The All-inclusive, Extensive Christ is the Mystery of God and the History of God

Christ is the mystery of God – He is the history of God; the all-inclusive, extensive Christ is the mystery of God, and we need to know and enjoy such a Christ in our experience.

This week in our morning revival we come to the topic of, Knowing and Experiencing the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ as the Mystery of God.

These few weeks we have been seeing so many aspects of this wonderful, all-inclusive, extensive Christ; however, everything that we see in the word of God and also in our experience concerning Christ is not for our individual Christian experience but for the corporate church life, for the Body life, even particularly for the new man life.

What is deeply on God’s heart is the one new man, where Christ is all and in all.

What does it mean for Christ to be all and in all?

We may know Christ as our Savior, our life, our breath, our daily supply, and so many other items, but we need to get to the point where we know and experience the Christ who is all and in all. He is not only all-inclusive – implying that He includes so many items, but He is also extensive, with no boundaries, all-encompassing, so spacious. We need to know such a Christ.

And in particular this week we want to see that Christ is the mystery of God; knowing Christ as the mystery of God is crucial as far as God’s economy and the Lord’s recovery is concerned.

This may be a very abstract term, something not so easy to grasp for us; we may understand that God is love, light, grace, and power, and we may easily identify with that, but what about Christ as the mystery of God?

The Bible uses this word, mystery, in a few places to denote some important matters.

The Lord Jesus used it in His teaching regarding the kingdom of God both in Matthew and in Mark; He presented the teaching of the kingdom as a mystery, and He spoke of the mystery of the kingdom of God.

Even though those around Him didn’t really apprehend or understand this with their natural mind, He didn’t care for that – it was important to Him to speak this mystery.

Then John speaks of the mystery of God in Rev. 10:7, where we see that the seventh angel was about to trumpet the seventh trumpet; there the mystery of God refers to God’s entire economy being carried out in the age of mystery, the age of the church, from the time of Christ’s incarnation to the millennium age.

This age began with Christ’s incarnation, His human living, death, resurrection, and His indwelling, and it continued with His operating in the church to transform and build up His believers in a mysterious way.

Paul also uses this term in his epistles; in Eph. 1 he presented the mystery of the will of God (Eph. 1:9). God’s will is a mystery – it was hidden in eternity past, it was not known by men for generations, but this mystery was made known to us through Paul’s ministry.

The mystery of His will is His desire and good pleasure to work Himself into His chosen people to dwell in them and be their life and everything, eventually even to become one with man and make man one with Him.

In Eph. 3:9 Paul speaks of the economy of the mystery, the arrangement, the plan to work out the mystery of God’s will; as God’s chosen people partake of God’s economy by faith, we need to hold the mystery of this faith.

Then there’s the mystery of godliness in 1 Tim. 3:16, which is God manifested in the flesh. Furthermore, there is the mystery of the gospel – even the gospel is a mystery!

And finally in Ephesians Paul speaks of the great mystery, Christ and the church – Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ. If we don’t know what these two mysteries are, we don’t know what God’s economy is or what the New Testament is about.

We need to give ourselves to the Lord and pray over His word with a turned heart and an exercised spirit so that He may shine on us and reveal to us Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ.

The All-inclusive, Extensive Christ is the Mystery of God – He defines, Explains, and Expresses God

Col. 2:2 reveals that the all-inclusive, extensive Christ is the mystery of God. The mystery of God is a Person – the wonderful, all-inclusive, extensive Christ.

Our hearts need to be comforted, we need to be knit together in love and unto the riches of the full assurance of understanding, unto the full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ.

We may see many aspects of Christ and realize how all-inclusive and extensive He is, but we need to know Him as the mystery of God.

How much did we see Christ as the mystery of God is shown at the Lord’s Table, where we praise the Lord for what He is and for what we have experienced and enjoyed of Him.

Many times we offer praises to the Lord for being our Redeemer, our bread, our living water, the tree of life, etc, but hardly do we hear the saints praising the Lord for being the mystery of God.

For us to advance toward the church as the one new man where Christ is all and in all, we all need to be upgraded in our revelation and experience of Christ as the mystery of God. God Himself is a mystery, and Christ is the mystery of this mystery.

The mystery of God indicates something incomprehensible and inexplicable. God is mysterious and is a mystery, but as the mystery of God, the all-inclusive, extensive Christ is the Word of God as the definition, explanation, and expression of God (John 1:1, 14).

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

What is this word? The word is actually the divine thoughts constituted as an expression to be a word that can be understood and comprehended by man.

God’s thoughts are constituted and expressed in Christ for man to understand. Christ as the mystery of God is the eternal word to define, express, and explain to us who God is and what He is.

God Himself is invisible; He dwells in an unapproachable light, being hidden and unseen. Though God is omnipotent and omniscient, who has seen Him and who can know Him?

But here is the Word of God – who one day became flesh, tabernacling among us, to define, explain, and express the hidden, invisible God to man. Hallelujah for Christ as the mystery of God!

Before Christ came, God was mysterious; the Jewish people couldn’t fully know God until Christ came, for when He came, God was made known, real, visible, and He was explained and defined.

Lord Jesus, we want to know You as the mystery of God. Hallelujah, though God is a mystery, Christ came as the mystery of God to define God, explain God, express God, and make God real to us! Lord, we come to You to enjoy You, know You, and experience You as the mystery of God. We want to know God and experience God, so we come to You Lord Jesus, for You are not only the embodiment of God but also the mystery of God! Hallelujah, by knowing Christ as the mystery of God we become the church, the mystery of Christ!

As the Mystery of God, Christ is the History of God, the Mysterious Story of God

As the mystery of God, Christ is the history of God; the whole “story” of God is in Christ and is Christ.

Do we realize that God has a history? Yes, He is self-existent and ever-existent, never changing and always being the same, yet in His economy God has passed through a history, a journey.

It is prophesied in Micah 5:2 how His goings forth are from the ancient times, from the days of eternity. Christ as the Son of God came into time to be a man, and He passed through a process.

He has been going forth from God in eternity past, He came out of eternity into time, and He took step after step on the bridge of time through His human living, death, resurrection, ascension, descension, and dwelling in the believers – He has been going forth!

Even right now we are part of Christ’s goings forth until we are all brought into the New Jerusalem!

All these many stages through which Christ passed through are part of the history of God, for Christ brought the invisible God forth through His incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, and now He is bringing God into man to make Him real to the believers.

Although God is infinite and eternal, without beginning or ending, He also has a history, a story (Rom. 16:26; Psa. 90:2).

The all-inclusive, extensive Christ – the mystery of God, the mysterious story of God – is the history of God.

Where is God today? God is in Christ, and He is where Christ is. What is God? God is what Christ is. What is in God? It is what is in Christ.

Christ is the mystery of God, and He opens up and makes known this unknown, mysterious, hidden God, expressing God and manifesting Him before man.

God’s history refers to the process through which He passed in Christ so that He may enter into us, and we may be brought into Him; this process includes incarnation, human living, crucifixion, ascension, glorification, and enthronement (see John 1:12-14, 29; 3:14; 12:24; 14:20).

We should never belittle these stages, the process that God in Christ passed through, for this is the history of God, the mystery of God.

God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness, but it was not until Christ came through His incarnation to live among man that God could be seen and known, expressed and manifested.

Every stage of the process that God in Christ went through is mysterious.

God’s incarnation in Christ is mysterious; somehow God was conceived in a virgin’s womb, and He was born to become a man.

His human living was mysterious; apparently He was the carpenter’s son, raised up in Nazareth – a despised place – yet He spoke the words of grace, He did many powerful acts and wondered, and He startled so many learned people.

Christ’s death was mysterious; on one hand He was apparently put to death by man, but actually He went willingly to the cross, and on the cross He died to take care of our sin, sins, the old man, the flesh, Satan, and the world.

What a mysterious and wonderful death! And through His death He not only took care of the negative things, but He also died as the grain of wheat so that He would bring forth many grains!

His resurrection was a mystery, for He didn’t just resurrect after three days, but while He was dying, He was being made alive in Spirit! And when He was resurrected, He became a life-giving Spirit, He regenerated man believers as the many sons of God, and He became the Firstborn Son of God.

In His ascension, Christ was ascended as a Man far above all, and He was given the name above every name, being enthroned as Lord and King over the entire universe!

Then, mysteriously, Christ as the Spirit descended upon and into His believers to regenerate them, transform them, build them up, and even glorify them!

His indwelling today is a mystery, for Christ in us is the hope of glory, and even though we don’t see Him or feel Him with our physical senses, He is more real than our very life. Hallelujah for Christ as the mystery of God who is the history of God!

We praise You Lord Jesus for being the mystery of God, the history of God! Wow, the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, who is the mystery of God, He is the history of God, the whole story of God! We praise You Lord Jesus for Your goings forth from the ancient times and until eternity! Thank You Lord for passing through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, glorification, and enthronement, so that You may come into us and indwell us and bring us into God! Hallelujah for Christ as the mystery of God and the history of God!

Read this article in the Romanian language / citiți acest articol și în limba română la următorul link, Cristosul atotinclusiv și vast este misterul lui Dumnezeu și istoria lui Dumnezeu.

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, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 22, 354-355 (by Witness Lee), 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:
  – Christ is the mystery of God; / God is invisible, unshown, / His image man hath never seen, / But Christ the Son hath made Him known. / Christ is the very Word of God, / He is God’s explanation true; / God’s full embodiment is He / And God’s own image brings to view. (Hymns #818)
  – Christ is the testimony true / Of God in essence and in deed; / God’s glory He has fully shown, / And we in Him God’s nature read. (Hymns #494)
  – Christ is the hope of glory, He is God’s mystery; / He shares with me God’s fulness and brings God into me. / He comes to make me blended with God in every way, / That I may share His glory with Him for aye. (Hymns #949)