As the mystery of God, Christ is everything in God’s eternal plan. Christ is God the Creator, the Firstborn of creation, the means of creation, and the center and Head of all that has been created. He is also the Firstborn from the dead, the Head of the church, and the One whom God intended would have the first place in all things. This is the Christ whom God intends would be our life and everything, and this is the Christ whom we have received. We now possess this very Christ in our spirit. We all should spend some time to pray and meditate before the Lord concerning all the items of whom Christ is.
As the mystery of God, Christ is not only our life and everything, He is also the reality of every positive thing in the universe. All the physical things that we see, taste, and touch are not real. They are merely figures and shadows, the reality of which is Christ Himself. The food that we eat every day is not real. If we do not have Christ, we are surely hungry and without food, because Christ is the real food for our whole being. Christ is the real food for our spirit, our soul, and our body. The Scriptures tell us that man shall not live on bread alone but by every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God and also that Christ Himself is the Word of God (Matt. 4:4; John 1:1). From this we can see that Christ is the real food. According to the same principle, we know that Christ is our real life. The physical life that we received from our parents is not the real life. If we do not have Christ, we do not have life; we are just dead people. This is clearly stated in 1 John 5:12, which says, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” In His eternal plan, God has made Christ to be our real food, our real life, and the reality of all positive things in the universe.
This revelation needs to become clear to us to the point that we say to the Lord, “Lord, if I do not have You, I have nothing, and I am nothing.” We all need to see that even we ourselves are not real. I am not a real person, and you are not a real person. If we do not have Christ, we are nothing; we are through. Christ is the only real man. In fact, not only is Christ the only real man, but apart from Christ there is no real God. The real God is in Christ, and Christ is the reality of God. If there were no Christ, God would be merely a term or a name to us. We would have no way to realize Him. Christ is the real essence and element of the Godhead. Apart from Christ everything is but a name. Nothing is real, and everything is a failure without Christ. He is the real man, the real God, and the reality of every positive item in the universe.
The fact that Christ is everything cannot simply be a doctrine to us; it must be realized in our experience. Do we have a mind? We do have a mind, but we need the realization that Christ is our real mind (1 Cor. 2:16). Do we have wisdom? We may think that we have wisdom, but we have to realize that our wisdom is nothing. Christ is the real wisdom (1:30). Do we have knowledge? We may have some knowledge, but Christ is the only real knowledge (Col. 2:3). Do we have love? We may have love, but we have to realize that Christ is the real love (Rom. 8:39; 2 Cor. 5:14; Eph. 3:19; 1 Tim. 1:14). Do we have patience? We may think that we have patience, but real patience is Christ Himself (cf. Gal. 5:22). We must realize that Christ is everything, and that Christ also fills everything—He is the “the One who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:23). Is there a God? There is a God, but this God is in Christ. Is there man? There is man, but this man is in Christ (John 1:14; 1 Cor. 15:47). Is there a Son? There is a Son, and this Son is Christ. Is there life? There is life, but only Christ is the real life (John 14:6). Is there light? There is light, and this light is Christ Himself (8:12). Every morning when we put on our clothes, do we have the sense that Christ is our real covering and our real clothing (Rom. 13:14; Gal. 3:27)? When we are preparing to lie down on our bed, do we have the realization that Christ is our true rest, our real bed (Matt. 11:28)? When we are on our way home, do we have the feeling that the Lord is our home, our dwelling place (cf. Psa. 90:1; John 15:4)? When we are walking upstairs, do we realize that Christ is our real stairs and that apart from Him we can neither go up nor down (cf. John 1:51)? When we are going out of a door, do we tell the Lord, “Lord, You are my door, my entrance and my exit” (John 10:9)? Do we experience Christ as the reality of all these items? Can we tell the Lord, “Lord, You are my sun, my moon, and my way” (Mal. 4:2; Col. 2:16-17; John 14:6)? Our goal is not merely to understand the Bible according to the printed black and white letters. Rather, we are coming to the living Word of God to gain the deep sense that Christ is everything and to be brought into this experience. This is what God planned in eternity past, and this is what God is doing today. Although very few of the Lord’s children realize this, God’s intention is that Christ would be everything to us. Since this is God’s intention, we must learn the practical way to experience, contact, and apply Christ. How do we do this? How do we experience Christ, how do we contact Christ, and how do we apply Christ? The answers to these questions are found throughout the Scriptures.