Ultimately, God’s will in the universe is to head up all things in Christ through the church as the Body of Christ; for this, we first need to be delivered from the heap of collapse and headed up in Christ.
Our God has a great, eternal will, and this will has to do with what He wants, what He intends to do.
What is God’s will? When we hear of God’s will, we may immediately consider what is God’s will for me, for my family, or for the church we’re in; but God has a will for Himself, for what He wants to do and accomplish.
According to the Bible, God’s will is to have Christ and the church, that is, to have Christ as everything to us and the church as the Body of Christ as His corporate expression.
What God wants is to gain a corporate expression in man.
However, if we look around us in the world, in society, at work, at school, on the street, and many times also in the churches on earth, we see a lot of chaos, confusion, and mixture.
We do not see Christ expressed or magnified, neither do we see that God’s will is being carried out.
So God’s will is ultimately to head up all things in Christ, and He does it through the church as the Body of Christ. Everything is moving toward this.
Today we are surrounded by certain things such as confusion, chaos, panic, fear, inhumanity of people, etc and we see the depth of degradation, showing us that the enemy is actively at work.
But Eph. 1:10 clearly says that God will head up all things in Christ and, as the context of this verse shows, He will do this through the church.
Because of the rebellion of the angel who became the devil, together with the principalities and powers in his kingdom and all the demons, and the rebellion of fallen human beings, a heap of collapse was brought in.
The whole universe is in a heap of collapse, and no matter how “high up the food chain” you may be, you’re still there in this heap of collapse.
But God has a will, and in His will He wants to head up all things in Christ through the church.
Every single thing, detail, person, matter, and situation needs to be headed up in Christ; this is God wants – this is not a theory but it is His will, and He is actively working to gain the church being headed up in Christ so that through the church He may head up all things in the universe.
God wants, wills, and intends to head up all things in Christ, and He will do this through the church.
On our side, however, we may either allow Christ to get through in us, or we will block Him.
God will not act alone; He makes His desire known to man, and He waits for the church to pray.
In a sense, therefore, we determine whether God can move or not, whether we release Him on earth or hinder Him. It is time for the church to be headed up in Christ – not by organisation or hierarchy, but in God’s way.
God Intends to Head up all things in Christ: We need to be Delivered from the Heap of Collapse and Headed up in Christ
God’s eternal intention is to head up all things in Christ; He has appointed Him to be the universal Head, and in the economy of the fullness of the times, He wants to head up all things in Him (Eph. 1:10, 22).
May we see this: may we see and know Christ as the universal Head, the God-man Jesus on the throne as the Head over all things to the church!
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).
God’s ultimate goal is being carried out in stage after stage, in age after age; in the time before the law, the age of the law, the age of the church, and the kingdom age, God will head up all things in Christ.
The age we are in today is called the age of grace, the age of the church, and the age of mystery; what God is doing today is not outward or visible, but it is a spiritual reality!
Ultimately, after the age of the kingdom, there will be a new heaven and new earth, and the earth will be filled with His righteousness!
Every negative thing – including death itself – will be in the lake of fire, and everything will be headed up by the Head, who is our Husband; we are the wife of the Head!
Satan’s goal, however, is to corrupt God’s creation and to cause confusion (Rom. 8:19-23).
Just look around you: there’s confusion, panic, and chaos, with fake news and misinformation leading to all kinds of troubles and negative things happening.
May we react to these things simply by telling the Lord,
Oh Lord, head us all up in You! Head us up as we have never experienced before. Head up all the saints in all the local churches! Head up all the leading brothers, every co-worker, every full-time serving one, and every saint! Amen, Lord, head us up so that You can take a further step to deal with the chaos and confusion caused by the enemy!
The entire universe is in a heap of collapse caused by Satan injecting himself as the factor of death into God’s creation (Heb. 2:14; Rom. 8:20-21).
But God is working to liberate His creation from bondage and to bring it into liberty by heading up all things in Christ.
We all need to be delivered from the heap of collapse and be headed up in Christ (Col. 1:12-13).
God doesn’t just want to head up all things out there somewhere in Christ – He wants to head up all things in Christ in us, rescuing us out of the heap of collapse and heading us up in Christ.
So we need to tell the Lord,
Lord, save me from the heap of collapse! Save me from any chaos or disorder in my being and in my living! Amen, Lord, head me up in Christ! Lord, save all the saints from the heap of collapse! Deliver us all from remaining in this universal collapse. Deliver the young people, the young adults, the middle-aged saints, the elders, and all the saints from the universal collapse! Oh Lord, this is our cry: this is Your will, and we pray for Your will to be done on earth!
God’s salvation is to save us not only from our fallen, sinful condition, but also from the heap of collapse.
There are so many things in our being, in our living, and in our habits that are part of the heap of collapse; we spend so much time in things that are in rebellion against God, contrary to His nature, and devoid of Him.
May we give Him prayers of cooperation so that He would head us up more and more in Christ in all our daily living, in our experience, and in everything we do and say.
Whether we are financially poor or wealthy, whether we are old or young in age, and whether we are mature in the Lord or young in Him, we still need to be headed up in Christ in more and more things in our being, in our daily living, and in our speaking and work.
Taking the Lead to be Headed up in Christ so that God would Head up all things in Christ through the Church
The fact that God wants to head up all things in Christ has very much to do with us, for God will subject all things under Christ by heading up all things in Christ through the church as the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 15:20-28).
When the Body is built up and expressed through the local churches in a proper way, when we all are in the spirit of the one Body, we will pray for this heading up both personally and corporately.
This heading up starts with us; just as 1 Pet. 4:17 says that judgement begins from the house of God, so the heading up of all things in Christ begins from the church.
Even in this pandemic situation we’re in right now, in the lockdown in our own home, the Lord wants not only to preserve and protect us, but that He would gain us, He would get through in us, He would cause us to grow in life, and He would head us up.
So why not tell Him,
Lord Jesus, grow in me! Lord, gain more ground in me! Day by day, while this situation is going on, gain more ground in me for the Body! Head me up in all things in Christ! Build up Your Body, Lord, and head us all up in Christ!
God is heading up His chosen ones to be the Body of Christ with Christ as the Head (Eph. 1:4, 22-23).
Christ’s headship is being transmitted to the church (He is Head over all things TO the church); this means that, in a sense, we can share the headship of Christ over all things.
First we are being headed up, then we participate in this headship by being the channel through which Christ heads up all things.
The church is under nothing and no one but Christ Himself; we are above everything else because we are the Body of the One who is over all things.
We may be in this situation today but we are not under this situation and we are not ruled by it; rather, we are under the Head, Christ, and as the church we are above this situation! Amen!
We are ascended with Christ, seated with Him on the throne, and we pray from the position of the ascension for the heading up of all things in Christ!
The first step in the heading up of all things in Christ is for God to bring His chosen ones, His sons, out of the universal collapse and to place them under the headship of Christ (Eph. 4:15; 5:23; Col. 1:18; 2:10, 19).
So we need to take the lead to be headed up in Christ; we do this by opening to the Lord and telling Him,
Lord, preserve us and all the saints in this crooked and perverted generation, and head us all up in You! Head up the young people, the young adults, and all the saints in You! Head up all the saints in Christ so that through the church You may head up all things! Deliver the high-schoolers and the college students from the heap of collapse they are in. Show them what this heap of collapse is, and do something that only You can do to deliver them! Amen, Lord, we are the channel – only You are the Head, and You can head us up!
When the church takes the lead to be headed up in Christ, God has a way to head up all other things.
We know that the Lord Jesus said that He is the way to the Father, but according to Eph. 1:10 we can see that we the church are the way for Christ to head up more things in Christ.
This doesn’t mean that, automatically, as we are in the local churches, we are part of this channel that God has to head up all things in Christ.
We can be a barrier to this even without realizing it – we would never do this deliberately, but we may just be lazy and not cooperate with the Lord.
If we are not willing to be touched thoroughly by the Lord, our being is a barrier; if we do not pray the prayers that God needs to activate His government and the heading up, our not praying is a barrier.
But when we present ourselves to the Lord and tell Him,
Lord, I don’t want to be a barrier or a hindrance to Your heading up of all things in Christ through the church. You know my being, Lord; touch in me anything that is a barrier, anything that is a hindrance, and anything that would damage the church. Lord, I don’t want to be a hindrance in the prayer meeting or in the Lord’s Table meeting, sitting passively in the meeting! You must get through! Use the situation we are in to get through, so that You may have a way to head up all other things in Christ! Enable us to be the way for You to head up all things in Christ!
The church is the vessel used by God to solve His problems and to fulfill His purpose, which is to manifest Himself through man by mingling Himself with man (Eph. 3:9-11).
We are not the solution – we are the vessel for the solution to be carried out. Eventually, the Body with Christ as the Head will be the universal Head over all things. Wow, Hallelujah!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 12, 14, 333 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Will of God (2020 spring ITERO), week 1, The Mystery of God’s Will in the Universe Ultimately Being to Head Up All Things in Christ through the Church as the Body of Christ.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, / To head up all things in Christ, / The things in the heavens in Him; / Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, / To head up all things in Christ / And the things on the earth, in Him. (Song on, Unto the Economy)
– Thru the Church which is His Body / Christ as Head will sum up all; / All will fitly join together, / All things either great or small. / Under Christ, by His full headship, / All in union will subsist; / In the light the Church expresses / All in oneness will exist. (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)
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