Christ was Designated the Firstborn Son – we’re being Designated Sons of God in Full

In the second stage – the stage of His inclusion – Christ was designated the Son of God in power through the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection from the dead, and we today are in the same process of being designated sons of God in full as we walk in the Spirit. Hallelujah!

Christ has a full ministry in three stages, as revealed in the New Testament.

First, the four Gospels reveal Christ in His earthly ministry, in the stage of His incarnation.

He became a man, joining and mingling the Triune God with the tripartite man, and He lived a wonderful, perfect, God-man life.

If we read the Gospels we will be captivated by this One. Not only was He selfless and helping others while serving God in oneness with God, but His living was so aromatic.

You can’t describe aroma, but when you see it and sense it, it is so wonderful.

Christ was the first God-man, and He embodied God; He had the divine life and the human life, and He expressed the divine attributes of God in His human virtues as a man.

He was a perfect man, and He manifested God through man. In Luke, He gave the parable of the good Samaritan, which is a type of Himself.

He saw us beaten down, unable to heal ourselves or take care of ourselves, for religion has put us all down and we’re downtrodden.

So He had compassion on us, even though we rejected Him.

He loved us, cared for us, poured oil and wine on our wounds, and brought us to an inn – the church.

Furthermore, He is bountifully supplying and rewarding the church for taking care of us.

What a wonderful Savior we have!

He is the good Samaritan, the One who cares for us in love and who makes sure we are well taken care of, even though we can’t repay Him.

On the other side, as we see in Rom. 13:8-10 and Gal. 5:14-15, we need to love one another even as the Lord loved us, and we should not bite or devour one another, lest we are consumed by one another.

We need to let the Lord work on us and in us to heal us, and then we need to cooperate with Him to take care of the other saints in the church by ministering Christ as oil and wine for them to be healed and restored.

The Lord gives us the Holy Spirit (the reality of the oil) and life (the reality of the wine), binding up our own wounds, caring for us in a lowly way to restore us and take care of us.

What a pattern He is to us! We need to learn from Him and be one with Him in doing the same toward the saints in the church life.

Today in this article we want to see more concerning Christ in the second stage, the stage of His inclusion.

Christ was Begotten in His Resurrection to be God’s Firstborn Son – He was Designated the Son of God in Power!

After passing through incarnation and death, Christ entered into resurrection; in the second stage of His ministry, the stage of His inclusion, Christ accomplished three wonderful things.

First, He was begotten to be the firstborn Son of God; second, He became a life-giving Spirit; and third, He regenerated us to be the many sons of God.

In His resurrection, Christ was begotten by God to be God’s firstborn Son. Wow!

Rom. 1:1-4 reveals that Christ came as “the seed of David” according to the flesh but was designated “the Son of God” in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection from the dead.

This is the gospel of God, unto which Paul was separated.

When He was incarnated, Christ as the only begotten Son of God in His divinity (John 1:18) put on the flesh, the human nature.

This human nature had nothing to do with divinity.

He was both the Son of God and the Son of Man, but in His human part, in His humanity, He was not yet the Son of God.

He put on humanity, which was not part of the divine sonship.

By resurrection, Christ’s human nature was sanctified, uplifted, and transformed; in resurrection His humanity was deified, “sonized” to be designated the Son of God. Wow!

In His resurrection, Christ was designated the Son of God, the firstborn Son of God in His humanity, having both divinity and humanity (Rom. 8:29; Acts 13:33).

This is quite amazing, for a man has become God, and humanity was brought into divinity.

Through incarnation, God was brought into man and was mingled with man.

Through resurrection, man was brought into God and was mingled with God.

There is now a Man in the glory, Jesus Christ, who is not only God but also man, and not only man but also God! Amazing!

He was conceived in Mary’s womb to be a man, and by this God put on human nature, the flesh, without the sin in the flesh.

He lived for thirty-three and a half years on the earth, doing God’s will and expressing God in His humanity.

Then, He went through death and entered into resurrection, and in resurrection God designated Christ, who was the seed of David according to the flesh, to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness.

In other words, Christ was born again in His resurrection; He was born in His incarnation out of Mary, and in resurrection, He was begotten by God to be His Son even in His humanity, His human part, which was brought into God. Wow!

The divinity – the Spirit of holiness – in Christ became operative in His death, and in resurrection, He “blossomed” to be the firstborn Son of God and the life-dispensing Spirit (Rom. 1:4; 8:29; 1 Cor. 15:45).

Now Christ is not only man but also God, not only God but also man, and the human nature of Jesus has been divinized to be brought into God. Praise the Lord!

Even more, He is a life-dispensing Spirit to dispense the divine life into us, the many believers in Christ, to make us His many brothers. Hallelujah!

The prototype is Christ, the firstborn Son of God, and the reproduction is the many sons of God, who are the members of the prototype to be His Body, which consummates in the New Jerusalem (Col. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:3).

We are now the reproduction of Christ, the duplication of Christ, the continuation of Christ, to be the many sons of God as the mass reproduction of Christ to express God on the earth. Hallelujah!

Praise the Lord for Christ’s resurrection, in which He was begotten by God to be God’s firstborn Son! Hallelujah, Christ not only died for our sins on the cross but was also resurrected to be designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness! Hallelujah, there’s a Man in the glory, Jesus Christ, and He brought humanity into divinity! Praise the Lord, the human nature was brought into God, and the God on the throne is now a Man! Wow, Lord, we thank You and praise You for going through the process of incarnation, death, and resurrection so that You may be the firstborn Son of God and the life-giving Spirit to be dispensed into us and make us the many sons of God. Thank You for blossoming in Your resurrection to be the firstborn Son of God and the life-dispensing Spirit to impart Your divine life into us to make us Your many brothers! Hallelujah, we are now the many sons of God, the brothers of Christ, the members of Christ, to be the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem!

We are in the Process of Being Designated Sons of God in Full by Contacting the Lord and Walking in the Spirit

The Bible is truly amazing, for it presents not only God’s intention and desire but also the way for us to participate in what God is doing so that we may fulfil His desire.

God desires to make Himself man so that He may make man God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead.

For this, He Himself became a man, lived a perfect human life, died an all-inclusive and all-terminating death on the cross, and was resurrected.

In His resurrection, He was begotten by God to be the firstborn Son of God in His humanity, and He also became a life-giving Spirit to dispense Himself as life into us to make us the many sons of God.

We were born the sons of man, but we have been reborn to be sons of God.

The Spirit of the Son of God has come into us (Gal. 4:6), so we are sons of God.

Christ has already been designated the Son of God, but we’re still in the process of being designated; we are in the process of being “sonized”, deified (Rom. 8:28-29).

He cut the way into glory and was designated the Son of God in power; we are following Him by remaining in the process of designation.

In a sense, every believer is the same as Jesus: Jesus was a man in the flesh with the Son of God in Him, and we are also men of flesh with the Son of God in us.

We are now undergoing the process of sanctification, transformation, and glorification to be designated sons of God in full.

One day we will be able to declare that we have been designated to be sons of God out of resurrection!

Our human part, our humanity, is not yet divinized; we are still in the flesh, and we are in the process of designation.

Christ was designated the Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness; in the same principle, we are contacting the Lord today and walking in spirit, and we are being designated sons of God in full.

As we contact the Lord, have our being according to the spirit, and walk according to the mingled spirit, we undergo the process of designation.

Day by day, we’re being resurrected, sanctified, transformed, and glorified.

Even as the Lord went through death and resurrection and the Spirit was operating to designate Him the firstborn Son of God, so we are experiencing Christ in His death and resurrection, and the designating Spirit and rising-up Spirit lives in us to designate us sons of God.

The key to the process of designation is resurrection, which is the indwelling Christ as the rising-up Spirit, the designating Spirit, the power of life in our spirit (John 11:25; Rom. 8:10-11; Acts 2:24; 1 Cor. 15:26; 5:4; Rom. 8:4, 6, 14).

We need to learn to walk according to the spirit to enjoy and experience the designating Spirit; in this way, we are being designated the sons of God in full.

The more we walk according to the Spirit, set our mind upon the Spirit, and by the Spirit put to death the practices of the body, the more we are designated sons of God in full.

If we daily walk according to the Spirit, we will be fully in the process of designation by resurrection.

May we open to the Lord day by day, morning and evening and throughout the day, to contact Him and call on His name.

The more we call on the name of the Lord, the more we sense His presence and are conscious of His anointing within.

Calling on the name of the Lord refreshes us, sanctifies us, waters us, and satisfies and strengthens us within.

As we do this day by day, we remain in the process of being designated sons of God.

What we need as Christians is not more teachings about the end of the age, prophecies, and dispensations; we need the teaching that brings us into the inner experience of Christ so that we may remain in the process of being designated sons of God in full.

In ourselves, we are hopeless and helpless, and there’s no point in trying to improve ourselves; what we need is to contact the Lord and live in spirit day by day so that He may have a way to designate us as sons of God in full.

May we daily exercise our spirit to contact the Lord so that we may enjoy His anointing and participate in the process of designation by resurrection.

Day by day, may we be with the Lord, live with the Lord, and ask the Lord to teach us how to exercise our spirit and walk in the spirit so that, more and more, we would become sons of God in full, those who look like Jesus, live like Jesus, and do all things like Jesus, having Jesus living in them.

Lord Jesus, keep us in the process of being designated sons of God in full by contacting You and by living according to the Spirit. Thank You, Lord, for regenerating us with the divine life to bring us into a lifelong process of designation by resurrection to make us sons of God in full! We open to You, dear Lord; teach us to contact You day by day. Teach us how to exercise our spirit and how to live in our spirit. Save us from trying to improve ourselves. We call on Your name, Oh Lord Jesus, and we want to remain in Your presence. Your presence is everything to us. Lead us by Your anointing within us. Keep us in our spirit and lead us in all things. Oh Lord, we exercise our spirit to contact You and enjoy Your anointing! We want to remain and participate in the process of being designated the sons of God in full in resurrection!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Romans, msgs. 2, 54-56, 62 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth of the Lord’s Recovery Before His Appearing (2023 July Semiannual Training), week 9, entitled, The Full Ministry of Christ in Three Stages.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Conformed to the Image of God’s Firstborn Son, article via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – 3 Wonderful Things That Happened in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, article via, Bibles for America blog.
  – How can Christ be both the only begotten Son of God and the firstborn Son of God? Article by Joshua Davis.
  – Children of God, sons of God, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Christ becoming the firstborn Son of God and the life-giving Spirit and regenerating all His believers to be God’s children, God’s species, a portion from, The Issue of Christ Being Glorified by the Father with the Divine Glory, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
  – Knowing Christ in His Resurrection as the Son of God Designated in Power with His Human Nature, message by Ron Kangas.
  – Reflections of the Gospel of John – The Only Begotten Son and His Brothers, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – How Jesus’ Second Birth Made Him God’s Firstborn Son, article via, Holding to Truth in Love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – By Thy death and resurrection, / Thou wast made God’s firstborn Son; / By Thy life to us imparting, / Was Thy duplication done. / We, in Thee regenerated, / Many sons to God became; / Truly as Thy many brethren, / We are as Thyself the same. (Hymns #203 stanza 2)
  – God ordained us unto sonship, / Ere creation’s work was done, / To conform us by His Spirit / To the image of His Son; / That His only dear Begotten / Might become the firstborn One, / And by Him with many brethren / His expression full be won… / By that final transformation, / We’ll be fully sanctified; / God will bring us into glory, / With His Son identified. / All creation is expecting / Sons of God revealed to be, / That they might be freed from bondage / Into glorious liberty. (Hymns #741 stanzas 1 and 4)
  – “So great a salvation” is given to us / That we may be made like our Lord glorious! / By all that He is and by all He has done / We’re brought into glory with God’s firstborn Son. (Hymns #1129 stanza 6)