Witness Lee’s Ministry Quotes

Witness Lee often ministered on the topic of the all-inclusive Christ. In fact, the first conference he held in the United States in 1962 was entitled the All-Inclusive Christ. The messages from that conference were eventually printed as a book, which is the major source for this website. Following are various quotes from other portions of Witness Lee’s ministry on the topic of all the all-inclusive Christ relating to fifteen different categories:

Sections

Body of Christ

When Christ is fully settled down within our hearts, we, the saints, are filled with the dispensing of the unsearchable riches of the all-inclusive Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God unto all the fullness of God for the corporate expression of the processed Triune God (Eph. 3:19b). This means that what God is becomes what we are. We are filled with the dispensing of the unsearchable riches of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God to such an extent that we are filled unto all the fullness of the Triune God. This fullness is the expression of God, and this expression is the Body of Christ, the organism of the Triune God. (top)

(Witness Lee, The Divine Trinity, 27)

The Body of Christ is not merely a composition of believers of many nationalities. We all have been born into the Body of Christ. Our stomach and our two eyes were born into our body. They were organically constituted into our body. In like manner, we were born, organically constituted, into the Body of Christ. I do not consider each of you as being composed into an organization. Rather I consider each one of you as a living, organic member constituted into the Body of Christ through your regeneration with the very Christ whom you received into you and into whom you believed. The constitution of the Body of Christ is with the all-inclusive Christ as the life element. Today you are not in an organization as a composition; you are in an organism as a constitution. This organism is constituted not just according to the truth but with the very Christ as the all-inclusive life element. (top)

(Witness Lee, Urgent Need, 189-190)

In this chapter we want to see the constitution of the Body of Christ with the all-inclusive Christ as the life element. These words may seem quite common in English, but the expression life element is not so common. What is the life element with which the church has been constituted? We must see that the church as the Body of Christ has been constituted not with a simple Christ but with the all-inclusive Christ as the life element.

This all-inclusive Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God (Col. 2:9). We all know God is invisible and very abstract and mysterious. It is difficult for anyone to tell us who God is, how God is, what God is, or where God is. Who can do this? I do not believe anyone can do this. But such a God, the Triune God, has been embodied in the flesh in a visible man (John 1:14). Christ is this man. Who then is Christ? Christ is the very Triune God embodied in a man of flesh.

This Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God is the source of life, and as the source of life, He is signified by the tree of life (Gen. 2:9; Rev. 2:7; 22:2). To read the Bible is not so easy. The Bible is not a simple book. It has many plain words, but it also has many figures of speech. One of these figures is the tree of life. Have you ever heard of such a tree? We have heard of peach trees, apple trees, and hundreds of other trees, but we may have never heard of a life tree. Yet in the Bible there is such a thing as the life tree, the tree of life.

Have you noticed that in the Gospel of John the Lord Jesus told us that He is a tree (John 15:1, 5)? But He is not a pine tree, shooting into the sky so high that nobody can touch Him. He is a vine tree, not shooting up but spreading out. In a sense He is great and He is vast, yet He is also very low. He is not shooting into the air but spreading out on the earth. Even a little one can touch Him. He is great and He is spreading, yet He is low. This is what He told us in John 15.

Then elsewhere in the Gospel of John, the Lord told us that He is life (11:25; 14:6). He is a tree and He is life, and if you put these two together, you have a life tree, a tree of life. Christ is the life tree.

According to Genesis 2 the trees in the garden of Eden were good for food (v. 9). The tree of life was no exception to this; it also was good for food. We eat from all sorts of trees for the purpose of nourishing ourselves. But do you realize that we need another kind of tree? We need the life tree, which is God embodied in Christ. A picture or a figure is always better than a thousand words. In this figure Christ presents Himself to us as a tree, not a pine tree but a vine tree, spreading Himself before us. This indicates that we should eat Him. The first crucial figure in the Bible is the tree of life, signifying God Himself as life. We can call Him the life tree, and we can also call Him the God tree. The tree of life is the tree of God. We must realize that this tree of life is God Himself. Without this tree we would never know that our God is the life tree, the God tree. (top)

(Witness Lee, Constitution, 10-11)

The book of Acts is the expansion of this wonderful Person. It is the branching out of the all-inclusive Christ. This Christ has expanded from one Person to thousands and thousands of persons. He was once the individual Christ, but in Acts He has become a corporate Christ. Following the Acts, we have all the Epistles, which give a full definition of this wonderful, universal, great Man. Christ is the Head, and the church is the Body: this is the universal Man, Christ and the church. Finally, we have the book of Revelation as the consummation of the New Testament. This book gives us a full picture of the Body-Christ, the individual Christ incorporated with all His members to become the New Jerusalem. (top)

(Witness Lee, Antecedents and Status, 9)

The Body of Christ is the organism of the processed and consummated Triune God constituted with the believers in Christ, the many God-men, as the outward human framework; the life-giving Spirit, the compound Spirit, as the divine essence; the all-inclusive Christ, the unlimited Christ, as the divine element; and God the Father, who is over all and through all and in all, as the divine source (Eph. 4:4-6). In other words, this organism of God is constituted with the believing human beings as the outward framework and the Triune God —the Spirit, the Son, and the Father. The Spirit is the essence, the Son is the element, and the Father is the source. The essence is within the element (top)

(Witness Lee, Practical Way, 59-60)

Regardless of whether we are a good man or a bad man, we have to be crossed out. It is no longer I, but Christ lives in me as the life-giving Spirit to issue in the Body of Christ. Self-cultivation does not carry out God’s economy, but self-denial does. We have to deny ourselves, realizing that whatever we are in the old creation has been crossed out, crucified. Every day we are dying. We are being conformed to the death of Christ so that Christ can live in us to bring forth the Body life which will issue in the New Jerusalem as God’s eternal goal in His eternal economy. This is the proper insight of the New Testament revelation. These three great things —the Triune God, the all-inclusive Christ, and the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit —are for the producing of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is the real embodiment of the Triune God in Christ as the Spirit, and this Body will consummate in the New Jerusalem. (top)

(Witness Lee, CS of James, 42)

The Body of Christ is one unique Body with one Spirit, one Lord, and one God and Father of all (Eph. 4:3-6). This one Body is the expression of the all-inclusive Christ (1:23). The one Spirit is the essence of the one Body. The Triune God expresses Himself in the one Body, and the essence of this Body is the one Spirit. The one Lord is the object of our faith and baptism. We believed into Him and we were baptized into Him. Now we are in Him. The one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all, is the source of life and the object of our worship. We came out of the Father and now He has to be our unique object of worship. The thought of the Trinity is implied in the fact that the Father is over all, through all, and in all. “Over all” mainly refers to the Father, “through all” to the Son, and “in all” to the Spirit. One Spirit, one Lord, and one God and Father of all are the elements of the very oneness of the Body (top)

(Witness Lee, Body of Christ, 41)

Church Life

Apparently the Old Testament has nothing to do with the church. Actually the history of Israel recorded in the Old Testament is a picture of the church life. We need to have this understanding as we read Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. If we have this view, then we will see that in the divine revelation in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers we have a full type of the church in the mystical union with the all-inclusive Christ, who is the embodiment of the processed and dispensing Triune God. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF NUMBERS, 373)

To have the vision of Christ is to see that Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God and the center of all things related to God. Christ is the center of God’s plan, of God’s eternal intention. Christ is also the center of God’s work, God’s creation, and God’s redemption. Christ is the center of all that God has planned to do. Christ must have the preeminence in everything; He must have the first place in all things. We need to apply this Christ to our life, ministry, and church life. Christ must be the essence, the substance, of our Christian walk and the reality of our work, service, and ministry. Our ministry should be a ministry of Christ, full of Christ. Furthermore, Christ must be the content and expression of the church life. The church should be an expression of nothing other than the all-inclusive Christ. We all need such a vision of Christ. (top)

(Witness Lee, Heavenly Vision, 26)

When we enjoy this all-inclusive Christ every day, He will become our inward supply in everything. He will become the dispensing within us. Eventually, He will be manifested in our meetings and service, in our gifts, and in all our activities. This is the dispensing of God as our supply in our meetings and service. (top)

(Witness Lee, Economy and Dispensing of God, 67)

From His incarnation to His ascension the all-inclusive Christ accomplished many things, He attained many things, and He obtained many things. First, He breathed Himself as the breath of life into His believers. Then He poured Himself out as the Spirit of power upon these believers. By breathing Himself into them, He made them members of His Body. By pouring Himself upon them, He formed them into His Body. Now in this universe there is a universal man. The Head is in the heavens, and the Body is on this earth. The Head and the Body are corresponding and coordinating one with another to carry out God’s eternal plan. Today we have Him within us as life essentially, and we have Him upon us as power economically. Now we are living a life which is the processed Triune God, and we are carrying out His economy which is the accomplishment of God’s eternal plan. This is the church life. (top)

(Witness Lee, NT Economy, 110-111)

Enjoyment of Christ

God enjoys Christ. When the Lord Jesus was baptized, the Father spoke from the heavens, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I delight” (Matt. 3:17). This indicates that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is God’s delight, enjoyment, and satisfaction. As God’s portion, Christ satisfies God and makes Him happy. God saves part of His portion for us, His priests, to enjoy with Him. Therefore, both God and we, the priests of God, are enjoying the same thing —the all-inclusive Christ. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF NUMBERS, 192)

If we remain in this fellowship, we will have the way to gain and enjoy Christ. If our fellowship with God is cut off, we will lose our enjoyment immediately. Concerning this, the Lord Jesus uses the word abide and speaks of our abiding in Him as the vine (John 15:4). The vine is a figure of the all-inclusive Christ under God’s cultivation. As long as the branch abides in the vine, there is fellowship. But once a branch ceases to abide in the vine, the branch is cut off, becomes barren and dry, and loses the enjoyment of the riches of the vine (vv. 5-6). (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF JUDGES, 51-52)

As those who have believed in the Lord Jesus, we gain what He has gained. We gain God; we gain the Spirit; we gain the divine life; and we gain the all-inclusive Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God. This means that in Christ we gain the processed and consummated Triune God as the spoil for our enjoyment. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF PSALMS, 330)

The book of Hebrews stresses the heavenly Christ in the heavens (1:3). The word of righteousness concerning such a Christ is for the mature ones (5:13-14). This kind of word is considered as solid food, but the good word, which is considered as milk, is for the children. Both the milk and the solid food refer to the all-inclusive Christ. Our primary enjoyment that we have in the all-inclusive Christ in the New Testament age is as the milk and as the solid food. In the Lord’s recovery the main thing is to recover the lost enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ. We enjoy Him in His earthly ministry, and we also enjoy Him in His heavenly ministry we enjoy Him as the all-inclusive Christ in His all-inclusive Person and in His all-inclusive work. We see Him in His earthly work, and we see Him also in His heavenly work. This is the divine enjoyment, the spiritual enjoyment, the main enjoyment, and the top enjoyment of the New Testament age. (top)

(Witness Lee, NT Economy, 116)

The all-inclusive Christ dwelling in our spirit is a heavenly mystery within us which no one can exhaust (Col. 1:26-28; 2:2). The more we turn ourselves to the spirit and remain there to contact the Lord, the more we will sense that He is the exhaustless One. As we turn to our spirit, we sense a flowing and springing up within which waters us, and spontaneously we will water others. Whoever contacts us will be watered by this living outflow. This is the way to enjoy Christ as the living water. This is not doctrine. Our need is to practice to turn ourselves back to the spirit and remain there with the Lord. Then we will enjoy Christ as the living water. (top)

(Witness Lee, Our Portion, 29)

Experience of Christ

After we offer ourselves to the Lord to enjoy His provision, Christ is available to us as the replacement for and consummation of all the offerings. In the Old Testament there are many different kinds of offerings, but today we have one, all-inclusive offering —the all-inclusive Christ. The offering of ourselves to God is God’s second provision, and the all-inclusive Christ is the third divine provision.

For our practical experience and enjoyment, Christ is mainly three kinds of offerings —the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offering. As those who are being anointed by God and who offer themselves to Him, we need to lay our hands upon Christ as our sin offering. Whenever we enter into God’s provision through our offering of ourselves, we feel condemned. In our conscience we feel that we are unrighteous in many things. We sense that in various ways we are lacking, wrong, and unclean. At such a time we need to put our hands on Christ and take Him as our sin offering. Whenever we do this, we know that we are redeemed, propitiated, and forgiven, and we have peace within. At this juncture we desire to live for God. However, we realize that we have failed in this and that in ourselves we cannot live for Him. But the One on whom we have laid our hands is also our burnt offering. Thus, in our experience, the sin offering becomes the burnt offering. Then we can pray, “O Lord Jesus! I am one with You in living for God and living to God absolutely.” After enjoying Christ as our sin offering and burnt offering, we no longer have condemnation, rebuking, or conviction. Instead, we have peace. We now enjoy Christ as our abundant peace offering. This peace then becomes a fellowship between us and God in which we and God enjoy Christ in mutuality. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF NUMBERS, 106-107)

This is according to the typology in the Old Testament. One person might bring a bullock to offer, whereas another person who was poor could only bring a small bird (Lev. 1:3, 14). Both of these offerings are types of Christ, but one portion is bigger than the other. This means that one person’s experience of Christ can be bigger than another person’s experience. The full knowledge of the Son of God is the apprehension of the revelation concerning the Son of God for our experience. We all need to experience the all-inclusive Christ. (top)

(Witness Lee, Intrinsic View, 92)

The cities of refuge (Josh. 20:1-9) were set up by Joshua for those of the children of Israel who unwittingly killed someone. If they would flee to the city of refuge away from the avenger of blood (v. 5), they would be protected. At the death of the high priest, the manslayer would be released to return to his own city (v. 6).

The cities of refuge signify the all-inclusive Christ as the place to which we can escape when we realize that we are sinful. The all-inclusive Christ as the embodiment of the redeeming God is the city of refuge where we are safeguarded, covered, and concealed. Christ is not only our Savior but also our refuge. Whenever the “storm” of our sin comes, we can run into Christ as our refuge to stay with Him. Then by Christ’s death, signified by the death of the high priest, we are released. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF JOSHUA, 93)

Now you see how much of Christ we have to experience. We have to experience Him as the lamb of the passover, as the manna, as the rock, as the ark with the tabernacle, and as all the offerings —trespass, sin, peace, meal, and burnt. We have to experience Christ and apply Christ hour by hour, instance by instance, in such a way that we will be qualified, enabled, and strengthened to go on and take possession of the all-inclusive Christ. Gaining possession of this good land does not take place suddenly or instantaneously. It is a gradual process. First we must enjoy Him as the lamb; then we must enjoy Him as the manna, as the rock, as the ark with the tabernacle; and then day by day and instance after instance we must enjoy Him as all the various kinds of offerings. Then we will be qualified and matured to gain possession of that all-inclusive land. But there is more to follow. (top)

(Witness Lee, All-Inclusive Christ, 109)

We have seen the centrality and universality of Christ —Christ as the central One and the universal One. Furthermore, we have seen that He is the all-inclusive and subjective Christ to us. On the one hand, we stress the all-inclusiveness of Christ —He is the center, the circumference, and everything. On the other hand, we want to see that this very central, universal, all-inclusive Christ is so subjective to us. If He is not subjective to us, He has nothing to do with us, and we cannot experience Him as life and everything to us.

We all may realize that with a subject as big as the centrality and universality of Christ, there are many things to see. However, we are not dealing with doctrinal matters here; we are dealing with the experiential matters. Therefore, we will just concentrate on the main point concerning Christ being subjective to us. (top)

(Witness Lee, Centrality, 38)

In our experience, the living Christ is in us. As we turn to our experience, we shall see that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one. The all-inclusive Christ, who as the life-giving Spirit indwells our spirit, is everything to us. We must believe the clear Word in a pure way, saying, “Amen,” to whatever the Bible says, and we should take care of our experience. There is no need to interpret. Simply take whatever the Bible says and believe it. (top)

(Witness Lee, WHAT A HERESY, 35)

Therefore, what is Christ? Christ is the Son with the Father as the Spirit mingled together with man. In Christ are the Son, the Father, the Spirit, and the man. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him (Col. 2:9). All the fullness of the Father is in the Son, all that the Son has is in the Spirit, and all that the Spirit has is in the man. This is the very Christ in whom we believe, and this is the very Christ who dwells in us. This is the Savior in whom we believe, the Lord whom we serve, and the very God whom we worship. This is the Christ who is life to us. In this life we have the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and the man.

Here is a cup of plain water. Later, you add in some lemon juice. Then it is no longer just water, but water mingled with lemon juice. Before His incarnation, God was merely God. But after His incarnation, He is God mingled with man. Within Him is the human nature, the human essence, the human element in addition to His divinity. With our Christ there are both divinity and humanity, both the divine element and the human element. He is not only the Triune God but also the man. He is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit —the Triune God —and the man. He is everything. As God, He is the Creator, and as a man, He is a creature (Col. 1:15). So in Him we have the Creator and the creature.

But this is not all. It is wonderful that we can never exhaust telling what He is. Besides being the Creator and a creature, He passed through human living on this earth for thirty-three and a half years. Then He suffered death and conquered death. He passed through death and He came out of death. Thus, in Him there is the element of the effectiveness of His all-inclusive death. Although death is an awful thing, the death of Christ is a great blessing, a great deliverance, and a great release to us. The death brought in by Adam sent us into hell, but the death of Christ brings us out of hell. The death brought in by Adam was a real trouble to us, but the death accomplished and passed through by Christ is a real deliverance to us. We have to sing much about the death of Christ. We have to shout, even proclaim, that we have the death of Christ.

Moreover, the death of Christ is the killing power, the killing element. Today in some doses of medicine there is an element that kills the germs in your body and an element that nourishes your body. In Christ we have the killing power and the nourishing supply. The killing power is the element of the effectiveness of His death, and the supply is the resurrection life. Death kills, but resurrection supplies. Death solves the problems, but resurrection supplies us with the rich provision of life.

After resurrection, there is the ascension of Christ. Now He is in the heavens and He is transcendent. In this transcendency He is enthroned with authority and glorified. With Christ there is also the kingdom. We simply cannot exhaust all the items of Christ. In this one great “dose” we have the Creator, the creature, the human nature, the human living, the effective death, the resurrection, the ascension, the enthronement, the glorification, and the kingdom. This great dose is Christ Himself. The Christ who is life to us is such an all-inclusive Christ, and He is so much. He is the Son of God, the Father, the Spirit, and the man. Everything is with Him and in Him. We have to know Christ in such a full way. When we take Christ as our life day by day, we will experience Him in all of these aspects. (top)

(Witness Lee, Life and Way, 39-41)

We should have an aspiration to be gifts to the Lord’s Body. We should not be ambitious for any kind of position or title. We human beings want to be great, to be rich, to be famous, and to get some titles. Even among the so-called servants of God, many are seeking the worldly titles. They like to be advertised as “Dr. So-and-so” or “the world famous preacher.” Some preachers would even receive an honorable degree. We should consider ourselves in this matter. Are you willing to be small, to be lowly, and to be poor? Are you willing to suffer opposition and persecution? Are you willing to be hidden, buried, and not to be famous? When the Lord was on this earth, in His human life He was willing to be lowly, poor, and buried. He was willing to suffer opposition and persecution. He never sought fame for Himself. If we desire to be famous in the religious world, in the Christian world, this means that we do not give ground to Christ in His human living. The all-inclusive Christ within us includes the element of His human living on this earth, which was lowly, poor, humble, restricted, and under persecution. Consider the apostles such as Peter and Paul. They experienced poverty, opposition, and persecution. (top)

(Witness Lee, Life and Way, 85-86)

If you would do these two things —have a genuine prayer before the Lord and offer yourself again to Him —I have the full assurance that you will have a clear vision about yourself. You will see that your very self is good for nothing but death and burial. You will realize the cross of Christ. All the time you will have the sense that you have been put on the cross and terminated by the cross. You are good for nothing but to be crucified.

At the same time, you will also have the sense, the registration, the apprehension, the realization, that the all-inclusive Christ is so real to you and that He is living and working in you. Then you will be brought into the reality of Christ as life, light, the law of life, and the anointing. So day by day you will experience something living, working, acting, moving, enlightening, regulating, and anointing within you all the time. You will know how to go along with Christ, not an objective Christ in the heavens but a subjective Christ in your spirit and heart.

Furthermore, you will always sense that you are one with Him. While you pray, He prays in you. While you walk, He walks in you. While you go to certain places, He goes with you and in you. You will always sense His presence, not just beside you but within you. And you will realize how real and available He is. (top)

(Witness Lee, Life and Way, 94-95)

We need to be impressed with the all-inclusiveness of Christ. The Gospel of John reveals that Christ is God, that He is the Creator, that in Him is life, and that this life is the light of men (John 1:1-4). One day, He, the Word, became flesh, full of grace and truth (v. 14). According to Colossians, Christ is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of every creature, and the One in whom all things were made and in whom they consist (Col. 1:15-17). Christ holds together in Himself the entire universe. Hebrews 1:3 says that He upholds all things by the word of His power. For example, the planet earth is neither too close to the sun nor too far from it. If the earth were too close, it would be burned, and if it were too far, it would be frozen. The Lord Jesus Christ is the One responsible for keeping the earth in its proper position in relation to the sun. The very Christ who does this is also our life. If He can regulate the earth and the sun, then He can certainly regulate us, and He can surely regulate our relationship with our husband or wife. The Christ who upholds the universe and in whom all things consist upholds the relationship between a husband and his wife. The reason so many marriages end in divorce is that in those marriages there are two spokes without a hub. Hallelujah, we have the all-inclusive Christ as our hub! (top)

(Witness Lee, Experience of Christ, 119-120)

We cannot exhaust all that Christ is! In Him we have the Creator, the creature, the creation, the divine nature, the human nature with the human living, the effective death, the resurrection, the glorification, the ascension, the enthronement, the headship, the lordship, the authority and the Kingdom. All these are in Christ! They are all included in this one great Dose, which is Christ Himself.

If we will take Him as our life and experience Him day by day, we will sense many times the humanity and the human living. Many times we will sense the killing element, putting the natural life to death. Many times we will realize the resurrection power, the releasing, liberating and rising power. And sometimes we will realize the glorification, the enthronement, the authority, the headship, the lordship, and the Kingdom, which is the reign of Christ within us.

We must bring this to the Lord and pray that He may reveal these things to us. We do not need mere knowledge, but we do need a real revelation! We must see that the Christ in whom we believe is such a Christ. He is the Triune God mingled with man and possessing so many experiences and attainments. All the elements which we have mentioned are with Him and in Him. He is everything and He has everything. We need to know this all-inclusive Christ. Then we may know the way to experience Him as life and everything to us day by day. (top)

(Witness Lee, ALL-INCLUSIVE SPIRIT, 13-14)

One day a brother came to me and asked if I thought Christians should joke. I said, “There is no regulation. There is no law in the Scriptures. Christ did not give us such a law; so I dare not say whether it is right or not. But there is one thing I must say. If you would joke, you must first consult Christ. You must take Him as your life. If you can joke by Christ, go ahead. If He is your life in joking, it is quite right. You yourself know whether or not Christ will go along with your joking. The only rule is Christ Himself!” Today there is only one law, one rule, one regulation: Christ Himself, the all-inclusive Christ as our life in resurrection. (top)

(Witness Lee, Major Steps, 33)

To cherish people is to make them happy and to make them feel pleasant and comfortable. We must have a pleasant countenance when we contact people. We should be happy and rejoicing. We should not contact anyone with a cheerless countenance. We must give people the impression that we are genuinely happy and pleasant. Otherwise, we will not be able to cherish them, to make them happy.

Then we should go on to nourish them. We do not nourish people when we speak to them about marriage, courtship, politics, the world situation, or education. To nourish people is to feed them with the all-inclusive Christ in His full ministry in three stages. When we speak to people about Christ, we should not speak to them in an incomprehensible way in a kind of language which they do not understand. We have to find a way to present the all-inclusive Christ to everyone. If a person wants people to eat beef, he must find a way to cook it to make them desire to eat it. Similarly, we have to “cook” the all-inclusive Christ. There are many different ways to cook the same thing. I have been cooking Christ in this country for over thirty-three years with about three thousand messages.

In order to nourish people with Christ, we first have to seek Christ, experience Christ, gain Christ, enjoy Christ, and participate in Christ. In Philippians, especially in chapters two and three, Paul used different expressions and utterances to portray how he was seeking and pursuing Christ in order to gain Christ. He told us that we should do all things without murmurings and reasonings. The sisters who are seeking Christ should learn not to murmur, and the brothers should learn not to reason. If you murmur and reason, you will offend the indwelling Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God, because this God is working in you that you may work out your salvation (2:12-14). Our salvation is our gaining and experiencing Christ. To gain Christ is to work out our own daily organic salvation. (top)

(Witness Lee, VITAL GROUPS, 102-103)

Some may ask, does not the Bible also teach man to have all kinds of virtues? How can we say that God does not want us to do good? Should we not be meek and yielding? Should we not love our wives and submit to our husbands? Surely the Bible talks about all these things. But we must ask, what is the source of these expressions in life? What is the essence? Gold is yellow, and so is brass. Superficially, they look alike. But actually, their essences are very different. Man’s highest morality is like brass; it is not genuine. It is superficial and is like a tree without roots or water without a source. A Christian’s virtues are not superficial; they are not without root. The root of the Christian virtues is Christ. He is the Lord of heaven and earth and the God of all creation. He died for our sins and has resurrected. When we believe in Him with our heart and call on Him with our mouth, He enters into our spirit and enlivens our spirit. In this way we are regenerated. In addition to our human life, we have received the eternal and uncreated life of God. Thus we share the same life that Christ has and have the same living that He has. Now, this all-inclusive Christ lives in us. When we live Christ and magnify Him, all His human virtues are expressed in our living. Only such virtues are genuine, high, and noble, like gold.

May our eyes be opened to see that what God truly desires is for Christ to be life in us and to be lived out of us. The Christian living is one that lives Christ and magnifies Christ. Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Through the death of Christ, we have died in Him. Now, through His resurrection Christ is living in us. God wants the “I” to be crucified in the death of Christ so that in His resurrection Christ may live in us and be the source and everything in our living. This is why Paul said, “As always, even now Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death; for to me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:20b-21a). (top)

(Witness Lee, Economy and Dispensing, 37-38)

First, we must be identified with the all-inclusive Christ, as the threefold seed in His humanity, in His death, resurrection, and ascension, so that we can be one with Him, even one spirit with Him (Rom. 6:3-5; Eph. 2:6; 1 Cor. 6:17). It is in this way that we are one with the Triune God. (top)

(Witness Lee, Central Line, 102)

The way to receive, experience, and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, the aggregate of the all-embracing blessing of the full gospel of God, is first by God’s revealing of Christ in us (Gal. 1:16a). Apart from God’s revelation, none of us, not even Paul, has a way. Paul said that he formerly was zealous for his fathers’ religion (v. 14) and that he had advanced in that religion beyond many of his contemporaries. Paul was fighting absolutely for his fathers’ religion against Jesus Christ. On a certain day he was traveling from Jerusalem to Damascus to bind the followers of Jesus and bring them to the high priest for sentencing. As he went, he drew near to Damascus; suddenly a light from heaven shone around him, and he fell on the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:3-4). That shocked him. He thought that he was persecuting the followers of Jesus on the earth. How then did a voice come from heaven? Paul responded, and spontaneously he called this One “Lord.” He said, “Who are You, Lord?” (v. 5). He did not know who this One was, yet he called Him “Lord.” By this he was saved, for “whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13). The Lord answered Paul, “I am Jesus.” From that time the revelation began to shine within Paul. He received a revelation of Christ, and he also received a burden to preach, to minister, and to present this One to others. (top)

(Witness Lee, Central Line, 151)

In the Gospel of John we receive, experience, and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ by taking Him as the resurrection and the life through believing into Him to live the eternal life. In John 11:25 the Lord Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes into Me, even if he should die, shall live.” It is difficult to understand such a verse, but it is very easy to experience Christ according to this verse. If you tell the Lord, “I believe that You are the resurrection and the life,” immediately you will live the eternal life in all kinds of situations. If you repeat this prayer before having any dealings with your wife, you will live the eternal life. But if you do not pray such a prayer, you may lose your temper and be altogether in the flesh. Praying such a prayer will save you out of your flesh and transfer you into another realm, the realm of eternal life. This is not superstition or psychology. Many students of Confucius love his teachings very much, but they also mistreat their wives. But I have never seen one person who could say, “Lord Jesus, You are the resurrection; You are the life,” and then turn around and mistreat his wife. The reason for this is that Christ is the unique One who is living and real.

Christ is the resurrection and the life. He is not only life but also the life that overcomes death. He is the resurrection. He is living and powerful. If you mention His name, immediately He will “electrify” you, and you will become a different person. By calling on Him, speaking to Him, and praying to Him, you will experience and enjoy Him. Many experienced brothers and sisters have written hymns concerning their enjoyment of calling on the name of the Lord Jesus many times a day (see Hymns, #208 and #73). To call on the Lord a thousand times a day, or even every minute, is not too much. By calling on Him we enjoy Him. (top)

(Witness Lee, Central Line, 178-179)

The way to receive, experience, and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ is also to abide in Him as a branch abiding in the vine to enjoy all the riches of what He is (15:4-5). We are not branches of the vine by birth, but we have become the branches of the vine by grafting (Rom. 11:17). If we as a branch abide in Him, we enjoy all the riches of what He is. As the branches of the wild tree that have been grafted into Christ as the true vine, we have the position, the capacity, and the right to enjoy whatever is in Christ. Therefore, this abiding is the way to enjoy the riches of Christ. After breathing, eating, and drinking Christ, we abide in Him as a grafted branch to absorb all His riches. (top)

(Witness Lee, Central Line, 189-190)

To pursue Christ that we may gain Him as the excellent Christ (Phil. 3:8-14) is another way to receive, experience, and enjoy Christ. Christ is not only the all-inclusive Christ but also the excellent Christ. Sometimes our living and behavior is good but not excellent. We must be excellent by enjoying the excellent Christ. The way to have the excellent Christ and live the excellent Christ is to pursue Him. Paul said that he pursued Christ (v. 12). The Greek word for pursue is the same word as for persecute. When he was Saul, Paul persecuted Christ, but after being saved, Paul pursued Christ.

We need to “persecute” Christ, to force Him to do something and not let Him go. Jacob wrestled with God (Gen. 32:24-30). He forced God to bless him, so God did it, and Jacob became Israel, the prince of God. It is true that we must always be submissive, believing that everything is under God’s sovereignty and that all things work together for our good. In this sense we do not need to force God to do anything for us. However, every truth has more than one side. This is illustrated by the four Gospels. The four biographies of Christ present Him in four different ways, as the King (Matthew), the Slave (Mark), the man (Luke), and God (John). On the one hand, we need to learn how to be submissive, suffering whatever happens to us and worshipping the sovereign Lord. On the other hand, we must exercise our spirit to command the Lord. We may say, “Lord, we are too barren. We command You to produce some fruit for us.” This is one of many ways to experience and enjoy Christ. (top)

(Witness Lee, Central Line, 212)

Hebrews 6:4 tells us that the believers have become partakers of the Holy Spirit. This shows us that we are the partakers of a wonderful Person. The Holy Spirit is the One as the Son, with the Father, being the consummation of the Triune God. We are the partakers of such a One. We have not only received the Holy Spirit, but we are now partakers of the Holy Spirit. As long as we have the Holy Spirit, we are His partakers. He is a priceless treasure.

Hebrews was written to show the Jewish believers that the believers in Christ have this wonderful One as a treasure who is much more precious than the angels, than Moses, than Aaron, and than the old covenant. This treasure is the all-inclusive Christ. In our practical experience, however, this all-inclusive Christ is the all-inclusive Spirit. Hebrews does not tell us that we are the partakers of the all-inclusive Christ, but that we are the partakers of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God, and the Spirit is the reaching to us of the Triune God. Without being the Spirit, the Father cannot reach us. Without being the Spirit, the Son, Christ, cannot reach us. The reaching of the Triune God to us is the Spirit, the consummation of the Triune God. This Spirit is much superior to the angels, much superior to Aaron, and He is the reality of the new covenant, which is much superior to the old covenant; we are the partakers of this Spirit. As long as we are the partakers of this Spirit, we partake and enjoy the processed Triune God with all His riches. (top)

(Witness Lee, NT Economy, 195-196)

Some may ask, does not the Bible also teach man to have all kinds of virtues? How can we say that God does not want us to do good? Should we not be meek and yielding? Should we not love our wives and submit to our husbands? Surely the Bible talks about all these things. But we must ask, what is the source of these expressions in life? What is the essence? Gold is yellow, and so is brass. Superficially, they look alike. But actually, their essences are very different. Man’s highest morality is like brass; it is not genuine. It is superficial and is like a tree without roots or water without a source. A Christian’s virtues are not superficial; they are not without root. The root of the Christian virtues is Christ. He is the Lord of heaven and earth and the God of all creation. He died for our sins and has resurrected. When we believe in Him with our heart and call on Him with our mouth, He enters into our spirit and enlivens our spirit. In this way we are regenerated. In addition to our human life, we have received the eternal and uncreated life of God. Thus we share the same life that Christ has and have the same living that He has. Now, this all-inclusive Christ lives in us. When we live Christ and magnify Him, all His human virtues are expressed in our living. Only such virtues are genuine, high, and noble, like gold.

May our eyes be opened to see that what God truly desires is for Christ to be life in us and to be lived out of us. The Christian living is one that lives Christ and magnifies Christ. Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Through the death of Christ, we have died in Him. Now, through His resurrection Christ is living in us. God wants the “I” to be crucified in the death of Christ so that in His resurrection Christ may live in us and be the source and everything in our living. This is why Paul said, “As always, even now Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death; for to me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:20b-21a). (top)

(Witness Lee, Economy and Dispensing, 37-38)

In this message and the next we want to see more points concerning the all-inclusive Christ. These points are of three sections, and these three sections are mostly according to our participating in the Divine Trinity. The first section is from Christ being God (John 1:1) resulting in His being the spring of living water (4:14). Christ is God for the purpose of dispensing Himself into us as the flowing God issuing in the spring of the living water. This section is covered in John 1 — 4. John 1 unveils God (v. 1), the Word (vv. 1, 14), the life in the Word (v. 4a), the light of life that shines forth God (v. 4b), the flesh (v. 14a), the tabernacle (v. 14b) to be God’s dwelling place among His elect, and a group of four items: the Lamb (v. 29), the Spirit (v. 32), the house, and the ladder (v. 51). The Lamb is for redemption. The Spirit is for life-giving and transforming. Then the transformed stones are built together into the house of God, the church of God and the Body of Christ, which consummate in the New Jerusalem as the real Bethel. The house of God is a base for Christ to be the ladder to join heaven and earth.

In John 2 Christ is the temple of God (vv. 19-21), built with Christ Himself and all His overcomers as the constituents. In John 3 He is the serpent (v. 14), the eternal life (vv. 15-16, 36), and the Bridegroom, the increasing Christ (vv. 29-30). In John 4 He is the spring of living water to quench our thirst, to satisfy us, make us happy, and be our pleasure (v. 14).

In the second section, the section of enjoyment, Christ is the Feast of Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles. After this section of feasting, He is the Shepherd to care for us outwardly (10:11, 14, 16) and the Comforter, the Paraclete, to comfort and cherish us inwardly (14:16-17). Eventually, this comforting Spirit becomes the Spirit of life breathed into all Christ’s believers (20:22).

There are some other items of Christ in the vast field of the Gospel of John. Some of these “gleanings” are that Christ is the only begotten Son of God to declare and express God (1:18) and the Messiah, the Christ, anointed by God to carry out His commission (v. 41). He carries out God’s commission by being the Lamb to redeem, the Spirit to dispense life and transform, the house, and the ladder.

Christ is also the Son of Man (v. 51). Jacob in his dream saw angels ascending and descending on a ladder (Gen. 28:12). When the Lord referred to that dream, He said the angels of God ascend and descend upon the Son of Man. The glory of the only begotten Son of God declares and expresses God in His divinity. However, to be the ladder that joins heaven and earth together requires humanity. This is the ministry of the Son of Man. Today, after His resurrection, Christ is still the Son of Man. Jesus told the high priest that he would see “the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 26:64), and Stephen, when he was being persecuted, said, “I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). When John saw Christ as the High Priest caring for the lampstands, He was like the Son of Man (Rev. 1:13). For eternity the Lord Jesus will be the Son of Man. Many Christian teachers have seen that He became a God-man, but they have not seen that He also became the man-God, the God in humanity, the God who is the Son of Man. For eternity the Lord Jesus will be the universal, steady, and strong ladder bearing the burden of the heavens and the earth as the Son of Man.

Additional gleanings of Christ in the Gospel of John include grace (God enjoyed by us) and reality (God realized and gained by us). John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace and reality. Verse 17 says that grace and reality came through Jesus Christ. Christ is also the Creator who can change death into life (water into wine) in chapter two. As the new wine, Christ is for our pleasure and our satisfaction to stir us u The riches of Christ revealed in the Bible are inexhaustible. (top)

(Witness Lee, CS OF JOHN, 68-69)

Food

Eventually, however, God’s food also becomes our food. If we carefully read the book of Leviticus, we will see that the burnt offering is to be wholly and absolutely burned for God’s satisfaction. No portion of the burnt offering is to be eaten by the ones who offer it. However, the burnt offering is accompanied by a meal offering, a large portion of which is for the offerers. This indicates that when we serve God, offering Christ to Him as His food, God takes care of us. God seems to say, “You serve Me with My food, and now I would like to share a portion of this food with you.” In this way we enjoy Christ with God. As we are feasting, God also is feasting. He is feasting with us, and we are feasting with Him. In mutuality, God and we feast together on the all-inclusive Christ (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF NUMBERS, 293)

God’s economy

Next, the Psalms ministers to the Bible readers, in their ignorant seeking of God, the all-inclusive Christ in God’s economy. It is not adequate for us to be turned from the law to Christ; we also need to know that Christ is the center and the circumference, the hub and the rim, of God’s eternal economy. This means that in God’s eternal economy Christ is everything. He is the centrality and He is also the universality. We need to study the Psalms in order to learn the details concerning this all-inclusive Christ in God’s eternal economy. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF JOB, 196)

Second Samuel 7 is a prophecy predicting that the church will be built up by God Himself among His people in the New Testament. Christ is the One who actually builds God’s house, God’s temple. Christ is also the element in which and with which the church as God’s house is built. In this chapter God seemed to be saying to David, “David, thus far you are still vacant and empty. Do not think that you should do something to build a house for Me. You need to realize that you need Me to build Myself into you as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Then you will have a house, and that house will also be My house.”

The intrinsic significance of 2 Samuel 7 is that the Triune God is working Himself in His processed and consummated Trinity into His chosen people. Therefore, 2 Samuel 7 is a chapter on the Triune God working Himself into us to make us His home (Christ with the church) and to produce a seed (the all-inclusive Christ). Here we have a house and a seed. Christ is the house, and Christ is also the seed. Christ is the element, and Christ is also the issue. Christ is everything. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF 1 & 2 SAMUEL, 163-164)

All the above points present us a vivid portrait of the all-inclusive Christ in and for God’s eternal economy in the Old Testament. In types, we see that Christ is the centrality and universality of God’s eternal economy and the divine blessing to all God’s chosen people. In history, we see that the all-inclusive Christ is the God-promised good land that all God’s chosen people should take, possess, inherit, and enjoy to the uttermost, even to the level of kingship. In poetry, we see that Christ is the unique perfection for God’s chosen people to pursue after and the unique satisfaction for God’s chosen people to obtain and enjoy. In prophecy, we see that the Triune God has become a God-man to accomplish His full redemption for the fulfillment of His eternal economy which will consummate in the new heaven and new earth. (top)

(Witness Lee, THE TRIUNE GOD’S REVELATION, 13-14)

Now we must go on to see that this all-inclusive Christ is altogether wrapped up with human history. Human history from Adam to the last person of the human race is nothing without Christ. However, according to God’s economy, Christ is intimately involved with human history. This means that Christ is wrapped up with every crucial aspect of the four empires signified by the great human image in Daniel 2. As we will see, the Christ revealed in Zechariah 9 —14 is a Christ who is involved with human history in a fine, particular, and even intimate way. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF ZECHARIAH, 52)

We have been shown that the third major item in the divine revelation concerns the person and work of the all-inclusive Christ (Eph. 1:23). The Christ who is revealed in the Bible is all-inclusive. Ephesians 1:23 says that Christ is the One who fills all in all. This all-inclusive Christ, as the preeminent One over all things and the One who fills all in all, is the center and circumference of God’s economy. By passing through incarnation, thirty-three and a half years of human living, the all-inclusive death, the all-conquering resurrection, and the all-transcending ascension, He dispenses Himself into the believers to regenerate, sanctify, renew, and transform them, and also to conform them to the image of God’s firstborn Son, that is, the image of Christ, the first God-man, and ultimately to glorify them with God’s eternal glory. They become the many God-men to constitute the Body of Christ, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the enlargement and expression of God in humanity for eternity. (top)

(Witness Lee, Issue of the Union, 78-79)

The whole Bible is composed of both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament the revelation concerning God’s economy-with God, Christ, and the all-inclusive, compound, consummated Spirit-is vague without the explanation and reality of the New Testament. Mary McDonough wrote a marvelous masterpiece entitled God’s Plan of Redemption. She and some others used the word plan instead of economy. The word economy is not mentioned in the Old Testament, but it is mentioned in the New Testament by the apostle Paul (Eph. 1:10; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4-the same Greek word is used in 1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 3:2; Col. 1:25). God’s New Testament economy covers only one person-the all-inclusive Christ. He has two statuses. One is the Son of God and the other is the Son of Man. The New Testament unveils to us the very God who is the Divine Trinity. (top)

(Witness Lee, VITAL GROUPS, 80)

God’s plan

Today, thirty-five hundred years later, we can realize from reading the biblical record that although God’s bringing of the people into the good land was apparently for the people, it was actually to accomplish, to carry out, God’s eternal plan, which is altogether centered on the all-inclusive Christ. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF NUMBERS, 149-150)

God’s purpose is for us to receive Christ. However, Christ is complex in all that He is. He is all-inclusive, because He is so many items. Furthermore, this all-inclusive Christ is very involved with history, politics, and governments. How can we understand such a One? The only way is, after reading and studying, to turn ourselves to prayer. When we turn ourselves to prayer, we exercise our spirit. At that moment, Christ imparts Himself into us. This is the heavenly, divine dispensing. Through this dispensing we receive Christ as our life, our light, our patience, our love, our everything. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF ZECHARIAH, 69)

Good Land

The central thought of Deuteronomy is that Christ is the Instructor and Leader of the people of God that they may be able to enter into the heavenly territory and participate in His riches.

We need to realize that every word in Deuteronomy is a life supply for us. The children of Israel were sustained by everything that proceeded out of the mouth of God. This actually means that they were sustained by Christ, for, as we have pointed out, whatever proceeds out of God’s mouth is Christ. On the one hand, Christ is the good land; on the other hand, He is the food which sustains us on the way to the good land. He is the One who can make it into the land. God never intended that we make it in ourselves. The Lord is leading us into the good land by Christ, and He is sustaining us also by Christ, who is everything that proceeds out of the mouth of God. This means that Christ is sustaining us to enter into Himself. This is the revelation in the book of Deuteronomy, a book which speaks of Christ both as the good land and as the sustaining food.

As the Instructor and Leader of God’s people, Christ enables them to enter into the heavenly territory and participate in His riches. This heavenly territory is Christ Himself, and the riches are the riches of Christ as the good land described in Deuteronomy 8:7-9: waterbrooks, springs, and fountains flowing forth in valleys and in mountains; wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; oil and honey; iron and copper. The valleys and mountains signify the different kinds of environments in which we may experience Christ as the flowing Spirit. The good land is a land flowing with milk and honey, both of which are the produce of a combination of the animal life and the plant life. The iron and copper are for making weapons with which to fight the enemy. (For details on the riches of Christ as the good land, please read The All-inclusive Christ, a book composed of the messages given during the first conference in the United States, in 1962.) Christ is everything —the water, the food, the weapons, and the land. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF DEUTERONOMY, 7-8)

The book of Deuteronomy unveils Christ mainly in two aspects. First, this book shows us Christ as the goal, the aim, prepared for us by God (8:7-10). As this goal, Christ is the all- inclusive good land. The good land, the land of Canaan, is a type of the all-inclusive Christ, the Christ who is everything to us.

The good land provided whatever the children of Israel needed: water, wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates, olive trees, animals, milk, honey, stones, iron, copper. All these items, most of which are mentioned in 8:7-10, are types of Christ. Christ is the water flowing forth in valleys and mountains. He is the wheat, which signifies the incarnated and crucified Christ, and the barley, which signifies the resurrected Christ. The vine typifies Christ as the sacrificing One who cheers God and man; the fig tree, the sweetness and satisfaction of Christ as our life supply; the pomegranate, the abundance and beauty of the life of Christ; the olive tree, Christ as the man filled with the Spirit and anointed with the Spirit as the oil of exultant joy; the animal life, Christ with His redeeming life; milk and honey, Christ in His richness and sweetness; stones, iron, and copper, Christ as the materials for building and fighting. This all-inclusive Christ, the Christ typified by the good land, is our goal.

Second, the book of Deuteronomy unveils Christ as the life with the strength and ability to reach the God-appointed goal. Therefore, Christ is both our goal and the way, the life, the strength, and the ability for us to reach the goal. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF DEUTERONOMY, 39-40)

God has a large family, and the entire family, including God, the One who has given the good land, is involved with the good land. The good land is a type of the all-inclusive Christ. God lives on the produce of this land. If we do not labor on the good land, there will not be any food for God. God’s food is the produce of the good land, and this produce comes through our labor. If we do not labor on Christ as the good land and experience Christ, how can Christ be God’s food? We need to labor on Christ and experience Christ. Then Christ will be the produce not only for our satisfaction but also for God’s satisfaction. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF DEUTERONOMY, 143)

At this point, I would like to speak a word concerning the spiritual significance of the good land, the land of Canaan. When I was first sent to this country with the Lord’s recovery, at the first conference in Los Angeles, I gave a series of messages, based mainly on Deuteronomy 8:7-10, that were published in the book The All-inclusive Christ. In those messages I pointed out that the good land is a picture of the all-inclusive Christ. The good land was used by God to typify a person, who is the embodiment of God. This embodied God is the Triune God, who has been processed and consummated in one person, Jesus Christ.

The Bible is a marvelous book, and it contains many different kinds of writings and subjects. Actually, the entire Bible presents one matter —that God desires to be embodied in one person, who is the unique One in the universe. It is impossible to exhaust the telling of this wonderful person. God and man are in this person; He includes all the elements and attributes of the divine nature and all the virtues of the human nature. In Him we have the reality of both the divine nature and the human nature. In Him we also have life, light, and the Spirit. All the positive things in the universe are embodied, contained, and realized in this one person, the all-inclusive God-man, who is the center and meaning of the universe. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF NUMBERS, 144)

The things which the people of Israel experienced in the Old Testament are pictures, types, figures, and shadows, pointing us to the reality of the things in the New Testament time (1 Cor. 10:6, 11). The land of Canaan into which the children of Israel entered is a type of the all-inclusive Christ (Col. 1:12). God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and transferred them into the land of Canaan to worship and serve Him. This typifies that God has delivered us out of the world, out of the authority of the darkness of Satan, and transferred us into Christ (v. 13). Now we are walking, living, working, and worshipping and serving God in Christ (2:6).

When the children of Israel were in Egypt, they had the lamb of the Passover, which is a type of Christ as the initiation of our experience of Him (1 Cor. 5:7). Our experience of Christ begins with the experience of Him as the redeeming Lamb. Then after the children of Israel came out of Egypt, while they were wandering and traveling in the wilderness, they had the daily manna and the rock out of which flowed the living water (1 Cor. 10:3-4). These are further types of Christ. After we experience Christ as the redeeming Lamb, we enjoy Him day by day as the daily manna and the living rock. Later on there was the tabernacle with all its furniture. All these are types of the different aspects of Christ. Today we enjoy and experience Christ in the different aspects typified by the tabernacle and its different furniture.

This, however, is not all. After the children of Israel entered into Canaan, the manna stopped, and they had to eat the produce of the land (Josh. 5:12). When the children of Israel entered into Canaan, everything they needed for their living was taken from the land. They ate the things produced by this land, they drank something from this land, and they even had a building as their house from this land and on this land. Everything necessary for their living came out of this land. Hence, the good land is the all-inclusive type of Christ, that is, Christ as everything to us in an all-inclusive way. (top)

(Witness Lee, Life and Way, 123-124)

The people of Israel could have something to offer only by laboring on the good land. The good land is a type of the all-inclusive Christ. The people of Israel had been brought into the good land, and the good land had been allotted to them in lots as their particular portion. God has given Christ in “lots” to us as our portion. Colossians 1:12 says, “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.” Colossians reveals that Christ is our portion as our inheritance just as the land of Canaan was to the children of Israel. Each of us has a portion of Christ. (top)

(Witness Lee, Content of the Church, 30)

Exodus 3:8 says, “I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.” The good land is a type of the all-inclusive Christ. With this Christ there is the flowing of milk. Before the children of Israel came into the good land to drink of the milk, they drank of the water that flowed from the riven rock which also was Christ (Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4). In Revelation 22 we see that in the New Jerusalem there will be a river flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. If we put all of these verses together, we can see that our God today is One out of whom something is flowing to quench, supply, and satisfy us. Regardless of whether we call it milk or living water, it flows out of God’s being to supply us. Hence, 1 Corinthians 12:13 says that we have all been made to drink of one Spirit, who is God Himself (John 4:24). When we are drinking of the Spirit, we are drinking of God. Our God is so rich that one type or symbol cannot give us a complete understanding of Him, so the Bible uses different types and symbols to reveal the various aspects of His riches. The milk and the living water both reveal how rich God is to us. The principle in each case is the same: that the riches of His divine being are flowing out to be our supply as grace to us for us to fulfill His purpose. We all must drink of the rich supply that flows out from our God that we may be able to fulfill the divine purpose. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF GENESIS, 645-646)

In this series of messages we want to see something of the land of Canaan, which is the type of the all-inclusive Christ. We also want to see how the city and the temple which were built on this land of Canaan are types of the fulness of Christ, which is His Body, the Church. Thus, what we will consider is the all-inclusive Christ, out of which and upon which the fulness of Christ, the Church, is built. Remember well that it is not just Christ and the Church, but the all-inclusive Christ and the fulness of Christ which is His Body, the Church. (top)

(Witness Lee, All-Inclusive Christ, 7)

What is this piece of land? Never forget, this land is the all-inclusive Christ. Not just Christ, but the all-inclusive Christ. If I were to ask you if you have Christ, you would answer, “Oh, praise the Lord, I have Him; I have Christ!” But I would ask you what kind of Christ you have. I am afraid that in your experience you have just a little Christ, a poor Christ, not an all-inclusive Christ. (top)

(Witness Lee, All-Inclusive Christ, 13)

After I was saved for one or two years, I was taught that the manna which the children of Israel enjoyed in the wilderness was also a type of Christ. I was so joyful. I said, “Lord, Thou art my food; Thou art not only the lamb to me, but also my daily manna.” But, I would ask you, is the manna the purpose, the goal of God? Did God deliver His people from Egypt to enjoy the manna in the wilderness? No! The land is the purpose; the land is the goal. Do you enjoy Christ as the land? I doubt it, and I venture to say that even you doubt it. You can say that you enjoy the lamb as your passover and the Lord as your daily manna, but very few can really say that they enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the land.

The Word tells us in Colossians chapter 2 that we have been rooted in Christ. Now I would ask you to consider: If we have been rooted in Christ, then what is Christ to us? Yes, Christ is the earth; Christ is the soil. A plant or a tree is rooted in the soil, in the land. Even so, we have been rooted in Christ. I am afraid you have never realized that Christ is the very soil, the very land to you. You are a little plant rooted in this land which is Christ Himself. I must confess that five or six years ago, I never had such a thought. I read the Scriptures and spent much time in the book of Colossians. I read it over and over, but never obtained this light. I never knew that Christ is the soil, my very earth. It was not until the last few years that my eyes were opened.

I deeply feel that most of the Lord’s children are still remaining in Egypt. They have only experienced the passover; they have just taken the Lord as the lamb. They have been saved by the lamb, but they have not been delivered out of this world. Yes, some have come out of Egypt, some have been delivered from the world, but they are still wandering in the wilderness. They enjoy Christ a little more; they enjoy Him as their daily manna. They can boast that they enjoy Christ as their food and they are so satisfied. But, brothers and sisters, is this good enough? I think when we meet those who enjoy Christ as their daily manna, we are very happy. We say, “Oh, praise the Lord, here are some brothers and sisters who really enjoy the Lord as their manna day by day!” But we must realize that this falls far short of God’s purpose. God’s purpose is not just that we enjoy Christ a little, but that He should be the all-inclusive One to us. Look at this verse: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Col. 2:6). He is a sphere, a realm for us to walk in. He is not just some food or water, but a realm, a land within which we can walk. We must walk in Him. He is our land, He is our earth, He is our kingdom. Walk in Him.

I believe that the picture is very clear. In Egypt was the lamb, in the wilderness was the manna, and ahead of the people of Israel was the land of Canaan. That is the goal; that land is the goal of God. We have to enter in. It is our portion. It is the all-inclusive gift of God to us. We must take possession of it. It is ours, but we must enjoy it.

In these days we have been speaking much about the Church and the expression of the Body of Christ. But you and I must realize that if we are not able to take possession of Christ as the all-inclusive One and experience Him, there can never be the reality of the Church. You and I must realize that we have been rooted in Christ as a plant rooted in the soil. We must possess Christ as everything to us, not just in words or in doctrine, but in practical reality. We must realize that just as the soil is everything to that plant, so Christ is everything to us. We must realize this to such an extent that we can experience Christ. You and I have already been rooted, but we do not realize the fact, we do not take possession of the fact. Colossians tells us that having been rooted, we are being built up in Him with others. If we have no experience of having been rooted in Christ, how can we be built up with others? That is why the building up of the Church among the Lord’s people is almost nil. How could there be a temple and a city when the people of Israel were still wandering in the wilderness? Since they were not in possession of the land, it was impossible. How can there be the real building up of the Church? How can there be the real expression of the Body of Christ? It can only be by realizing and experiencing Christ as everything to us. Brothers and sisters, may the Lord open our eyes. (top)

(Witness Lee, All-Inclusive Christ, 14-16)

First, to possess this land is not the business of a single person. It is absolutely impossible for anyone as a single individual to do it. We must remember this well. We can never possess the all-inclusive Christ by ourselves as individuals. Absolutely not! Brothers and sisters, let us not dream. Such dreams can never be realized. This is the business of the Body; it is to be apprehended with all saints. Christ is too great; His spaciousness is unlimited and His riches are unsearchable. This principle is firmly established by the Lord: to enter in and take possession of the good land is not for individuals, but for a corporate body. The Lord never asked the children of Israel one by one to gradually, singly, and individually cross the Jordan and enter the land. It was never God’s mind that one should enter this month, another next month, and still another the following month. This is impossible and contrary to the divine principle. It must be possessed by a corporate body; it must be entered corporately, not individually. (top)

(Witness Lee, All-Inclusive Christ, 90)

The physical aspect of the blessing God promised to Abraham was the good land (Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 17:8; 26:3-4), which was a type of the all-inclusive Christ (Col. 1:12). Since Christ is eventually realized as the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17), the blessing of the promised Spirit corresponds with the blessing of the promised land. Actually, the Spirit as the realization of Christ in our experience is the good land as the source of God’s bountiful supply for us to enjoy. The blessing of the gospel, the blessing of the New Testament, which God promised to Abraham is this compound Spirit, the totality of God the Father, of God the Son, together with the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. We all have received this blessing, and this all-inclusive blessing is in us, in our spirit (Rom. 8:16; 2 Tim. 4:22). God’s economy is His plan to dispense Himself as the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, with all His attributes and virtues, into our spirit. When we open up ourselves to this total and aggregate Spirit, we enjoy the all-inclusive blessing of the New Testament. (top)

(Witness Lee, Divine Economy, 89-90)

Galatians 3:14 says, “In order that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Here Paul mentions the blessing of Abraham and the promise of the Spirit. The physical aspect of the blessing God promised to Abraham was the good land (Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 17:8; 26:3-4), which was a type of the all-inclusive Christ (see Col. 1:12 and note 2, Recovery Version). Since Christ is eventually realized as the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17), the blessing of the promised Spirit corresponds with the blessing of the promised land. Actually, the Spirit as the realization of Christ in our experience is the good land as the source of God’s bountiful supply for us to enjoy. Hence, to live and walk in Christ as the good land is to live and walk in the all-inclusive Spirit. Therefore, Galatians 5:16 says, “Walk by the Spirit,” and Romans 8:4 says, “Walk according to the spirit.” The Spirit is dwelling now in our regenerated spirit and is mingled with our regenerated spirit. We must live and move continually in the mingled spirit that we may experience and enjoy Christ as the good land. In the New Testament nothing is more basic, more important, and more powerful than walking according to the mingled spirit. Christ became the life-giving Spirit dwelling in our spirit to be our life, our person, and our everything. What we need is to turn to Him, to set our mind on the spirit, and to live and move according to the spirit. This is to live and walk in Christ. (top)

(Witness Lee, TRUTH, LEVEL TWO, VOL. 4, 7-8)

Kingdom

The all-inclusive Christ has been sown into His believers as the seed of the kingdom (Matt. 13:3; Mark 4:26). The Lord Himself is within the believers as the King, the seed. Jesus is the King; we are the “dom!” The kingdom is the expression or the extension of the King. The King is the seed, and the church is the extension, the “dom.” The King’s spreading within the believers as the seed is the kingdom (Mark 4:26-29). The kingdom was sown in the Gospels by the Lord Jesus in the midst of the Jews and within the Lord’s disciples (Luke 17:20-21). The kingdom is something inward. We cannot observe it outwardly. The Lord Jesus said that the kingdom was not observable. (top)

(Witness Lee, Basic Revelation, 86)

Local church

To meet as a proper local church, we need to have the adequate and proper leadership for the keeping of a good order (1 Cor. 14:40) with the all-inclusive Christ as the center and the processed Triune God as the manifestation (Col. 3:10-11; 1 Tim. 3:15-16). In every church, we should have the proper leadership, and this leadership is the deputy authority, the authority representing God in His administration. (top)

(Witness Lee, Satanic Chaos, 122)

We need to teach with much stress the truths concerning the all-inclusive Christ and the church as the organic Body of Christ. Eventually, the church will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the ultimate manifestation of the processed Triune God mingled with the transformed tripartite man to express the Triune God to the fullest in eternity. Our teaching of the divine truths should include the New Jerusalem as the ultimate consummation of God’s dispensing. (top)

(Witness Lee, World Situation, 41)

My point is that we all have to learn not to make ourselves special in anything. We do not represent anything but Christ. Christ is the center, Christ is the circumference, and Christ is everything. Whenever we come together as the church, we do not and should not represent anything but the all-inclusive Christ. We are not for baptism, for speaking in tongues, for the breaking of bread, or for the order of the meetings. We are for Christ alone. This is easy to say but not easy to practice. One time a brother from a local church that uses grape juice for the Lord’s table went to another locality where the saints use wine for the Lord’s table. When he noticed the difference, he first hesitated and then he spoke a lot to express his disagreement. Brothers and sisters, we must maintain the proper attitude not to make anything special in the practice of the church. If you make something special, that means you become sectarian in that particular matter. (top)

(Witness Lee, Life and Way, 105-106)

We are sent by the Lord to preach Christ either as the Savior to the sinners or as the all-inclusive Christ to the saints. We have to preach, to minister, Him to people with the building up of the church in view. If the view of your work is to enlarge and build up your ministry, that is absolutely wrong. You must preach Christ with only one intention, one purpose, and that is to build up the saints as a local church to express Christ in a corporate way. (top)

(Witness Lee, Life and Way, 113)

We also need the reality, which according to Psalm 133 includes the oil, the dew, and the life. Do we have the oil in our meetings? The anointing oil is nothing less than the all-inclusive Spirit of Christ. Whenever we come together, we must have the all-inclusive Christ as the Spirit moving and working through us and among us. In the meetings of the churches, there must be the flow of the Spirit. There must be the anointing, which is the working, the moving, the flowing, of the Spirit among the saints. This needs our daily practice of experiencing Christ. (top)

(Witness Lee, Life and Way, 146-147)

Lord’s recovery

We do not impose anything nor do we oppose anything. Instead, we are simply pursuing the all-inclusive Christ. We are not here for any way or practice; we are here only to pursue the Lord and to be conformed to His death.

Whatever we do must be done by being conformed to the death of Christ. If we do everything in this way, there will be no problems, and we shall surely think the one thing. Christ must be our experience, goal, and prize. Christ is everything. In the Lord’s recovery there is nothing but Christ. This is the only way for us to take in the Lord’s recovery. (top)

(Witness Lee, Experience of Christ, 197)

In the recovery the truths from Matthew to Revelation have been recovered by the Lord. In particular, the Lord has recovered the truths concerning the all-inclusive Christ and the New Jerusalem. The truth in the recovery is the consummate truth of the past nineteen centuries. We are standing on the shoulders of all the tribes that have gone before us. Thus, the truth has been extracted, condensed, and crystallized for us. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF JOSHUA, 79)

Portion of the believers

As the Angel of the covenant, Christ dispenses the riches of the covenanted Triune God into His elect. According to Acts 26:18b, we have received not only the forgiveness of sins but also “an inheritance among those who have been sanctified.” This inheritance is the Triune God Himself with all He has, all He has done, and all He will do for His redeemed people. The Triune God is embodied in the all-inclusive Christ, who is “the allotted portion of the saints” as their inheritance (Col. 1:12). (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF MINOR PROPHETS, 223)

Acts 26:18 refers to the believers’ divine inheritance. This inheritance is the Triune God Himself with all that He has, all that He has done, and all that He will do for His redeemed people. This Triune God is embodied in the all-inclusive Christ (Col. 2:9), who is the portion allotted to the saints as their inheritance (Col. 1:12). (top)

(Witness Lee, CONCLUSION, 2756)

Colossians 1:12 says that the Father has qualified us for a share of the portion of the saints. The portion of the saints is the all-inclusive Christ for our enjoyment. (top)

(Witness Lee, Messages to the Trainees, 135)

Christ is everything, and this all-inclusive Christ became a life-giving Spirit. This life-giving Spirit indwells our spirit, so he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit (6:17). Today all the items of what Christ is are the elements, the components, of the life-giving Spirit, who dwells in our spirit to be our portion. (top)

(Witness Lee, Christ as Life, 53-54)

In the previous message we saw five crucial items in Philippians 3: the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, the power of Christ’s resurrection, the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings, and the conformity to Christ’s death. These five matters relate to one concept —living by Christ that we may obtain Him. The word “obtain” in Philippians 3:12 (Gk.) implies the experience of Christ and the enjoyment of Christ. To obtain Christ means to lay hold of Him, or to gain possession of Him. Christ is everything to us, our portion, our destiny, and even our destination. Now we must lay hold of Him and take possession of Him.

This is similar to the way the children of Israel took possession of the good land. The land had been destined for them and assigned to them, but they had to take possession of it little by little. The more they took possession of the land, the more they obtained the land; and the more they experienced the land, the more they enjoyed the land. The land is a complete type of the all-inclusive Christ. As our portion, Christ has been assigned to us. But now we need to take Him, to gain Him, to obtain Him. (top)

(Witness Lee, Experience of Christ, 75)

In the eternal economy of God, the Father has allotted the Son, the all-inclusive Christ typified by the good land, to the believers as their eternal portion and has transferred them into Him that they may partake of Him (Col. 1:12; 1 Cor. 1:30, 9). (top)

(Witness Lee, LS Of 1 & 2 CHRONICLES, 1)

First Corinthians unveils to us that the very Christ, who is the portion of all believers, and into whose fellowship we all have been called, is all-inclusive. He is firstly our portion, our fellowship (1:2, 9). He is God’s power and God’s wisdom as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption to us (1:24, 30). He is our glory for our glorification (2:7; Rom. 8:30), hence, the Lord of glory (2:8).He is the depths (deep things) of God (2:10). God is mysterious enough, yet with this God, there are the depths. Christ is the depths of this most mysterious God. He is the unique foundation of God’s building (3:11). He is our Passover (5:7), the unleavened bread (5:8), the spiritual food, the spiritual drink, and the spiritual rock(10:3-4). Christ is the moving rock, the following rock,which followed the children of Israel. He is the Head(11:3) and the Body (12:12). In chapter fifteen of 1 Corinthians we see that Christ is the firstfruit (vv. 20-23),the second Man (v. 47), and the last Adam (v.45).Because Christ is the first, the second, and the last, He is everything. As such a one, Christ became the life-giving Spirit (15:45), the aggregate of all the foregoing items. The all-inclusive Christ, with the riches of at least nineteen items, is totaled in the life-giving Spirit. God has given such a One to us as our portion for our enjoyment. (top)

(Witness Lee, NT Economy, 141-142)

In chapter one of Colossians we have a high revelation of who Christ is and of what Christ is. Actually, this book reveals more concerning what Christ is than who He is. Most Christians, however, only know who Christ is; they have little knowledge of what He is. But if we would know the all-inclusive Christ, we must know what He is as well as who He is. It is easier to know who Christ is than to know what He is. In Colossians 1 we see that Christ is the portion of the saints (v. 12), the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, the Head of the Body, the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, and the One in whom all the fullness was pleased to dwell. Is this fullness related to what Christ is or to who Christ is? It is difficult to say. It seems, however, that Paul personified the fullness. This indicates that he considered the fullness a Person, for the fullness was pleased to dwell in Christ and to reconcile all things. These are the functions of a living Person, not of a thing. As we consider the aspects of Christ unfolded in chapter one, we find that some are related to who Christ is, whereas others are related to what He is. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF COLOSSIANS, 339-340)

Salvation

Eventually, all three, the righteousness of God, the life of Christ, and the faith of the believers, become the all-inclusive Christ. Hence, this all-inclusive Christ is not only the center but also the structure of the dynamic salvation of God. (top)

(Witness Lee, CS OF COMPLETE SALVATION, 1)

The Spirit

The life-giving Spirit, who is the all-inclusive Christ, is the consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God. This Spirit is also the reality of Christ’s resurrection. Furthermore, this Spirit, the consummated Triune God, is the pneumatic Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God. The aggregate of all this is the life-giving Spirit. Such a marvelous matter is unveiled in detail in the New Testament, from Matthew to Revelation. (top)

(Witness Lee, LS OF 1 & 2 KINGS, 123)

Now we have to ask again, “How can Christ get into us?” We have the Holy Spirit within us and the Holy Bible in our hand. The Holy Spirit within us is actually the wonderful Christ, the all-inclusive Christ, the compounded Christ. When I say the compounded Christ, I mean that now this Christ is no more simply God. He is God but also man. He was God incarnated to be a man, and now He still has the human nature. He is divine as well as human. He is compounded. He also went to the cross and was crucified. He walked into death, through death, and out of death. He was not captured by death. He conquered death, subdued death, and walked out of death. Then He was resurrected, and He ascended to the heavens, where He was enthroned. He has accomplished all these things and has attained the highest place in the universe. His accomplishment is a complete accomplishment, and His attainment is the highest attainment. He has the divine nature and the human nature, and He has such a complete accomplishment and high attainment. He is the compounded Christ. He is the all-inclusive Christ, yet today He is within us as the Holy Spirit.

Do not consider that the Holy Spirit is someone other than Christ. Christ is the Spirit. First Corinthians 15:45b says that the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. The last Adam is Christ, and the life-giving Spirit, no doubt, is the Holy Spirit. So Christ became the Spirit. Also, 2 Corinthians 3:17 says that the Lord is the Spirit. This is our quotation from the Bible, not our interpretation. The Lord Christ is the very Holy Spirit who dwells within us. (top)

(Witness Lee, Growth of Christ, 32-33)

We must realize that Christ is not so simple. No one can exhaust telling us what Christ is because He is so much. The New Testament shows four main items concerning Christ: what He is, what He has accomplished, what He has obtained, and what He has attained. All of what Christ is, has accomplished, has obtained, and has attained has been concentrated into the life-giving Spirit. The life-giving Spirit is the very embodiment of these four main items of Christ.

As the life-giving Spirit Christ is everywhere. We may often have the human concept that formerly Christ was on the earth, and that now He is in the heavens sitting at the right hand of God (Rom. 8:34). This is true, yet we must also realize that this very Christ became the life-giving Spirit. As the life-giving Spirit, He is everywhere today, and because we have received Him, He is also in us (Rom. 8:10). Although we cannot understand this in full, it is nevertheless a reality. He is beyond our concept and understanding!

When we preach the gospel of Christ, we must realize that at the very moment we are preaching, Christ is present. Therefore, in Romans 10:6-8 the unbelievers do not need to go to the heavens to bring Christ down or to Hades to bring Christ up (vv. 6-7). Christ as the living Word is near them, in their mouth and in their heart, waiting for them to receive Him. If they would just open their mouths and say from their heart, “Lord Jesus, I believe in You,” Christ would enter into them.

The Christ we believe in is a real, living Person, who is the life-giving Spirit; He is not a system of religion or a set of teachings. Since we have received Him and believed into Him, this wonderful all-inclusive Christ as the life-giving Spirit is now indwelling us, mingling with us to be one spirit with us (1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22; Rom. 8:16). Being one spirit with the Lord is the key for us to enjoy Christ. All of what Christ is, has accomplished, obtained, and attained is concentrated into this one life-giving Spirit. Christ as the life-giving Spirit has come into our spirit and mingled Himself with our spirit. Now we are joined to Him. He is such a life-giving Spirit, we have a regenerated spirit, and these two spirits are mingled as one. (top)

(Witness Lee, Our Portion, 16-17)

Transformation

Through transformation we are being constituted with the all-inclusive Christ as the life element. We are also being supplied with the element of the all-inclusive Christ. We have seen that the all-inclusive Christ, the Triune God embodied in humanity as the source of life, is signified by the tree of life (Gen. 2:9; Rev. 2:7; 22:2). After God created the heavens, the earth, and man, God put man before a tree called the tree of life. Man was created by God in God’s image and after God’s likeness (Gen. 1:26), but this man did not have God’s life. Thus, we see a tree signifying God as life and a man who did not have God’s life.

God said that every tree in the garden was pleasant to the sight and good for food, including the tree of life (2:9). God’s desire is to mingle Himself with man, and the way for man to be mingled with Him is by eating. In God’s wisdom, He made Himself eatable (John 6:57). Many Christians have never heard that God is eatable. How could Adam be mingled with that life tree? How could that life tree get into Adam? The only way was by Adam’s eating. It is interesting to note that God created man with a stomach. If we did not have a stomach, we would never feel hungry; we would never sense that we need to eat. In certain senses, our stomach can be troublesome to us. Many sicknesses and diseases come from the wrong kind of eating. But the tree of life is something that is altogether and purely good. If we eat this tree, we will get life and be healthy. By eating the tree of life (Rev. 2:7b), we can be mingled with God, and this mingling is the constitution.

Our physical body is being constituted with the life supply every day. When food is added into our stomach, the constituting work is going on. Then we are growing up in life. In this constituting process, there is a kind of transformation. In the morning we eat breakfast, and during the day what we have eaten is being digested and assimilated into our being. The life element is constituting our being. The food we eat does a constituting work within us. This is a picture of our Christian life. We need to eat Christ as the living bread from heaven embodied in His words of eternal life (John 6:57b-58a, 51, 68), as the tree of life (Rev. 2:7b), and as the hidden manna (v. 17b). By eating Christ we can be constituted and supplied with Him as our life element so that we can grow in life and be transformed in life. (top)

(Witness Lee, Constitution, 95-96)

We enjoy the all-inclusive Christ also by beholding the glory of the Lord for our transformation from the Lord Spirit with the element of the Lord into His image from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18). Today we all need to have an unveiled face, a face not covered by any veil. With such an unveiled face we can behold the glory of the Lord. The more we behold the glory of the Lord in this way, the more we are transformed from the Lord Spirit. The phrase from the Lord Spirit indicates a transmission. As we are beholding the Lord, a transmission takes place. This transmission is from the Lord Spirit with the element of the Lord. Transformation requires the addition of another element; without such an addition, transformation cannot take place. Through the transmission from the Lord Spirit, within whom is the element of the Lord, we are transformed from glory to glory.

We are all busy in the morning, but we must do our best to save ten or fifteen minutes each day to behold the Lord. To do this is not a waste of time. If possible, we should reduce our time for sleep. If we normally rise at six o’clock in the morning, we can gain fifteen minutes by rising fifteen minutes earlier. If we take another ten minutes from the time given to our business, we can have a total of twenty-five minutes for beholding the Lord each day. By beholding Him we will receive an element from the Lord that will transform us into the glorious image of Christ, even from glory to glory. This is the way to enjoy Christ. (top)

(Witness Lee, Central Line, 204-205)

Copyright © 2001. Christian Websites. All Rights Reserved