«　WEEK 6　DAY 4　»

　　Exo. 3:8 And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey…

　　Eph. 3:18 May be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are.

　　The dimensions of Christ are the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth. These dimensions are the dimensions of the universe….Now the very dimensions of the universe are also the dimensions of Christ.

　　In our experience of Christ, we firstly experience the breadth of what He is, and then we experience the length. This is horizontal. When we advance in Christ, we experience the height and depth of His riches. This is vertical….We experience Him rising up as the height and finally descending as the depth….Our experience of Christ must eventually become three-dimensional, like a cube. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 285-286)

　　If we have only the length of Christ, without any breadth, our experience will be a “line,” that is, an experience that is long and narrow to an extreme….It is of great importance that we all have a two-dimensional, or a “square,” experience of Christ. If we have only a “line” experience of Him, this “line” will eventually continue until it reaches an extreme. All extremists are “one-liners,” those whose experience of Christ is on a single “line.” If you experience Christ properly and normally as the breadth and the length, you will be kept from going to an extreme. Do not go too far out on the “line” of a narrow and long experience of Christ. Rather, experience Him in a “square” way as the breadth and as the length. By experiencing Christ continually as the breadth and length, our experience will be like a solidly woven “carpet,” not a long, single “thread.”

　　A sister in my home town…had a “line” experience. She did not read the Bible, but devoted a great deal of time to prayer. Being extremely earnest in prayer, she decided to fast and pray for many days. On the seventh day some of the brothers and sisters came to me very concerned about her situation. When we visited her, she was in bed, weakened because of seven days of fasting. We encouraged her to take care of her health, but she was offended by our suggestion. On the very next day, she died. This is an example of how a “line” experience can lead people to an extreme, even lead them astray. Sooner or later every “line” experience leads astray. Therefore, we need to be balanced.

　　In order to experience Christ in His universal dimensions, we need the church life. We need to experience Christ with all the members of the Body. In particular, we need the church meetings, for in the meetings we are balanced. Through messages and the testimonies of the saints, we are balanced. If we experience the dimensions of Christ in the church life, we shall gradually be woven into a “carpet.” We shall not be thin lines of “thread.” What is needed today is not lines of “thread,” but a “carpet” woven through the balanced experience of Christ in the church.

　　In our experience of Christ, we should go on from the two dimensions to three, from a “square” to a “cube.” A cube is solid. Both in the tabernacle and in the temple the Holy of Holies was a cube. The dimensions of this cube in the tabernacle and temple respectively were ten cubits and twenty cubits. The New Jerusalem will be an eternal cube, twelve thousand stadia in three dimensions. The church life today must also be a “cube.” Furthermore, our experience of Christ in the church must be “cubical,” three-dimensional, with many lines going back and forth in all three directions. When we experience Christ in such a three-dimensional way, we are solid. In our experience of Christ we are firstly a “square” and then a “cube.” When we become a cube, we cannot fall, and we cannot be broken. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 286-289)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 33