THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The All-inclusive Christ
Message One—The Ten Aspects of Christ
Scriptures Reading: Josh. 21:43; 13:33; Deut. 8:7-10
I. The entire Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi is a book on Christology; the Christ whom we know, enjoy, possess, and experience is typified by the spacious good land of mountains, rivers, brooks, and plains; the full, complete, and consummate type of Christ is the good land—Deut. 8:7-10. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
II. Ten aspects of the all-inclusive Christ, who is typified by the good land—Deut. 8:7-10: (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
A. In eternity Christ was only God, not man; He was the Son of God as the embodiment of God and the Word of God as the definition of God—John 1:18, 1. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
B. In His incarnation He became the God-man—Rom. 8:3: (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
1. In Christ as the God-man the human nature and the divine nature have been mingled, blended—Rom. 1:3-4. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
2. In this mingling, this blending, the two natures remain distinct, and a third nature is not produced—Matt. 1:20. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
C. In His human living, this God-man expressed God in man, through man, and with man; He was God living as a man, God living a human life—Luke 2:40. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
D. In His crucifixion Christ died as the Lamb of God to take away man’s sin, as the bronze serpent to destroy the old serpent, Satan, and as a grain of wheat to release the divine life from within the shell of His humanity—John 1:29; 3:14; Heb. 2:14; John 12:24: (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
1. The divine life, which was concealed in His humanity, needed to be released in order to increase and multiply; therefore, Christ died not only to take away sin and to destroy Satan but also to release the divine life—John 1:29. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
2. By His death on the cross, Christ also terminated the old man and the old creation—Rom. 6:6; Col. 1:15: (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
a. Through incarnation Christ became a man, and that man was the old creation; when Christ died, the old man in his totality and ultimate consummation also died—Rom. 6:6. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
b. When Christ became a man, He also became a creature, the Firstborn of all creation; this creature was not of the new creation but of the old creation; when Christ was crucified as a creature, the entire old creation was brought to an end—Col. 1:15. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
3. In His crucifixion Christ abolished “in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances”—Eph. 2:15: (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
a. Ordinances here refers to rituals, the forms or ways of living and worship, which create enmity and division; nevertheless, in His crucifixion Christ abolished all these ordinances—Eph. 2:15. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
b. Now among us in the church life there is only one way to live—to take Christ as our life, our living, and even our way of living and to live Him—Col. 3:4; Gal. 2:20. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
4. The blood of Christ has redeemed us, and the divine life of Christ has flowed into us as a river to minister God into us—John 19:34; Acts 20:28. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
E. In His resurrection Christ became the firstborn Son—Rom. 8:29; 1 Pet. 1:3; Heb. 2:10-12: (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
1. He was the only begotten Son of God from eternity; after incarnation, through resurrection He was begotten by God in His humanity to be God’s firstborn Son—John 1:18; 3:16. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
2. Christ’s resurrection was a birth not only to Him but also to all His millions of believers, who were regenerated by God in the resurrection of Christ to be the many sons of God and the many brothers of Christ—1 Pet. 1:3; Heb. 2:10-12. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
3. In resurrection Christ also became the life-giving Spirit, compounded with divinity, humanity, death, and resurrection—1 Cor. 15:45b. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
4. The life-giving Spirit is the reality of resurrection; when we live in this Spirit, we live in resurrection—John 11:25. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
F. In His ascension Christ was appointed to be the Lord to possess the whole earth and to be the Christ to bear God’s commission to complete God’s economy; He is also the Ruler of the kings of the earth so that He can be the Savior to save God’s chosen people—Acts 2:36; 10:36; Rev. 1:5; Acts 5:31. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
G. In His Body Christ has been enlarged, increased, and multiplied—1 Cor. 12:12: (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
1. Originally, the God-man was an individual, but now He is a corporate, universal God-man—John 12:24. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
2. The corporate Christ is composed of Christ Himself as the Head and the church as His Body with all the believers as members—1 Cor. 12:12. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
3. All the believers of Christ are organically united with Him and constituted with His life and element and have thus become His Body, an organism, to express Him—John 15:5, Eph. 1:23. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
H. In His advent Christ will come like lightning in the twinkling of an eye—Luke 17:24. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
I. In the millennial kingdom Christ, the King, will rule the earth with His overcomers as His co-kings—Rev. 20:4, 6. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
J. In the New Jerusalem Christ will be the holy city; the New Jerusalem will be the consummate manifestation of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God—Rev. 21:2. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)
III. In the Lord’s recovery we are today’s Levites; Judah’s portion is our portion, and Benjamin’s portion also is our portion; this means that we are enjoying all of the experiences of Christ in the twelve tribes, including the early apostles, the church fathers, the martyrs, the reformers, the Protestants, the mystics, the Moravians, the Brethren, the inner life Christians, the evangelicals, and the Pentecostals—Deut. 8:7-10. (Life-study of Joshua, msg. 13)