Eph. 1:10 Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him.
Christ in ascension is continually dispensing and transmitting all that He is and has accomplished into every member of His Body, the church. The great goal of this divine transmission is none other than the heading up of all things in Christ (see Eph. 1:10).
God’s desire is to head up all things in Christ – the things in the heaven, the things on the earth, and all things and people in the universe. For this, He needs a Body – of which Christ is the Head and the church is the Body.
Today we as believers in Christ need to take the lead to be headed up in Christ – we need to be saved from the heap of collapse and from the degraded situation by being daily under the sweet divine dispensing of all God is into us. As we receive the divine dispensing, the factor of the divine life comes into us and heads us up little by little.
To us as human beings it seems impossible to head all people and things in Christ, but with God all things are possible (see Mark 10:27). He is working tirelessly throughout the ages to gain a people who are members of His Body, those who are constantly under His intimate stewardship, under His pleasant dispensing and divine transmission.
It is not mainly by outward controlling or by governmental administration that God is heading up all things in Christ, but it is by the sweet divine dispensing, so fine and so pleasant. As we keep the oneness of the Spirit, the Lord has a way to first head us – as His Body – up, and then through us He will head up all things in Christ at the fullness of the times.
God is Heading Up All Things in Christ Through the Body of Christ
God’s eternal purpose and the goal of His economy to accomplish that purpose is that He would head up all things in Christ at the fullness of the times. Christ was made by God the Head over all things, and now God is working to head up all things in Christ.
If you look around you and read the news though, it is clear that the entire humanity – and the whole universe – is in a state of collapse. Creation is subject to corruption, man is dying, violence is everywhere, there’s only bad news, and Satan seems to be prevailing. Man cannot even head up his own family – there are so many divorces, problems, and evil things happening.
But Christ is the Head over all things, and He is constantly transmitting all He is and has accomplished into a group of people who are open to Him, the church. The heading up of all things – as impossible as it seems to be – is done by God through a universal man, where Christ is the Head and the church is the Body.
Apart from Christ and His headship and His transmission, everything is in a heap of collapse. But we in the church life need to take the lead to keep the oneness of the Spirit, being one with all the believers in Christ under Him as the Head (Eph. 4:3).
God blesses the oneness – when we are one, God has an instrument, a means, and a sphere in which He can head up all things in Christ. The Lord Jesus prayed for this oneness in John 17 – He prayed that all His believers would stay under the divine transmission of the Triune God so that they may be one, and God may have a testimony.
To take Christ as the Head means that we give Him the first place in all things and we love Him with the first love. When we open to the Lord and enjoy His constant transmission and dispensing of Himself into us, we are headed up in Christ in all things.
When we keep the oneness of the Body under Christ’s headship, God has a way to head us up and He has an instrument, a channel, and a sphere to head up all things in Christ through the Body of Christ.
Being Headed Up in Christ by Constantly Receiving His Divine Dispensing
Rom 8:21 in hope that the creation itself will also be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God
In Ezek. 37 we see a vision of a valley full of dry bones – they are dead, dry, and detached. But when the breath of life comes into them, flesh grows on them, life comes into them, and they are built up as a great army.
When the Lord is transmitting and dispensing Himself into us, no matter how dead, dry, and detached we may be, the factor of life comes into us! We just need to be under the divine dispensing and transmission so that the factor of life may come in and operate in us, heading us up in Christ.
The key is to eat Christ as the tree of life and drink Him as the river of water of life, and the more life we receive, the higher we rise – we are being headed up in Christ.
The way God carry out His New Testament economy to head up all things in Christ is NOT mainly by outward control or by His governmental administration, but by a sweet and intimate dispensing of Himself as life into us. God wants to head up all things in Christ by dispensing Himself into us as life.
In the church life today we enjoy a foretaste of the coming dispensation as we eat and drink Christ – we are under an intimate household arrangement enjoying a pleasant dispensing of God into man. God is not “beating us into subordination” that we may obey Him – He is looking for open and willing people who receive His dispensing, and the factor of the divine life will operate in them to head them up in Christ.
In the fullness of the times – at the end of this age and at the beginning of the kingdom age – God is looking for a people who are willing to be headed up in Christ by constantly receiving His dispensing and transmission.
The whole creation is groaning, anxiously watching us and eagerly awaiting the revelation of the sons of God – the whole creation and the entire universe wants to be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (see Rom. 8:19-22).
As we receive God’s divine dispensing today, we take the lead as the head of creation to be headed up in Christ. When God has a solid group of believers as His Body who are headed up in Christ, He can then head up all things through Christ and His Body.
This is something far beyond our understanding or comprehension, and it may seem so “unrealistic” and impossible – but it is a fact, and God will accomplish this. Just stay under the sweet divine dispensing, enjoying the Lord as your life and everything, and let the factor of life operate in you to bring you under Christ as the Head together with all the other members of the Body.
Lord Jesus, head us up today by Your sweet divine dispensing. Keep us under Your sweet family arrangement and dispensing that we may receive Your life factor to enable us to be headed up in Christ! Lord, head up all things in us and about us in You! We want to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the Body so that You may have a means and an instrument to head us up and to head up all things. Lord, dispense more of Yourself into us, and may Your life factor in us operate to bring us under You as the Head.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration (besides the Word of God and my Christian experience): bro. Dick Taylor’s speaking in this message and portions from, Life-study of Luke (pp. 662-664), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Entering into the Fourth Stage of the Experience of Life to Arrive at a Full-Grown Man for the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose, week 3 / msg 3, The Fourth Stage of the Experience of Life (2) – Knowing the Ascension.
- Further reading on this topic: The Issue of the Dispensing of the Processed Trinity and the Transmitting of the Transcending Christ, ch. 4; Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs, ch. 5.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Drink! A river pure and clear that’s flowing from the throne; / Eat! The tree of life with fruits abundant, richly grown; / Look! No need of lamp nor sun nor moon to keep it bright, for / Here there is no night!
# In His Christ to head up all things / Is our God’s economy; / Taking Christ as Head and Center, / All is one in harmony.
# Little by little, / The Lord is cutting off all our natural life; / As we grow in Him, / He replaces us with more of His life divine. / It is our destiny, / To live a normal life in the divine dispensing, / It is a blessing, / To be satisfied with ordinary days / In the divine dispensing.
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