Paul’s aspiration and prayer in Phil. 3:10 was that he would know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. We need to ask ourselves, How much do we live, serve, and do things in the resurrection life?
We may have a good coordination with the saints in the church life and a good church life in general, but we need to be saved more from living in the natural life and by the natural man – we need to be conformed to the death of Christ by the power of Christ’s resurrection!
Lord, today may we live more by the resurrection life in our spirit!
Where is the reality of the Body in resurrection?
Brother Lee has questions like these in his ministry, and many times we as those who pursue the Lord honestly and lovingly have the same yearning, Lord, where is the reality of the Body of Christ today?
We may have a good church life, the saints enjoying the Lord, homes being built up, and new ones being added – but do we live by the resurrection life in the church life? There’s the need for us to endeavour to be absolutely in the resurrection life of Christ and reach to the high peak of Zion! This is what God desires, to gain the reality of the Body of Christ in the local churches, Zion, the vital groups, the overcomers!
The Apostle Paul was such a person in resurrection – in Gal. 2:20 we see that he lived a crucified life, a life by the Spirit, the pneumatic Christ, in resurrection.
We don’t live “an exchanged life” in which God totally wipes us out and He lives in us – we live a life not by our natural life but by the resurrection life in our spirit.
The divine life in us which we received at our regeneration is the resurrection life – the consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God, even the power that raised Christ from the dead! We need to live by the divine life in us, not by the natural life, so that we would be in resurrection.
The church is “Christly” and “resurrectionly”
The church is not something of the natural man or the natural endeavor of man; the church is an entity in resurrection, of resurrection, and by resurrection. Therefore, the church is “resurrectionly” – if there would be such a word as an adjective form for the “resurrection”.
Also, the church is fully of Christ and the church IS CHRIST – therefore, the church is “Christly”. For us to be in reality in the Body of Christ we need to live by the resurrection life and not by our natural life. Hallelujah, the church is Christly, resurrectionly, and heavenly!
In a very practical way this also implies that all our natural strength and ability are useful to the Lord only if they pass through death and resurrection.
If we do things for the Lord and we live by our natural man, in our natural strength and capacity, we can damage the building up of the Body and even “mar the house of God”.
But if we allow the cross to operate in us and deal with our natural strength and ability, we will become useful to the Lord in resurrection for the building up of His Body! After being dealt with by the cross, our strength and ability are in resurrection and for the building.
The nature of the church is resurrection
“God sees the church as a being that can endure death. The gates of Hades are open to the church, but the gates of Hades cannot prevail against her and cannot confine her; thus, the nature of the church is resurrection” (The Orthodoxy of the Church, pp. 21-22).
I love this quote from brother Watchman Nee. We need to see that the nature of the church is resurrection. First of all, the church comes out of Christ just as Eve came out of Adam; the church is Christ.
Christ today is in resurrection, and death cannot hold Him back or defeat Him! Christ’s life can endure death and He is “who became dead and lived again” (Rev. 2:8).
The church as a product of Christ is a being which can endure death! The gates of Hades cannot prevail against the builded church (Matt. 16:18)!
Lord Jesus, we love You! We want to no longer live by our natural life but deny ourselves and live by the divine life in our spirit. Save us from marring the church of God or damaging the Body of Christ by living in our natural man. Lord, keep us turning to You as the resurrection life in our spirit. Operate in us to uplift and bring us fully into resurrection! Dear Lord Jesus, make us part of Zion, the overcomers, those living in the reality of the Body of Christ!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from, The Practical Points concerning Blending (W. Lee), Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery (W. Lee), and, The Orthodoxy of the Church (W. Nee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization-Study of Psalms (2), week 17;
- Hymns on this topic:
# Death cannot hold the resurrection life, / The life of God eternal manifest; / ’Tis uncreated, indestructible, / ’Tis Christ Himself, unconqu’rable, expressed.
# He’s the Spirit of reality, / Pneumatic Christ, the Firstborn Son in me, / The consummation of the Triune God, / Life-giving Spirit, all-inclusive Christ / Intensified sevenfold.
# Remove my covering, Lord, / That I may see Thy light, / And be deceived no more, / But all things see aright. / Chorus: Oh, may Thy living light, Lord, / Scatter all my night, Lord, / And everything make bright, Lord, / For this I pray to Thee.
