CHRIST BEING ALL-INCLUSIVE AND UNLIMITED
As we all know, the center of the Bible is Christ. The universe is a mystery, and God is even more a mystery. According to the biblical revelation, God as a mystery hinges entirely on Christ. Yet, who is Christ? What does Christ involve? This is truly hard to explain thoroughly with human words. In the sixty-six books of the Bible there are at least three to four hundred ways of depicting the all-inclusiveness and unlimitedness of Christ. What He is, is so much and so limitless. That is why even though the Bible uses sixty-six books to depict Him, it still cannot describe Him fully.
The Bible portrays Christ with different types, figures, representations, stories, and even with different people, plants, animals, and items in nature. Many readers of the Bible often view it as a religious writing. They think that since religion is a system in which there is an object of worship with a corresponding set of teachings, the Bible must be a book that teaches people according to the One they worship. I dare not say that this concept is altogether absent in the Bible. However, there is only very little of it, and it occupies a very secondary position. What the Bible primarily does is to reveal Christ, that is, to show us and to explain, illustrate, and narrate to us who Christ is and what Christ involves.
We know that in human history no one is more excellent or more mysterious than Christ. He is not only real but also living. He is now; He still lives today. In the past two thousand years, human history has never been able to separate itself from Christ, for Christ is the turning point in human history. We all are brothers and sisters here. Thank the Lord that we are the blessed ones. We all have been saved and regenerated, and we have a union in life with Him. We have a heart to love Him and also to pursue Him. Every day we pray to Him and have fellowship with Him. Every day we regard His supremacy, and we desire to express Him in our body regardless of our circumstances. Therefore, in the Lord’s recovery today what we need most is to know this Christ. Even though this topic seems old, I believe that every point and every item which we will point out will be as new and fresh as the morning dew. May the Lord give us grace and bring us into such a deep and fresh knowledge of Christ.
When speaking about Christ, whether it be in what He is, in what He has accomplished, in His person, in His work, or in any other aspect, the Bible always shows us that He is all-inclusive and infinite. Concerning His all-inclusiveness, He includes God and man, and He includes you and me. He includes eternity past and eternity future. He includes yesterday, today, and even tomorrow. He is truly all-inclusive, and at the same time, He is also unlimited. To be unlimited means to be without beginning or end, limitless, boundless. The biblical revelations concerning Christ cannot depart from this point; that is, everything pertaining to Christ is all-inclusive and unlimited. Therefore, in these messages we will specifically consider the all-inclusiveness and unlimitedness of Christ. Because time is short, there is no way to include many messages. We can include only five messages, but each message will contain many crucial points, every one of which is a mystery. I hope that you will do your “homework” diligently by following the outline and verses with each message. I also hope that within the year you will have a thorough understanding of the all-inclusiveness and unlimitedness of Christ and be able to speak it convincingly. When you speak, there should be no need to refer to the notes. Rather, you should be able to open your mouth and speak as a river flowing endlessly to testify wonderfully on behalf of Christ.
(The All-Inclusiveness and Unlimitedness of Christ, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee)
