Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians is SO RICH! When you read it “with God’s economy glasses on” you will see vision after vision, revelation after revelation! We already have seen that God’s economy is fully accomplished by the exercise of our mingled spirit(as revealed in Ephesians), and we have also seen the dispensing of the Triune God into the members of the Body of Christ as revealed in Ephesians!
Now even more – or going a bit further – we see that in every chapter of Ephesians the mystery of the Body of Christ as the organism of the Triune God is revealed in a particular way! I am so grateful to the Lord for the ministry of the age opening up the Epistle of Ephesians – that we may see the particular aspects of the Body of Christ (the organism of the Triune God) in each chapter of Ephesians!
- Ephesians 1 reveals that the Body of Christ is the issue of the dispensing of the processed Trinity and the transmitting of the transcending Christ. Wow, what a statement! The Father’s dispensing in His choosing and predestinating issues in His many sons as His house in sanctification (Eph. 1:3-6), the Son’s dispensing in His redeeming and saving issues in the believers as God’s inheritance in His transformation (Eph. 1:7-12), and the Spirit’s dispensing in His sealing and pledging (Eph. 1:13-14) issues in God as the believers’ inheritance! At the end of the chapter we see that the transcending Christ transmits all He is in His rising and ascending – and this issues in His Body as His expression unto the believers’ consummation (Eph. 1:19-23). What a high view of Ephesians 1!
- Ephesians 2 reveals that the Body of Christ is the masterpiece of the Triune God as the one new man (Eph. 2:10-16). On the cross Christ created the one new man in Himself by abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances (Eph. 2:14-15). All the ways of living and worship that divide us – which many of the worldly people regard as a source of prestige – have been abolished on the cross by Christ in His body! Now our prestige is Christ and the genuine oneness! We the believers as the one new man have Christ as our person, and we speak the same thing in one accord (Col. 1:18; Eph. 2:15)!
- Ephesians 3 reveals that the Body of Christ is the fullness of the Triune God by our being supplied with the riches of Christ and by Christ making His home in our hearts (Eph. 3:8-19). God desires in His economy to distribute the unsearchable riches of Christ into our being so that we may become His fullness! For this, we need to daily pray to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into our inner man – so that the Triune God may carry out His unique work to build Himself in Christ into our hearts so that He may become our intrinsic constitution for the mutual abode of God and man (Eph. 3:16-17; John 14:23)! Amen, Lord, make Your home in our heart!
- Ephesians 4 reveals that the Body of Christ is the mingling of the processed Triune God with the regenerated believers, and this one Body is built up by the one ministry! In the first six verses of chapter 4 we see that the one Spirit, one Lord, and one God and Father are mingled together with the believers into one entity to be the organic Body of Christ (Eph. 4:1-6). Then, later in the chapter, we see that the Body of Christ is built up by the one ministry – which perfects us to grow up into Christ, the Head, in all things and to function out from Him in order to supply the Body of its building up in love (Eph. 4:11-16)! Amen, what a high view!
- Ephesians 5 reveals that the Body of Christ is composed of the children of light to be the bride of Christ for the satisfaction of Christ. Once we were darkness itself – now we are light itself because we are one with God in the Lord (Eph. 5:8)! As children of light – those walking in love and light – we are in the process of being prepared to be Christ’s glorious bride by the life-giving Spirit’s sanctifying us, cleansing us by the washing of the water in the Word (Eph. 5:2, 8, 18, 26-27).
- Ephesians 6 reveals that the Body of Christ is the corporate warrior of the Triune God for the defeating of God’s enemy! Spiritual warfare is not something individual – it is a matter of the Body of Christ, the whole church as the Body is a corporate warrior! Only the corporate warrior can wear the whole armor of God (Eph. 6:10-20), and prayer is the unique and vital means by which we apply the whole armor of God, making every item of the armor of God available and real to us (Eph. 6:18).
I have to admit – none of the above is my speaking. We are blessed to read these matters as they are being compiled from, The Body of Christ, and, The Life-Study of Ephesians (both by brother Witness Lee). I am just glad to enjoy these and be constituted with these matters little by little, until they become my reality in my living! [enjoyment from the aforementioned books as they are quoted in the HWMR on The Central Line of the Bible]
Lord, gain what You are after in us! Gain the reality of the Body of Christ! Gain the one new man! Bring us into the reality of all that You desire to accomplish! Thank You for making us a Body to Christ, a new man to God, and a dwelling place to the Spirit! The Triune God is mingling Himself with humanity to obtain a dwelling place in man and to be expressed in man! Lord, continue to make Your home in our heart and to perfect us in prayer that we may be Your warrior to defeat the enemy! We love You, Lord!
