“I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.” Psalm 81:10
If we were to draw a parallel between the deliverance of Israel from Egypt to that of a lost sinner being delivered from sin and death, we might ask the question: “Why did God do this?” And, “What was His objective or intention?” We can find the answer, in part, in the Lord’s words through the Apostle Paul to the Roman believers: “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall we not with Him also freely give us all things?” (8:32) The answer to the former questions is answered in this: it is not the will of God that any man should perish, but that all should live, and that eternally. That Life to which God has called us is eternal, the very life of His Son. One aspect of that Life lived, contrasted to an existence without Christ, is the enormity, or the vast dimensions, of it. To the Colossians, Paul would write that “…for in Him (Christ) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” (2:9) The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect manifestation, and revelation, of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He told Philip, one of His disciples, “…he who has seen Me has seen the Father.” (Jn. 14:9) Key to our understanding of the purpose of God in saving a soul is the word “fulness.” Why? It is because there was not a moment in the life of the Lord Jesus on this earth, that He was not filled with the Father, and the Spirit. There was not a moment when all the fulness of the Godhead was His, by virtue of His union with the Father and Spirit. Presently, the full manifestation of this fulness of God is limited, not by virtue of God’s inability to demonstrate it, but by man’s small capacity to receive it. How does this affect the believer? What is it about this union in heaven that has a direct parallel, and application, to believers on this earth? Again, the Apostle Paul, by the Spirit makes it so very clear: “And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power.” (Col. 2:10) As the union between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in its fulness is revealed IN CHRIST, so God has placed us in Jesus Christ, that that union should be realized in us, and this in fullest measure. It is important to note that there are absolutely no half-measures with God. The salvation to which He has called us, is one that is complete and perfect, nothing lacking. No wonder in one of Paul’s prayers for the Ephesian believers, he would write: “…and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be FILLED with all the fulness of God.” (3:19) How then is the believer to know this fullness of God of which Paul spoke?
In Psalm 81, the Lord declared: “I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.” (v.10) The first thing the Lord reveals to Israel, so that her faith will rest in the power of God, is to call her to remember the miracle of her great deliverance. Only God could have done this. For the present-day believer, God calls him to remember the miracle of coming to Christ, accomplished only by the power of God. Associated with that miracle is the revealed purpose of God, to fill to the full the believer with the life of His Son. He has chosen the believer in Christ, made him complete in Christ, to freely give him all things good, and in particularly, His Spirit. This salvation to which every believer is called is one where Jesus Christ is to fill the life by the Spirit, with His fullness, beauty, and power. The question then becomes, “Will we, as those belonging to Christ, obey Him by opening our mouths and hearts wide, trusting Him to fill us with His victorious life?
Father, Strengthen us to see, grasp, and appropriate the fulness of Christ’s life today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.