As the Body of Christ, the church is the enlargement of Christ, the enlargement of the One who is the mingling of God and man. God’s purpose is to mingle Himself with His chosen people so that He would become their life, nature, and content, and so that they would become His corporate expression.
The Lord Jesus as the first God-man was the mingling of God and man; in Him people saw a man who was not very attractive outwardly but who had God shining from within. In the Lord Jesus, somehow in a mysterious way the divine Being of God was mingled with the human being of man; in Him divinity was mingled with humanity, and God was expressed through man in a wonderful way.
Jesus Christ is the beginning of the mingling of God with man. The church as the Body of Christ was produced through Christ’s death and resurrection, and all believers in Christ were regenerated at the same time in God’s eyes: in the resurrection of Christ (1 Pet. 1:3).
Now we as the many believers in Christ are Christ’s duplication, reproduction, and continuation, and we as the church are the mingling of God and man.
In the four Gospels we see the individual mingling of God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the book of Acts we see the enlargement and spread of the mingling of God and man through the disciples, the Body of Christ.
The first five books of the New Testament speak of one great corporate person who is the mingling of God and man: in the Gospels we see the Head of the Body, Christ, and in the book of Acts we see the enlargement and continuation of the Head, the Body of Christ.
Hallelujah, the church is the enlargement of the principle of God being mingled with man and man being mingled with God! If we see this we will open to the Lord and we will allow Him to mingle Himself more with us every day.
If we really see that the church is the enlargement and spread of the mingling of God with man to produce the Body of Christ, we will spend time with the Lord and allow Him to dispense Himself into us in His word, in prayer, in the meetings, in singing, with much exercise of our spirit, so that we can be mingled with God more!
The Church is the Enlargement of Christ, who is the Mingling of God and Man
God’s desire and purpose throughout the ages is to gain a group of people who would be one with Him to express Him and represent Him on earth, and the way He accomplishes His purpose is by mingling Himself with man.
Before the Lord Jesus came, there was very little mingling of God with man; Christ was the very God mingled with man, and in Him we have the beginning of the principle of God being mingled with man. The Lord Jesus was a man who lived a normal human life as the son of a carpenter from Galilee; inwardly, God was mingled with Him and was expressed through Him in His human living.
Through His death and resurrection Christ was increased and reproduced in many believers to form the Body of Christ. Through death Christ’s human shell was broken and in resurrection the many believers in Christ were produced as the expression of God’s glory in Christ (see John 12:24 and footnote).
In the Gospels we see the wonderful person of the Lord Jesus as the first God-man, the mingling of God and man. In Matthew we see Jesus Christ as the King-Savior, in Mark He is the Slave-Savior, in Luke He is the Man-Savior, and in John He is God the Savior coming as life to propagate Himself.
This wonderful One who needs four books for His biography was enlarged to become the Body of Christ composed of the many believers in Christ – starting with the disciples and all the way until today. In the Gospels we see the mingling of God and man producing the Head, Christ, and in Acts we see the enlargement of the mingling of God and man producing the Body of Christ.
In Acts we don’t see merely some activities that the followers of Jesus did here and there but the propagation of the resurrected Christ in His ascension, by the Spirit, through the disciples, for the producing of the churches, the kingdom of God (see the subject of Acts in Recovery Version Bible).
In the Gospels and Acts we see a complete picture of a great corporate man: Christ as the Head and the many believers in Christ as the Body of Christ, the enlargement of Christ (see Eph. 1:22-23; 4:15-16).
Throughout the ages Christ has been enlarged in humanity, and today there are millions of members of the Body of Christ who have Christ as their life within. In time, the church as the Body of Christ is extending, and in space, this enlargement is spreading.
The enlargement of Christ is the church as the Body of Christ; the church is nothing else but God mingled with man, the reproduction of Christ as the God-man for the living out and corporate expression of God in humanity.
May we really see this great corporate man in the Gospels and the Acts, and may we realize that today we’re the continuation of Acts – we as the church are the Body of Christ, the increase and enlargement of Christ, the mingling of God with man!
Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to be the first God-man, the beginning of the mingling of God with man. Thank You for regenerating us through Your resurrection to produce us as the many members of the Body of Christ, the enlargement of the mingling of God with man. Oh Lord, mingle Yourself more with us today. Make us channels of life who also bring others into the mingling of God with man. Increase the mingling among us, spread the mingling all over the earth, and extend the mingling in time so that You may gain Your corporate expression through the Body of Christ!
Allowing God to Mingle Himself with us to Be the Church, the Body of Christ
All the believers in Christ, those regenerated by God with His divine life, are God-men; we are mysterious people since we are human beings with God as our life within us. Wow, the very source of life in the universe lives in our spirit today, mingling Himself with us to make us the Body of Christ!
The Bible clearly says that the Lord is with our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22) and Christ is our life (Col. 3:4). Furthermore, the Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God (Rom. 8:16), and we are joined to the Lord as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).
Whether we know this or not, we as believers in Christ are the organism of the Triune God composed of people who have the very God as the Spirit indwelling their spirit. This is so wonderful and amazing!
If we see that we are members of the Body of Christ, the organism of the Triune God, we will allow the Lord to mingle Himself with us more and more each day.
If we realize that the church as the Body of Christ is the organism of the Triune God, we will never ask others, “What church you go to?”, “Where is your church?”, “What is your position in the church?”, “Who is your pastor?”, or anything like that, because these have NOTHING to do with the church. The church is, simply put, a group of people who allow God to be mingled with them and who are mingled with God.
The early apostles were not educated, bold, or outspoken people, but when God was mingled with them, they spoke with power and God saved many and brought them into the church. We may not be much outwardly in man’s eyes, but we have God mingled with us, and the glory of God is expressed through the church.
Our education, culture, background, and opinions all disappear, and the glorious and great God is mingled with us to be expressed through us. Daily, we need to allow God to mingle Himself with us to be the church, the Body of Christ, the corporate expression of God in humanity. Amen!
Lord Jesus, mingle Yourself with us more today. We allow You to mingle Yourself more with us for the producing and building up of the church the Body of Christ. May the Christ as the Spirit who is with our spirit spread into all our being to mingle Himself with all our inward parts and constitute us with God for the building up of the church. Lord, we are so privileged to have the very source of life, God Himself, being mingled with us day by day! Praise the Lord!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Church as the Body of Christ, chs. 3, 5, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Vision, Practice, and Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, week 9 / msg 9, The Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ (3) – The Organic Building by the Growth of Life and the Mingling of God and Man and the Lord’s Need of Overcomers to Care for the Body and Build Up the Body.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Christ is God incarnated, / How wonderful! How marvellous! / Incarnated so that He could / Live inside of you and me, / He’s mingling now with us. (Song on the Mingling of God and Man)
# As the branches of the grapevine / Are its outward spread, / With it one, abiding, bearing / Clusters in its stead; / So the Church’s many members / Christ’s enlargement are, / One with Him in life and living, / Spreading Him afar. (Hymns #819)
# From the fruit of daily living, New Jerusalem we’ll see, / It’s the ultimate in mingling—it’s divine humanity. / And what joy that we can share it all, and share it corporately. / Yes, mingling is the way. (Hymns #1199)
About aGodMan
Please remember that the church is not a matter of name, position, or stand; neither is the church a matter of belief or organization. The church is a group of people who allow God to be mingled with them and who are mingled with God. This was the situation with the early apostles. They were truly Galileans, but they were also truly one with the God of heaven; they had the appearance of Galileans, but they also had the expression of the God of heaven. The glory of the God of heaven was expressed in uneducated, common people. Uneducated, common people were still present, yet the glory of the God of heaven was also expressed. This is the church. The ignorance disappeared, and common people were broken. A glorious and great God was now mingled with common people, shining forth and being expressed through them. (Witness Lee, The Church as the Body of Christ, p. 46)
Amen. How wonderful and how marvelous, that the Triune God, drew us to Himself, to reveal His Son to us, in His redemption for us and in His life-imparting, to mingle Himself with us, His Spirit dwelling within our spirit making His home into our hearts. In His resurrection, Christ as the first God-man became a life-giving Spirit, to reproduce Himself into us as the church, the Body of Christ. The key factor is not our knowing, but our loving Him, who first loved us and gave Himself up for us. The more we love the Lord Jesus, the more He mingles Himself with us and we with Him. In this way, the way of mingling Himself with us, God’s heart desire will be fulfill, to have a Body the church, which expresses and represent Him in life and nature but not in the Godhead or as an object of worship. Hallelujah! Lord Jesus, we want to love You more than we did the day before. Lord Jesus, we love You Lord, thanking You for having first loved us.
Lord Jesus, mingle Yourself with us more today, and we in You. Lord Jesus, You are the way, the reality and the life, You are the life-giving Spirit now dwelling within our spirit, making Your home in our hearts, and making us Your dwelling place, a dwelling place of God in spirit. Lord Jesus, strengthen the saints with power by Your Spirit into our inner man and build up Your Body, the church, in all the localities, as Your testimony of the mingling of God with man and man with God. Lord Jesus, You are the first God-man and we are Your reproduction and duplication. Lord Jesus, …..