Knowing and Experiencing the All-Inclusive, Extensive Christ
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Message Five
Knowing and Experiencing the All-inclusive,
Extensive Christ as the Mystery of God
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Col. 2:2-3 That their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love and unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, unto the full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Word of Appetizer
Why does it say that “the all-inclusive, extensive Christ the mystery of God”?
In verse 2 Paul speaks of the “full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ.” This means that, as God’s story and God’s everything, Christ declares God in full. As the mystery of God, Christ is the Word of God; Christ is the definition, explanation, and expression of God. The whole story of God is in Christ and is Christ. God is a mystery. Although God is infinite and eternal, without beginning or ending, He also has a history, a story. God’s history refers to the process through which He passed so that He may come into man and that man may be brought into Him.
Spiritual Burden
As believers in Christ, we are made full in Christ, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. We need to have a full realization of what we have in Christ and to exercise faith to partake of all that is ours in Christ.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The all-inclusive, extensive Christ is the mystery of God.
As the mystery of God, Christ is the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead.
As believers in Christ, we are made full in Christ, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.
The Experience of Life
As believers in Christ, we are made full in Christ, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.
When the Son of God was incarnated as a man, with Him was the fullness of God, and of this fullness we have all received. The grace we receive is the fullness of grace; beginning from the time we are saved, we may receive grace upon grace.
Practice and Application
We need to have a full realization of what we have in Christ and to exercise faith to partake of all that is ours in Christ.
How rich is the soil in which we have been rooted! It supplies us with everything, and we have no lack. We must take sufficient time to absorb Him. We should not be lazy or indolent in this matter. When we take time to enjoy the Lord, all the elements of the rich soil are absorbed into us.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
Col. 2:2-3 That their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love and unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, unto the full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
I. The all-inclusive, extensive Christ is the mystery of God:
- God Himself is a mystery, and Christ is the mystery of this mystery.
- The mystery of God indicates something incomprehensible and inexplicable.
- As the mystery of God, the all-inclusive, extensive Christ is the definition, explanation, and expression of God—the Word of God.
- As the mystery of God, Christ is the history of God; the whole “story” of God is in Christ and is Christ.
- In the all-inclusive, extensive Christ as the mystery of God, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
Key Verses (2)
Col. 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.
16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
II. As the mystery of God, Christ is the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead:
- All the fullness of the Godhead refers to the entire Godhead, the complete God.
- Fullness in Colossians 2:9 refers not to the riches of God but to the expression of the riches of God.
- When the Son of God was incarnated as a man, with Him was the fullness of God, and of this fullness we have all received; the phrase grace upon grace can be compared to the rolling waves of the sea that come in wave upon wave without ceasing.
Key Verses (3)
Col2:10 And you have been made full in Him, who is the Head of all rule and authority.
1 Cor. 1:30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Eph. 3:8 To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel.
III. As believers in Christ, we are made full in Christ, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily:
- The Greek word translated “full” in verse 10 implies completion, perfection.
- Because all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ and because we have been put in Him, we have been made full in Him, filled up with the divine riches.
- We need to have a full realization of what we have in Christ and to exercise faith to partake of all that is ours in Christ.
- We have the all-inclusive, inexhaustible fullness that dwells in Christ bodily, and in Him we are made full.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 Knowing that the Mystery of God is Christ (Col. 2:2).
(Please illustrate that as God’s story and God’s everything, Christ declares God in full.)
T2 As the mystery of God, Christ is the history of God (Co. 2:2).
(Please illustrate that the whole “story” of God is in Christ and is Christ.)
D2
T1 All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ (Col. 2:3).
(What did Paul refer to by speaking of “wisdom” and “knowledge”?)
T2 God is the unique source of wisdom and knowledge (Rom. 16:27).
(Please illustrate how we can experience the wisdom and knowledge hidden in Christ?)
D3
T1 In Christ all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col. 2:9).
(Please illustrate that the fullness of the Godhead is personified.)
T2 Christ is the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead (Col. 2:9).
(Please illustrate that all the fullness of the Godhead refers to the entire Godhead, the complete God.)
D4
T1 God’s fullness is the expression of God’s riches (Col. 2:9).
(Please illustrate the difference between God’s fullness and God’s riches.)
T2 The grace that we receive is the fullness of grace (John 1:16; Col. 2:9).
(Please illustrate that the riches of grace are in God, but the fullness of grace is in Christ Jesus.)
D5
T1 As believers in Christ, we are made full in Christ (Col. 2:9-10; 1 Col. 1:30)
(Please illustrate that because we have been placed in Him, we have been made full in Him.)
T2 We have been placed into the Christ who is unsearchably rich (Eph. 3:8).
(Please illustrate with experiences that we are those who possess the riches of Christ.)
D6
T1 We must take sufficient time to absorb Him (Col. 2:7).
(Please illustrate with experiences that when we take time to enjoy the Lord, all the elements of the rich soil are absorbed into us.)
T2 The more we live one spirit with the Lord, the more we experience the all-inclusive and extensive Christ revealed in Colossians (1 Cor. 6:17).
(Please illustrate that all those things that are facts in Christ thus become our experience by Him and with Him.)
