God’s Eternal Intention is to Head up All Things in Christ, the Head over All Things

In our seeking before the Lord concerning what is the genuine church life, we need to be realize that the church life is a life of being headed up in Christ, for God wants to head up all things in Christ.

The church is the Body of Christ – this is not an allegory or a figure of speech, but a reality; the church is the organism of God, the Body of Christ. The church is not an organisation but an organism, an organic entity.

And as such a Body, the church is not a “mass of organic matter or beings” called the Body; rather, the church is the Body of a Person, Christ, who is the Head.

When we speak of the Body life, we don’t speak merely of a communal life of believers where all live and function in their measure; the Body life is in direct relationship with the Head. There cannot be a proper Body without a Head.

When we talk about the Body being expressed as the church on earth today, this Body is not a headless Body but it is the Body of a living person, Christ, who is its head. The Head and the Body have a mysterious, profound, intricate, and intimate relationship. Therefore, the genuine church life is a life of being headed up in Christ.

What does it mean to be headed up? When the Bible talks about headship, it is in relation to an organic Body; the Body cannot be without the head, and the Head needs the Body – these two cannot be separated. This is something mysterious and profound.

If we look at ourselves, our physical body, we don’t talk merely about our head, but the whole body with the head; our body is under the heading up of our head, and the body and the head are organically one.

When we speak about the Body life, we need to be conscious of the headship of Christ. How can we talk about a body that is headless? What kind of Body would that be?

Most Christians in their relationship with the Lord are concerned mainly with doing what is good (versus what is evil), spiritual (versus what is fleshly), and right (versus what is wrong); hardly anyone is conscious of the Head, Christ, and being under His headship.

Do we do things merely because they are right and not wrong, good and not evil, and spiritual and not fleshly, or do we consider, Is this matter of the Head, is this under Christ’s headship, and does this issue in His heading up of all things?

Our consciousness is mainly in the realm of morality, ethics, or spirituality, whether something is for the Lord or not; but do we care about whether what we say and do offend the headship of Christ, causing us to be dislodged from being aligned with the Head.

Are we here just as seeking Christians who want to know the Lord, grow in life, and know the Bible, or are we living members of the Body, under Christ as the Head?

We are not here merely as a congregation of Christians but as members of a living Body, having CHrist as our Head, and we are all connected to Him. Our consciousness in the practice of the church life must come to this level, and we must realize the deep and profound relationship between the Body and the Head.

God’s Eternal Intention is to Head up All Things in Christ, the Universal Head of All

God’s purpose is to have the church, for the church fulfills God’s desire and His eternal purpose. If we see this, we need to go further to see that God’s eternal purpose is not only to have the church; the consummate stage is for God to have the church to head up all things in Christ.

This is the ultimate point concerning God’s eternal intention. For us to appreciate such a matter, we need to have a proper view of the whole Bible.

In Genesis 1-2 we see God coming to create the heavens and the earth, and He created man as the center of His creation; man was made in God’s image and according to His likeness, and God gave man authority to rule over all creation.

God’s original intention was to gain a man who, on one hand, would express Him with His image, and on the other, he would be the head over all creation. God wanted man to head up all the creation. He wanted to exercise His dominion through this man over all the creation, including the creeping things.

But unfortunately, as we see in Gen. 3, this man failed God; he was defeated by being seduced by Satan, and God’s purpose was seemingly defeated.

However, God didn’t give up His purpose; four thousand years later He came in the person of His Son to be the Second Man; He went to the cross, defeated Satan, was resurrected from the dead, and in his ascension He was made Lord and Christ!

Christ didn’t just accomplish redemption – when He was resurrected and ascended, He was made Lord and Christ! This is confirmed by Eph. 1 where we see that God raised Him and seated Him at His right hand, and He made Christ Head over all things to the church.

Paul realized that God gave Christ the gift of Headship, to be head over all things, in His ascension; what the first man failed to accomplish, now the second Man will fulfill. Hallelujah, there is a universal Head over all things, which is Jesus the Lord!

At the end of the Bible in Rev. 21-22, in the new heavens and new earth, God and the Lamb are on the throne; the Lamb is a Man – Jesus Christ, and He is sitting on the throne at the top of the universe. There is and will be a Man on the throne, having dominion over all things, as the Head.

At the fulness of the times, in the new heavens and new earth, God and the Lamb (a man), fulfills what God intended in Genesis, which is to head up all things in the universe! This is a brief view of the whole Bible.

The Bible is not merely about how man sinned and God came to save us; the Bible is about God’s intention to have a man to exercise His dominion over all things and rule over all to head them up, and in spite of the failure of the first man, Christ came as the second man to be the Lord and Christ – He was made Head over all things! Hallelujah!

God’s eternal intention is to head up all things in Christ, who has been appointed to be the universal Head (see Eph. 1:10, 22), and He will head up all things in Himself through the church!

Lord, cause us to see Your eternal intention, which is to head up all things in Christ, the One who has been appointed as universal Head over all things! Hallelujah, even though we failed to fulfill God’s original intention, Christ came as the second Man to fulfill it and He was made Head over all things to the church! Lord, we praise You for making us the Body of this glorious enthroned Head over all things! Lord Jesus, we praise You as the Head – You have the Headship, and we are being headed up in Christ!

In the Economy of the Fullness of the Times God will Head Up all Things in Christ

It is God’s eternal purpose that, in the economy of the fullness of the times, He might head up all things in Christ (Eph. 1:10). For this, He has to have the church, for the church is the means through which God will head up all things in Christ.

We must realize that the consummate goal of God is to head up all things in Christ, and when He gains a proper and genuine church, He can arrive at His consummate goal. All the things that God does is for this matter.

All the things God does result in the economy of the fullness of the times. The first step in the heading up of all things is to head us up, the chosen ones; one by one, God rescues us from the heap caused by the universal collapse.

In the economy of God there are three main things related to the church: the church has the sonship, through the church God’s multifarious wisdom is made known to defeat the enemy, and through the church Christ heads up all things.

The heading up of all things in Eph. 1:10 is related to Christ being Head over all things in vv. 22-23. The church as the Body of Christ is one with Christ as the Head for the heading up of all things.

Everything God does is for this heading up of all things; all the things in Eph. 1:1-10 are for this heading up.

God predestinated us unto sonship so that He might head up all things in Christ. God in Christ accomplished redemption for us through the blood of Christ to head up all things in Christ. God has graced us and has caused grace to abound in us in all wisdom and prudence so that He may head up all things in Christ.

We have been chosen, predestinated, redeemed, forgiven, and graced for the purpose of the heading up of all things in Christ. The goal of all that God does is the church, so that through the church He might head up all things in Christ.

In the economy of the fullness of the times, God wants to head up all things in Christ; these times are the ages, such as the age of the fall, the age of law, the age of grace, and the age of the kingdom.

In all these different ages God has an economy, which is His dispensing, His dispensation, to man; in the age of grace God has an economy, to dispense Himself into man to gain the church, so that through the church He may head up all things in Christ.

The fullness of the times refers to the new heavens and new earth with the New Jerusalem, where God and Christ will be on the throne, and from the throne there’s a river of water of life flowing forth to water all the city.

This is the Triune God’s dispensing reaching the climax. He flows out as the river of water of life to supply all the city. Unto such a fullness, such an economy of the fullness of the times, God is heading up all things in Christ.

Through the dispensations of God in all the ages, all things will be headed up in Christ in the new heaven and new earth; this will be God’s eternal administration and economy (Rev. 21:1-2).

Thank You Lord for choosing us, predestinating us, redeeming us, forgiving us, and gracing us so that we may be headed up in Christ! Thank You Lord for rescuing us from the universal heap of collapse and bringing us into the church, which is Your Body. Lord, show us our need to be headed up in Christ in all things. Head us up in little things and in big things. Gain the church as the Body of Christ which is headed up in Christ for the heading up of all things under Christ as the unique universal Head!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 73-76 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Genuine Church Life (2017 Thanksgiving Conference), week 2, The Church Life — a Life of Being Headed Up in Christ.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # In Christ to head up all things / Is our God’s economy; / Taking Christ as Head and center, / All is one in harmony. (Hymns #981)
  # Christ the Savior hath ascended / To the heavens far above, / Crowned with glory and with honor / By the Father God in love; / He hath made Him Head of all things, / His supremacy to prove. (Hymns #277)
  # Oh, what a preeminent Christ! / You have the first place in all things. / Your name is above every name, / Exalted by God, Lord and King. / My portion is Yourself alone, / Allotted by God in the light. / I hold You as my Head today. / Lord, You are my focus, my life. (Song on, Oh, What a Preeminent Christ)