The issue of our enjoyment of the all-inclusive riches of Christ as the good land is the church as the dwelling place of God (the reality of the temple) and as the kingdom of God (the reality of the city).
Our enjoyment of Christ has to increase, expand, and be enlarged, so that we may enjoy Christ not only along one line (thus being one-liners) but together with all the saints to have a “cubical experience of Christ”.
Wow, we can have a cubical experience of Christ, that is, our experience can be in the Holy of Holies (which is a cube) and in the New Jerusalem (which is also a cube)!
May we all pray like Paul that the Father would strengthen us, according to the riches of His glory, with power into the inner man, so that Christ may make His home in our heart!
When we are strong in our inner man and Christ makes His home deep down in our heart, something happens spontaneously: we are strong to apprehend with all the saints what are the universally vast dimensions of Christ.
Paul didn’t say how wide, how long, how high, and how deep Christ is; he simply said that we can apprehend with all the saints the universally vast Christ, whose dimensions are the dimensions of the universe.
What are the dimensions of Christ? How high is He, how deep is He, how wide is He, and how long is the experience of Christ?
We don’t know; just as we can only see and enjoy the universe with its ever-expanding dimensions, so we can see and enjoy together with all the saints the every-expanding dimensions of Christ.
For us to apprehend the dimensions of Christ, we need all the saints; we ourselves experience one or a few aspects of Christ, but when we come together and share our portion of Christ, we can all enjoy the many dimensions of Christ.
We all can testify that, when we come to the meetings of the church and all saints share of their enjoyment of Christ and praise the Lord, we are watered, we are nourished, and we are encouraged.
The more we fellowship with the saints in the Word of God, the more we pray together, and the more we listen to others sharing of enjoyment, the more we apprehend with all the saints what the universally vast dimensions of Christ are.
Little by little, our experience of Christ becomes three-dimensional, like a cube; we are saved from being extremist (those who see only ONE thing or practice only ONE thing and go with it until he becomes extreme) and we’re being built up with the saints in the Body of Christ. Hallelujah!
May we all go back-and-forth and up-and-down in our experience of Christ so that we may have a “solid cube” experience of Christ which will eventually consummate in the New Jerusalem, the cube-city of God!
The Issue of our Enjoyment of Christ is the Church as the Dwelling Place of God and the City of God
Our enjoyment of Christ has an issue; we don’t merely enjoy Christ for the sake of the enjoyment of Christ, but we enjoy Christ for a purpose, a goal.
The issue of our enjoyment of Christ is the church as the dwelling place of God and as the city of God.
In the Old Testament the issue of the enjoyment of the rich produce of the good land was the temple of God and the city of God; in God’s temple He had a house to dwell in, and in the city of God He could bring in His kingdom.
The land with its temple and city is the center of God’s plan both in the Old and the New Testament.
In the New Testament the good land is the all-inclusive Christ with His exhaustless riches, and the temple and the city is the fullness of Christ, the church, which is His Body (Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22).
As we enjoy the all-inclusive Christ and as our enjoyment of Him is enlarged, expanded, and increased, we together apprehend this universally vast Christ, and we become the fullness of God, which is the church as the Body of Christ.
The church as the issue of our enjoyment of Christ has two main aspects: on one hand the church is the reality of the temple and on the other it is the reality of the city.
The temple is for the expression of God, while the city is for the dominion of God; this fulfills God’s eternal purpose (Gen. 1:26).
When God created man, He made man in His image and according to His likeness, and He wanted man to have dominion over all the things and beings on earth; on one hand God wanted man to express Him in His image, and on the other, He wanted man to represent Him with His dominion.
Adam, however, failed God; Abraham with his descendants as God’s called race also failed God; so God now turns to the church, His spiritual people, that the church would fulfill His purpose in creating man.
In the church we can enjoy Christ as the all-inclusive good land; we can partake of the riches of Christ in our mingled spirit, and the issue will be that we become the church as the dwelling place of God and as the kingdom of God.
When we enjoy Christ personally in our daily life for our collective enjoyment of Him in our meeting life, God is among us, and we are His dwelling place and His kingdom.
Our personal enjoyment of Christ is for our corporate building up and enjoyment in the Body of Christ.
When we enjoy Christ to such an extent, the church meetings are filled with God, and all the activities of the church will convey and transmit God to people so that they may be infused with God.
When we all enjoy Christ and experience Him as the good land, there’s an issue: the church as the dwelling place of God and as the kingdom of God; in the church we will have both God’s rest and satisfaction, and His representation and authority.
When a new one comes among us and we all enjoy Christ and speak Him to one another, he will fall down on his face, for the secrets of his heart are made manifest, and he will worship God declaring that indeed God is among us (1 Cor. 14:25).
When we enjoy Christ to such an extent, we will spontaneously submit to one another, and the authority of Christ will be among us.
Lord Jesus, may our enjoyment and experience of Christ be enlarged and increased until we together become the church as the fullness of God, the dwelling place of God and the city of God! Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy the all-inclusive riches of Christ as the good land so that we may become the church as the dwelling place of God and the kingdom of God. Gain Your fullness, Your expression, and Your representation among us on earth today! Amen, Lord Jesus, may we have a personal enjoyment of Christ for our collective enjoyment of Him in our meeting life so that we may have God among us and we may be His dwelling place and His kingdom!
Our Enjoyment of the Riches of Christ results in having God’s Presence and His Authority among us
When we eat Christ, enjoy Christ, and experience Christ, we become what we eat, enjoy, and experience; even more, we are known by what we eat.
As Christians, we need to spend time with the Lord to eat Him, enjoy Him, and partake of Him. If we eat a little of Christ in the morning, a little at lunch, and a little in the evening, we partake of Him, we digest Him, and Him and us become one gradually.
By our constant eating of Christ and partaking of His riches in His word, we are mingled with Him as He is digested and assimilated in us; the result is that, when we come together with other believers, we will bring Christ to them!
When we come together with the saints, we bring the Christ we enjoyed to them, and we cannot hide our enjoyment and experience of Christ; we simply can’t help but bring Christ wherever we go.
Even when we go to work, do shopping, or walk, we bring Christ with us, and He oozes out of us little by little. When we meet together, we offer Christ to God, we enjoy Christ with God, we exhibit Christ, and we enjoy Christ with one another.
The issue of our enjoyment of Christ as the all-inclusive One in this way is that we become the church as the house of God and the city of God, that is, the church as the dwelling place of God and the kingdom of God.
Christ becomes everything to us, and everything is Christ; we become the habitation of God, the home of God, and the city of God.
The spontaneous issue of our genuine enjoyment of Christ is that we have the authority of Christ among us; we become submissive to God and to one another, and God’s kingdom is among us.
After enjoying the riches of Christ daily, we cannot quarrel with one another; after enjoying Christ again and again, we can’t hate each other or gossip about others.
Rather, we are formed into an army for God’s interest, and we submit to God and to one another in Christ. True love is in submitting to one another; true love is not in our preference, taste, desire, or choice, but in submitting to one another.
The issue of our enjoyment of Christ is that we submit to God and to one another, for we love God and love the brothers; then, the authority of Christ is among us.
When we have the authority of God among us by our mutual submission to God and to tone another, the church as the dwelling place of God is enlarged to be the city of God, the kingdom of God.
What we will have among us is not just the presence of God but also the kingdom of God with His authority.
When people come in among us, they will sense not only God’s presence but also His authority. When the saints meet and enjoy the Lord together in this way, they will not only enjoy God’s rich presence and His sweet grace, but they also have the sense of security being under God’s authority.
When all the saints enjoy Christ, digest Christ, and assimilate Christ, and then they come together, everything about them is Christ; Christ is seen among them, Christ is exhibited, Christ is ministered, and Christ is present among them.
Then God can have His home and also His kingdom, and all who come in our midst sense that we have God’s presence and His authority.
Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy You little by little, day by day, until we become what we eat and we express what we eat. May we as Christians be full of Christ and constituted with Christ by eating Christ in the morning, during the day, and in the evening. May our whole day be filled with Christ. May our meetings be filled with the enjoyment of Christ and the ministering of Christ. May all the saints enjoy the riches of the all-inclusive Christ so that we may become the dwelling place of God and the kingdom of God, and we may have God’s presence and His authority among us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, CWWL, 1961-1962, vol. 4, “The All-inclusive Christ,” chs. 15-16, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 6, Life in the Land and the Issue of the Land — the Church as the Temple, the Dwelling Place of God, and as the City, the Kingdom of God.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Labor on Jesus to have Him increased! / Then seek God’s dwelling and come to the feast! / There bring and offer your surplus to God, / There eat the riches, rejoice in the Lord! (Hymns #1168)
– In Christ we live, by Christ we fight, / On Christ we labor day and night, / And with His surplus we unite / To thus exhibit Christ. (Hymns #864)
– At the closing of this age, / Just before Your kingdom’s dawn, / May You gain a people, Lord, / For Your dwelling place, Your home. / Since for me You gave Your all, / Everything I lay aside; / For Your church my all I’d give, / That You would be satisfied. (Hymns #1238)
About aGodMan
