image (2 Cor. 3:18) and conformed to Christ (Rom. 8:29). Then when we consider something, we will consider it in the same way that Christ does; when we love someone or something, we will love in the same way, manner, attitude, and atmosphere as Christ loves, and in our love we will sense the taste of Christ; and when we decide something, it will be Christ’s decision, for there will be the element of Christ in our decision. This is to have the image and form of Christ.
In this chapter we have covered the first aspect of the Christian life that fulfills the eternal purpose of God. On the one hand, Christ is our portion, and we enjoy Him day by day. On the other hand, Christ is the image that must be formed in us, and we must be conformed to Him. Our whole being must be saturated by and with Christ so that we are transformed into His image. According to human experience, nothing but Christ can fully satisfy us. But we must experience Him in a very practical way. We need to have Christ not just in teaching, theory, or doctrine but in our practical daily life. We need to appropriate Christ in our daily life by enjoying Him moment by moment, experiencing Him and applying Him to all that happens in our daily living. This is the Christian life, and this is the only life that can satisfy us. If we are living such a life, day by day we will be full of peace, satisfaction, and joy. This is the individual aspect of a life that fulfills God’s eternal purpose. In the next chapter we will cover the corporate aspect.