Knowing, Experiecing, and Living the All-inclusive Christ for the Genuine Church Life - 8

Message Title: The Vision, Experience, and Enjoyment of the Glorious and Excellent Christ as the Supreme Preciousness of God for the Genuine Church Life

I. the vision of Christ in glory was seen by Isaiah in his depression

Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the temple.

why was Isaiah depressed?

1. king Uzziah died. Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and he set in his heart to seek Jehovah. this king was a good king relatively speaking. we also need to set our heart to seek the Lord, and to dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of our life. 

2. the world situation that time was bad and rebellious. like in the verse, people were calling darkness for light and bitter for sweet. 

despite the rebellion, iniquities, and corruptions of God's chosen and beloved people, Christ, as the Lord, the King, Jehovah of hosts, is still sitting on a high and lofty throne in glory. 

Revelation 4:2 Immediately I was in spirit; and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne there was One sitting;

when we genuinely exercise our spirit, genuinely in our spirit, the first thing we see is the throne, and we like to be under the throne. when we ar genuinely in spirit, we ourselves get dethroned and we will see that there is One on the throne. for us to have a clear sky in our being with the throne of God above us, is the highest point in our spiritual experience, in that way, God can move in us, God can be manifested through us corporately, and God can carry out His administration through us corporately. so we should pray to the Lord that we will have this clear sky.  there are many things in this world distracting us from the Lord. but we need to trust in the Lord who is the most attracting One, who is the magnet of our soul, keeping drawing us back to Himself. 

Isaiah 6:9 And He said, Go and say to this people,
Hear indeed, but do not perceive; / And see indeed, but do not understand.

Isaiah 6:10 Make the heart of this people numb; / Dull their ears, / And seal their eyes; / Lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, / And their heart perceive and return, and they are healed.

Acts 28:27 For the heart of this people has become fat, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed, lest they perceive with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart, and they turn around, and I will heal them.”

in order to see the vision of the glorious enthroned Christ, we need to take heed to Isaiah's warning word by exercising our spiriit to pray that the Lord would open our inner eyes, soften our heart, and keep our heart turned to Him so that we may receive His inner healing of our blindness and sickness. in the verse, it says "turn around", which means that the Lord is behind us and we are facing the wrong direction. this is God the Spirit speaking to the hard-heartened people. 

Genesis 13:14 And Jehovah said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, Now lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;

Genesis 13:15 For all the land that you see I will give to you and to your seed forever.

Genesis 13:17 Rise up; walk through the land according to its length and its breadth, for I will give it to you.

God told Abraham to see the land and walk in the land, and what Abraham saw became what God gave to him. for us also, in the New Testament sense, seeing God equals gaining God. therefore, we need to pray to the Lord that we will see more and more of God so that we can gain more and more of God, which will transform us, because when we gain God as the new element into our being, we are constituted with God as this new element. 

II. the vision of the excellent Christ, who appeared to Daniel in His supreme preciousness as a man, was for Daniel's appreciation, consolation, encouragement, and stabilization. 

the Lord is our encouragment. we have been stablized by the vision of the excellent Christ. 

Daniel 4:17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the decision is a command of the holy ones, to the intent that the living may know that the Most High is the Ruler over the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He wills and sets up over it the lowliest of men.

the entire world situation is under the rule of the heavens by the God of the heavens in order to give Christ the preeminence in all things, to cause Christ to have the first place in everything. Christ must have the first place, the preeminence, in our personal universe; today Christ, the preeminent One, must be the centrality and universality in our church life, family life, and daily life. to say Christ is the centrality, means that Christ is everything to us. as those who have been chosen by God to be His people for Christ's preeminence, we are under God's heavenly rule to make Christ preeminent, to cause Him to have the first place in everything. this means that we need to check with the Lord in everything in our daily life, big things or small things, when we plan to buy a car, when we plan to have a hair cut, etc. 

III. the vision of the glorious Christ walking in the midst of the golden lampstands as the High Priest was given to John in his spirit for him to see the ascended Christ as the Son of Man "clothed with a garment reaching to the feet, and girded about at the breasts with a golden girdle" 

in Revelation 1, Christ is girded with the golden girdle at His breasts, while He was taking care of the godlen lampstands, which signifies the local churches. this golden girdle signifies the divine energy to nourish the churches. we want to live out and magnify Christ for the genuine church life, and want to be in His heavenly ministry. if we are one with Him, we enjoy the golden girdle as our divine energy, which is energised and motivated by and with His divine love.