When the Lord Jesus was on the cross, Satan thought, “This is it, I’ve got Him – I will now kill Him!” But the Lord of life could not be killed. His human body was put to death and stayed in the grave for three days, and the Lord Jesus took a tour of “the Black House” – the Hades – and then rose from the dead, resurrecting His human body!
In His death, the Lord’s human body was weak, small, and fragile, but in His resurrection His Body is universally vast, strong, filled with resurrection life, and it includes all the believers in Christ who were raised together with Him and were regenerated in Him (1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 2:6)!
This is what the Lord was talking about in John 2:19-22 when He challenged the Jews to destroy “this temple” (referring to His human body) and in three days He will raise it up again (referring to His resurrected mystical Body, the Body of Christ in resurrection).
We are now still in this period of “three days” since our being is not yet fully transformed and glorified. We are now in the process of being resurrected in our whole being to be fully like Christ, one with Him, and even Him in life and nature (but not in the Godhead).
Since the day the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, He has been enlarging His Body in resurrection life, and He is working constantly for the building up of His Body under the process of resurrection. The Lord is not interested so much on what’s the right way or the good thing to do – He wants to change any death in our being into life so that we may build up the Body of Christ.
The whole Gospel of John talks about the Lord Jesus changing death into life for the building up of His Body, the church. We today need to cooperate with the Lord so that any death in our being and in our family life, church life, work life, etc would be swallowed up in resurrection. We are now working together with God to build up Christ’s mystical Body on the earth, the enlarged temple of God.
The Body of Jesus was Small and Weak but the Body of Christ is Vast and Powerful
I have never seen the reality of this statement until recently. First of all, when the Jews started to criticize, persecute, and even desired to kill the Lord Jesus, He didn’t pray to the Father to wipe them out or remove them (not even to “change their mind that they may see the truth”).
The Lord Jesus had a mission: He came to die as a man so that in resurrection He may gain an enlargement of God into man. Even though the Jews were ready to kill Him before His time came, the Lord didn’t fear them – He knew that nothing can frustrate God’s purpose.
Eventually, when His time came, the Lord was crucified and then buried for three days. It seemed that Satan had won and that the Jewish leaders together with the Roman politicians had suppressed whatever Jesus was up to. The Lord Jesus died in His human body which was small and weak, but after three days He resurrected with a spiritual body which is vast and powerful, full of resurrection life!
The Lord promised the Jews, Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again. The enemy destroyed His human body and in three days the Lord raised up His Body in resurrection – and this time everyone who is joined to the Lord by faith was also raised with Him and in Him as His enlarged, vast, mystical Body (see 1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 2:6; 1 Cor. 6:17)! Hallelujah!
It seemed that the more things the enemy would do to hinder and suppress the Lord, the more the Lord was afforded an opportunity to do more and gain more! Death cannot hold the resurrection life! Rather, in resurrection Christ enlarged His Body to include us, all the genuine believers in Christ!
And today we are still in this period of “three days” – we are still in resurrection, being transformed by Christ for the building up of His enlarged mystical Body! His human body could be measured and even put to death, but in resurrection His mystical Body is immense, vast, immeasurable, and very powerful.
Today Christ is still increasing His Body as the Father’s house in resurrection (see 1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Pet. 2:5; 1 Cor. 3:9; Eph. 2:21-22). On the one hand many more people are being saved and brought into the Body of Christ to be His enlargement, and on the other hand, we ourselves are in the constant process of resurrection and transformation until every part of our being is filled with resurrection life!
Changing Death into Life for the Building of the House of God
In the Gospel of John we see time and time again that the Lord Jesus did not correct others, adjust them, fix this or that, or try to improve people and their lives. He didn’t come to help others obey the law and fear God.
The Lord Jesus came to change death into life, and Christ as life has the principle of changing death into life (see John 2:1-11). The purpose of changing death into life is so that the house of God would be built up (John 2:12-22). Christ constantly changed death into life for the building up of God’s house.
The moral people need life’s regenerating, and the immoral need life’s satisfying (John 3-4). The dying need life’s healing and the impotent need life’s enlivening (John 4-5). The hungry need life’s feeding, and the thirsty need life’s quenching (John 6-7).
Those under the bondage of sin need life’s setting free, and those blind in religion need life’s sight and life’s shepherding (John 7-10). Finally, all the people who are spiritually dead need life’s enlivening (John 11). Life is what we need, and life is for the building of God’s house, the Body of Christ.
Today in the church life we are in the process of having all the death in us being changed into life so that we may build up the Body of Christ. Christ is our life for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. The principle of life is changing death into life. The purpose of life is to build the house of God. Life is for building, and the building is of life.
As we live our daily life in the world today, whether we want this or not death creeps in and in many aspects of our daily life, family life, personal life, Christian life, etc and in our being there is death. Christ doesn’t condemn us or try to improve us – He comes to us either directly in His Word or indirectly through the brothers and sisters to minister life to us so that we may build up His Body, the church!
We should not focus on helping others to improve and behave better as Christians; we should focus on ministering life to others and helping them touch the Lord to grow in life so that they would build up the Body of Christ! The genuine, complete, and proper Christian life is composed of changing death into life for the building up of the Body of Christ.
Lord Jesus, thank You for regenerating us in Your resurrection to make us members of Your mystical Body. Lord, we open every avenue and every room in our being for Your life to flow in and change any death into life. We don’t need more improving or correction – we need more life! Lord, break through in us and change death into life for the building up of the Body. We want to live a proper, genuine, and complete Christian life by being filled with Your life and allowing Your life to swallow any death in us for the building up of Your enlarged mystical Body!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minoru Chen’s speaking in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of John (msg. 7), as quoted in, in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Mending Ministry of John, week 3 / msg 3, The Shepherding of Christ for the Church as the One Flock and the Father’s House.
- Further reading: recommending the entire Gospel of John (see the wonderful outline in the Recovery Version Bible), and ch. 5 in, The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John (by Witness Lee).
- Hymns on this topic:
# Oh, may I know this resurrection life, / In every kind of death its pow’r outpoured, / In my experience ever realize / This life is nought but Christ my living Lord. [Hymns #639, W. Lee]
# God’s eternal economy / Is to make man the same as He is / In life and nature but not in the Godhead / And to make Himself one with man / And man one with Him, / Thus to be enlarged / And expanded in His expression, / That all His divine, / That all His divine attributes / May be expressed in human virtues. [New hymn – God’s economy]
# The wedding feast, the peak of man’s enjoyment / Was full of pleasure till the wine ran dry. / The human life, like wine, is soon exhausted, / Till Jesus comes, divine life to supply. / When Jesus comes, new wine is made from water, / When Jesus comes, the darkness turns to light. / He touches death—it’s turned to life eternal, / Weakness to strength and blindness into sight. [New hymn inspired from the Gospel of John]
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