In this universe there is a divine mystery, and this mystery is of two parts. The first part of this mystery is the mystery of God, which is Christ Himself (1 Cor. 2:1-2). All that God is, and everything related to God, is embodied in Christ. Thus, if you do not know Christ, you do not know the mystery of God, and if you are not in Christ, you are not in the mystery of God. Further, if you do not have Christ in your spirit, you do not have any share in the mystery of God. If you want to know God and contact God, you have to be in Christ, because everything of God is embodied in Christ and Christ is the mystery of God.
The second part of the one divine mystery in this universe is the mystery of Christ. The mystery of Christ is different from the mystery of God. The mystery of Christ is the Body of Christ, the church (Eph. 3:4, 6). Thus, if you would like to meet Christ, know Christ, and receive something of Christ, you must contact the Body of Christ, the church. Just as Christ is the mystery of God, the church is the mystery of Christ. These are the two parts of the one divine mystery in this universe.
This twofold divine mystery—Christ and the church—is the story, the meaning, of the whole universe. As Christians, we must be able to tell people this. People today are busy with education and politics, but if you were to ask them what they are living for, they might be shocked. When I was in China, I met some very high ranking government officials and quietly and humbly raised this question to them. I would say to them, “Sir, do you know what people here are working for? Do you know what you are working for?” Quite a number of these high ranking people told me, “Mr. Lee, this is a surprising question. I cannot answer it. I do not know what we are working for here. Maybe we are working in order to eat, drink, and sleep.” This is all that they could answer me. In China we have a little proverb that says that human life is nothing but three times of satisfaction and one time of sleeping every day. Every day we must be satisfied once in the morning, once at noon, and once in the evening. Then, at night we lie down to sleep, and the next morning we get up and repeat the same thing all over again. This is human life.
Sometimes I ask this question to educated and cultured people. I ask them, “What is your purpose and aim?” Often the men say that they are working for their family—for their dear wife and their little children. They say, “I am just working for them. I would not want them to hear me say it, but I am a slave to them. Every day I work hard just for them.” Many times these high class people have invited me to sit down with them. When I was among them, I listened to their talk. As a result, I would say within myself, “Dear friends, you may be high-class, cultured, and even famous, but listen to your conversation. You may appear to be high, but you are too low. You may appear to be big, but you are too small. You speak nonsense, just like little children. You do not know what you are, where you are, where you are going, or what the meaning of the universe or human life is. You are absolutely childish, foolish, and in darkness. But I am so proud that I am a child of God. You are so low, but I am so high. I am in the light, I am a member of the Body of Christ, and I know the mystery of this universe and the meaning of the story of human life.” Unbelievers may know about cars, televisions, radios, and all kinds of entertainment, but they do not know the real meaning of the universe and of human life. Do we all know this? As Christians, we all must have this realization. Christ and the church are the mystery of the entire universe. Christ and the church are the real meaning of the story of the universe and of human life.
As the mystery and real meaning of the story of this universe, Christ and the church are a universal man. This universal man is very large. If you want to know the meaning of the story of the universe, you have to know this big, universal man. Ephesians 1:22-23 says, “And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” This is the universal man. The Head of this man is the transcendent Christ—the One who fills all in all, including heaven and earth. The Body of this man is the church—the fullness of the One who fills all. This man is too big; He fills the entire universe. The Head is in the heavens and the Body, at least a part of it, is on the earth. Just consider how big the church, the Body of this universal man, is. I believe that sooner or later the Lord will open the veil to give us all a revelation that we would see and know that there is such a mysterious, universal man in this universe. This man is so mysterious and yet so real.