From the very first verse to the last verse of the New Testament the first and last name mentioned is Jesus. Jesus Christ is the center and the focus of the whole New Testament, and He is the center and focus of the entire Bible. This One is all-inclusive and all-extensive, and if you read the Gospels especially you will discover how full of attractiveness He is.
His humanity is uplifted, rich, sweet, and so aromatic, expressing God in all He did and spoke. He is rich in magnetism, attracting people to Himself not because of His outward beauty but because of what He is in His being. When He speaks to us and appears to us, we are attracted by Him and we can’t resist Him.
Jesus Christ is the most wonderful and lovely person in the universe, and as believers in Christ we are those who look away from anything and anyone else unto Him. There are many things that may distract us from Christ, but we need to let nothing and no one defraud us of our prize, which is the full enjoyment of Christ (Col. 2:18).
To enjoy and experience Christ should be our top priority in our Christian life and church life. This One, this glorious Christ, is in us as the hope of glory, and He is the mystery of God; the entire completing ministry of Paul is focused on Christ in us (Col. 1:25-28).
In order to complete the word of God we should not only get into the writings of Paul with an exercised spirit and a keen mind to understand and be constituted with God’s economy, but we should also seek to enjoy and experience Christ in our daily life.
Whatever we do day by day should remind us of Christ as the reality of all the positive things, and we should practice to take Christ as the reality of all the material things in our daily life. This will revolutionize us and transform us, and our daily living will be filled with the enjoyment of Christ.
The Essence of the Bible is the Extensive Christ, who is Full of Attractiveness and Rich in Magnetism
As those living in the twenty-first century we have never physically met, seen, touched, or spoken to Jesus Christ, and yet as believers in Christ we love Him and treasure Him. You can’t explain love and you can’t generate love, but when something or someone who is lovable and attractive comes, you simply love him.
Because we have seen Christ’s loveliness, we were attracted by Him and we love Him. The Lord Jesus Christ who is portrayed in the four Gospels is a man who is full of attractiveness and rich in magnetism, and this One is the essence of the Bible.
In Luke 24 the two disciples walking down to Emmaus were disappointed and sad with the fact that Jesus died, but when the Lord walked with them and spoke with them, even though they didn’t recognize Him outwardly, their heart was burning within them as He opened up the Scriptures concerning Himself.
When we see the Lord Jesus in the words of the Bible, we are magnetized by Him and we are attracted to Him.
As Heb. 12:2 encourages us, we need to look away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith; when we look away unto Him, He is the immense magnet that attracts us, the most charming One that draws us to Himself.
The wonderful Jesus, who is enthroned in heaven and crowned with glory and honor (2:9), is the greatest attraction in the universe. He is like an immense magnet, drawing all His seekers to Him. It is by being attracted by His charming beauty that we look away from all things other than Him. Without such a charming object, how could we look away from so many distracting things on this earth? (Heb. 12:2, footnote 2 in Recovery Version)
We have our heart set on fire because in the Lord’s recovery we have been brought to Christ as the center of God’s economy and the essence of the whole Bible.
When we come to the word of God we need to be willing to come to Him, to Christ, the One who can give us life (see John 5:39-40). Don’t come to the word of God merely for knowledge; come to the word of God by coming to Him to receive Him as life.
This One is the subject and the essence of the entire New Testament, and the first and the last name mentioned in the New Testament is Jesus (see Matt. 1:1; Rev. 22:21). He is the reality of all the positive things and people in the Bible, and He is the most wonderful One who appeared to us and drew us to Himself.
We just love this wonderful lovable Jesus Christ! He is so full of attractiveness as we turn to our spirit and come to His word in a living way, and He is so rich in magnetism to draw us to Himself!
Lord Jesus, we love You! We love to come to Your word by coming to You with an exercised spirit and an unveiled heart to see You, enjoy You, and be filled with You. Lord, we choose to look away from anything and anyone unto You. You are the greatest attraction in the universe. Lord Jesus, You are the immense magnet drawing us to Yourself. We are charmed by Your beauty and we choose to look away unto You from any distracting things on this earth. Lord Jesus, we love You!
Enjoying and Experiencing Christ in a Subjective Way as the Reality of All the Positive Things
In Col. 2:18, after introducing the wonderful Christ as the One who wiped out the handwriting in ordinances, made us alive together in Him, and is the reality of every positive thing, Paul tells us, Let no one defraud you by judging you unworthy of your prize… The prize here is the enjoyment of Christ; we shouldn’t allow anyone or anything to defraud us or cheat us away from enjoying Christ.
To be defrauded of our prize is to be defrauded of the subjective enjoyment of Christ (see Gen. 15:1; Phil. 3:8). We need to enjoy and experience Christ in a subjective way much more today than yesterday. And we need to fight for our enjoyment, since both good people and things and distractions may come in to defraud us from enjoying Him.
Our need is for the subjective Christ to become our enjoyment day by day, and in this way we complete the divine revelation within us (see Col. 1:25-28). The Lord is bringing us back from religion, philosophy, and anything else other than Christ to Himself. Christ is not only our Savior and our life but He is also our enjoyment daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly – all the time!
But if you look around you will see that in many ways with most Christians Satan has succeeded in distracting them from enjoying Christ. They focus on many other things related to God and the Bible, but they don’t enjoy Christ. Many believers are busy with religion, worship services, going to church, doctrines, praise and worship, mission outreach, etc but they do not enjoy Christ.
The Lord needs to have a recovery, a group of people who are brought back to Christ Himself and are recovered to a continual enjoyment of Christ in their daily life. We need to enjoy and experience Christ in a practical way day-by-day, or else the enemy will defraud us of our prize.
Check with yourself: how much enjoyment of Christ do you have in your life? If we don’t have much enjoyment of Christ, in our experience the word of God was not completed in full. Whatever we do day-by-day should remind us of Christ as the reality of that thing, and we should take Christ as the reality of all the positive things in our daily life.
Our whole daily walk will be revolutionized and transformed when we learn to take Christ as the reality of all the material things in our daily life (see 2 Cor. 4:16; Phil. 1:19-21). The whole universe was created for the description of the invisible God, and the more we enjoy Christ as the reality of all the positive things in the universe, the more of Him to enjoy there is!
The apostle Paul took Christ as his prison, and he sought not to “get out of prison” but to enjoy Christ and magnify Him whether through life or through death. We need to enjoy Christ to the extent that we say with Paul, For me, to do dishes is Christ. For me, to vacuum the house is Christ. For me to drive, to commute to work, to look at people, to speak, and to do anything is Christ!
Lord Jesus, we want to practice to take Christ as the reality of all the material things in our daily life so that our Christian life may be revolutionized and be filled with Christ. May everything that we do remind us to contact Christ, enjoy Christ, and experience Christ. Be so real to us in our daily life. Keep us taking You as the reality of all the positive things in the universe. Lord, You are our real food and drink. You are our rest, our covering, our enjoyment, our joy, our peace, and our satisfaction. You are our real transportation, our driver, our Leader, and our sunshine. You are everything to us. Keep us taking You as the reality of all the positive things!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Dick Taylor’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians (msgs. 35, 55), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Heavenly Vision, week 2 / msg 2, The Vision of Christ.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Hast thou heard Him, seen Him, known Him? / Is not thine a captured heart? / Chief among ten thousand own Him; / Joyful choose the better part. / Captivated by His beauty, / Worthy tribute haste to bring; / Let His peerless worth constrain thee, / Crown Him now unrivaled King. (Hymns #437)
# My Christ, the all-inclusive One, / My Christ what shall I call? / He is the first, He is the last, / My Christ is All in all. / Since such a treasure I possess, / My heart doth sing for joy; / And I must sing, and sing again; / Oh, what a Christ have I! (Hymns #510)
# Christ, the reality of time and space, / Christ, the reality of every stage; / Christ is the one reality of all / Thru all eternity from age to age. (Hymns #496)
About aGodMan
