In order for us to be in the reality of the Body of Christ, we need to be absolutely in the resurrection life of Christ.
What does it mean for us to be in the resurrection life of Christ? First of all, after Christ died and terminated all the negative things in the universe, in His resurrection He regenerated us with His divine life to make us the many brothers of Christ, sons of God, and members of the Body of Christ. Our beginning in our Christian life is in resurrection: we were regenerated in Christ’s resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3).
The church is an entity completely, purely, and absolutely in resurrection; just as Eve was taken out of Adam and was built with Adam’s element, so the church came our of Christ and is constituted of nothing else but the element of Christ. The church is the increase, enlargement, and continuation of Christ in His resurrection, and the church has been raised together with Him in His resurrection and seated with Him in His ascension (Eph. 2:6). Hallelujah, our position right now is resurrection and ascension, seated together with Christ in the heavenlies!
In a practical way for us today, the way to live in resurrection is by living not by our natural life but by the divine life in our spirit. The Lord Jesus lived a divine and mystical life on earth by denying Himself, doing not His will but the Father’s will, speaking not His words but what the Father told Him to speak, and seeking not His glory but the Father’s glory.
This One, Jesus Christ, lived a wonderful, mystical, and revolutionizing life on earth, a life that no one has ever lived before, and He now as the Spirit is in our spirit to live the same kind of life in us. We need to learn to live not by our natural life but by the divine life within us, and we will live in resurrection; the issue of this kind of living in a corporate way is the Body of Christ (see Phil. 3:10-11).
May the Lord gain a corporate God-man living in all the local churches on earth today, the corporate living of the many God-men who live not by their human life (no matter how good, uplifted, or refined it may be) but by the divine life in resurrection.
The Church is Absolutely Christly, Resurrectionly, and Heavenly!
As believers in Christ we were regenerated by God through the resurrection of Christ (1 Pet. 1:3); just as Eve came out of Adam when God put him to sleep, and Eve was built with the element of Adam, so the church is built completely, absolutely, and purely with the element of Christ (see Gen. 2:21-24).
On the cross Christ’s side was pierced and blood and water flowed: blood for our redemption and water for our regeneration and life-impartation (John 19:34). The church came out of Christ’s death and resurrection, and the church is purely and completely out of Christ, having no other element but Christ’s; the church is Christly! Furthermore, the church is resurrectionly, that is, the church was produced with and lives in the resurrection of Christ (Eph. 2:6).
The church is a new creation created in Christ’s resurrection and by the resurrected Christ, and today the church is seated with Christ in ascension in the heavenlies. Hallelujah!
The church is Christly, resurrectionly, and heavenly! If we realize that the church is purely of Christ, of resurrection, and of the heavens, we will live a life in resurrection for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
Lord, show us a vision of the church as an entity completely of Christ, of resurrection, and of the heavens! May we realize that in the church there is only Christ – no other element or flavor but Christ Himself! May we really see that the church is an entity completely in and of resurrection! Hallelujah, the church was raised with Christ and is now seated with Christ in the heavenlies! Lord, may this Christ increase in us, make His home in us, grow in us, live in us, and be everything to us!
The church is the Golden Lampstand with Christ as Resurrection Life Growing and Blossoming to Shine the Light
The golden lampstand is a type of Christ and of the church; the lampstand typifies the church as the Body of Christ and portrays Christ as the resurrection life growing, branching out, budding, and blossoming to shine the light (Exo. 25:31-40; Num. 17:8).
Moses built the lampstand according to God’s instructions: the shaft of gold, a beaten work, and seven branches with calyxes, blossoms, and almonds; the lampstand looks like a tree with seven branches, a golden tree with leaves and blossoms and fruits.
Christ as resurrection life is growing, branching out in humanity, budding, and blossoming to shine with the divine light! He is the vine (the stalk, the stand of the lampstand), and we are the branches (the seven arms of the lampstand); He grows in us and through us.
As the central stalk, Christ grows in Himself, by Himself, and with Himself, and He grows in us, by us, and with us – and all this is in resurrection. We were once darkness but are now in the Lord, and as children of light we bear the fruit of light which is goodness (God the Father as the only Good One), righteousness (God the Son as our righteousness), and truth (God the Spirit, the Spirit of reality). The light shining out of the lampstand is the Triune God as goodness, righteousness, and truth, and this is light!
Living in Resurrection by Living by the Divine Life within us for the Body of Christ
After seeing that the church is absolutely of Christ, of resurrection, and of the heavens, and after realizing that the church is Christ growing, budding, branching, and blossoming in humanity to shine the divine light, we need to ask ourselves, How can we live in resurrection today?
Looking at the Lord Jesus and His life on earth we can see that, even though He had a perfect humanity, yet He denied Himself and lived by the Father, living the divine life in His human life. He did everything in Himself but not of Himself; He lived by the Father, did the Father’s works, spoke the Father’s words, and sought the Father’s glory.
Even before He died and resurrected, Christ lived the resurrection life throughout His human life on earth; this made Him a divine and mystical person living in the divine and mystical realm, doing everything in a divine and mystical way. We all need to be discipled by the Lord to be divine and mystical persons, those living the divine life by denying our natural life (see John 3:8).
Our aspiration should be like Paul’s, to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death so that we may live in the resurrection life for the Body of Christ (Phil. 3:10-11).
We need to live not by our human life but by the divine life in resurrection; as followers of Christ we need to be discipled by Christ’s human living on earth as a model of a God-man. The way Christ lived on earth by denying Himself and living by the Father’s life is a revolutionizing to our human concept concerning how to live as a man.
A man should be such a God-man like the Lord Jesus, living not by his human life but by the divine life in his spirit, that is, living in resurrection; the issue of this is the Body of Christ. The vitality of our ministry is due to the living of the divine life in the human life, and what comes out is something divine coming out of a crucified life.
We need to learn from the Lord Jesus who never did anything out of Himself (John 5:19), never did His own work (John 4:34; 17:4), never spoke His own words, never did His own will, and never sought His own glory (John 7:18) but rather did what He saw the Father doing, did the Father’s work, spoke the Father’s words, did the Father’s will, and sought the Father’s glory. Christ lived an indescribable life, and we have Him as life in us to live the same kind of life today.
Even things that are carried out spiritually but in the natural life are not the reality of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is absolutely something in the resurrection life of Christ. We need to be discipled by the Lord to be divine and mystical persons, those who live by denying their natural life according to the model of Christ as the first God-man.
Lord Jesus, thank You for setting up a pattern of the God-man living, a living not by the natural human life but by the divine life in resurrection. Disciple us, Lord, by Your human living, so that we may learn from You to NOT live by our human life but by the divine life in our spirit. We want to know You and the power of Your resurrection so that we may be conformed to Your death and live a life in resurrection for the building up of the Body of Christ. Oh Lord, live again in us as we contact You and allow You to soak us and permeate us and live in us again today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Vital Groups, msgs. 2-5, 10-11 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Resurrection and Ascension, week 3 / msg 3, The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Resurrection (3) – Living in Resurrection for the Reality of the Body of Christ.
- All verses are taken from, Recovery Version Bible.
- Hymns to strengthen the burden in this article:
# It’s by our mingled spirit, Lord, / That we can shine with Thee, / And be a golden lampstand now / For all the world to see. / It’s not by forms or rituals, / Mere Christianity; / It’s by our Christ enjoyed as life / We all can shine with Thee. (Hymns #1262)
# Living out His resurrection, / Dying to the flesh and soul-life. / Living by the mingled spirit, / Natural man we will deny. / Now we’re living in the Body, / Every day we’re overcoming, / Striving for the peak of Zion, / Watching for our Lord’s appearing. (Song on Living in resurrection for the Body)
# By the cross discern the spirit, / Put the soul to death alway; / Bear the cross, deny the self-life, / Walk in spirit day by day. (Hymns #748)
About aGodMan
After Christ terminated the entire old creation through His all-inclusive death, the church was produced in His resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 2:6). The church is an entity absolutely in resurrection; it is not natural, nor is it of the old creation. The church is a new creation created in Christ’s resurrection and by the resurrected Christ. We must see this vision. In addition to seeing that the church was produced in Christ’s resurrection, we must also see where the church is. The church today is in Christ in ascension. Ephesians 2:6 tells us that the church has been resurrected with Christ, and now the church is seated in the heavenlies with Christ. Therefore, the church is absolutely and purely of the element of Christ, absolutely in resurrection, and absolutely remaining in the heavenlies with Christ….With the church there is no element other than Christ. Such a vision will govern you to the uttermost and will rule out everything that is not Christly (of Christ), resurrectionly (of resurrection), or heavenly (of the heavens). With the believers there is still the flesh of sin, but with the church there is no flesh of sin because the church was born in resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3). (Witness Lee, Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery, pp. 37-38)