In the last message we saw God’s eternal purpose. Everyone who believes in the Lord, serves Him, and follows Him needs to see God’s eternal purpose. God’s eternal purpose and plan is to have a universal man. If we do not have a part in this universal man, our human life is meaningless, and all that we have is vanity.
Now we want to see that everyone who follows the Lord also needs to see Christ. To see Christ is not merely to listen to a message or to read a book about Christ but to see Christ in spirit. Our inner eyes need to be opened to see what Christ is, who Christ is, and what Christ is all about. The first vision that we must see is concerning God’s eternal plan and that this plan is for Christ. Hence, we must also see Christ. This subject is so great that the Lord Jesus said, “No one fully knows the Son except the Father” (Matt. 11:27). The Son is Christ. Only God truly knows Him, and besides God no one else knows Him in a full way, because He is too great. Thank the Lord, however, that the Father not only knows the Son but is willing to reveal the Son to us (16:17). Therefore, we all should desire and pursue to know Him. We should pray, “O Father, reveal Your Son to me. O God, reveal Your Christ to me. You know Him, and I also want to know Him.” We need an inner eye and an opening in our spirit that we may see the heavenly vision. Christ is so great and so wonderful. I hope that you will do your best to understand this.
The Bible tells us that “Christ is all” (Col. 3:11). In the past I have encountered opposition to this point. Some have asked me, “Does this mean that Christ is also all the filthy things?” Some also say that this word in Colossians only says that Christ is all in the new man. I acknowledge that Christ is all in the new man. However, Malachi chapter four says that Christ is the Sun of righteousness (v. 2). Is the sun in the new man? Of course it is not. Therefore, the fact that Christ is all refers not only to the fact that Christ is every constituent and every part of the new man but also to the fact that Christ is the reality of every positive thing in the universe.
In this universe there is God. Is Christ God? Yes! In this universe there is also the devil. Is Christ the devil? No! In this universe there is light. Is Christ light? Yes! In this universe there is love. Is Christ love? Yes! We should be clear that when we say Christ is all, we refer to the reality of all the positive things and not the negative things. The human personality includes both love and hatred. Is Christ love? Yes! Is Christ hatred? No! Christ is love but not hatred. The human personality also includes both humility and pride. Christ is humility but not pride.
Furthermore, we should realize that the love we have is but a shadow and that the patience we have is also but a shadow. What is a shadow? My shadow looks just like me, but it is not substantial, and it is not the real me. I am the real me. Our love is not the substance but a shadow. The substance of our love is Christ. Even the sun is merely a shadow. Its reality is Christ.
Therefore, I will boldly tell you that Christ is all. He is God, the eternal God, the God who is without beginning and without end (John 1:1). He is the Creator (Col. 1:16). He is Jehovah, the God who has a relationship with man in life (Isa. 9:6). He is God the Father as the source of everything. He was incarnated as Jesus. Hence, He is our Redeemer and Savior. Not only so, He is God expressed as the Son. He also resurrected from the dead and became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Hence, He is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). Furthermore, today He is a perfect, transcendent, and resurrected man. He is also light, life, power, authority, righteousness, and holiness. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily (Col. 2:9). He is all of man’s virtues, such as love, patience, and humility. He is wisdom and knowledge. He is all.
All the positive things in the universe are symbols of Christ. He is the reality of the sun, the stars, and the trees on earth. In the Bible many trees symbolize Christ. He is the tree of life and the true vine. He is also the reality of the flowers. The Bible shows us that He is symbolized by different kinds of flowers. Moreover, He is the real fruit and the real grain. He is the wheat and the barley. The Gospel of John says that He is the bread (6:48) and the living water (4:14). It also says that He is the door (10:9) and the way (14:6). In the Bible there is both an entrance and an exit. Christ as the door is not only for us to go in but also for us to go out. In John 10 the Lord said, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall...go in and go out and shall find pasture” (v. 9). The door here is not the door to heaven but the door of the sheepfold. The sheepfold is the old covenant that God made with Israel. During the dark night, the sheep are kept in the fold. Moses, David, Isaiah, and many other prophets all entered into the fold through this door. When the Lord Jesus came, Peter, James, and Paul were in there as well. They were like sheep in a fold. However, the Lord Jesus as the door provided a way for them to come out. According to the record in John 9, one of the first ones to leave the fold was the blind man. The blind man did not leave on his own but was cast out by others. At the same time, it was the Lord Jesus who led him out of the fold, since He is not only the door of the sheep but also the Shepherd. We may even say that the reality of the clothes we wear is Christ. Christ is all.
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