Five Emphases in the Lords Recovery by Witness Lee CONTINUATION CHAPTER 3 Dying an All-inclusive Death After Jesus passed through human living for thirty years, He ministered for three and a half years. Then He went to the cross on Calvary to die an all-inclusive death. By that death He terminated the old creation (Col. 1:20), He crucified the old man (Rom. 6:6), and He took away man’s sin (John 1:29) and sins (1 Pet. 2:24). He also judged Satan and Satan’s world (John 12:31). Before His death, the entire universe had become old and was filled with all these negative items. But through His unique death He cleared up all these things. On the positive side, He was broken on the cross to release the divine life that was concealed within Him (John 12:24). On the cross He was pierced, and out came blood and water (19:34). The blood symbolizes redemption, and the water symbolizes the flowing life of God. On the one hand, He cleared up the whole universe through His redemption, His redeeming death. On the other hand, He released the divine life within Him so that He might impart this life into His believers. Accomplishing Three Main Items in Resurrection After His death He remained in Hades for three days. Then He walked out of death and was resurrected. In His resurrection He accomplished three things. Becoming the Firstborn Son of God First, through His resurrection He became the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29). Before His resurrection He was the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16), the unique Son of God, but His humanity had not been brought into the divine sonship. Before His resurrection, He was the only begotten Son of God with divinity, but then He became a man with flesh and blood. As the Son of God in eternity past, He had only divinity. He had only the divine nature, not the human nature. Through resurrection His humanity was “sonized.” He is now the Son of God with humanity and divinity. Through His resurrection He sonized His humanity. He was the Son of God before His resurrection, but He was not yet the firstborn Son. In His resurrection He was begotten of God to be the firstborn Son of God among many sons. Producing Many Sons of God In His resurrection He produced many sons of God. This is the second accomplishment of His resurrection. According to 1 Peter 1:3, God regenerated us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead. His resurrection was a great birth, a great delivery, in which He made all of us, His believers, the many sons of God. I once read of someone who had seven children by one birth. But by the resurrection of Christ, millions and millions of children were born. In His resurrection He became the firstborn Son among many sons. According to 1 Peter 1:3 we were born again about two thousand years ago when Christ was resurrected. We were all born in the same delivery. When Jesus Christ was delivered as the firstborn Son, we were delivered as the many sons. In resurrection we all were born of God. Becoming a Life-giving Spirit In His resurrection, Christ also became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). This is the third accomplishment of His resurrection. He was the unique God. Then He became a man. As a man He died on the cross, was buried, and remained in Hades for three days. Then He entered into resurrection to become a life-giving Spirit. Today He is God, He is a man, and He is the Spirit who gives life. He is such a wonderful person! The biography of Christ is marvelous. He is the life-giving Spirit, and the life-giving Spirit is the consummation of God being a man. God being a man has been consummated in the Spirit. Thus, the Spirit who gives life is the aggregate of God plus man. He became a life-giving Spirit to impart Himself into our being to be our life and to remain within us as our person. We know that Jesus has come into us, but we need to realize that the story of this Jesus who has come into us is not so simple. He was God in eternity past. Then about four thousand years after the creation of man, He came into the womb of a virgin and was born of this woman to be a man. God was linked with man. He lived thirty-three and a half years, died on the cross, was buried for three days, and came out in resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit. Therefore, the life-giving Spirit is the aggregate of God becoming a man. Today He is the Spirit who gives life.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 23:05:40 +0000
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