Thank the Lord. He has brought us here. He is our King.
The theme of this conference is the mystery of God. The greatest and most august mysteries are the mystery of Christ and the mystery of the church.
If we are to be faithful stewards, we must know this mystery. We need not only to understand it, but we must enter into it so that we may manage God’s mystery well.
A mystery is not something mystical in the way that people commonly understand the word. A mystery is something hidden within God Himself. This hidden truth, this mystery in Christ, needs to be revealed to us.
We may say that this mystery is a reality within God Himself, but it is revealed to us. We may not know every detail, but we can know the overall picture. Because we can see the picture, we can obey and carry it out.
This morning, we will consider the mystery of Christ. Our Christ is the self-existent God. He is the beginning, and He is the end. He is the Alpha and the Omega.
If we are going to see Christ, we have to go back to eternity. In eternity past, He was God’s Son. He was one with God. He was God’s beloved Son.
All God’s will is centred upon Him. God’s fullness is also upon Him. He is the expression of God. Through Him, God expresses Himself.
When we see such a Christ, we become true worshippers. The Scripture tells us that the heavenly Father is seeking true worshippers who worship Him in spirit and truth.
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
— John 4:24
I wish that all of us would see the worthiness of Christ and see how glorious He is. Then we will become true worshippers.
Remember: we do not worship only when we come to a meeting. Our life should be a life of worship. Our whole life is to enjoy His wonderful worth. We are here to enjoy Him, to glorify Him, and to thank Him.
From eternity, we see Christ in creation. All things were created in Him, all things were created through Him, and all things were created for Him. He is our Creator.
We are all created by Him, and we were created for a purpose. We were created for His pleasure. Therefore, we should be His love-slaves. He not only created us for Himself, but He also redeemed us for Himself, that we may do His will.
We also see Christ in prophecy. From the beginning of God’s creation of mankind, the Scriptures are full of prophecies concerning Him. The testimony of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.
In prophecy, He is the seed of the woman, the One who will crush the head of the serpent.
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.”
— Genesis 3:15
He is the Son of Abraham, through whom all nations are blessed. He is the Star and the Sceptre. He is the Prophet through whom God’s word comes, and those who refuse to hear Him will answer to God.
He is also the Son of David. His kingdom is without end, and He is the One who builds the temple with living stones. We are the temple of the living God.
In prophecy, we see that He was born of a virgin and was called Emmanuel, God with us.
When we look at all these prophecies, worship should be our natural response. As we enter into fellowship with Christ, we become true believers. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and by faith in Him we follow Him on the earth.
This morning we want to go one step further. We will consider the mystery of Christ in the days of His flesh.
Christ not only existed in eternity past. In time, He came to this earth. He took the form of flesh and dwelt among us. We will consider three matters: His incarnation, His life on earth, and His death and resurrection.
Let us begin with His coming, or His incarnation. In John 1:14, we are told that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us … full of grace and truth.”
— John 1:14
The Word became flesh. He who was the expression of God took flesh upon Himself. In eternity past, He was God’s expression, but now He put on flesh so that we might understand Him.
John 1:1 tells us:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
— John 1:1
From eternity past, He came into time. He came from the heavenly to the earthly. He was equal with God, yet He came down to become humble like one of us. This is a great mystery. How is it possible for God to come down and become a man?
Sometimes we complain simply because we are human beings. To be human is not always easy. We face problems, difficulties, and pressures in life. Yet the glorious Word of God came from eternity and glory into this poor and sinful world to become a man.
Why did He do it? There is one explanation for the incarnation: love. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.”
— John 3:16
Brothers and sisters, because He loved us so much, He willingly came to this suffering world.
There is another question. How could this God, who was in glory and equal with God, come into this world and be so limited? This itself is a mystery.
Philippians 2 explains this mystery. Though He existed in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, for it already belonged to Him.
“Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped.”
— Philippians 2:6
The form of God does not refer to an outward appearance. It refers to His inward character. All the characteristics of God are centred in Him. He and God share the same substance.
There was an archangel who desired to grasp God’s place. He desired to be equal with God, but that place did not belong to him. Therefore, he was cast down, and that archangel is Satan, the one who is against Christ.
But the Son of God did not need to grasp equality with God, because it belonged to Him. Yet He did something most wonderful: He emptied Himself.
He did not empty Himself of His deity, because He cannot empty Himself of deity. He is God from eternity to eternity. If He could empty Himself of deity, He would no longer be God. That is impossible.
There are false teachings which say that when the Lord came to earth, He was no longer God. That is a great heresy. When the Son of God came as a man, He never ceased to be the Son of God. From beginning to end, He is God.
What, then, did He empty? He laid aside the things related to God’s glory, honour, position, and worship.
In heaven He was worshipped by thousands of angels. The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders worshipped Him. The elders cast their crowns before Him because He is God. He has honour, position, and worship.
Yet He took the form of a slave. The word form is the same word used for the form of God. It does not refer merely to an outward shape; it refers to an inward character.
Many slaves serve only when their master is watching them. But our Lord took the form of a slave. Within Him was the character of a slave. He served willingly.
He became a man, and when He became a man, He obeyed even unto death, even the death of the cross. The reason the Lord could come to earth as a man is that He emptied Himself.
Consider the mystery of Christ’s incarnation. The angel said to Mary:
“The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of God.”
— Luke 1:35
This mystery became a reality in history. God came into the midst of mankind. He came as God and man, full of grace and truth.
The incarnate Christ is different from us. We are born of a father and a mother. But our Lord was born of a virgin. Mary asked, “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” The answer was that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her.
Why was the virgin birth necessary? If the Lord had come like us, as an offspring of Adam, His flesh would have contained the sinful nature. Because Adam sinned, sin entered into humanity. All who come from Adam have that sinful nature.
We do not need to open a school to teach children how to sin. Little ones are lovely, but they do not need to learn self-centredness. They cry until they are satisfied. This fallen nature is in us from Adam.
The Lord came by way of a virgin because He was not the offspring of man. He was born of a woman and conceived of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, He is the Holy One. In His flesh there was no sin.
Our Lord had no sinful nature. He never knew what it meant to commit sin, because He is the Holy One.
Why did God do it this way? Because He wanted Christ to be our substitute. Only the sinless One could bear sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God.
If the Lord Jesus were like one of us, an offspring of Adam with sin in His flesh, He could never be our substitute. He could only die for Himself. But the reality is not that way. Praise God.
In the incarnation of Jesus, God’s will was manifested. After the Lord was born, He walked on this earth for thirty-three years.
He did not simply descend from heaven in a manner that would compel everyone to worship Him. That was the temptation Satan presented to Him when he took Him to the pinnacle of the temple and said, “Jump down.” If the Lord had done that, people would have marvelled, but redemption could never have been fulfilled.
When the Lord came to earth, He came as a baby, a helpless infant. The almighty God became limited. The Creator of heaven and earth became like a creature and received help from human beings. See how humble He was.
Why did He not come instantly as an adult? Adam was created as a grown man and never knew what it meant to be a child. But the Lord was born as an infant. He grew from infancy to boyhood, and from boyhood to adulthood, because He wanted to experience our human experiences and sympathise with us.
From His birth to the age of twelve, we have only a brief record. He was born in a manger, and the shepherds came to see Him. His parents took Him to the temple and presented Him to the Lord, according to the law concerning the firstborn.
The wise men came from the east while He was still in Bethlehem. Then His parents took Him into Egypt because Herod wanted to kill the children. Afterward, they returned. Until the age of twelve, there is very little record concerning Him.
At the age of twelve, His parents took Him to the temple. In Jewish custom, this was the age at which a boy began to be regarded as a son of the law. Today, the bar mitzvah is generally held at thirteen years of age.
A son of the law could participate fully in synagogue life. He could question and answer. When Jesus was twelve, He was in the temple, questioning and answering. All who heard Him marvelled at His understanding and answers.
When His parents found Him, they asked, “Why hast Thou thus dealt with us?” The Lord answered:
“Knew ye not that I must be in My Father’s house?”
— Luke 2:49
This is a mystery. Inside Him was God; outwardly, He was man. He was fully God and fully man. According to human appearance, He was like other boys. He was a genuine boy, yet inwardly He was God.
As He grew, His consciousness of belonging to God grew stronger and stronger. He was deeply aware that God was His Father. Therefore, He said, “I must be about My Father’s business.” He wanted to do His Father’s will.
Yet He went home with His parents and submitted to them. This is also a mystery. He knew that God was His Father and that God had entrusted a mission to Him, yet He listened to His earthly parents.
Many young people look down on their elders and say, “We know more than you do. You cannot teach us.” But our Lord was not like that. Though He knew who He was, He obeyed His parents.
He learned to be a carpenter. I believe His workmanship was excellent. He would not cut here and cut there and do careless work. He worked as a carpenter.
We do not know why He waited until the age of thirty. From age twelve to thirty, that period is hidden. We know only that He was a carpenter, but we believe that inwardly He was continually in communion with His Father. The Father was preparing Him for the mission ahead.
At the age of thirty, a priest in the Old Testament could enter into his service. Thirty is an age of maturity and establishment.
There may be another reason. In the later records, we see the mother of Jesus, but Joseph is not mentioned. Perhaps Joseph had already died. Since the Lord was the eldest, He bore responsibility for the family. He worked as a carpenter until His younger brothers could assume responsibility.
Then the time came for Him to preach God’s word. He did God’s work publicly for only about three and a half years. Yet John tells us that if all He did and said were written, the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
What He revealed in those years is only a small portion of all that He is. Let us consider three matters in His life.
First, the Lord’s life on earth revealed God to us. God is invisible, but God delights to make Himself known.
God has an image. The word image does not refer merely to an outward appearance. It refers to expression and manifestation. The Lord Jesus is the complete expression and complete manifestation of God.
In the past, God spoke through the prophets, but they could not express God fully. In these last days, He has spoken through His Son and expressed Himself completely.
Philip said to the Lord:
“Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.”
— John 14:8
The Lord answered:
“He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”
— John 14:9
The Father is in Him, and He is in the Father. He is the Son who is in the Father’s bosom, and He has declared Him.
Many people worship gods created by their own imaginations. As a child, when I entered a Chinese temple, I saw images that looked fierce and frightening—great eyes, large mouths, many hands, and weapons in their hands. I would run away.
But when the Lord came to earth, we looked at Him and saw God: full of compassion, mercy, grace, truth, holiness, righteousness, and glory. There is no darkness in Him.
The Lord Jesus fully expressed God to us. When He spoke on earth, He spoke the words of God. He was full of grace and truth.
Second, He not only revealed God to us; He also revealed the man God desires.
God created humanity with a purpose. Sometimes we may ask why God created us, because we give Him so many problems. But God has a will for man.
The man God desires cannot be found merely by looking at one another. All of us fail. Sometimes we are not like men at all; sometimes we act like the devil. The man God seeks could not be found on the earth.
God created man in His image and gave man dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing. Yet we do not see that dominion fully expressed in fallen humanity.
But God never gave up on man. He never forsook His purpose. Psalm 8 declares the dignity and calling of man.
“What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?
And the son of man, that Thou visitest him?
For Thou hast made him but little lower than God,
And crownest him with glory and honour.
Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands.”
— Psalm 8:4-6
God never changed His purpose for man. Even after many centuries, when He could not find the man He desired among fallen humanity, the Son of God came, born of a woman and born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.
There is a story of a Greek philosopher walking in daylight with a lamp. When asked why he needed a lamp when the sun was shining, he said, “I am looking for a man.” There was no man according to God’s heart.
But when the Lord Jesus was born on this earth, God found His Man. Praise God. He is transforming us and conforming us to His image so that we may become the kind of people He desires.
Third, His whole life was for the will of God. He said:
“Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not,
But a body didst Thou prepare for Me;
Then said I, Lo, I am come
(In the roll of the book it is written of Me)
To do Thy will, O God.”
— Hebrews 10:5, 7
When the Lord was on earth, He lived to do the will of the Father. He did not seek His own will. That was His life.
The birth of Christ is wonderful. His life on earth is wonderful. His death is also wonderful.
The death of Christ was not an ordinary death. His death on the cross was not the death of a martyr. Through the ages, many people have died for the Lord. Their deaths may have been glorious, even when they were burned with fire. But our Lord Jesus did not die merely the death of a martyr.
He cried:
“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
— Matthew 27:46
His death was not the death of a martyr. He died like a sinner because He became sin for us.
The Lord was crucified from the third hour until the ninth hour. During the first three hours, He spoke from the cross. His first word was:
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
— Luke 23:34
His relationship with His Father was intimate. Though He was hated by men, He responded with love. He prayed, “Father, forgive them.” Because of His prayer, our sins can be forgiven.
On the cross, He thought of His mother and asked John to care for her. He also cared for the repentant criminal beside Him and said:
“Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.”
— Luke 23:43
The people shouted against Him. The darkness of evil surrounded Him. Yet He was at rest, communing with God. That was during the first three hours.
Then, at the sixth hour, darkness came upon the land. The sun ceased shining. The Lord hung upon the cross, and He cried, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
There had never been a moment when the Lord Jesus was separated from the Father. Yet at that moment, He and the Father were separated.
God is too holy to look upon sin. At that moment, the sinless One stood there as our representative. All our sins were placed upon Him. He bore our judgment for us.
Hell is separation from God. Separation from God is eternal death. The Lord Jesus tasted death for every person. He died for you, and He died for me.
Then He said:
“It is finished.”
— John 19:30
Redemption was accomplished. Then He said:
“Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.”
— Luke 23:46
The relationship was restored. Praise God. His death is a mystery.
He was laid in the tomb for three days, and on the third day He rose from the dead. There has never been another man who went through death and came forth victorious in this way.
Though He died, He rose again. Through death, He vanquished death. Through death, He destroyed him who had the power of death.
Our Lord is risen. Why did He need to rise? His resurrection proves that His sacrifice was accepted by the Father. God accepted His work on the cross.
Therefore, the power of hell could not hold Him. Once a person enters into death, there is no natural way to come out. But the power of hell could not hold Christ. He won the victory.
This is the mystery of Christ in the days of His flesh.
Brothers and sisters, we must ask: What does this mean for us?
God has called us into fellowship with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He wants us to share in this mystery. He wants us to have a share in all that is in Him.
This fellowship is a union. Because of union, we can share.
When the Lord came to earth and took flesh, He came to join Himself to mankind. Hebrews 2 tells us that since the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also partook of the same.
“Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same.”
— Hebrews 2:14
God’s joining to man began with the incarnation. He is God, yet He wanted to join Himself to us. Therefore, He took a body.
He took a body so that He could bear our sins and become our substitute. He became the one Mediator between God and men.
“For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, Himself man, Christ Jesus.”
— 1 Timothy 2:5
A mediator must represent both sides. No mere man can fully represent God, and no angel can represent man before God. Moses could represent man, but he could not represent God. Only Christ can represent both God and man.
Through incarnation, the Lord joined Himself to us. Through His death, He represented us. He not only became our substitute; He also became our representative.
We are united with Him in His death. That is why our sins can be forgiven. His blood cleanses us from sin, and we have eternal life through faith in Him.
To believe in Him is to enter into Him and to be united with Him. We are united with Him. His life is our life. We receive life from Him.
His death is our death. We died in His death. His burial is our burial. We were buried in His burial. His resurrection is our resurrection. We are resurrected in Him.
Ephesians 2 tells us that God made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him.
“Even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ … and raised us up with Him, and made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.”
— Ephesians 2:5-6
This togetherness is not merely side by side. It is inward union. It is a joining together. Praise God: we are united in Him.
All that He is is ours. All that He has done, He desires to share with us.
Because of time, let me tell you a true story. Those brothers and sisters who come from China can never forget a certain missionary. We always thank God for him because God used him to bring the gospel to China.
He preached in China for some time and organised a mission with fellow workers. At that time, taking the gospel into the interior of China was not easy. Most missionaries remained near the coastal areas, where there were commercial activities and foreign embassies for protection.
But this missionary had a burden to enter the interior. In those days, many people called missionaries “foreign devils.” He dressed like a Chinese man and even wore the customary queue so that he could travel inland.
Many homes would not rent to the missionaries. Sometimes they stayed in temples; sometimes they slept under covered bridges. People would not sell food to them.
One time, a missionary was starving under a bridge. He had money, but no one would sell him food because he was a foreigner.
A man carrying milk stopped near the bridge, set down his load, and went away briefly. The missionary saw that the man was gone, quickly drank some milk, left money behind, and ran away. When the man returned and saw the coin, he realised that the starving foreigner under the bridge had taken the milk.
That is how they preached the gospel.
After labouring for many years in China, this missionary discovered weakness in himself as a Christian. He saw that he lacked patience and worried too much because he had so many responsibilities.
He prayed, “Lord, I preach the gospel to the Chinese, but my testimony is poor. How can I express You?” He prayed that the Lord would change his life so that he might glorify Him.
For several months, he prayed. He thought, “God is powerful, but I am weak. If I could only draw upon His power, I could overcome. How can I appropriate His strength? I must have faith.”
He prayed for a long time, but he did not receive immediate deliverance. Then a word touched his heart: it is not a matter of struggle, but of rest.
The Lord gave him a revelation from John 15:
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from Me ye can do nothing.”
— John 15:5
He realised that the Lord is the vine, and he was in Him. The Lord is everything: the root, the trunk, the branches, the soil, and the water. He did not need to struggle to produce life. He needed to rest in the Lord.
From that moment, his life was changed. His co-workers saw the change. He no longer worried in the same way, even though he still had many responsibilities.
In his autobiography, there was a chapter entitled “The Exchange Life.” It is not merely a changed life; it is an exchanged life.
We are united with Him. Now we need to live and maintain that exchange life. We were united with Him in His death. When He died, we died there because we were joined to Him.
Now I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. That is the exchange.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me.”
— Galatians 2:20
Our Lord lived, and then He died. In our case, we die and then we live. We die with Christ, and then we live with Christ.
How He lived on earth, we live likewise. How He lived, we also live in the same way. When we face difficulties, we need not fear. Why? Because it is He who lives. He lives in us.
Brothers and sisters, this is the mystery of Christ: Christ in the days of His flesh.
Dear heavenly Father, we trust the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to us: His incarnation, His life, His death, and His resurrection.
We pray that Thou wilt open our eyes to see that He has come to be joined to us, that He may save us. Amen.
It is Thy will for us to be joined to Him, that we may not only be reconciled to God, but also be delivered from ourselves. Amen.
Lord, we praise and thank Thee, knowing that Christ is our life. Amen. He lives in us. Christ in us, the hope of glory.
We praise and thank Thee that this is not merely theory. It is not a mystery that cannot be touched. The secret is now open. Christ is ours. His life is our life, and He lives in us.
To Thee be all the glory. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.