The Lord Jesus, who was, is, and always will be the only begotten Son of God in His divinity, became the Son of God in a new way in resurrection, for He was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness.
And today we are in the process of being designated sons of God by choosing to live according to the Spirit. Christ was designated the Son of God in power, which is the power of His resurrection; this power, the reality of this power, is in the Spirit. Resurrection itself is the power.
As believers in Christ, we need to open to the Lord day by day, in our personal time with Him, and allow the power of resurrection to operate in us.
Outwardly there may be no change, for we are still in the old creation according to the flesh, but inwardly the resurrection life works in us and imparts the divine life into us.
On one hand, this life sonizes us, uplifting our humanity, the God-created humanity. On the other hand, the Spirits deals with and puts to death the natural constitution and the natural man.
What He wants to gain is not a better person or a Jesus-like being but a person who is humanly divine and divinely human.
May we have the same goal as Paul, to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, even to attain to the out-resurrection.
This is not to be selfish or to desire to be spiritual in an individualistic way; rather, this is our hope and prayer, that we attain to the overcomers’ resurrection.
We don’t want to go one more day, one more week, one more month, or one more year without being sonized more, without having the growth of God day by day.
May the Lord as the sevenfold intensified Spirit intensify His resurrection power in us, and may He do a lot in us even in a short period of time so that He may gain what He is after.
We really want to be part of the man-child, if He calls us to go with Him before He returns or to be part of the living overcomers who meet Him at His return.
For this, we need to remain in the process of being transformed and conformed to the image of Christ by choosing to live according to the Spirit day by day.
May we be the people who are actively open to the Lord for this, for His inner work of transformation and conformation.
Christ was Designated the Son of God in Resurrection according to the Spirit of Holiness
The Lord’s resurrection was not as simple as, He was raised from the dead; rather, in His resurrection, Christ was designated the Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness (Rom. 1:4).
Before His resurrection, Christ was already the Son of God in His divinity, but through designation, in resurrection He became the Son of God in a new way, in a wonderful way.
Before His incarnation, He was the Son of God only with divinity, but through His resurrection, He was designated the Son of God with both divinity and humanity.
If Christ had not put on the human nature, there would have been no need for Him to be designated the Son of God, for in His divinity He was already the Son of God, even from eternity (John 1:18; 17:5).
Having put on humanity through incarnation, He was designated the Son of God with humanity in resurrection (1:14; Rom. 8:3; 1:3-4; Heb. 2:14).
Now, as the designated Son of God, Christ has two natures: divinity and humanity; the humanity that He now has is not a natural humanity but a humanity that was uplifted in resurrection.
When Christ became a man, He didn’t leave His divinity in the heavens; also, when He went through death and resurrection, He didn’t leave His humanity in the tomb.
Rather, He brought His divinity into humanity through incarnation, and He uplifted and resurrected His humanity into divinity through His resurrection.
And His divinity is simply the Spirit of holiness, which has the divine power and the divine element to transform Christ’s humanity, thereby making it divine. Wow!
A grain of wheat is designated not by being labelled and put on display but by being put in the ground and growing and bearing fruit.
A carnation seed is designated according to the life which is within it, and the life in that seed causes it to grow and blossom and bring forth a carnation flower.
Similarly, Christ was designated in power by resurrection according to the Spirit of holiness that was in Him.
He is now the Son of God in a way that is more wonderful than before, for He has both the divine nature and the human nature, and this human nature is resurrected, transformed, uplifted, glorified, and designated! Hallelujah!
Such a One is the firstborn Son of God and we all as the many sons of God are being conformed to His image!
He is the prototype, and we are the mass reproduction of Himself, for we are being conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29).
The whole book of Romans speaks of this, that God make sinners in the flesh into sons of God in power and by resurrection for them to be members of the Body of Christ expressed in the local churches.
Even Christ’s human nature has been designated the Son of God, for He has been designated the Son of God with both divinity and humanity.
And the Spirit of holiness, according to whom Christ was designated, is the life essence of the Lord Jesus; such a Spirit is now in us.
The Spirit of holiness is the essence of the life of Christ as He lived on earth, and He did everything in Spirit and by the Spirit (Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35).
Now He is the Son of God in a way that is more wonderful than before, for now, He has both the divine nature and the resurrected, transformed, uplifted, glorified, and designated human nature (Rom. 6:4; Luke 24:26; John 17:5; Acts 3:13).
This is what happened to Him, and this is what will also happen to us. Now we have this essence in us, and the Spirit of holiness operates in us to conform us to the image of Christ. Hallelujah!
Lord Jesus, we praise You as the One designated by God to be the Son of God in resurrection according to the Spirit of holiness! Hallelujah, Jesus Christ was designated the Son of God with humanity in resurrection! Praise the Lord, such a One lives in us, and His humanity is not natural but uplifted in resurrection! Amen, Lord, we open to You: operate in us as the Spirit of holiness to uplift, resurrect, and transform our humanity so that we may express You. Keep us in the process of being conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God!
Being Designated Sons of God according to the Spirit of Holiness by Walking According to the Spirit
![Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into His glory? Luke 24:26 And now, glorify Me along with Yourself, Father, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. John 17:5 The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release [Him.] Acts 3:13](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Was-it-not-necessary-for-the-Christ-to-suffer-these-things-and-enter-into-His-glory.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into His glory? Luke 24:26 And now, glorify Me along with Yourself, Father, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. John 17:5 The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release [Him.] Acts 3:13")
How can we, human beings in the flesh, be designated to be sons of God, even those conformed to the image of Christ? It is only according to the Spirit of holiness.
This Spirit is in our spirit and with our spirit. We have both the flesh (which we received from our natural parents) and the Spirit of holiness (who has been given to us by God).
Like the Lord Jesus, we believers in Christ have two lives and two natures: we have both the divine life and nature and the human life and nature.
We need to realize that there is another life with another nature in us besides our human life and nature.
In our human life and nature, by the flesh, we cannot please God, and we cannot express Him; but according to the Spirit of holiness, we can be conformed to the image of Christ and express Him.
Christ Himself is in us as the Spirit of holiness to be the very substance, essence, element, and nature of God; He operates in us and He is conforming us to His image.
The Spirit with our spirit is of holiness, the Spirit of the very essence of God. When we live according to the Spirit, we are being designated sons of God.
But when we live in the flesh, we must die, for the flesh cannot please God and neither can it.
But when we choose to walk according to the Spirit, the Spirit of holiness sanctifies us and saturates us with the divine life and nature, and we are being conformed to the image of Christ.
When we live in the flesh, we’re troublesome both to our family, our workmates and to those in the church; however, we have a choice: we can be persons according to the Spirit.
We need to set our mind on the spirit (Rom. 8:6) and live according to the Spirit so that we may be in the process of being designated sons of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness.
Based upon the essence of the divine life in us, the power of resurrection is activated when we walk according to the Spirit, and the Lord has a way to conform us to His image.
May we truly be open vessels to Him; may we allow Him to search our inward parts and our heart. May we welcome His shining, His speaking, and His saturating and permeating.
May we be properly aggressive in cooperating with the Lord by preparing our wedding garment, stitch by stitch, as we live and walk according to the Spirit.
And may we pray both for ourselves and for the saints in the church that we may just be open vessels, those who exercise their spirit to allow the Lord to conform us to the image of Christ and make us living, functioning members of His Body.
May we just exercise our spirit, open our heart to the Lord, and pray for this, for God’s will and purpose are to multiply His firstborn Son, and He will answer such a prayer.
May we not be passive, doing nothing and expecting that the Lord would do everything; may we just open, talk to Him, and exercise our spirit day by day, learning to live according to the Spirit.
Hallelujah, we have the Spirit of holiness in us, and He operates in us both the willing and the working if we just open to Him and turn our heart to Him.
Lord Jesus, we want to cooperate with Your work in us to conform us to the image of Christ. Keep us turning to our spirit, Lord, and keep us learning to walk according to the Spirit so that we may remain in the process of being designated sons of God. Amen, Lord, thank You for being in us as the Spirit of holiness to search our inward parts and our heart. Search us, burn what is not according to You in our being, and saturate us with Yourself. Amen, Lord, it is Your desire to obtain many sons conformed to the image of Christ: do it in us! Make us those who live according to the Spirit so that we may remain in the process of being designated sons of God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas, and portions from, Life-study of Romans, msgs. 2, 44-45, 52, 54-55 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of 1 and 2 Samuel (2021 winter training), week 8, entitled, The Seed of David Becoming the Son of God.
Hymns on this topic:
– No longer I alone that live, / But God together lives with me. / Built with the saints in the Triune God, / His universal house we’ll be, / And His organic Body we / For His expression corp’rately. / And His organic Body we / For His expression corp’rately. (Song on, What miracle! What mystery!)
– Once we walked a soulish person, / Wandering in the wilderness, / Never knowing that our spirit / Craved God’s fullness to express; / At the moment Jesus entered / Instantly the whole was changed. / Now we’re people spirit-centered! / Hallelujah! Rearranged! / Lord, Thou art our Person, / In our inmost being, / May we constantly experience / This reality. (Hymns #1181)
– I am crucified with Jesus, / And He lives and dwells with me; / I have ceased from all my struggling, / ’Tis no longer I, but He. / All my will is yielding to Him, / And His Spirit reigns within; / And His precious blood each moment / Keeps me cleansed and free from sin. (Hymns #564)
