enjoying Christ

On one hand, we need to see the objective aspect of the Lord’s ascension; on the other hand, we need to see and experience the subjective aspect of His ascension and be fully open to receive the divine transmission continually in our daily life. Amen!

Our Christ, who is our Savior and Lord, has accomplished many wonderful things, and some of the most amazing things He accomplished were in His ascension.

First of all, He humbled Himself to the uttermost; He put aside His splendour and the outward glory of His divinity and became a man.

He learned to be obedient by the things He suffered and was obedient to God unto death, even that of a death of the cross.

He humbled Himself to the uttermost, and God fully accepted His life, living, work, and sacrifice.

Christ died on the cross to fulfil God’s purpose, and He was raised from the dead by God as an approval that His work has been accepted by God.

Being raised from the dead is amazing, but Christ went even further: He was exalted by God to the highest point in the universe, and He was exalted by God to carry out God’s administration in the universe. Hallelujah!

God raised Christ from the dead and exalted Him far above all, making Him Lord of lords and King of lights.

He made Him both Lord and Christ in His humanity. Wow, now there is a Man in the glory, a man in God, even a man in the Godhead, who is the Lord, the King, the Ruler, the Savior, and the Christ! He has been crowned with glory and honour, and He is above all, over all, and ruling over all!

If we carefully read the New Testament we will see these amazing accomplishments and attainments of Christ in His ascension.

We will see how much He was exalted, and how high He was enthroned above all things, persons, and matters.

He is now carrying out His heavenly ministry to administrate the universe and accomplish God’s New Testament economy.

On one hand, He is administrating the entire universe for God so that God’s purpose may be fulfilled.

On the other hand, He is carrying out God’s New Testament economy to propagate Himself so that He may gain a reproduction of Himself in the church, the Body of Christ, which will issue in and consummate in the New Jerusalem! Praise the Lord!

Both outwardly in the universe and the outward situation in the world, and inwardly in our being as believers in Christ, Christ is operating and working in His heavenly ministry for the fulfilment of God’s purpose and the carrying out of His economy. Praise the Lord!

And we as believers in Christ can share in many of His attainments in His ascension. Hallelujah!

God Gave Christ to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body

It is quite amazing to see the great and wonderful accomplishments of Christ in His ascension, but we may wonder what do these have to do with us today, more than two thousand years later.

How can Christ being ascended by God many years ago can be real to us today in our experience?

We need to realize that there’s a subjective aspect of the Lord’s ascension, and this is related to us as the church, the Body of Christ.

Christ in His all-transcending ascension transcended Hades, the earth, the air, and all the heavens (Eph. 1:20-21; 4:8-10; Heb. 7:26; Job 1:6-12a; 2:1-6).

He transcended Hades, where the dead people are being held, and He transcended the earth, where the fallen people are moving against God.

Even more, He transcended the air, where Satan and His power of darkness are acting against God, and all the heavens, where Satan can go.

In His ascension, Christ passed through the heavens (Heb. 4:14) so that now He is not only in heaven (9:24) but is also higher than the heavens (7:26), far above all the heavens (Eph. 4:10). Wow!

He was enthroned with glory and honour and enthroned for God’s administration.

Now He’s the unique administrator in the universe, and God has given all things into His hands. Wow, praise the Lord!

How does this relate to us and how can we enjoy or experience anything related to Christ’s ascension?

The key is in Eph. 1:22-23, where we’re told that God subjected all things under the feet of Christ and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.

Objectively, God raised and exalted Christ to the uttermost, and He’s in the highest of heavens, administrating the universe and carrying out God’s economy in His heavenly ministry.

Subjectively, however, we as the church are His Body, and He is our ascended Head.

We are intimately joined to Him in spirit, and God gave Christ to be Head over all things to the church.

This little word “to” is very important; it implies a transmission, something that is being transmitted from Christ – the ascended One – to the church – the Body of Christ.

Hallelujah, through His ascension Christ was inaugurated to be the Lord of all to possess all and to be the Christ to carry out God’s commission!

At the same time, however, God caused a fourfold power to operate in Christ: raising Him from the dead, seating Him at the right hand of God, subjecting all things under His feet, and heading all things up in Christ so that He may be the Head over all things to the church.

All that Christ did, accomplished, and attained is now TO the church.

Eph. 1:19-23 reveals that there’s a transmission from the ascended Christ to us.

Verse 22 in particular says that God gave Christ to be Head over all things to the church; this indicates a transmission from this ascended One, who is the Head over all things, to the church, which is His Body. Hallelujah!

God gave the ascended Christ a great gift: He gave Him the headship over all things.

Hallelujah, Christ has the headship over all things. And this headship was given to Christ to the church.

The headship is transmitted to the church, and the church shares it. Wow.

God caused His power to operate in Christ in four steps: first, raising Him from the dead, second, seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, third, subjecting all things under His feet, and fourth, giving Him to be head over all things to the church. Hallelujah!

Now here we are as the church, joined to Christ as our Head, we being His Body, and we receive the divine transmission of all that He is and has attained to us!

Lord Jesus, we praise You for Your all-transcending ascension by which You transcended Hades, the earth, the air, and all the heavens! You are above all, entroned to be the unique Administrator in the universe! Praise You, Lord, for being inaugurated in Your ascension to be the Lord to possess all and the Christ to carry out God’s commission! Wow, Lord, we praise You for Your accomplishments! Praise You for being our ascended Head to whom we are joined in spirit as one! Hallelujah, God gave Christ to be Head over all things to the church! Praise the Lord, God subjected all things under the feet of Christ and gave Him the headship over all things to us, the church as the Body of Christ! Wow, Lord, thank You for transmitting all that You are and all You have accomplished into us today! Now everything that You are is being transmitted into us as Your Body to make us the fullness of the One who fills all and in all!

Being Willing to Fully Open to Receive the Divine Transmission Continually

The apostle Paul ended chapter 1 of Ephesians by adding “to the church” to “God gave Him to be Head over all things” (v. 22). Wow.

If he had said that God gave Christ to be Head over all things, we all would be amazed at this wonderful, glorious, exalted Christ.

But He is not only the exalted Christ but also the exalted Head, and as the Head He is continually transmitting all that He is and has into us, the church as the Body of Christ.

You can even say that one of the main reasons Christ is the Head over all things is to transmit this to the church, so that the church may share in His headship over all things.

Whatever Christ as the Head has attained and obtained is being continually transmitted into us as the church, the Body of Christ.

We simply need to be willing to be fully open to Him to receive the divine transmission continually.

There’s a continual transmission of all that Christ is into the church; we simply need to fully open to receive the divine transmission continually.

We can liken this to the electricity and the power plant.

The source of electricity is in the power plant, but electricity is being continually transmitted into our home.

As long as there’s an electrical installation in our home and it is connected to the power plant, there’s a continual transmission of electricity going on.

We don’t need to do something to get more electricity nor do we need to try to make electricity ourselves; we simply need to turn on the switch and electricity flows continually.

There’s no problem with the power plant, but there may be a problem with the receiving of the transmission of electricity.

Christ as the heavenly electricity, the divine current, has been installed into our being; when we believed in the Lord Jesus, we were connected or plugged into the heavenly power plant, and since then, there’s a divine transmission going on.

We need to be willing to fully open to receive the divine transmission continually.

We don’t need to try to produce the divine electricity nor do we need to strive to do this or that to get the heavenly current; we simply need to open to receive the divine transmission continually.

There is never a problem with the heavenly power plant.

However, there may be a problem with the church receiving the divine transmission.

In our daily living we need to open to the Lord fully to receive the divine transmission continually.

It is by means of this divine transmission that we can share in Christ’s ascension and we can be one with Him for the carrying out of God’s New Testament economy.

Eph. 2:6 says that we’re seated together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Wow!

When we’re in our spirit, when we turn to our spirit and remain in our spirit, we are seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, and we receive the divine transmission continually.

The divine transmission from Christ as the Head is being continually transmitted into us, for we are connected in our spirit to the heavenly power plant. Hallelujah!

By means of this divine transmission, all that Christ is, all that He has, all that He has attained and obtained, is being transmitted into us!

If we are willing to be fully open to receive the divine transmission continually, we will be one with the Lord in our daily living for the fulfilment of His purpose.

Our living will be a spontaneous expression of Christ, and our prayer will be an expression of His prayer in us.

May we be those who are continually open to the Lord to receive this divine transmission of all that He is and has done into us.

Throughout the day, may we open to the Lord by turning our heart to Him and praying short prayers for Him to continually dispense what He is into our being.

Lord Jesus, we open to Your divine transmission today. Hallelujah, there is a transmission going on from the ascended Christ in the heavens into our spirit all the time! Amen, Lord, we are willing to be fully open to receive the divine transmission continually. Thank You for seating us together with You in the heavenlies to be one with You. Amen, Lord, we are joined to You in spirit, and where You are, that’s where we also are. Praise the Lord, we are one spirit with the Lord, joined to Him, even seated with Him in the heavenlies. We open to Your divine transmission today. May Your transmission get through to us and to all the saints. We want to deal with any problems and hindrances to Your divine transmission. May we be fully open from within to receive and enjoy the divine transmission continually in our daily life. Amen, Lord, fully open! Yes, Lord, the divine transmission! Hallelujah!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Luke, msgs. 77-79, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good land for the Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, for the Reality and the Manifestation of the Kingdom, and for the Bride to make Herself Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 Winter Training), week 7, entitled, Knowing the Ascension.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The issue of the transmission of God in His Divine Trinity into His chosen and redeemed people, a portion from, The Intrinsic View of the Body of Christ, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – The Head of the Universe is Jesus! More via, Living to Him.
  – What is the Body of Christ? More via, LSM Radio Newsletters.
  – Caring for Both the Headship of Christ and the Fellowship of the Body, via, Shepherding Words.
  – The fullness of Christ becoming His expression, which is the church, a portion from, Christ in His Excellency, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
  – Life-study of Ephesians, Message 17: Christ to Be the Head Over All Things to the Church, video via LSM Youtube.
  – Christ being the Head, a portion from, Lesson Book, Level 5: The Church—The Vision and Building Up of the Church, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – Who Represents the Head and the Body? More via, A Faithful Word.
  – The Building Up of the Body of Christ, Message 3: Being No Longer Babyish but Fully Growing Up into the Head, video via, LSM Youtube.
  – Have You Seen the Heavenly Vision of Christ and the Church? More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The Headship, the Light of New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – God’s Spirit His transmission is, / In Him God enters into us; / It is in Him that God in Christ / May be experienced by us. / God as the Father is the source, / And God the Son doth Him express; / God as the Spirit enters us, / That God as all we may possess. (Hymns #610 stanzas 1-2)
  – Power that made Him o’er all things the Head / Is now to the church, now to the church! / Power, such pow’r, will be exhibited / O’er all through His Body, the church! / There is pow’r, pow’r, overruling pow’r, / To the church, to the church! / There is pow’r, pow’r, overruling pow’r, / Given to His Body, the church! (Hymns #1175 stanza 4)
  – In fulness of the seasons / God’s Christ will head up all. / Then all will own His reigning / And worship, great and small. / Such reign in life and glory / The Church e’en now foretastes / And to His rule submitting / Unto His kingdom hastes. (Hymns #941 stanza 6)