We need to see the central vision of the completing ministry of Paul, because this central vision is the essence of the Lord’s recovery. The fact that the Lord needs a recovery means that there has been much damage and loss being done throughout the history of the church, and today the Lord wants to have a restoration, a return to the normal condition.
The Lord today desires to have an overcoming bride – He is calling for overcomers (see Rev. 2 and 3), the constituents of His Bride, the normal Christians. We need to be brought to normality – an overcomer is a normal Christian (not a super-Christian).
Today we need to have a normal Christian faith, live a normal Christian life, and have a normal Christian church life. In order for us to be recovered at the normal condition a Christian and a church should be in God’s eyes, we need to have the central vision of Paul’s completing ministry.
Paying the Price to See the Central Vision
We need to be willing to pay the price to see the central vision. Paul was not disobedient to the heavenly vision even in front of the king (Acts 26:19), and we need to see such a vision, a heavenly vision, to which we cannot be disobedient.
As the Lord counsels us in Rev. 3:18, we all need to come to the Lord and buy eye salve. This means we need to pay a price to buy eye salve from the Lord so that we may see. This is not an easy thing to do or get, rather, we need to enter through the narrow gate and walk on the constricted way (Matt. 7:13-14) by being willing to see the heavenly vision.
Seeing the vision depends on our willingness to see it. The way of Christianity today is broad, and it is easy to find; but the way of receiving the central vision is costly and constricted, and few are those who find it. We need to tell the Lord,
Lord, I want to buy from You the Spirit as the eye salve. Anoint my eyes to see the central vision of Paul’s completing ministry! Lord, make me one of those few who find the narrow gate and walk the narrow way! Show us the vision as You showed Apostle Paul!
Having an Upper Room Consecration
For us to be in reality in the Lord’s recovery, in what the Lord is doing today to recover us to the normal situation of a Christian in the church life, we need to have the upper room consecration.
We shouldn’t focus too much on the many works necessary in the church like: serving practically, gaining an increase, raising up more churches, etc. They are necessary and we need to take care of them, but our focus is the central vision of the completing ministry of Paul, which is the essence of the Lord’s recovery.
Unless we have the upper room consecration today, unless we are the overcomers answering the Lord’s call in this age today, the Lord’s recovery will end up like the pitiful situation in Christianity today.
The Lord needs those who overcome – He is calling for the overcomers. It is one thing to be in the church life enjoying the Lord with the saints and it is another thing to be an overcomer in the church life. For this, we need a special and a specific consecration, even an extraordinary consecration.
Peter and the other 119 gathered in the upper room gave up the religion of their forefathers, gave up their country, their relationships with their neighbors, friends, and relatives, and they even risked their life to be in the upper room and see the vision (Acts 1:13).
We need to pay the price to see the heavenly vision by having the upper room consecration. As soon as we are WILLING to pay the price to buy the eye salve, we will see! The crucial matter is the willingness to pay the price.
Lord Jesus, by Your mercy, I will buy the eye salve. I am willing, Lord, to pay the price to be in the upper room to see the central vision. I don’t want to be perishing because of the lack of vision. Lord, here I am, I consecrate myself to You! Show me the central vision as You did with the Apostle Paul!
The Central Vision: the Great Mystery, Christ and the Church
The central vision of Paul’s completing ministry concerns Christ as the mystery of God (see Col. 1:25-27; 2:2) and the church as the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4) – this is the great mystery of Christ and the church (Eph. 5:32). Nowhere in the Bible can we see this mystery as we see it in Paul’s writings.
We need a spirit of wisdom and revelation to see this mystery. God is a mystery, and Christ is the mystery of God (Col. 2:9). Christ as the embodiment of God to express Him in all His fullness is the mystery of God. Christ Himself is also a mystery – simply read the Bible, you will see how mysterious Christ is. The church as the Body of Christ is Christ’s fullness, the mystery of Christ, fully expressing Christ (Eph. 3:4).
This mystery – Christ and the church, the great mystery – is God’s economy! God’s economy is to dispense Christ (as the embodiment of the Triune God) into God’s chosen people to produce the Body of Christ (the increase of God’s embodiment in Christ) for God to have a corporate expression in humanity (1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 3:8-9).
God is a mystery; Christ is a mystery; the church is a mystery. This means that we as the church are a mystery within a mystery! Yet this mystery can be revealed and be real today on earth! Paul said in Phil. 1:20 that he wants Christ to be magnified in his body – he wants Christ to be expressed in him without limitation.
When we enjoy Christ as our patience, love, joy, peace, etc, these attributes become unlimited because Christ fills them and is expressed through them. Even while in prison Paul extolled Christ, made Christ be enlarged and magnified in his body, and that magnification of Christ was his living by Christ in an unlimited way even in his limiting circumstances.
God is a mystery, but Christ displayed Him. Christ is inexhaustless, and when we enjoy Him and live Him Christ is expressed in us in His in-exhaustlessness! When all members in the Body of Christ enjoy Christ and live Christ, God is corporately expressed and magnified in Christ through the Body to the whole universe!
Thank You Lord for unveiling us to see something of Your economy, Your dispensing into man to gain a people who express You. Lord, what is this? Give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation that we may see the central vision of the completing ministry of Paul. May we see the mystery of God and the mystery of Christ. Though it is mysterious, Lord, may we see these mysteries and live in these mysteries! Make us Your increase, Your enlargement, Your magnification on the earth for Your corporate expression!
References and Further Reading
- This article is inspired from brother Ed Marks’ sharing in this message and portions in, The Completing Ministry of Paul (ch. 10), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, “The Completing Ministry of Paul“, week 2 entitled, The Central Vision.
- Buy this HWMR book via LSM online here.
- Hymns on this topic:
# God and man will have one living, / Always in the mingled spirit; / We two are incorporated / One organic entity! / This the vision of the ages / Will control our daily living / That the Lord may have His Body / Shining as the holy city.
# “With one accord” within an upper room / The faithful followers of Jesus met: / One was the hope of every waiting soul, / And on one object great each heart was set.
# Christ is the mystery of God; / God is invisible, unshown, / His image man hath never seen, / But Christ the Son hath made Him known. - Pictures credit: my instagram here and via a friend on Facebook.
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