The New man is the Masterpiece of God’s Work, the Wise Exhibition of all Christ is

When Christ created the new man in Himself through His death and in His resurrection, first our natural man was crucified by Christ, and then Christ imparted His element into us to make us the masterpiece of God’s work, a poem expressing God’s infinite wisdom and divine design. Hallelujah!

Before Christ’s incarnation, God was God and man was man; through Christ’s incarnation, God was brought into man, and through His death and resurrection, man was brought into God. Now we believers in Christ are not just men but God-men, those who have God’s life and nature to be one with God and have God living in us.

Even more, through His death Christ terminated all the negative things in the universe and in His resurrection He created the two – the Jews and the Gentiles – in Himself into one new man! Wow!

The Bible clearly reveals that the church is not just the gathering of the called out ones but also the one new man, and this new man was created on the cross of Christ with God in Christ as the element being wrought into man.

Now we are a new creation, and together as the new man we are God’s masterpiece, the poem of God, to express His infinite wisdom and divine design. The new man as the poem, the masterpiece of God, was created through Christ’s death and in His resurrection.

There’s a distinction between through Christ’s death and in His resurrection. Through Christ’s death, all the negative things were terminated and done away with; in His resurrection, Christ created the new man.

When Christ was on the cross, not only did He suffer for our redemption, bearing God’s judgment on behalf of fallen man, but He also terminated and destroyed all the negative things in the universe.

The cross of Christ is the power of God, for through the cross, God destroyed all the negative things. Satan, the old man, sin, the flesh, the world, the old creation, and the ordinances all were terminated on the cross.

Then, after terminating all the negative things through the cross, Christ entered into resurrection, and in His resurrection He created the two – the Jews and the Gentiles – in Himself into one new man, so making peace.

There was much division and separation between the Jews and the Gentiles, and because of this, God could not have the corporate new man to express and represent Him.

So Christ came and made peace; He made peace and He even became our peace, the peace of the one new man.

Praise the Lord, now we are the one new man, the corporate man who fulfils God’s intention in creating man!

Christ Crossed out the Old man, Imparted His Element into us, and made us the Masterpiece of God’s Work – the one new man!

It is amazing to realise that, in the creation of the new man, first our natural man was crucified by Christ, and then He imparted His divine element into us, causing us to become the masterpiece of God’s work (Rom. 6:6; 2 Cor. 5:17). Wow, Hallelujah!

We, the Gentiles, were separated from the Jews to the uttermost by the ordinances that set them aside as God’s earthly people. But Christ came and, through His death on the cross, abolished the law of the commandments in ordinances in His flesh and created the one new man in Himself (Eph. 2:15).

We, the believing Gentiles and the believing Jews, were created in Christ with the divine essence to be one new entity – the corporate man, the church. Hallelujah!

On the negative side, Christ crossed out the old man; on the positive side, He created the one new man and made us the masterpiece of God’s work.

The church is not only the Body of Christ as the fullness and expression of the all-filling One (Eph. 1:23) and the household of God, the temple and dwelling place of God (2:19, 21-22), but even more, the one new man.

The church is the one new man, which is corporate and universal; as the one new man, the church is composed of the believing Jews and Gentiles who were made one through Christ’s death and in His resurrection.

God took the fallen and corrupted man and worked with him, terminating the old man with everything negative and germinating it by adding His divine element to man so that He may create the new man, the masterpiece of God’s work.

The Greek word for masterpiece is poiema; it means “something that has been written or composed as a poem.” It’s not just a poetic writing that can be considered a poem but also any work of art that expresses the maker’s wisdom and design.

God is the greatest designer and maker; He not only made or designed the old creation, which is amazing and wonderful, but He has a masterpiece – the one new man.

In Genesis 1 we see how God restored and further created to have the universe and the earth with all things in them, and He created man in His image and according to His likeness (v. 26). However, this first man fell and did not accomplish God’s intention in creating man, so God came in to redeem man.

God in Christ came to redeem man on the cross, and He terminated all negative things through the cross; then, in His resurrection He dispensed His divine element into man to create a new man in Himself.

This new man is the masterpiece of God’s work, a poem expressing God’s infinite wisdom and divine design. Hallelujah!

Today there are many artists who produce a lot of art, and some of them have a masterpiece that is known by others; God as the divine Designer, has a masterpiece of His work, which is the one new man. We, the church, are the masterpiece of God’s work.

The one new man is a poem expressing God’s infinite wisdom and divine design (Eph. 3:10-11).

The church as the masterpiece of God’s work, is an absolutely new item in the universe – a new invention of God!

We were created by God in Christ through regeneration to be His new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), and God prepared some good works so that we may walk in them and be the one new man. Hallelujah!

May we have an uplifted view of what we are in God’s economy and plan, and may we allow the Lord to work Himself into us little by little, day by day, and build us up together to be the church as the new man.

We have been saved by grace to be the masterpiece of God’s work so that we may walk in the good works prepared beforehand by God. Praise the Lord!

Lord Jesus, thank You for creating the new man by first crucifying the natural man and then imparting Your divine element into us to make us the masterpiece of God’s work! Amen, Lord, uplift our view of what we are in God’s economy and plan. Cause us to see that it’s not the heavens, the earth, or man who are God’s masterpiece, but the church, the Body of Christ, the one new man! Hallelujah, we have been saved by grace to be God’s masterpiece so that we may walk in the good works prepared beforehand by God! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit today and we want to live in the mingled spirit. May we walk in the good works You have prepared for us so that we may be Your masterpiece, the new man in reality. Hallelujah, we as the church are the masterpiece of God’s work, a new invention of God to display His infinite wisdom and divine design! Amen, Lord, gain this in reality among us and with us. Gain the church as the poem expressing God’s infinite wisdom and divine design! Amen, Lord Jesus, may the church be God’s wise exhibition of all that Christ is to the whole universe!

Enjoy Christ as Wisdom from God to us and Being Saved Organically to become the Wise Exhibition of all that Christ is

Our God is wise, and He is producing a wise exhibition of all that Christ is so that the masterpiece of God’s work would exhibit God’s infinite wisdom and divine design to the whole universe. Amen!

For this, Christ became wisdom to us from God as three vital things in God’s salvation, as seen in 1 Corinthians 1:30.

First, Christ became wisdom to us from God as our righteousness for our past, by which we have been justified by God so that we may be reborn in our spirit to receive the divine life (Rom. 5:18). Hallelujah, Christ is wisdom to us from God as righteousness for our past!

Second, Christ became wisdom to us from God as our sanctification for our present, by which we are being sanctified in our soul. This means that today we are being transformed in our mind, emotion, and will, with the divine life of God (Rom. 6:19, 22).

Hallelujah, Christ became wisdom to us from God as our sanctification for our present to transform us into His image!

Third, Christ became wisdom to us from God as our redemption for our future, that is, the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23), by which we will be transfigured in our body with God’s divine life to have His glorious likeness (Phil. 3:21).

Hallelujah, Christ is wisdom to us from God as our redemption for our body to make us the same as Christ even in our body!

This is not of us but of God. It is of God that we believers in Christ can participate in such a complete and perfect salvation.

This organic salvation makes our entire being – our spirit, our soul, and our body – organically one with Christ and makes Christ everything to us.

God is being wrought in Christ into every part of our being to make us the same as Christ so that we may become the masterpiece of God’s work, the one new man.

Such a thing is not from ourselves or of ourselves; this is of God, and we boast and glory only in God, not in ourselves.

We boast in God that Christ is our righteousness for our past so that we may be reborn in our spirit to receive God’s life and become children of God.

It is of God that Christ is our sanctification for our present so that we may be transformed in our mind, emotion, and will with God’s divine life.

It is of God and to His glory that Christ is our redemption for our future so that we may be transfigured in our body with God’s divine life to have His glorious likeness. This is truly amazing.

It is of God that we participate in such a complete and perfect salvation, which makes our entire being organically one with Christ to make Him everything to us!

The result and final issue of this wonderful process of God’s organic salvation is that we become the wise exhibition of all that Christ is. Amen!

By the process of God’s judicial redemption and His organic salvation, we become the church as the one new man, the wise exhibition of all that God is and does.

One day, God can boast to Satan and all his followers that, even though the enemy took the man created by God and did his best to ruin and usurp him, God obtained the one new man as the masterpiece of God’s work.

He made sinners into sons of God who attained the full sonship. He regenerated them, renewed them, transformed them, conformed them to the image of Christ, and glorified them.

Even more, He built them up into the church as the one new man to be the corporate man who fulfils God’s intention. The redeemed sinners enjoy the unsearchable riches of Christ to be constituted with these riches to be the church!

Through the church, the multifarious wisdom of God is made known to the angelic rulers and authorities in the heavenlies (Eph. 3:10-11)!

Hallelujah, God is gaining the church as His wise exhibition of all that Christ is, for through the church God is manifested with all His riches to the whole universe!

Today we are in the process of becoming the masterpiece of God’s work, the wise exhibition of all that Christ is.

All we need to do is open to Him and cooperate with Him. We are a work in progress; we have come a long way, and we still have a way to go.

May the Lord grant us the grace to be faithful to the end.

May we give Him our best cooperation and allow Him to dispense Christ as wisdom from God to us to make us the masterpiece of God’s work, the one new man, the wise exhibition of all that Christ is!

Lord Jesus, we open to You. We want to give You our best cooperation today for You to make us the church as God’s wise exhibition of all that Christ is! Amen, Lord, we come to You to partake of the unsearchable riches of Christ in spirit. Constitute us with Your riches so that we may be the church through which God’s multifarious wisdom is made known to the angelic rulers and authorities in the heavenlies! Oh Lord, we praise You for being wisdom to us from God as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption! Hallelujah, Christ is our righteousness for our past, our sanctification for our present, and our redemption for our future! Praise the Lord, it is of God that we participate in such a complete and perfect salvation to have our whole being organically one with Christ to make Him everything to us! Amen, Lord, keep us in the process of Your organic salvation today so that we may be the church, the wise exhibition of all that Christ is! Praise the Lord!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ricky Acosta in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 336, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2) (2024 December Training), week 22 (msg. 10), The Creator of the One New Man as the Masterpiece of God.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The church being a masterpiece as the new man, a portion from, The Body of Christ, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
  – A Christian’s Attitude toward Reforming Society, via, Shepherding Words.
  – Making us His poem, a portion from, Truth Lessons, Level 2, Vol. 3, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
  – Enjoying Christ as the Light of Life, the Baptizer and the Son of Man, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The church as God’s warrior – various aspects of the church, a portion from, Life-Study of Ephesians, Chapter 97.
  – The Lord’s Move in an Unexpected Way, via, Living to Him.
  – Testimony for Sister Lee: How she lived and how she died, via, Lamb Follower.
  – Ephesians (Program #20) – Saved by Grace to be the Masterpiece of God (2), via, Bible study Radio.
  – The church displaying the multifarious wisdom of God, a portion from, The Body of Christ, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
  – Saved by Grace to Be the Masterpiece of God – see the LSM radio programme for this.
  – 7 Excellent Quotes from Witness Lee, via, Bibles for Australia blog.
  – New Jerusalem, Designed by God’s Infinite Wisdom to Express God, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – A Satisfied Seeker of Christ, testimony via, The Church in Anaheim.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – We, once dead in our offences, / Walking in the worldly course, / Lusts of flesh and mind fulfilling, / Satan and his hosts their source, / God with Christ has resurrected, / Seated in the heavenlies; / We, His masterpiece, created / In Christ Jesus, Him to please. (Hymns #823 stanza 3)
  – ’Tis by this Spirit God does spread / Into our mind, emotion, will; / By sealing every inward part, / He will our very being fill. / Oh Lord, we would cooperate / With all Thy Spirit’s inward move; / That we’d become Thy masterpiece, / Th’ eternal purpose thus to prove. (Hymns #1120 stanzas 5-6)
  – The grace which God bestows on us / Is just His Son in full; / The rich enjoyment of this Christ / Is plenteous, bountiful. / ’Tis far too great to comprehend, / Too wondrous to contain: / How we, once children of despair, / God’s masterpiece became. (Hymns #1321 stanza 1)