![...for also what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, [it is] for your sake in the person of Christ 2 Cor. 2:10](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/for-also-what-I-have-forgiven-if-I-have-forgiven-anything-it-is-for-your-sake-in-the-person-of-Christ-2-Cor-1024x576.webp?resize=800%2C450&ssl=1 "...for also what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, [it is] for your sake in the person of Christ 2 Cor. 2:10")
Hallelujah, we can enjoy the riches of God in Christ by remaining in the touch with the Lord in our spirit day by day!
In the universal household of God, the greatest household in the universe, Christ is the unique Steward having the key of David on His shoulder, and He opens and closes the door to the riches of Christ; we need to remain in the touch with the Lord to enjoy the riches of God in Christ as the treasure day by day. Amen!
If we want to take the way of Philadelphia, we need to realize that Christ is the One who has the key of David, the key to the treasury of all the riches of God in Christ.
He has the key. He can open and no one can shut, and He can shut and no one will open. We need Him.
Actually, we are not the ones qualified to be here enjoying God’s riches; we are not qualified at all to be in God’s house.
We need Christ to replace us.
When we were created in God’s image, God hired us for the fulfilment of His purpose. He put us in front of the tree of life for us to take God as life into us so that we may live because of Him and fulfil His heart’s desire.
But man fell, and he fell to the uttermost. We are fallen human beings, full of sin, the self, the flesh, and the natural man.
Even after we are born again, born of God, having the life and nature of God, we are still not qualified to be the ones who fulfil God’s purpose. It is only Christ who is qualified to do this.
We are not qualified to live the church life. Christ is the One who builds up the church with Himself as the unique element of building.
We need to be replaced with Christ. This means that we need to take Christ as our life, life-supply, and everything so that Christ in us would be everything, do everything, and speak everything.
Christ in us, Christ living in us, is the One who can build up the church and accomplish God’s purpose.
We need to remain in the organic union with the Lord so that we may fulfil the heart’s desire of God and live a proper church life.
As we are living the Christian life and the church life, we need to take Christ as our unique replacement by abiding in the Lord.
We just need to abide. Yes, we need to do a lot of things both in our personal life, our family life, our church life, and in society, but in all these things we need to take Christ as the One who fires us and replaces us with Himself.
It is Christ who should live the Christian life, for the Christian life is a matter of Christ living in us.
It is Christ who should live the church life, for the church life is nothing but Christ living in us corporately.
May we take Christ as our unique replacement as we live in the organic union with Him day by day.
Christ is the Steward in God’s House with the Key of David to Open the Treasury of the Riches of God in Christ
In Rev. 3 we see that Christ is the One who has the key to open and shut; this points to Isa. 22:22 where God, after firing Shebna and replacing him with Eliakim (a type of Christ), set the key of the house of David upon his shoulder.
Christ is the real Eliakim – He is the unique Steward in God’s household.
The household of God is the greatest house in the whole universe; it includes all the believers throughout the ages.
This great household has a household law, an economy, and the One who carries out God’s economy is Christ. Christ is the unique Steward in the vast, divine household of God, the church.
He is the only One qualified to hold the key of David on His shoulder, and He can open the treasury of the riches of God embodied in Christ.
The church is the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15 and the kingdom of God (Rom. 14:17).
In the church as the house of God, Christ is the Minister who opens the gate for the riches of God to be enjoyed by His people.
2 Sam. 7:16 indicates that David’s house was for his kingdom; the church as the house of God is for the kingdom of God to come on the earth.
When the church as the house of God is adequately built up by the full enjoyment and expression of the riches of God in Christ, the church becomes the kingdom of God.
We can be a minister of the riches of Christ to others as the gospel and we can minister the riches of Christ to one another only when we are one with Christ and are even replaced by Christ.
God put the key to all the riches in His house upon the shoulder of Christ.
This key is a big one, which indicates that the door which it opens is big and thick.
The door to the treasury of God’s house is a stronghold to protect and keep the treasures of the house of God.
![But if I delay, [I write] that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. 1 Tim. 3:15 For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Rom. 14:17](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/But-if-I-delay-I-write-that-you-may-know-how-one-ought-to-conduct-himself-in-the-house-of-God-683x1024.webp?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "But if I delay, [I write] that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. 1 Tim. 3:15 For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Rom. 14:17")
We can enjoy the riches of God in Christ when we come to the Lord to be in His presence and spend time with Him.
May we not allow anything and anyone to replace Christ as everything to us.
May we not allow even ourselves to be a replacement for Christ; may we just come to the Lord and open to Him, remain in the organic union with Him, and let Him supply us with all the riches of Christ.
Christ is the One who has the key to the treasury of the riches of God in Christ, and when He opens, no one will shut, and when He shuts, no one will open.
We all have experienced that, at certain times, the doors of the treasury of the riches of God in Christ was open to us; we simply enjoyed a flood of the riches of Christ to supply us and cause us to advance with the Lord and in the church life.
At other times, however, we have experienced the door of the riches of God in Christ being closed, shut, and not open, because we have offended the Lord and we did not repent.
In our experience sometimes the riches of God in Christ seem to be so distant and inaccessible to us because the door to His riches is shut.
May we come to the Lord again and again and deal with any blockage between us and Him, and may we just enjoy Him, partake of Him, and be filled with His riches, so that we may live Christ for the expression of Christ in us and through us in the church life.
Lord Jesus, we come to You as the unique Steward in God’s house, the One who holds the key of David and who opens and no one will shut. We open to You, dear Lord, and we allow You to shine on us. Expose anything in us that replaces Christ. Remove anything in us that hinders our fellowship with You. We want to be in the most intimate and personal touch with You so that we may enjoy the riches of God in Christ. Oh Lord, may nothing replace You in us and to us. May the door of the treasury of the riches of God in Christ be open to us so that we may enjoy all that God is and live one with Him for the fulfilment of His purpose!
To Enjoy the Riches of God in Christ we need to Remain in the Touch with the Lord
How can we enjoy the riches of God embodied and expressed in Christ?
In order for us to enjoy all that God is embodied in Christ, all His riches, we need to remain in the touch with the Lord (2 Cor. 2:10).
We need to stay in contact with the Lord according to the sense of life in our spirit (Rom. 8:6; 10:12-13).
We need to exercise ourselves to be poor in spirit and pure in heart so that we may enjoy all the riches of Christ who dwells in us (Matt. 5:3, 8; Col. 3:16).
Christ is the One who has the key to open and shut the door to the treasury of the riches of God in Christ.
We need to come to Him and remain in the most intimate and personal touch with Him.
We simply need to remain in the touch with the Lord the most; this is to be a most spiritual person.
We may even ask the Lord to keep us throughout the day in the touch with Christ in our mingled spirit.
We need to ask Him to cause us to be poor in spirit, emptied and unloaded of anything that would fill us and occupy us.
We are full of so many things – not only the things of the world but even good things, good ambitions and desires, and our zeal for the Lord in our natural man.
So many things fill us. We need to be emptied and unloaded, and we need to be purified in our heart.
How do we do this? It is not by trying to do this or that to empty ourselves; it is by coming to the Lord and remaining in the touch with the Lord.
When we contact the Lord and keep ourselves in the touch with the Lord, the door to the riches of God in Christ is wide open to us, and we can enjoy all that God is to us.
We need to exercise to be poor in spirit and pure in heart to see God, enjoy God, and partake of the riches of God.
Yes, our self is in the way, and yes, our natural man is here, always hindering us or trying to “help” God by doing things for God.
To enjoy the riches of God in Christ as the treasure, we need to use the “keys” of the kingdom – denying the self, taking up the cross, and losing the soul-life (Rev. 3:7; Isa. 22:15-24; Matt. 16:18-19, 24-25; 17:5, 8).
The Lord has given us all these keys, and it is up to us to exercise our spirit to apply these keys in our experience.
If we want to enjoy the riches of Christ, we need to exercise our spirit and deny the self, take up the cross, and lose our soul-life.
How can we enjoy the riches of Christ if we still live in the self, satisfy our soul-life, and reject the cross?
It is impossible to enjoy the riches of God in Christ when the self is the one expressed through us, the soul-life is lived out in us, and the cross is rejected and set aside.
May the Lord have mercy on us that we would cooperate with the Lord, on our side, to exercise the keys of denying the self, taking up the cross, and losing the soul-life by exercising our spirit.
May we come to Him, enjoy Him, and set our whole being on Him.
And as He shines on us, there’s a sense of life within us that shows us what to set aside, what to give up, and what to remove under the Lord’s light.
May we remain in the touch with the Lord, staying in contact with Him throughout the day, so that we may enjoy the riches of Christ.
The more we remain in the contact with the Lord and enjoy the riches of God in Christ, the more we can cooperate with Him to minister these riches to others also.
We can become ministers of the riches of Christ into others by continually remaining in the touch with the Lord, enjoying Him and denying ourselves.
On one hand, we are partakers and enjoyers of the riches of Christ; on the other hand, the enjoyment of the riches of God in Christ makes us ministers of the riches of Christ so that we may bring others also into the enjoyment of God.
Hallelujah, the One who has the key of David – the key that opens and shuts the door to the treasury of the riches of Christ – is Christ, and we can remain in the touch with the Lord day by day!
Praise the Lord, we can be one with the Lord to minister the riches of Christ to the members of His household as we remain in the most intimate and personal touch with Him throughout the day!
Lord Jesus, we just come to touch You. We don’t want to ask anything from You: we just want to contact You. We don’t even want You to do anything for us. We want to remain in the touch with the Lord right now and throughout the day. We put ourselves aside. We exercise our spirit to just contact You and enjoy You. Open the door, dear Lord, to all the riches of God in Christ as the treasury. Bring us into the enjoyment of Yourself as the riches of God. Fill us with Your riches. Overflow through us with the riches of God, reaching so many who are seeking after You! Fill us to overflowing with Your riches. Make us the ministers of the riches of Christ, one with You to flow out God in Christ as the unsearchably rich One!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message, and portions from, Life-study of Isaiah, pp. 292-295, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Loving the Lord and loving one another for the organic building up of the church as the Body of Christ (2022 fall ITERO), week 8, entitled, Taking the God-ordained Pathway for the Church—the Way of Philadelphia—according to the Lord’s Up-to-date and Ultimate Recovery to Bring Us into a New Revival to Turn the Age.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Glorious things to thee are spoken, / Philadelphia, church of love. / These things saith the One who’s holy, / He who’s real speaks from above; / He that has the key of David, / Who the kingdom’s entrance won, / “I will open, no man shutteth”— / He has spoken; it is done. (Hymns #1275 stanza 1)
– The fulness of the Father God / In Christ the Son dwells bodily; / And all the riches of the Son / Are Spirit, our reality… / With Thy divine reality, / Lord, fill us by Thy Spirit now, / That we may all be full of Thee, / And all Thy riches thus avow. (Hymns #243 stanzas 3 and 7)
– Lord, we want to live You / In the most intimate / And the closest contact, / Closest contact with You. / Acting according / To the index of Your eyes; / A person one with Christ, / Full of Christ. (Song on, Lord, we want to live You)
About aGodMan
Christ has a big key to open the treasury of all His riches. When He opens the treasury, no one will shut. When He shuts the treasury, no one will open. Christ is the One who can open up to us all the riches of God embodied in Him. He can also shut the door to these riches. Sometimes we experience the door of the divine treasures being open to us to flood into us. But at other times we may do something to offend the Lord. Then we have the sensation that the door is shut and that the riches coming to us are stopped. His opening and His shutting are all for one thing—the enjoyment of His riches as the treasure. I believe the direct application of Isaiah 22:22 is this—Christ has the key to control the door of God’s treasury, in which are the riches of God in Christ for our enjoyment. We have experienced both His opening of these riches to us and His shutting up of these riches. When He shuts up these riches, we have the feeling of being dried up or inwardly deprived. Our experience indicates that Christ is the One who has the key to all of His riches. Life-study of Isaiah, pp. 292-295, by Witness Lee
The way for us to enjoy the riches of God in Christ is to remain in the touch with the Lord.
We need to just contact Him and deny ourselves, being poor in spirit and pure in heart, so that we can enjoy the riches of God in Christ.
The most spiritual person is the one who remains in the touch with the Lord the most.
We need to pray,
Your experience will confirm that if you practice this, you will experience a lot of killing, a lot of reducing, a lot of strengthening, a lot of resurrecting, a lot of rising up.
Amen brother. The house of God needs to be adequately built up so that the kingdom of God is manifested.
It’s Jesus who holds the key to the house and the kingdom.
This key opens & closes the door to the riches of Christ.
We should not allow anything or anyone, including ourselves, to replace Christ. He Himself must be everything in us and to us.
Jesus is the One who can open up to us all the riches of God embodied in Him.
However, He can also shut the door and the riches can cease to come to us.
May we treasure the riches of Christ always and never cease to contact Him, fellowship with Him and touch Him.
Oh brother one sobering statement!
When the church as the house of God is adequately built up, the church is manifested as the kingdom of God.
Our experience indicates that Christ is the One who has the key to all of His riches.
We all have to contact the Lord, to fellowship with Him, to touch Him.
The most spiritual person is the one who remains in the touch with the Lord the most. We need to pray,
amen brother Christ as the real Eliakim has the keys of David
the keys to the riches of God house embodied in him for our enjoyment
He can open and close the door to these.
If we want to enjoy these riches then we have to remain in touch with this one allow him to fill his with his riches
Amen brother!
O Lord thank you that you are the key and your riches are unsearchable. May we always remain in touch with you!
Praise the Lord!
Our Christ has the big key to the divine treasury with all its riches.
When we are in contact, in fellowship with Him, He opens such a treasury that we may enjoy these unsearchable riches.
However, whenever we do not remain in touch with Him, even offend Him, the door to such riches is shut and we lose the enjoyment, becoming dried up.
Wow brother,
The most spiritual person is the one who remains in the touch with the Lord the most.
We need to pray, “Lord, I just come to touch You. I have nothing to ask of You. I do not even like to ask You to do anything for me. I just like to remain in the touch with You. I do have some burden to pray for Your recovery, for Your interest, yet I do not like to do it. I just like to remain in this touch.”
Your experience will confirm that if you practice this, you will experience a lot of killing, a lot of reducing, a lot of strengthening, a lot of resurrecting, a lot of rising up.
Amen!!!
Amen Lord, I just like to remain in this touch.
Isa. 22:22
22 And I will set the key of the house of David upon his shoulder – When he opens, no one will shut; When he shuts, no one will open.
Eph. 3:8
8 To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel
2 Cor. 2:10
10 But whom you forgive anything, I also forgive; for also what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it is for your sake in the person of Christ;
Rom. 10:12
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all who call upon Him;
Col. 3:16
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.
Matt. 5:3
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
Matt 16:24-25
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
25 For whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it.
1 Cor. 2:9
9 But as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not come up in man’s heart; things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”