Our Life is Hidden with Christ in God; we need to Take Christ as Life and Live Him

As believers in Christ, our life is the Christ who dwells within us, and this life is hidden with Christ in God; we need to take Him as life and live by Him in our daily life.

When we were regenerated, we were brought into another realm, the realm of the divine life, the realm of God. In this realm we are one with Christ, we are organically joined to Him, and we both respond to and cooperate with what He is doing in the heavens today.

Our Christian life is simply a learning to live by setting our mind on the things which are above, where Christ is; as we set our mind on the things above, we are one with the Lord in His heavenly ministry.

The Gospels show us the Lord’s earthly ministry, what He did, what He spoke, how He was, and what were the processes He went through. In the Epistles and in Revelation we see what the Lord is doing right now in the heavens, in His heavenly ministry.

First, He is the High Priest interceding for us so that we may grow in life, fulfill God’s purpose, and be made into the Body of Christ that He desires in this age. He intercedes for all the saints and for all the churches.

Second, He is the heavenly Minister and He ministers the heavenly things, the divine supply, for all His believers to enjoy and go on with the Lord. So on one hand He prays for us and intercedes for us to go on, and on the other, He supplies us and dispenses Himself into us so that we may go on.

Third, He is the universal Administrator of God’s government to accomplish God’s purpose; as such a One, He arranges all things and works all things on earth for God’s purpose to be fulfilled.

How can we respond to His heavenly ministry, and how can we cooperate with Him? It is by setting our mind on the things which are above, where Christ is.

Our mind is set too much on the things which are below, on earth, and on things that have no eternal value; when we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord and we set our mind on the things which are above, we respond to the Lord’s heavenly ministry and we cooperate with Him on earth.

When our mind is set on the things above, we will pray one with Him for the things, situations, and people that He is praying for; He prays in us, we pray in Him, and we intercede one with Him for what is on His heart.

When our mind is set on the things above, we open to Him to receive His supply, and we cooperate with Him to minister the riches of Christ to the saints for their growth in life.

When our mind is set on the things above, we become the “embassies” of our “heavenly headquarters” in the heavens at the throne, and we execute on earth the decisions of the throne by praying one with the Lord for His will to be done and for His kingdom to come.

Our Life is Hidden with Christ in God; we need to Take Christ as Life and Live Him

Our life as believers in Christ is the Christ who dwells in us; our human life is here, we are still alive humanly, but this life will pass away – the real life is Christ as our life.

Col. 3:3-4 tells us that Christ is our life, and our life is hidden with Christ in God! So at this moment in time, our life is hidden with Christ in God; we should not be merely outward Christians, those who do things for others to see, but we should live a hidden life with the Lord.

The Christ hidden in God is typified by the manna hidden in the golden pot (see Exo. 16:32-34; Rev. 2:17).

In the Old Testament God told Moses to take an omerfull of manna and put it in a golden pot, which had to be put in the ark, which was in the Holy of Holies, the innermost part of the tabernacle.

So the manna was really hidden – it was in the ark, in the Holy of Holies, in the Tabernacle. This hidden manna was a type of our life – Christ as our life, which is hidden with Christ in God.

Christ is the hidden manna; He is in God the Father as the golden pot. Gold signifies the divine nature; the fact that the manna was in the golden pot signifies that Christ is in God, hidden in God.

The Father is in Christ, the incarnated Christ with the divine and the human nature, just as the golden pot was in the ark (the Ark is a type of Christ with its acacia wood – typifying the human nature – overlaid with gold – typifying the divine nature).

The Holy of Holies is a type of our spirit indwelt by and regenerated by the Holy Spirit; Christ is in our spirit, just as the Ark was in the Holy of Holies. Christ as the indwelling Spirit lives in our regenerated spirit to be the reality of the Holy of Holies. Praise the Lord!

This is spoken of in a mysterious way by the Lord Jesus in John 14:16-20, where He said that He is in the Father (just as the hidden manna was in the golden pot), the Father is in Him (just as the golden pot was in the Ark), and He is in us (just as the Ark was the Holy of Holies), and the Spirit indwells us (our human spirit indwelt by the Spirit is the reality of the Holy of Holies).

What a mysterious matter and yet what a wonderful reality! Christ our life is hidden in God, God is in Christ, Christ is in us, and the Spirit as Christ with God the Father indwells us.

The way for us to be incorporated into this reality and live in this divine-human incorporation is for us to eat Christ as the hidden manna (John 15:5, 7; 8:31; 6:57, 63; 14:23).

When we eat Christ, we live by Him and because of Him, and we are incorporated into God as God lives in us. When we eat Christ as the hidden manna, we are incorporated into Him for the mutual abode of God and man.

Christ is our life; Christ as our life is hidden with Christ in God. The fact that Christ is our life is a strong indication that we are to take Him as life and live by Him so that we may live Him out in our daily life (Col. 3:4).

Christ must be our life in a practical and experiential way – day by day we need to be saved in His life (1 Cor. 15:45; Rom. 5:10).

Day by day we need to take Christ as our life and live Him out; we need to eat Him and live because of Him, and we need to take Him as our life and live by Him.

The spontaneous issue of our taking Christ as our life and living him is the one new man, the corporate entity in which Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:3-4, 10-11).

Lord Jesus, You are our life. We want to seek to know You and experience You as our life. May we know and experience our real life which is hidden with Christ in God. Amen, Lord Jesus, keep us eating You as the hidden manna so that we may be incorporated into God and become part of the dwelling place of God and man. We take You as our life and live by You so that You may live in us and we may live You out. Lord, be our life in a practical and experiential way every day. Save us in Your life and live in us for the one new man!

Our Destiny is Glory: Christ is Leading us into Glory for us to be Manifested with Him in Glory!

The consummate issue of our taking Christ as life and living Him is glory; our destiny is glory, and Christ today is leading us into glory for us to be manifested with Him in glory (Heb. 2:10; Col. 3:4).

Christ our life is hidden today, for our life is hidden with Christ in God. But one day, when He as our life is manifested, we also will be manifested with Him in glory, and we will be fully glorified. Hallelujah!

On one hand today we should not make an open display of our life in Christ but rather, we should live a life that is hidden with Christ in God.

On the other hand, one day is coming when Christ our life is manifested, and we will be manifested with Him in glory. Praise the Lord!

Seeing this and realising this, we need to not be like the people in the world, being concerned so much with the earthly things, being anxious, and seeking so many different things.

In the book of Colossians we see that some were seeking religion, culture, self-made virtues (which are equivalent to today’s self-help), bettering yourself, Gnosticism, externalism, materialism, the worship of angels, etc…

This is what we see around us today – everything that we see around us today, even in Christianity in general, is outward. Many Christians put on a display, do works of charity and outward things for others to see, and many of the things that Christians do today are material and physical.

But we as believers in Christ are in a different realm – we’re in the divine and mystical realm, an invisible realm, where we live, and here Christ is our life, and our life is hidden with Christ in God.

When some hear about this they may say we’re “escapists”, trying to escape reality because we can’t handle it, trying to escape the global climate change catastrophe, not being concerned with who is elected to lead the country, etc.

We are not trying to escape reality – we live in the reality, in the mingled spirit, taking Christ as our life for the one new man, and we take Christ as our reality!

We are not that much concerned about the outward things but we bring everything to God in prayer, and we want to live Christ as we take Him as our life. We are people full of hope, for Christ is in us, the hope of glory, and our destiny is glory! Hallelujah!

Today, however, we should not make a show but remain hidden in God, waiting for the time when we shall arrive at our destination and thus enter into glory with Christ.

Then, at the divinely-ordained time for the manifestation of the glory of the sons of God, we will enter into glory with Him, and we will be manifested with Him. Praise the Lord!

Hallelujah, our destiny as believers in Christ is glory, and today Christ is leading us into glory to be manifested with Him in glory! Lord, we look away from the things around us, from our situation, and even from our condition – we look away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, the One who is able to save us to the uttermost and who leads us into glory! We want to live a life hidden with Christ in God and led by You day by day into glory! Amen, Lord, we are full of hope, for Christ as our hope of glory dwells in us!

Read this article in the Romanian language / citiți acest articol și în limba română la următorul link, Viața noastră este ascunsă cu Cristos în Dumnezeu; trebuie să-L luăm pe Cristos ca viață și să-L trăim.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Issue of Christ Being Glorified by the Father with the Divine Glory,” pp. 340-341, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing and Experiencing the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ (2019 Thanksgiving Conference), week 6 on the topic of, Knowing and Experiencing the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ as Our Life and as the Constituent of the New Man.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Set your mind on the things which are above, / Not on the things which are on the earth. / For you died, and your life is / Hidden with Christ in God. (Scripture song)
  – There’s a Man in the glory / Whose Life is for me. / His peace is abiding; / How patient is He! / He’s joyful and radiant, / Expecting to see / His Life in the glory / Lived out in me; / His Life in the glory / Lived out in me. (Hymns #505)
  – Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me, / For my very life art Thou; / Thee I take to all my problems / As the full solution now. / Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me, / In all things Thy will be done; / I but a transparent vessel / To make visible the Son. (Hymns #403)