All the Fullness of God is in Christ, and of His Fullness we Received Grace upon Grace

All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily; the expression of the riches of God, the overflowing of His riches, dwell in Christ in a bodily form, and of His fullness we have all receive, grace upon grace.

Our Christ is not only rich, and He not only has the riches of God; in Christ all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell.

After Christ became incarnate, the fullness of the Godhead began to dwell in Him in a bodily way, and even today, in His glorified body, this fullness dwells!

Hallelujah! Christ as the mystery of God is the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.

We may understand these words, but we need to see a vision of this Christ and enter into the enjoyment and experience of such a Christ.

God the Father prepared a body for Christ, a human body, and Christ came to do the will of the Father; when He was incarnated, the entire fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him, and He expressed God. What a mystery this is, yet how wonderful and glorious!

In Christ we see not only the Son of God but the entire Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.

Even more, the Father has the riches, and there are many riches hidden in Him; but what we see in Christ the Son is the fullness, the overflow of these riches to become the full and rich expression of God.

Yes, this human flesh is related to sin, is corruptible, and is dirty, but in His infinite wisdom, the Word of God was incarnated to be a man; He put on humanity, He had a human body, and in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Christ lived a perfect human life, expressing the Father, and He brought His humanity through death and resurrection, and now in ascension there’s a Man on the throne!

The humanity of Jesus is no longer only physical – He has a glorified body, a glorified and transfigured humanity, and in Him the fullness of the Godhead forever dwells! Hallelujah for such a One!

Looking to Him, we are infused with Him, saturated with Him, and even conformed to His image; we believe that He is the Pioneer cutting the way into glory, and we as the many sons of God follow Him.

Hallelujah, our mortal body which is related to sin, the flesh, the world, and many negative things, this body will be transfigured to become glorious like His transfigured body! Praise the Lord!

In Christ Dwells all the Fullness, the Overflow of the Riches, the Expression of what God is

There’s a difference between riches and fullness; in Col. 2:9 we see not only that the riches of God dwell in Christ but that the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him.

Fullness refers not to the riches but to the expression and overflow of the riches of God.

The riches are the quantity of an object, whereas the fullness is the flowing out, the overflow of the object to become the expression of the object.

What was dwelling in Christ was not just God’s riches; the riches of God refer to all the times such as God’s love, patience, kindness, brightness, power, etc.

These riches are not known or manifested until Christ came; with God there are the riches, but with Christ is the expression of God’s riches in full, the manifestation of these riches in a human body.

When Christ as the mystery of God came, He was the fullness of God; in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead, the very expression and overflow of the riches of God.

For example we may have a cup on the table with some water in it; we can consider that the water is the riches.

These riches become the fullness when the cup is filled with water to overflowing; when the water overflows, we see what is in the cup, and we know what the fullness is.

There are many riches in God, but when Christ came these riches were manifested to overflowing, for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead.

When Christ spoke, He spoke abundantly concerning God and the kingdom of God, and He expressed God in His speaking. When He healed the man with leprosy and touched him, God’s love flowed out; the love was in God as riches, now it flowed out of Him as fullness.

What dwells in Christ is not only the riches of the Godhead but also the expression of the riches of what God is.

Similarly, in Eph. 1:23 Paul didn’t say that the church as the Body of Christ is the riches of the One who fills all in all, but that the church is the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Christ is the fullness of God, the overflowing of God. God’s fullness is the overflow of His riches, and this overflow is God’s expression. The fullness of the Godhead is the expression of the Godhead, the expression of what God is.

On one hand this may seem to be an abstract matter, and we may consider that Christ as the mystery of God being the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead as being something abstract and objective.

But when in His mercy and grace God enlightens our eyes to see this, our whole Christian life will be revolutionized, for we will get out from the tomb of our natural life, our religious seeking, our spiritual seeking, and our culture, and we will be in the realm of Christ.

When we see Christ as the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, we will be delivered from any realm we’re in and we will be brought into the mystery of God to enjoy the overflowing of the riches of God.

This is not about ethics, being good, behaving well, and so forth, but about Christ being the overflowing of the riches of God, and the church as the Body of Christ becoming the fullness of the One who fills all in all. Hallelujah!

Christ is filling us to the uttermost to make us His fullness, the overflow of what He is and has done! The Godhead is expressed both in the old creation, the universe, and in the new creation, the church (Col. 1:15, 18).

All the fullness dwells in Him means that God’s fullness is seen in the old creation (the universe) and in the new creation (the church). Hallelujah!

Lord, grant us to see a vision of Christ as the mystery of God being the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. Hallelujah, in Christ we see not only the riches of God but also the overflow of God’s riches to become His full expression! Amen, Lord, may we be delivered from any realm of culture, religious seeking, ethics, and natural life, and may we be brought into the realm of Christ as the mystery of God so that we may be the church, the mystical Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all and in all!

In Christ was the Fullness of God, and of this Fullness we have all Received Grace upon Grace

In John 1:1 we are told that Christ is the Word, which is God; in 1:14 this Word was incarnated to tabernacle among us, full of grace and reality; in 1:16 we are told that of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

Wow, we have not just received something of God but something of His fullness, for out of the overflow of the riches of God something is flowing for us to receive, enjoy, and even become!

In John 1:16 grace refers not only to the riches of grace but to the fullness of grace.

The riches of grace are in God, but the fullness of grace is in Christ Jesus (John 1:16; Col. 2:9).

In this incarnated Christ who is the mystery of God we see the fullness of grace; He is full of grace – He didn’t come to us with a little grace or with enough grace, but full of grace and reality.

For example, in Mark 4 when the Lord Jesus went to the synagogue and it was given to Him to read from Isaiah 61 concerning the jubilee, He read it, and then He closed the scroll and said, Today this word is being fulfilled among you.

It doesn’t say that He said more things, simply that; but all the people marveled at the words of grace coming from this man. He didn’t expound or explain – He just read the Scriptures and sat down, and people saw and received the words of grace.

In Christ grace is fullness, it became an expression, and it flowed out of this Man who is the mystery of God, the embodiment of all the fullness of the Godhead.

When we were saved, we received the grace of God; the grace we receive is the fullness of grace, and from the time we’re saved onward, we may receive grace upon grace.

The Lord is not stingy – there’s always something over when we touch our precious Lord!

When Paul asked the Lord to remove the thorn, the Lord told Him that His grace is sufficient; there was grace upon grace for Paul to enjoy and overcome any suffering and trouble.

It is not when we’re doing well and have a lot of things that we can say that God’s grace is full unto us; rather, when we’re in the deepest need, even when we don’t have much and lack so many things, we can realize that with God there’s always something over.

He doesn’t want us to merely “keep our head above the water” but that we would enjoy the overflow of the riches of Christ and overflow to others with these riches.

God is not stingy – He is full of grace, full of reality, and all the riches of God became fullness in Christ, who overflows God to us!

When we come to contact this One and enjoy Him as the fullness of grace, our Christian life will be different; we will no longer be struggling, scraping the bottom of the barrel, trying to get through another day, or asking the Lord to help us overcome this sin or that aspect of our temper.

Rather, when we see Christ as the fullness of God, we will realize that there’s something overflowing with Him!

This phrase “grace upon grace” in John 1:16 can be compared to the rolling waves of the sea that come in wave upon wave without ceasing.

May we have no reservations in receiving wave of grace upon grace; may we give up trying to get a little grace here and there, and may we come to the Lord and open fully to receive of His fullness! Let the Lord flood you with His riches.

Let Him fill you to the brim, even to overflowing, with the fullness of what He is!

Lord Jesus, we come to You as we are, open to receive of Your fullness, grace upon grace! Amen, Lord, we open to receive wave upon wave of grace. Fill us, flood us, and saturate us with grace until grace overflows from us! Amen, Lord Jesus, we open to You without any reservation. We don’t want a little bit of this or of that – we want to enjoy all the fullness of what You are so that we may also become the fullness of the One who fills all and in all! Amen, Lord Jesus, of Your fullness we want to receive, and wave of grace upon wave of grace!

Read this article in the Romanian language / citiți acest articol și în limba română la următorul link, Toată plinătatea lui Dumnezeu este în Cristos, iar din plinătatea Sa am primit har după har.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. James Lee for this week, and portions from, CWWL, 1985, vol. 2, “The Fullness of God,” chs. 1, 3, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing and Experiencing the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ (2019 Thanksgiving Conference), week 5 on the topic of, Knowing and Experiencing the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ as the Mystery of God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – O glorious Christ, Savior mine, / Thou art truly radiance divine; / God infinite, in eternity, / Yet man in time, finite to be. / Oh! Christ, expression of God, the Great, / Inexhaustible, rich, and sweet! / God mingled with humanity / Lives in me my all to be. (Hymns #501)
  – There is always something over, / When we taste our gracious Lord; / Every cup He fills o’erfloweth, / Rich supply He doth afford. / Nothing narrow, nothing stinted, / Ever issued from His store; / To His own He gives full measure, / Running over, evermore, / To His own He gives full measure, / Running over, evermore. (Hymns #595)
  – In the spirit we can taste / All the riches of Thy grace; / All Thy fullness, blessed Lord / Is for those in one accord! / In the spirit, on the ground— / Here is where Thy life is found. / Dwelling thus in unity, / We enjoy reality! (Hymns #1239)