Our Old Man has been Crucified with Christ and we are Joined to Christ, our new Husband!

Since our old man, who was the old husband, has been crucified with Christ, we are freed from his law and are joined to the new Husband, Christ; the old man is crucified with Christ, but in the new man we’re joined to Christ as our Husband. Hallelujah!

The story of Ruth is quite significant and full of spiritual meaning to our Christian life; however, for us to understand, enjoy, and experience the intrinsic meaning of this book, we need to contact the Lord in spirit, and we also need the ministry of the age.

How can we understand the Bible in a proper way unless we have someone to properly interpret it to us?

Many come to the book of Ruth and see this or that good principle, and many think that Ruth was such a good person, so God gave her Boaz, a very good person also, for them to be together.

What we see in this book is much more than this; Boaz typifies Christ as our new Husband and Ruth typifies the church with her old man as her crucified husband.

This is spoken of in Romans 7 and also Rom. 6:6.

Ruth was an outsider, a sinner, a Moabitess, but she chose to be with God’s people, she exercised her right to enjoy the good land, and she was joined in marriage to Boaz for her to gain her rest and satisfaction; the result was that she became part of the line that brought forth Christ.

Her history points to our spiritual history; we were born in sins and offenses, not being part of the people of Israel and not inheriting the promises of the covenant, but praise the Lord, He came as our real Boaz!

When we heard the gospel, we saw this wonderful, kind, compassionate, and generous One who not only is rich and generous but also is willing to redeem us.

Christ as our real Boaz came and died for us to redeem us; He denied Himself and was crucified for us to be redeemed from the law, brought back to God, and recovered to our rightful position of enjoying God.

Now we who were like Ruth, outsiders and strangers to God’s people and His promises, have been qualified and positioned to enjoy God with His people, and we can be part of the line that brings forth Christ.

Even more, we were joined to Christ in marriage, and He became our new Husband; our old man, our old husband, has died, for he was crucified with Christ, and Christ became our new Husband.

Our Christian life is a life of enjoying being married to the Lord Jesus, a life in the organic union with Him for us to enjoy all His riches and partake of all that He is to us in spirit. Hallelujah!

Our Old Man has been Crucified with Christ, we are freed from his Law, and we’re Joined to Christ, our New Husband

The picture of Boaz (who typifies Christ as our new Husband) and Ruth (who typifies the church with her old man as her crucified husband) is spoken of by Paul in Rom. 7:1-6.

We may read these portions, however, and we may not understand much; we need the Lord’s light to shine on us, and we also need the proper interpretation of the word of God in the ministry of the age to understand, enjoy and experience these portions.

In Rom. 7 we see that the law lords it over the man as long as he lives; for the married woman is bound by the law to her husband while he is living, but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law regarding the husband.

So if, while the husband is living, she is joined to another man, she will be called an adulteress, though she is joined to another man.

But praise the Lord, we have been made dead to the law through the body of Christ so that we may be joined to another – to Him who has been raised from the dead, for us to bear fruit to God.

We have been discharged to the law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we would serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter. Hallelujah!

In God’s creation, our original position is that of a wife and God our Husband; Isa. 54:5 tells us that God our Maker is our Husband.

As a wife to God, our position is that of depending on Him and taking Him as our Head. God didn’t create an independent man; rather, He created a man who depends on God for everything.

Adam, upon God’s creation, was in the position of a wife, depending on God for his provision, pleasure, and protection.

God intends that man would depend on Him, rely on Him, and trust in Him for everything; He wants to be everything to man. God wants to be the Husband to the man He created to be His wife.

However, when man fell, he took another position – the self-assuming position of the old man, which is our very being created by God which became fallen through sin.

The man created by God was a wife, but the fallen man became independent of God and made himself the head as the husband.

After man fell, he went away from God’s presence; he left the garden of Eden, and started to do things to meet his own needs, for he left God as his Husband and everything.

Man began to build himself cities, invent weapons for his own protection, and invent musical instruments to entertain himself.

So man became independent of God; man became his own head – he became like a husband. The fallen man took on the position of a husband, replacing God as the Husband. Oh, Lord!

But praise the Lord, when Christ died on the cross, our old man has been crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6); our old man, who was the old husband, has been crucified with Christ, and now we are freed from his law (Rom. 7:2-4) and are joined to the new husband, Christ, as the ever-living One!

In His incarnation, Christ came to become our kinsman; He became like us, like kind as us.

Then, He went to the cross to be crucified, and when He died on the cross, He brought us together with Him.

His dying on the cross represented and included all of us. He didn’t die there as a superhero; He came to put on flesh and blood like all of us, and though He knew no sin, He became sin on our behalf (1 Cor. 5:21).

Christ went to the cross to be crucified there as an old man, and He was crucified there, bringing the old man to the cross also.

When Christ died, our old man died; our old husband – the old man – died with Christ on the cross, and we are discharged from his law to be joined in marriage to Christ, our new Husband.

That old man was the old husband, the man that became independent of God; we were married to him formerly, but now we are married to Christ, our new Husband. Hallelujah!

Through our identification with Christ, we are set free from the law which is exercising the demand over us.

Praise the Lord, now that Christ died, the old man is finished, and the law is no longer effective, no longer applicable – we are set free from the law, and we are joined to our new Husband, Christ!

On one hand, Christ crucified the old man, and on the other hand, He became our new Husband to marry us and be joined to us!

Hallelujah, our old man has been crucified with Christ so that the body of sin might be annulled and we would no longer serve sin as slaves! Praise the Lord, we who have died with Christ also live with Him – we live in the organic union with the Lord! Amen, Lord, thank You for freeing us from the law that held us joined to the old man; we are now free to be Your wife and You are our new Husband! We love You, Lord Jesus! We want to no longer serve in the oldness of letter but in newness of spirit, one spirit with You! Hallelujah, we have been discharged from the law to be joined to Christ, our new Husband, and live one spirit with Him for the fulfillment of God’s purpose!

No Longer taking our Old Man as our Husband but Living one with the Lord, our New Husband!

We need to realize that, as believers in Christ, we have two statuses: we have our old status as the fallen all man and our new status as the regenerated new man.

We are born as the old man, taking the old man as our head and our husband; this old man left the original position of a wife dependent on God and took the self-assuming position of a husband and head, independent from God.

Actually, throughout our life as we grow up we are told that we need to be independent, to think for ourselves, decide for ourselves, do things in and for ourselves; this is true both in the world and society, and this may be the case in the church life.

But we need to realize that, as believers in Christ, we have a new status as the regenerated new man! Hallelujah, we have been restored to our original and proper position as the genuine wife to God (Isa. 54:4; 2 Cor. 11:2-3), and we depend on Him, taking Him as our Head.

This is the proper position of a believer in Christ – not taking the old man as the head and husband but depending on the Lord all the time, for He is our new Husband, and in love we depend on Him and take Him as our Head.

Whenever we live outside of the organic union with the Lord, when we don’t live in the attitude of depending on Him, we automatically and by default live in the old man, and we take the old man as our head and husband. Oh, Lord!

May we realize that we have these two statuses and remain in the organic union with the Lord, living one with Him as our new Husband!

May we realize that in us, that is, in our flesh, nothing good dwells, but rather, when we live in the old man, we are independent of God and even an enemy of God!

May we return to the Lord again and again and reject even the idea of being independent of Him!

May we live in the new man, standing on the position of a regenerated new man who is restored back to being a wife to God, dependent on God!

We no longer have the old status of the husband, for we have been crucified; we have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6).

We now have only the status of the proper wife, in which we take Christ as our Husband, and we should no longer live according to the old man. Amen!

We should no longer take our old man as our husband but rather, take Christ as our husband in our new man, our regenerated being.

We have been crucified with Christ; we now have only the new status of the proper wife in which we take Christ as our Husband, no longer living according to the old man.

Through law we have died to law that we may live to God (Gal. 2:19); our old “I” died with Christ, and our new “I” now lives one with Christ in the organic union with Him as our new Husband.

As believers in Christ, we need to realize that we have been crucified with Christ and we no longer should live in the old man but in the new man, one with Christ, depending on Him and taking Him as our Husband.

When we see this, when we realize that we have been crucified with Christ and we no longer should live in the old man for we owe him nothing, we will simply live in the organic union with the Lord.

Lord Jesus, we love You! We are joined to You in spirit and we want to live in this organic union with You. Hallelujah, we through law have died to law so that we might live to God! Our old man has been crucified with Christ and we owe him nothing anymore; now we live in the spirit as a new person being joined to Christ! We take You as our Husband, dear Lord Jesus! We are Your wife taking You as our Husband and depending on You all the time. Keep us walking and living in our mingled spirit, Lord, so that we may live and serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of letter! Oh Lord, we love You! We take You as our Head, our life, and our everything!

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, Life-study of Romans (msg. 12), by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 11, Boaz and Ruth Typifying Christ and the Church.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – My old man has been crucified with Him, / With all its foul corruption deep within; / And buried too its nature serpentine, / Completely finished—this great fact is mine, / I hold it fast. / So, Lord, I give my heart to Thee today, / That it may be Thy home in every way, / A place for Thee to come and settle down, / And all Thy grand recovery work to crown / In one new man. (Hymns #1179)
  – Our old man has been crucified with Christ; / Yes, all we are in oldness He sufficed / To bring to nought upon the cross that He / Himself as our new Husband fully be / Enjoyed by us. (Hymns #1140)
  – I am one with Thee, Lord Jesus, / One in spirit now with Thee; / All Thyself I now possess, Lord, / All Thou art now lives in me. / One with Thee, one with Thee, / One with Thee, one with Thee; / Day by day I share Thy riches, / Thou art everything to me. (Hymns #474)