Experience the Death of Jesus for His Life to be Manifested and the Body to be Supplied

We minister life by dying, for when death operates in us, life operates in others (2 Cor. 4:12); our need is to stay in the death of Jesus so that His life may be manifested in us and the Body of Christ would be supplied with life.

This is something very wonderful that takes place in the Body of Christ, something very deep and profound taking place in reality in the church as the organic Body of Christ.

This is typified by the priests who took the lead to enter into the death waters of Jordan and remained there until the whole people crossed over.

The Lord today is seeking for a group of people who are willing to walk into death first, that is, to be identified with the death of Jesus in spirit, and even remain in this death, so that His life may be manifested through them and His supply would be released in the Body.

He is looking for some who are willing to be joined to Christ in His death so that the death of Jesus operates in them while His life operates in others.

A very good example of such a one was the apostle Paul; outwardly he seemed not to be doing very well, and his work was very much limited, for he was in prison, but inwardly and spiritually speaking, his portion was released and the Body was supplied.

Paul spent a lot of time in prison, so his outward work was quite limited; however, he experienced something of the death of Jesus in his spirit, and he was joined to Christ in His death; the result is that, throughout the centuries from his time, life has been ministered in the Body.

What a brother he was, what a pattern before us! He did not defend himself, he didn’t want to escape prison, neither did he complain about it; he simply accepted the Lord’s sovereign arrangement, he enjoyed and experienced Christ, he remained as a member in the Body, and he experienced the death of Jesus.

While the death of Jesus was operating in Paul, the life of Jesus was enjoyed and released in the Body of Christ. Since the time of Paul, how many have received the divine supply from his writings! Amen!

The Lord wants to gain some who don’t primarily care for outward work but for the experience of reality, the experience of the death of Christ, having the full realization that the dispensing and ministry of life depends on this.

May we realize this before the Lord and may we open to Him concerning this.

What we’re speaking of is not “kamikaze saints” who are willing to sacrifice themselves “for the good of others”; we are speaking of the experience of Christ as the grain of wheat who died to release the divine life and the experience of Paul who was identified with Christ in His death so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in him.

This is the deepest significance of the crossing of Jordan by the people of Israel, with the priests taking the lead to enter in and remain in the death waters.

We Minister Life by Dying, for when Death Operates in us, Life operates in Others

In 2 Cor. 4:12 Paul testified that death operates in him, but life in the Corinthian believers.

He realized that he was in a situation of death, and he experienced the death of Jesus in spirit; however, the divine life was released, imparted, and ministered into the believers.

God wants to gain such ones, those who minister life not merely by speaking, preaching, or visiting others, but by dying; we minister life by dying, by experiencing the death of Christ in spirit.

God wants us to go through death first, and then He will give life to others.

This doesn’t mean that we crucify ourselves, we become like the ascetics, or we buffet our body and choose the worst things for ourselves so as to cause ourselves suffering.

It means that we need to allow the Lord to give us the experience of the death of Jesus so that, as death operates in us, life would operate in others.

Such an experience is not for the “super-spiritual” or those who are very advanced in Christ; this should be our experience as members in the Body.

We need to stand at the bottom of the river, bearing the testimony of God on our shoulders, so that the saints would enter into the enjoyment of the good land and advance in the experience of the all-inclusive Christ.

Those who stand in the death of Christ, experiencing the death of Jesus in spirit, will create a seeking heart in others.

When the truth is constituted into us in a deep way, it will attract others to also pursue the truth.

When we allow the truth to be constituted into our being, we cause the growth of the Body in love.

Because the apostle Paul ministered life by dying, he could testify that death operates in him and those with him, but life operates in the believers in Corinth.

When death operates in us, when we sense that the Lord brings us into oneness with Him to experience the death of Jesus, we need to realize that life is being ministered in the Body.

The life of Jesus is seen in others and is ministered to others because the death of Jesus operates in us.

The reason we enjoy life and continue with the Lord is that there are some members in the Body who are experiencing the death of Jesus in spirit, so life is imparted into us.

Instead of speaking so much to others, trying to convince them of this or that truth, we should simply realize that, when death operates in us, life operates in them.

This is our Christian life and our Christian work: dying to live, living to die, and dying to minister life.

When a group of people knows the death of Jesus, the life of Jesus is being made manifest in them.

Even more, when a group of believers know the experience of the death of Jesus, the divine life is released in the Body and it operates in other members of the Body. Hallelujah!

The Lord Jesus willingly denied Himself throughout His life, and He willingly went to the cross even at the cost of His physical life, because He knew that, by His experience of death, the divine life will be imparted into millions of people.

The apostle Paul did not seek to escape prison neither did he became bitter because of the situation he was in but rather, he experienced the death of Jesus in his situation, knowing that the life of Jesus is ministered to and operating in the believers.

May we follow such patterns and may we be those who live such a life today.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for being willing to deny Yourself and remain in death even at cost of Your soul life and Your physical life so that we may receive life. Thank You, Lord, for coming into us as such a One who dies to the self and to the natural man. You are in us as the One who is willing to die and remain in death so that life may be manifested in us and imparted into others. Amen, Lord, may we be those who minister life by dying. May we have the experience of remaining in the death of Jesus in spirit so that, as death operates in us, life would operate in others. Gain us to be those who remain in the death of Christ so that the life of Christ may be released and imparted into the members of the Body!

When we Experience the Death of Jesus, His Life is Manifested in us and the Body receives the Supply of Life

Many believers think that their function in the Body is so small, for they don’t have the capacity or ability to speak long sermons, they don’t know how to care for others, and they may not have the skill to talk to people about the Lord.

However, every member of the Body has a function, a portion in the Body for the building up of the Body.

When a member of the Body allows the death of Jesus to operate in him, the life of Jesus is manifested in him, the divine life is released in the Body, and the supply of life is given to many members in the Body.

When the death of Jesus operates in us, the life of Jesus is manifested in us.

The way for us to live Christ is not by trying, by improving, or by self-correction and self-perfecting; it is by dying to the self and the natural man so that Christ may live in us and so that His life may be manifested through us.

When we remain in the death of Jesus, His life is manifested in us. Even more, the divine life is released in the Body for many members to receive life.

When the manifestation of the life of Jesus is in us, others see Christ in us; when the manifestation is in others, they receive the supply of life.

The source is the death of Jesus, the experience of the death of Jesus. Mere preachings are not reality; it is easy to speak a lot about the things in the Bible yet not minister life.

Ministering life to others and imparting the supply of life into the members of the Body is not through our speaking first but through our experience of the death of Jesus.

When the death of Jesus operates in us, the life of Jesus operates in others.

We don’t even have to testify of our experience of the death of Jesus – it simply happens, as soon as we experience the death of Jesus, His life is imparted into others.

Many times, however, we hear someone expound the Bible and exhort others, but we sense that there’s no supply of life, for that person’s speaking is not backed up by his experience of the death of Jesus.

When there’s the reality of our experience of Christ in His death, there will be the manifestation of the life of Jesus, and there will be the supply of life.

As far as spiritual reality is concerned, no work should be “performed” by us; it is not the quantity of our work that determines the divine reality or the supply of life in the Body.

It is our passing through the experience of the death of Jesus that determines the manifestation of the life of Jesus and the supply of life.

As long as we know the death of Jesus, there will spontaneously be the supply of life in the Body.

We don’t even have to tell others that we forgive them or that we love them; we don’t have to tell them that we bear the cross and experience the death of Jesus – the Body knows, and the Body receives the supply of life.

Whether we feel it or not, as long as we know the death of Jesus and experience it in spirit, the Body receives the supply, and the life of Jesus is manifested in us.

We don’t have to exhibit work for the Lord – our experience of the death of Christ in a personal, secret, hidden, and intimate way with the Lord will spontaneously release the divine life in the Body to supply the members of the Body.

Such a supply edifies others and does not draw any attention to us or to our experience.

We need to be assured of this spiritual organic principle in the Body of Christ: every time we pass through the death of Jesus, there will always be some brothers and sisters who receive the supply of life.

We may not write about it in a biography nor do we publicize our experience, but as long as we know the death of Jesus, life is released, life is manifested, and the supply of life is there for the life of Jesus to be manifested in others also.

Lord Jesus, give us the experiences we need for us to know the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body. Amen, Lord, strengthen us to choose to experience the death of Jesus so that the divine life may be released and imparted into the members of the Body. Bring us into spiritual reality. Save us from merely working for You or in the church life in an outward way; bring us in the spiritual reality of knowing the death of Jesus so that the Body may spontaneously receive the supply of life. Amen, Lord Jesus, gain many saints who would secretly, hiddenly, and personally experience the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in them, the divine life may be imparted into others, and there would be the supply of life in the Body for Christ to be expressed through the saints!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. James Lee for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 36, The Holy Spirit and Reality, pp. 243-244, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 3, Crossing the Jordan River and Being Prepared for Battle.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Oh, from myself deliver, / From all its misery; / I’d henceforth be forever / Completely filled with Thee. (Hymns #280)
  – When we see the ripened harvest / Of the golden countryside, / We may know that many seeds have / Fallen to the earth and died. / Ere the fruit of life may blossom, / We must surely suffer death; / If with Christ we’ve not been buried, / We’ll not feel the Spirit’s breath. (Hymns #279)
  – Life out of death—oh, wondrous resurrection! / Seed sown in conscious weakness, raised in power; / Thy life lived out in days of toil and friction, / “Not I, but Christ” in me from hour to hour. (Hymns #640)