ENJOYING THE INCLUSIVENESS AND UNLIMITEDNESS OF CHRIST BY THE BOUNTIFUL SUPPLY OF THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST
The apostle Paul wrote the book of Philippians during his imprisonment in Rome. He was mistreated there and may have expected to be martyred soon. However, he said in Philippians 1:19 that he knew that his suffering would turn out for him to salvation because of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Paul was not preaching ethics or morality; what he preached was the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Jesus Christ is not only the Spirit of God but also the Spirit of Jesus and the Spirit of Christ. This Spirit has a bountiful supply. This bountiful supply, which is all-inclusive and unlimited, enables us to endure what others cannot endure and to bear what others cannot bear.
In Ephesians 3:17 Paul said, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts.” Make…home here is a strong word. When Christ makes His home in our entire being, we can experience the breadth, length, height, and depth of the universe. What is the breadth? What is the length? What is the height? What is the depth? It is hard to say. How deep is to be deep? How high is to be high? Paul indicated that the breadth, length, height, and depth of the universe is Christ. Christ is the boundless dimensions of the universe. This is why Paul said that the Lord’s riches are unsearchable as the breadth, length, height, and depth. Paul experienced Christ to an extent that he reached the boundless dimensions of the universe. Thus, he knew that Christ’s endurance, love, power, and wisdom are unlimited, and everything of Christ is boundless. He knew from experience that when we become His multiplication and increase and thereby experience Him, we will realize that our Lord is infinite. Christ is all-inclusive and unlimited.
ALL SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES HINGING ON THIS SPIRIT
This experience altogether depends on the Spirit. The operation of electrical appliances, such as light bulbs, radios, microphones, televisions, audio and video tape recorders, and even computers, hinges on electricity. Once the electricity is cut off, all the electrical appliances stop their operation. All Christians’ experiences of multiplication and increase depend on the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, the vision we have seen by the Lord’s grace is that this Spirit is the key to all our spiritual experiences. It is not doctrines, religion, history, or any trend, but this all-inclusive and infinite Christ. This Christ today is the Spirit, the all-inclusive Spirit. What is the reality of the church? When we live in this Spirit, and when this Spirit flows out of us, we are the reality of the church. When this reality is expressed in a locality, this expression is the local church. Universally speaking, it is the universal church, which is the Body of Christ.
THE SEVEN SPIRITS OPERATING IN MANY WAYS TO MAKE US THE MULTIPLICATION AND INCREASE OF CHRIST
Now this all-inclusive Christ is still here. He is sent as the seven Spirits to all the earth, working in us in many ways to make us, one by one, His duplication, multiplication, and increase. Eventually, at His coming, there will be the manifestation of the kingdom, and the ultimate manifestation will be the New Jerusalem. This is His testimony. We are His multiplication and increase, and when we live in this multiplication and increase, we become His testimony. This testimony grows and increases day by day, first as the church, then as the kingdom, and lastly as the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth.
May the Lord open our eyes and save us from our traditional and religious perspectives. In actuality we are not Christianity; rather, we are Christ. This living Christ who is in us makes us who believe in Him His multiplication and increase. To us, to live is Him; hence, we are His testimony. This testimony is not only individual but also corporate. First it is the church, then it is the kingdom, and lastly it is the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth.
(The All-Inclusiveness and Unlimitedness of Christ, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)
