God is a mystery. To our limited human knowledge, understanding, and senses, God is a mystery. We believe in God, but we have never seen Him. We feel His presence, yet we cannot touch Him. We know that He exists, yet He is hidden and invisible. God is truly a mystery.
God is a mystery, and God has a mystery. What is the mystery of God? The mystery of God is Christ (Col. 2:2). All that God is and everything that He has in Himself is in Christ. All the riches, all the divine nature, and all the fullness of the Godhead dwell bodily in Christ (v. 9). Christ embodies everything that God is and everything that God has.
In light of this we must ask, “Who is Christ, and what is in Christ?” The Gospel of John functions to answer these questions. The Gospel of John begins with Christ as the Word and proceeds to reveal that Christ is the Lamb, the way, the reality, the life, the resurrection, the Spirit, the bread of life, the living water, the good Shepherd, the door, the vine tree, another Comforter, the Bridegroom, our habitation, the light, the love, the Son of God, the Son of Man, and many other items. All these items are the elements of God. Where is God? He is in Christ. What is God? He is what Christ is. What is in God? He is everything that is in Christ. Christ is the mystery of God. We can know who God is because He is manifested in Christ, with Christ, and through Christ. Without Christ, we could never know what is in God. All those who believe in Judaism or Mormonism believe in the existence of God. They do not, however, believe that God is in Christ. As a result, they can never meet God, and they can never know who God really is.
As Christians, we believe in God, and we believe that God is embodied in Christ. We know also that Christ is our way, door, habitation, food, water, resurrection, and life. However, how much do we enjoy and experience Christ as all these things day by day? Do we experience Christ as our way and our door, or are these just doctrines to us? Do we experience Christ as our habitation? Do we abide in Christ? Do we have the daily experience of taking Christ as our food? In the old days, when Chinese people saw someone that they knew, they did not say, “Good morning, how are you?” Instead, they would say, “Have you eaten yet?” This is a good question for all of us. Have we eaten Christ today? Have we experienced Christ as our food? We also need to experience Christ as our light. What is our condition—are we in the light or in darkness? It is not enough to know that Christ is the embodiment of God as so many items. We also need to experience and enjoy Christ day by day.
Often when we see the saints, we can tell from their faces whether or not they have been eating Christ. Recently I spoke with a brother who I could tell had not been eating Christ. I asked him, “Brother, do you know that the Lord is the resurrection and the life?” He answered me, “Yes, I know this. The Lord told us this.” Then I asked this brother, “But do you really know what it means that the Lord is the resurrection and the life?” The brother answered that he did know this. Then I said to him, “Brother, I do not believe that you know what it means for the Lord to be the resurrection to us. I can tell from the look on your face that you are very depressed. You look as though you are still in the grave.” Then the brother answered me, “Brother Lee, you have to sympathize with me. These past few days have been very difficult for me. I have had many troubles both in my business and with my wife. Without the Lord’s help, I would have been done in by now.” After hearing this, I told this brother, “If you truly realized that the Lord is the resurrection, you would see that you have been resurrected and that you are out of death and out of the grave. As a result, you would praise the Lord. You would declare, ‘Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! All my troubles can never crush me because Christ is my resurrection.’” Then the brother received the revelation from the Lord and began to jump up and down, declaring, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Now I see what it means for the Lord to be my resurrection. I have been resurrected out of death and out of the grave!”
I am afraid that for most Christians all these items of who Christ is are just points of doctrine. They believe that Christ is life, light, and many other things, but they do not know Him as these things in their experience. Recently I asked a sister what it means for Christ to be our life. She told me that when she faces some trouble, she hands her problems over to the Lord and asks Him to take her troubles away. According to her understanding, this is what it means for Christ to be our life. Is this understanding correct? What does it mean to experience Christ as our life, as our lamp, as our habitation, and as so many items? To experience Christ is to experience God, for Christ is the mystery of God.
At the end of each day we should be able to state the specific ways in which we experienced Christ that day. We should ask ourselves, “How have I experienced Christ today?” We do not need more doctrine. We need to experience Christ more. Do we know Christ in an experiential way? Christ is the bread of life. Have we experienced Him in such a way? Christ is the light. Have we experienced Him as our light today? Anyone can understand doctrines, but Christ is not a doctrine. He is a living person. Every morning we should pray, “Lord, give me some experience of Christ today. I pray that today Christ would be my hope, my life, and my light. Grant me this day some definite experiences of Yourself.” There is much teaching in Christianity, but there is not enough experience of Christ. Christ is a reality, and we can experience Him.
To illustrate this, I would like to tell you a little story about myself. In July of 1937 Japan attacked China, beginning a war that would last until 1945. Just as this war was beginning, I was traveling in northern China. In October I went to Hangkow, and while I was there, I received a cable from my family, asking me to return to Chefoo. Since Hangkow is far to the north of Chefoo, to return home would require me to travel along four or five different railway lines. This would be very dangerous because during the war, the Japanese were conducting daily bombings on the railway stations and lines in China. As a result of this bombing, there were many refugees up and down the railway lines and at the stations, and the trains were often not on time. Although this was the situation, after much prayer I felt that I should return home to Chefoo. I did not want to leave my family under the care of the brothers and sisters any longer but felt that I should return home to take care of them while the war was taking place. When I told the saints in Hangkow of my decision to go to Chefoo, they all were very concerned. They repeatedly said to me, “Look at the map. Look at the map. How will it be possible for you to make it all the way to Chefoo from Hangkow in such a dangerous situation?” Nevertheless, I still felt that I should go.
I must testify that while I was traveling on that trip, I experienced Christ as my habitation. I did not feel that I was in a train or being carried by a train but that I was in Christ and being carried by Christ. I remember well the events of one night on the train. That night the sky was filled with clouds and it was raining. Because of the weather, all the people on the train were very happy. They knew that as long as the sky was covered by clouds, the Japanese bombers would not be able to see the train, and they would be safe. The people on the train were so happy that they even began to sing. Suddenly, however, the weather changed—the sky became exceptionally clear and the moon came out. When the people on the train realized this, they became exceedingly anxious. They were so afraid that the Japanese bombers would bomb the train. When the train stopped at a station, they became even more frightened. That night, while everyone around me was filled with anxiety, I was filled with praise. I was experiencing Christ as my habitation.
After a while, I began to speak with the other people on the train. I said to them, “Friends, why are you all so afraid?” They answered me in surprise, “Don’t you know why? Don’t you know that the Japanese bombers may come at any minute and bomb the train?” I said to them, “Yes, I know this quite well. I know this as well as you do.” Then they said to me, “If you also know this, why are you so happy? How are you able to be happy when we are in such danger?” I answered them, “I am so happy because I have Christ. I have Christ; therefore, I have peace.”
Later all the people on the train were still very anxious, so I spoke to them again. I said, “I realize that all of you are still very anxious, but I would like to let you know that I have prayed to my Christ, and He has told me that nothing bad will happen to us. Be at peace.” When the people on the train heard these words, they said to me, “Sir, you are very deep in religious matters.” I answered them, “It is not that I am deep in religious matters, but that I have the living Christ within me.” Finally after a very long time on the train, we eventually arrived at our destination in Chefoo. As I was leaving the train, I saw the people who I had been speaking with earlier. When they saw me, they all began to say, “You were right! Your prophecy was correct.”
The reason I share this testimony with you is so that we all will realize that we can experience Christ. Christ is not only for our doctrinal understanding but for our experience. When we read that Christ is the door, we should ask ourselves, “Have I experienced Christ as my door? What does this mean?” When we read that Christ is the way, we should consider whether or not we have experienced Christ as our way. When we experience Christ, we experience God. As a result, we realize who God is. Christ is the manifestation of God for our experience. God planned in eternity past that He would be manifested through Christ and that through Christ He would be experienced by man. In God’s eternal plan Christ is the mystery of God. We must experience and enjoy this Christ day by day.
In the past year I have stressed the experience of Christ very much. With one group of young people, I pointed out two hundred and sixty-seven aspects of who Christ is for our experience. However, the more I emphasized our need to experience Christ, the more difficult my personal situation became. When I went to the Lord to find out why this was the case, right away there was an answer within me. The Lord seemed to say to me, “This is the only way that you can experience Me more. If you are going to tell people that I am the resurrection, you must experience Me as the resurrection, and the only way that you can experience Me as resurrection is to pass through death.” For a long time the Lord dealt with me very much so that I would experience Him as the resurrection.
When we pass through difficult and perplexing times, when we do not know how to deal with our situation, this is the best time for us to experience Christ. When our situation is full of trouble, and there seems to be no way out, at this very moment the Holy Spirit is working within us to point us to Christ as the way. Through our troubling situations and the working of the Holy Spirit within us, we experience Christ as our heavenly way. This is what the children of God and all people need. If we experience Christ first, then we will be able to bring others to know Him in such an experiential way. Christ is the mystery of God to be experienced and enjoyed by us. This is God’s eternal plan.