Lord, we are before Thee. Make Thy presence known to us. Make it real to us. May the light of Thy countenance shine upon us. Lift up Thy countenance toward us.
We do come together to Thee to behold Thee with unveiled face, that Thou mayest be able to transform us according to Thy Son, from glory to glory.
Lord, we do pray that at this very moment Thou wilt make us forget everything, that our whole being may be fixed upon Thee. Lord, that we may see Thee, hear Thee, and be in touch with Thyself.
Lord, we ask Thee that this night Thou wilt open our understanding, that we may know Thee as Thou dost know us. Lord, we ask Thee to deliver us from ourselves, even the best of ourselves, that we may be absorbed into all that Thou art.
Lord, we do look to Thee together for Thy Spirit’s working in us and among us, that Thy Son may be magnified, expressed, and glorified in the church. In the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We do thank the Lord. This morning, our brother helped us to see the need, and not only the need, but the way to spiritual balance. I believe you all agree with me that we need this very much. And we do see that this is possible, not in ourselves, but in Him.
We also thank the Lord for our brother, who has again led us into the unsearchable riches of Christ, the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Brothers and sisters, I believe that we all marvel at our Lord Jesus. He always surprises us, and we do thank Him.
Tonight, God willing, we will look in more or less the same direction. But I hope I will keep myself at the practical level.
Will you please turn to the Letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 1? We will read from Ephesians 1:17-23.
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him;
having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
and what the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of the might of His strength,
which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come:
and He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.
Now turn to Ephesians 3:2-11.
If so be that ye have heard of the dispensation of that grace of God which was given me to you-ward;
how that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote before in few words,
whereby, when ye read, ye can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ;
which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men, as it hath now been revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;
that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,
whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of His power.
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
and to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery which from all ages hath been hid in God, Who created all things;
to the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God,
according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters, by the grace of God, we hope tonight that we may touch a little upon the unsearchable riches and upon the mystery of the Christ.
Now, first of all, we have to explain what we mean by mystery. Probably, when this word is mentioned, immediately you think of something mysterious—to the extent of being something hidden.
But, dear brothers and sisters, certainly this is not the meaning in the Word of God. It is mystic, but not mysterious. It is hidden, but not hopelessly hidden. It is, in a sense, unknown; but it does not mean it is unknowable.
A mystery in the Word of God means something that has been hidden in the mind of God throughout the ages, but which is one day to be known through the revelation of the Spirit of God.
In other words, before the foundation of the world, before time ever began, way back in eternity past, there was a thought, a divine intention, a purpose, and a will in God—in the Godhead.
With that will, or purpose, or intention, or thought in God, you find that there is a counsel, a plan, an administration, an economy, a dispensation. Throughout the ages, God, according to that will and with that counsel, has gradually and progressively been working toward its fulfillment.
Throughout the ages and the generations, God has been working. All the workings of God are controlled by that purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world.
In Old Testament times, we know that God was working. But He worked without telling anybody why He was working in this way, what the objective of His working was, or what He was working toward. God did not tell anybody.
But that does not mean that God did not work. God had been working throughout the ages and the generations in Old Testament times, and He was always working for one purpose.
But that one thing was a mystery. It was not known. It had not been announced. It had not been told to anybody.
But thank God, after He sent His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus, into this world, and as our Lord Jesus accomplished the work entrusted to Him, then God began to unveil that mystery to us by revelation of the Spirit to the holy apostles.
In other words, whereas in the old days God worked with a definite purpose without announcing it, now God is still working, but He has declared to us the objective toward which He is working. Oh, He has shown us the mystery.
Brothers and sisters, I think there is one thing that, by the grace of God, we must lay hold of. Or, may I say it more correctly? We must be laid hold of by that one thing. Otherwise, we miss the whole thing.
That is the mystery, hidden throughout the ages but now made known to us. The Apostle Paul called that mystery “the mystery of the Christ.”
If you read very carefully Ephesians 3, you will find that on the one hand Paul says that God made known to him the mystery of the Christ. On the other hand, he tells us that God appointed him to announce the glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ.
The mystery of the Christ and the unsearchable riches of the Christ are identical. The mystery is the unsearchable riches of Christ, and the unsearchable riches of Christ are the mystery.
Greek scholars tell us that in the original Greek, sometimes before the word Christ there is the definite article, and sometimes there is no article before the word. Of course, in English versions you do not have this distinction; the translator simply puts “Christ” there.
But if you go to the original, or to a translation closer to the original, you will find that sometimes they put “the” before Christ, and sometimes they do not. Now, what is the difference?
They tell us that whenever Christ is used without a definite article, it means Christ Himself as a person—the personal Christ, by Himself.
But whenever you find the article “the” before Christ, it means Christ in relation to someone else: Christ with someone else; Christ including someone else; Christ together with someone else.
It means that the personal Christ, through His death and resurrection, is enlarged into the Christ. He includes in Himself many whom He has redeemed. He is the glorious Head, but He has a Body for Himself of many members.
Dear brothers and sisters, if this is true, then you will find the phrase, “the unsearchable riches of the Christ.”
Because the unsearchable riches of the Christ are something, shall we say, supernatural—supernaturally natural. Of course, Christ is unsearchably rich; there is no doubt about that. Who can challenge that? All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily. He has unsearchable riches.
But, dear brothers and sisters, to think that Christ, Who is unsearchably rich, should share His riches with us, who are naturally poor—that we may share in His riches, in His unsearchable riches, and that we may be united with Him into one—this is a mystery.
And not only the Head alone displays the unsearchable riches; the Body is also to express them. Dear brothers and sisters, this is, I think, the unsearchable riches of the Christ.
How can it be that we who were born in death, we who are rebels and sinners, we who had no hope, should be united to Him and become one with Him in life, in nature, in spirit, and in His unsearchable riches? Dear brothers and sisters, it is a mystery.
Our brother can explain that to us far better than I can, so I will leave that to him. But I would like to limit myself to the demonstration of the unsearchable riches.
So we will again take Paul as the demonstration. Dear brothers and sisters, we know that before Paul was converted, he was called Saul.
Did he know Christ? I do not know whether he knew Christ personally or not. We find in 2 Corinthians 5 that he mentioned something like this:
Wherefore we henceforth know no man after the flesh: even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know Him so no more.
We do not know whether the Apostle Paul knew Christ in the flesh—that is, whether he met Christ personally while Christ was on earth. I do not know. But one thing is sure: he knew Christ according to the flesh.
That is to say, he had measured Christ, scrutinized Christ, examined Christ, analyzed Christ, and he had come to the conclusion that he knew all about Him.
Who was this Christ that Saul knew according to the flesh? The son of Joseph, a carpenter, an uneducated person who had never been to school; an outsider, an intruder into the field of religion; an unorthodox person, not brought up in the right way; a blasphemer, one who set Himself up as a teacher.
A little man pretending to be great—one who was worthy to die and who was dead. That was the Christ Saul knew. He knew all about Him. He had figured Him all out. He believed that he had made a right judgment, and it was in agreement with the consensus of the ruling class.
Brothers and sisters, is it not true that this was not only the Christ that Saul knew? This was the Christ that the Jews knew at the time of our Lord Jesus.
Whenever the Lord did something glorious and wonderful, on the one hand they were amazed that the grace of God and such power might be manifested; but immediately they came down and said, “We know who He is. He is a carpenter. We know His mother. We know His brothers and sisters. Oh, we know Him from inside out.”
That was Saul’s understanding. He got credentials from the high priest, giving him authority to go even to foreign cities to lay hands upon those who called upon the name of Jesus and to bring them bound to Jerusalem.
On the way to Damascus—we are all familiar with that story—as he was approaching, I do not know what he was thinking. But suddenly a light from heaven came upon him, and he fell to the ground.
Then he heard a voice: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.”
Dear brothers and sisters, there on the ground, as he lay prostrate, Saul encountered not the Christ he thought he knew before, but an entirely different Christ.
On the one hand, He was the same One; on the other hand, He was not. Saul met Christ in glory. It was a great surprise. He thought Christ was dead, but here Christ was alive.
He thought Christ was the son of Joseph; here he discovered that Christ is the Son of God. He thought Christ was a blasphemer, someone worthy to be killed; now he found that Christ is the fulfillment of all the promises.
Dear brothers and sisters, for the first time Saul saw the risen One, the One in glory, the Almighty One, the Conqueror, the Heir of all things—the Christ of God. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, is this not where we must begin? The life of Paul did not begin with himself, with what he was, or with what he had figured out. All these were shattered.
The life of Paul began with a heavenly revelation. He himself tells us that he was caught up to the third heaven and heard unspeakable things. But on the way to Damascus, heaven came down to him.
There in heaven he saw Christ—Christ in His glory. That was, and that is, the beginning of spiritual life.
Dear brothers and sisters, we have to begin there. We cannot begin with ourselves. We cannot begin with our own thinking, with our own concept of Christ, or with our own understanding of Christ through the natural mind.
We put Him on a very low level. We cannot do that. We have to have all these things shattered. We have to begin with a revelation, a heavenly revelation of Christ.
There is so much that Saul saw. He asked the first question: “Who art Thou, Lord?”
“I thought I had known You, but I discover I do not know You. I did not know that You are so glorious, so mighty, so rich, so high. You are high above all. God has put all things under Your feet. I did not know that You are the Christ.”
But, dear brothers and sisters, do you know what surprised Paul even more, humanly speaking? When he asked, “Who art Thou, Lord?” the Lord said, “I am Jesus, Whom thou persecutest.”
“What? Did I persecute You? How can an earthly being persecute a heavenly Person? You are in heaven. How can I reach You? How can I persecute You? That is impossible. What do You mean, ‘Why persecutest thou Me?’”
“I do not persecute You. I cannot persecute You. You are beyond my reach. You are too powerful for me, too high for me. What do You mean by this?”
Dear brothers and sisters, Saul was persecuting those who were on earth—the weak things, the foolish things, the despised things, the things that were nothing. These were the people Saul was persecuting.
There he was, thinking that they were so foolish for following a dead man: the poor, the weak, the nobodies. Saul was persecuting these people.
Yet the Lord revealed to Paul on the way to Damascus that in touching these foolish things of the world, these weak things of the world, these things that are nothing in the world, he was persecuting none other than the Lord Himself.
What a glorious revelation! I think this came to Saul as the greatest surprise. How could it be? How could they be so joined to Christ, the glorious Head, that the Head and the Body are literally one?
When you touch any member of the Body, you touch the Head. The member is not something independent of the Head.
How can these foolish ones, these weak ones, these nothing ones, be the vessel, the container, and the manifestation of all the unsearchable riches of the Head?
Dear brothers and sisters, you need revelation to see; you need revelation to speak; you need revelation to serve.
If you try to see Christ in the flesh, whom do you see? But when you see Christ by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, whom do you see? You see the One above all things, the glorious One.
In the same manner, if you try to see the people of God in the flesh, what do you see? Our dear brother this morning had already told us: it is not a very beautiful sight. Rather, it is most disappointing.
In the world, there are not many who are wise, noble, high, or who have become prominent people. Instead, it seems as if the Lord delights in choosing—and He does—the foolish things, the weak things, and the things that are nothing.
Thank God, if you are foolish, He chooses you. Thank God, if you are weak, He chooses you. If you think you are something, I am afraid you are nothing. But if you are nothing, thank God, that is what He is looking for. He is looking for something that nobody will look at.
Someone says that our Lord Jesus is always picking up the things cast away. It seems as if the Lord is always looking for that.
Dear brothers and sisters, when you try to see the believers in the flesh—when you see them through your flesh—what is the result? What is the picture that you see? I do not need to describe it to you, because we all know.
But, dear brothers and sisters, if you see the Body, the church, the people that God has chosen for Himself—a peculiar people unto Himself—if you see them in the Spirit by revelation, you see that the church is the Body of Christ, the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all.
That is surprising.
In Ephesians 1, it says that God has made Christ Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all.
Christ is Head over all things—but for what purpose? To the church, which is His Body.
Dear brothers and sisters, what is the meaning of that? Why does He need us?
We say that our head is actually the most important thing, because it is the nerve center; it is the center of everything. The brain is there. Everything is there in the head.
Why do we not just have the head and not the body? Is not all the richness in the head? All the riches, all the being—is it not all there? Take off the body and leave the head. Is that enough? Why is it that a head needs a body?
Dear brothers and sisters, the Head is so rich that He needs a container, something to contain His riches. And He needs something through which to express Himself.
I remember, and I cannot forget, a brother who was speaking. Like when I am speaking now: of course, I am speaking with my head. My mouth is at this point. When I am talking, it is as if the head is talking.
But why is it that I need to use my hands and even use my feet? Sometimes I have to walk here and walk there. Sometimes I have to bend forward, and sometimes I have to bend backward.
Have you ever seen someone who stands there and just talks and talks and talks? If anyone does that, first, he cannot get his point across. Words without expression are not effective.
On the other hand, the longer he talks, the quieter the audience will become. They all go to sleep.
Dear brothers and sisters, the unsearchable riches of our Lord Jesus are such that He has to find a Body to contain His riches. By containing His riches, the Body gives Him a chance and an opportunity to express Himself.
Oh, think of that.
Dear brothers and sisters, I have to confess: I have believed the Lord for many, many years, but after all these years I am still foolish. I remain a fool—the foolish thing, the weak thing.
Think of that: the Lord can take these to Himself, join these to Him, form these into a Body, fill these with His riches, and through these manifest Himself so that the world may see Him.
Brothers and sisters, you would never think this possible. But what is impossible with men is possible with God.
Dear brothers and sisters, we have this treasure. The church, outwardly speaking, is like an ugly vessel—nothing. But thank God, if you see the church in the Spirit, you see the excellency of the treasure within.
The church is His Body, the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all.
Let us be very practical. What is this Body made of? Of what is it composed?
If you read Ephesians 2, you will find that it says the gospel has come, and the cross has come, and it breaks down the wall of partition between the Jews and the Gentiles and makes them one Body in peace.
You know that they have actually found, in the ruins of the temple, a sign that used to be posted in the temple to warn the Gentiles not to go in too far. They could remain in a certain section called the outer court, but beyond that they were forbidden to go.
There was a wall of partition between the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews were the chosen people of God. The Gentiles were outside. The Jews had the oracles of God; the Gentiles did not.
Yet our Lord Jesus, on Calvary’s cross, broke down that wall of partition. He brought the Jews and Gentiles together and made them one Body.
You remember John 10. Our Lord Jesus said:
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock, one shepherd.
The fold of Judaism and those without it—yet in Christ, the wall has been broken down. He has drawn from every nation, every tribe, and every tongue, and made them one.
Dear brothers and sisters, we do thank the Lord for that. It is wonderful in our lives that He has broken down all the walls between nation and nation, race and race, social status and social status, background and education.
The Lord has broken down all these discriminations. Out of all these, He has drawn us, put us together, and made us one flock.
Out of every nation, every tongue, and every tribe, He has gathered us together and made us one Body.
Let us use this audience as an illustration—not that there are no more Christians aside from those here; there are many, many more. But suppose we use this audience as an illustration.
Thank God, He has drawn people from this country, out of the United States of America. He has drawn some out of Great Britain. He has drawn others out of South America. Out of the Orient He has drawn still others.
The Lord has broken down the wall of partition and has brought us together as one Body. Thank God for that.
I see Chinese here. I see American people. I see British people. I see South Americans too. Yes, the Lord has delivered us out of these things. He has taken us out of these and put us together.
As our brother mentioned today, the Chinese have their culture, their way of thinking, the Oriental way of life. Then you find there is the American way of life, and so on.
Now, brothers and sisters, yes, the wall of partition has been broken down. But how about this? The Body of Christ is made up of such a mixture—a heterogeneous body. What can you expect of that?
We cannot afford to be kind to one another merely because it is convenient. Suppose we stayed here for one hundred years. Suppose we lived together day and night. Dear brothers and sisters, what would happen?
The Americans would migrate to one corner, the British to another corner, and the Orientals to another corner. You would find that even among the Orientals they would be divided.
Wherever there is flesh, there is division.
Dear brothers and sisters, what is the Body of Christ? Yes, outwardly the Lord has drawn us from every nation, every tribe, and every tongue. He has brought us out of our separate folds, and we have become one flock under one Shepherd.
But if that inward reality is absent, then in effect everything remains merely outward. Then an unbeliever can come and say, “How can such a thing happen among God’s people? Are you not supposed to be saved? Are you not supposed to have the life of Christ? Why is the Spirit not speaking?”
Can you answer that?
Not to speak of so many of us here, I always like to use a simple illustration. Suppose there are only three Christians—the best of all Christians: Peter, John, and James.
Suppose there are only these three persons, and God puts them together and makes them one Body under the Head. Oh, you might think there would be no problem. They know the Lord very much, and they are good friends.
But, dear brothers and sisters, we find that if anything should happen, it will come from people. Is there anything wrong with Peter? Is there anything wrong with John and James?
Do you know that John and James had another name? Did you ever hear their thunder? I did.
You remember, when our Lord Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, He passed by a Samaritan village. Because they saw that the Lord was going to Jerusalem, they did not receive Him.
John and James said, “Lord, dost Thou want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume these people?” Do you hear the thunder?
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, what is the church? What is the church? What is the Body of Christ? Are we the church? Are we the Body of Christ?
Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that we are gathered out of every nation and made into one. No, because in the church there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female, but Christ is all and in all.
This is just another way of saying, “the Body, the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all.” If He fills all in all, where are you and where am I? No longer there—not even a little bit.
Dear brothers and sisters, I may oversimplify it, but if you allow me to use a formula—though spiritual things can never really be put into formulas—suppose I use a simple illustration.
What is the church? Peter plus John plus James equals the church? No.
Peter, with all that he is, plus John, plus James—that is not the church.
Christ in Peter, plus Christ in John, plus Christ in James: that is the church. Is that right?
Do you know? Christ in Peter minus Peter, plus Christ in John minus John, plus Christ in James minus James, equals the church.
Thank you for helping me with this. There is no such literal formula, but the principle is this: what is the Body of Christ? What is the church? The church is Christ Himself.
It is Christ Who is in you and me and in every one of us. But do not forget: you have to be removed. If you try to bring yourself in with Christ, you can expect anything.
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, this is the mystery. This is the mystery of the Christ—the unimaginable mystery that God can take hold of us, get rid of us, and leave Christ Himself as the reality.
Oh, may God give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we may know. Give us revelation, that we may know. Oh, that we may see that one great eternal intention.