Seeing Christ’s Goings Forth from Eternity in History and Into Our Heart!

There is a small phrase, “His going forth are from the ancient times” in Micah 5:2, which is the key to this whole coming week in our morning revival time. What does it mean that Christ’s goings forth are from the ancient times?

The general knowledge and the common notion among the Christians today is that God who is far far away loves man, so He sent His Son to come to earth and die for us 2000 years ago, and after that Christ resurrected, ascended, and went back to the heavens.

Now God is waiting to come back again to clean up the mess on the earth and take all His believers to Himself… – this general notion about the comings of Christ is very superficial, and falls short of the divine revelation in the Bible! What is implied in, “His goings forth”?

Christ’s Goings Forth – Our God is on a Journey

What the Bible tells us concerning Christ’s goings forth is first that God has an economy, and in His economy, He desires to be involved with His chosen people. God wants to come to man and even into man and be mingled with man to become one with man!

He doesn’t have any desire to stay up in the heavens – He wants to come forth (from our side), He wants to go forth (from His side), to reach us and come into us!

Our God is not a static God who “waits for us to come to Him and worship Him or else…” – no, our God is a journeying Triune God, He is on a journey to reach us and come into us!

The Old Testament prophesies about it (Gen. 48:10; Isa. 7; 9:6), and the New Testament confirms this – God wants to reach us and come to us! His goings forth are from the days of eternity, and there are not just one or two goings forth, but more!

Christ’s Goings Forth from Incarnation to Ascension

How many goings forth / comings does Christ have?

According to the general knowledge in Christianity, there are only two main comings of Christ: He came once to save us, and He comes again to rapture us and judge the world.

But according to what the Bible tells us we can see that our Triune God is on a journey to reach us, and He is going forth to meet us and be one with us – and for this, there are many stages!

Firstly He was incarnated to become a man and He was born in Bethlehem then He journeyed to Nazareth, Galilee, Jerusalem, and then even Golgotha, where He was crucified. Man put Him on the cross and “humanly terminated Him”, but this was not the end of His journey.

After accomplishing an all-inclusive redemption on the cross, He died, and after three days He resurrected. He then continued His journey to the Father, He came back to His disciples, and then He poured Himself out as the consummated Spirit to fill the disciples with Himself!

Christ’s Goings Forth IN and WITH His Disciples

From this point on, Christ continues His journeys no longer only by Himself – His goings forth now include His disciples, His believers!

In, with, and through His disciples Christ went forth in many more places like Judea, Samaria, Asia Minor, Europe, and then the America’s, China, Russia, India, Australasia, Africa, etc. Hallelujah for Christ’s goings forth today in and with His disciples, His believers!

Today, at the end of time, His goings forth are taking a turn toward where He started from – Christ is heading back for Europe, and ultimately He will head toward Jerusalem!

He will return, He will judge the nations, and then He will go forth together with His overcomers and fight the ultimate battle at Armageddon, where He will defeat the Antichrist and his followers!

Then, Satan will be put in the abyss, Christ will be on the throne, and there will be the new heaven and the new earth with the New Jerusalem in it!

This is His destination – the complete and consummate union, mingling, and incorporation of the Triune God with the transformed and glorified corporate tripartite man in the New Jerusalem!

Christ’s Intrinsic Goings Forth in Our Being

On the one hand, the Bible clearly reveals that Christ’s goings forth are outward, from eternity into time and history, then in humanity and through His disciples all the way to the New Jerusalem.

On the other hand, there are the intrinsic, spiritual, mystical goings forth of Christ in our divine history.

The Triune God in Christ wants to go forth not only outwardly in the human history but also inwardly, in our heart, in YOU and ME.

Isaiah 56:1-2 says that God is seeking those who are poor and contrite in spirit. God is seeking His people, His lovers, those who are poor and contrite in spirit, to become His resting place.

In John 14:23 we see that if we love the Lord, the Father and the Son will come to us and make an abode with us.

In Eph. 3:14-19 we see that Christ desires to make His home in our heart. Our heart is His home, His destination, where He desires to be and rest!

Christ’s Goings Forth in All Our Heart

Yes, outwardly and in the human history Christ will reach Jerusalem, He will obtain the kingdom, and He will have the New Jerusalem, but essentially and intrinsically, the Triune God needs to reach our heart, occupy our heart, fill our heart, and make His home in all our heart.

In a sense, you can say that it is easier for Christ to go forth from Jerusalem to the other cities of the world than for Him to move into all the rooms in our heart. We may be outwardly willing to go here or there, but what about our mind, emotion, and will?

Often times our inward being resists the Lord, not allowing Him to go further with us and in us. Christ’s going forth may have initially reached us at our regeneration, but He wants to continually go forth in our being, to take possession of us and occupy all our inner being.

There needs to be the matching of His goings forth in all our being!

Lord Jesus, go on in us! Reach us again and again in Your goings forth, and go on in all our being! Lord, make Your home in all our heart. Saturate us and occupy us, Lord. Have the full ground in our being that You may spread, increase, and make Your home in full. Lord, make us fully one with You, and show us more ways to allow You to go forth in our being – for the fulfillment of Your heart’s desire!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from brother James Lee’s introduction to this message in the training, as partially quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of the Minor Prophets, week 9 (entitled, Christ’s “Goings Forth” from the Days of Eternity).
• Further reading: Micah 5:2, and the footnote there; also: Life-study of Micah (msgs. 2-3);
• Hymns on this topic:
  # It is God’s intent and pleasure / That His Christ be wrought in me; / Nothing outwardly performing, / But His Christ my all to be.
  # Oh Lord, break through. / Lord, gain in me. / Lord, I want You my all to be.
  # O that Christ may make His home my heart, / Spread Himself in every part! / Saturate and life impart!