Scripture Reading: Col. 2:2; Eph. 1:17; 3:3-5, 8-9; 5:32; 1 Tim. 1:3-4
Ⅰ
Christ is the mystery of God (Col. 2:2), the church is the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:3-5), and Christ and the church are the great mystery (5:32; cf. 1:17); Christ and the church as the contents of God's eternal economy (1 Tim. 1:3-4; Eph. 3:8-9) are the kernel of the Bible.
Ⅱ
In the book of Genesis Christ is the following items:
A
Christ is the image of God—1:26-27; Col. 1:15; 2 Cor. 4:4.
B
Christ is our inward life, signified by the tree of life—Gen. 2:9; John 14:6; 10:10; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Col. 3:4; Rom. 8:6; John 6:57; 2 Cor. 3:6.
C
Christ as the seed of the woman refers to the incarnated Christ, the complete God becoming a perfect man through the dispensing of Himself into humanity in order to destroy Satan and to save the believers in Christ from sin and death—Gen. 3:15; Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:16, 20-21, 23; Gal. 4:4; John 1:1, 14; 8:24, 28, 58; Heb. 2:14; 1 Cor. 15:53-57:
１
"God sent forth His Son, born of a woman," for our judicial redemption; God "sent forth the Spirit of His Son," the transfiguration of His Son, to "sonize" us for our organic salvation—Gal. 4:4, 6; 3:13-14.
２
The resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit is the transfigured descendant of the woman, dispensed into us to bruise the serpent's head in us and make us the corporate seed of the woman, the overcoming man-child, to carry out God's judg-ment on the ancient serpent and to be God's dispensational instrument to change the age and usher in the manifestation of God's kingdom—Rev. 12:5.
３
The Lord as the leading Overcomer (3:21) is the Head, center, reality, life, and nature of the man-child, and the man-child as the following overcomers is the Lord's Body:
ａ
The way to become the man-child is for us to be daily strengthened into our inner man, to be empowered to experience the riches of Christ, and to be strong through putting on the all-inclusive Christ as the armor of God, taking the word by means of all prayer—Eph. 3:16; 6:10-20.
ｂ
The spontaneous life-power of Christ as the life-seed bruises the serpent's head in us as we employ the blood of the Lamb, speak forth the word of our testimony, and love not our soul-life even unto death—Rom. 8:2; Rev. 12:10-11; Acts 1:8.
D
Christ as the seed of Abraham is for the blessing to all the families of the earth; the unique seed of Abraham as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit—Gen. 12:2-3, 7; 17:7-8; Gal. 3:14, 16, 29; 1 Cor. 15:45b; John 12:24:
１
The resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit is the transfigured descendant of Abraham, the seed of Abraham, dispensed into us to make us the sons of Abraham, the corporate seed of Abraham, those who can receive and inherit the consummated Spirit as the blessing of Abraham—Gal. 3:7, 14; 4:28:
ａ
The physical aspect of the blessing that God promised to Abraham was the good land (Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 17:8), which is a type of the all-inclusive Christ as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit (Col. 1:12; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17).
ｂ
Christ as the life-giving Spirit is the blessing of Abraham (Gal. 3:14), the reality of both the seed of Abraham and the good land promised to Abraham; our blessing today is God Himself, who is embodied in Christ and realized as the Spirit to be dispensed into us for our enjoyment.
２
We can continually receive Christ as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit for His growth in us as the seed of Abraham and for our enjoyment of Him as the land promised to Abraham by the hearing of faith—vv. 2, 5; 2 Cor. 4:13:
ａ
To receive the Spirit, we need to have an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the churches (Rev. 2:7; cf. Heb. 5:11-14); the measure of the Spirit that can be dispensed into our inward parts depends on the measure of our hearing (Mark 4:23-25; Matt. 13:14-16; 5:3, 8; Luke 10:38-42).
ｂ
We need to be one with Christ as the Slave-Savior by loving Him to the uttermost and taking Him as our absolute consecration, giving Him the way to open our ear to hear His divine instructions, His fresh messages, which dispense the divine Spirit into us for our service to God in our spirit in the gospel of His Son—Exo. 21:1-6; Isa. 50:4-5; John 6:63; 2 Cor. 3:6; Rom. 1:9.
Ⅲ
In the book of Genesis the constituents of the church are typified by Adam, Abel, Enosh, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with Joseph:
A
"Jehovah God made coats of skin for Adam and for his wife and clothed them"—3:21:
１
The coats of skin were probably the skins of lambs sacrificed as substitutes for the sinful Adam and Eve, with the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins (Heb. 9:22); the killing of the lambs by God foreshadowed the substitutionary death of Christ as the Lamb of God, with the shedding of His precious blood for the accomplishing of redemption, based on which God justifies the believing sinners (John 1:29; Rev. 13:8b; 1 Pet. 1:18-20; 3:18a; Eph. 1:7; Rom. 3:24).
２
God's clothing Adam and his wife with the coats of skins means that God justified them through their faith (v. 28); the coats are a type of Christ as God's righteousness to cover us so that we might be justified by God (Ezek. 18:4, 20; Rom. 6:23; Jer. 23:6; 1 Cor. 1:30).
３
Genuine substitution is based on union; after being clothed by God with a coat of lamb skins, Adam became one with the lamb; thus the sinner became one with the substitute; this is union.
４
Union brings in the effectiveness of substitution; when we believe in the gospel, Christ is put upon us as our covering righteousness (cf. Luke 15:22), and we are put into Christ (1 Cor. 1:30), making us one with Christ; since we are one with Christ, whatever He has accomplished on the cross becomes ours (Gal. 2:20).
５
To believe in Jesus Christ is to be one with Him, to enter into a union with Him (John 3:16); in such a union whatever Christ is, whatever He has, whatever He has done and will do, and whatever He has attained and obtained are ours.
B
Abel was an overcoming martyr who cared only for God's purpose, not for his own existence—Gen. 1:29; 9:3; 4:1-2; cf. Heb. 10:5-10:
１
Abel not only knew God but also took God's way of worshipping God according to God's divine revelation, not according to his concept; Abel's faith came from hearing the word of the gospel from his parents; therefore, what Abel did came out of revelation—11:4; Rom. 10:14, 17.
２
According to God's foreordained redemption, Abel offered to God the firstlings of his flock, with the shedding of blood for his redemption, the burning of the fat for God's satisfaction, and the covering of the coats of skin for him to be justified by God—Gen. 4:4; Heb. 9:22; 11:4.
３
What Abel did corresponds exactly to the gospel in the New Testament, which tells us to receive the cleansing of the blood, to deny ourselves, to put ourselves aside, and to take Christ as our covering so that we might live in Christ to become the righteousness of God—2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 1:19-21a.
４
Cain trusted in the fruit of his labor, but Abel put his trust in his offering, boasting in Christ Jesus and having no confidence in the flesh—3:3.
５
Abel was not only redeemed but also brought back to God to contact God and fellowship with God; Abel cared for the Lord's presence, but Cain went out from the Lord's presence to become a fugitive and a wanderer—Gen. 4:14, 16:
ａ
If we are not in the presence of God, we will have the sense deep within that we are wanderers with nowhere to go; our real dwelling place is the presence of God—Psa. 90:1.
ｂ
The people who follow God's way to live in the presence of God all have an uplifted countenance in contrast to Cain, who had a fallen countenance—Gen. 4:6-7a; cf. Psa. 42:5, 11.
C
In human history Enosh was the landmark of one who called upon the name of Jehovah—Gen. 4:26:
１
The name Enosh means "frail, mortal man"; Enosh realized that he was weak, frail, and mortal, so he had no trust in himself; if we realize both the vanity of human life and the frailty of man, we will have no trust in ourselves—Eccl. 1:2; 2:14, 17; 2 Cor. 1:9; Phil. 3:3.
２
The Hebrew word for call means to "call out to," to "cry unto," that is, to cry out audibly; because men realized that their life was vanity and that they were frail and mortal, they spontaneously began to call upon the name of Jehovah, the eternal One.
３
Although they were vain and weak, by calling on the name of the Lord, they were made rich and strong, for they entered into the riches and strength of the One on whom they called—Acts 9:14, 21; 22:16; 1 Cor. 1:2.
４
The proper Christian life is a life of receiving the Spirit continually by exercising our spirit to call upon the name of the Lord—Gal. 3:2, 5; John 20:22; Rom. 10:12-13.
５
When we breathe in the Spirit by calling upon the name of the Lord, we both exhale and inhale; we breathe out the negative things and breathe in the positive things of the Lord—Lam. 3:55-56; Hymns, #255.
６
The way to live Christ is to breathe Him, and the way to breathe Him is to call upon Him without ceasing—Phil. 1:19-21a; Rom. 10:12-13; 1 Thes. 5:17.