In order for us to progress spiritually, experience Christ and enjoy Him as the all-inclusive One, and have the proper church life, we need to pass through the cross of Christ.
The altar of burnt offering typifies the cross of Christ; in God’s economy, He gives us one person (Christ) and one way (the cross), and the cross is the base of all spiritual experiences, for all spiritual experience begins from the cross.
When the children of Israel who returned to Jerusalem from captivity in Babylon started to rebuild the temple and the house of God, the first thing they rebuilt was the altar of burnt offerings. This is very significant.
For us to build up the church and to recover the building up of the church in reality, we need to first recover the altar, the real consecration.
We need to put everything we are and have on the altar.
Thank the Lord for revealing to us that He has an economy, an intention, and that He has a particular place where He wants to put His name among His people.
Here we are now, in the church life on the ground of oneness, learning to build up the church as the Body of Christ for God to be satisfied.
We don’t just “jump into the building work” directly; we first need to build the altar.
Before we can have the church life, we must put everything on the altar.
This is something that takes place not only initially when we come into the church life, but continually, as we learn to practice the church life.
It is impossible for us to have a proper church life if we don’t do everything through the cross and by the Spirit.
Unless we have the altar in our experience, we will only go through the routine, activities, and motions in the church life, and even the recovered church life may become something of an outward practice to us. Oh, Lord Jesus!
May the Lord have mercy on us that we may have a recovery of the altar so that we would put all we have, all we are, and all we can do on the altar for God’s satisfaction.
And when someone comes into the church life, may we help them consecrate everything they have, everything they are, and everything they can do to the Lord, laying it all on the altar.
We are not here in the church life to do many things for God out of our natural zeal for Him.
We are here to lay it all on the altar, open to the Lord, and allow the cross of Christ to operate in us so that we may live in resurrection one with the Lord and by the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ.
When we have the recovery of the altar in our experience, we can have the church life.
And this comes from a vision of the Lord’s economy and His recovery.
When we see that God’s desire is to have a house on earth and that we are saved not for our satisfaction but for God’s satisfaction, we will give all we have, all we are, and all we can do to the Lord for His satisfaction.
Our whole life will no longer be wrapped up with ourselves, our desires, our needs, and our things, but will fully be for the Lord’s satisfaction, to meet His need, and to fulfil His desire.
In His Economy God gives us Christ and the Cross; the Cross is the Center of God’s Operation in His Economy
The altar of burnt offering typifies the cross of Christ (Exo. 27:1; 40:6; Heb. 13:10). The altar is a type, typifying the cross of Christ.
The cross is a great matter in the universe.
Heb. 13:10 says that we have an altar from which they who are serving the tabernacle (in the Jewish religion) have no right to eat; this altar is the cross of Christ. The cross is the real altar.
Every Lord’s day when we come to the Lord’s table, we have the cup of wine and the broken bread – this is the altar; this is our altar.
The altar from which we eat is the altar of the table in which we see the cross.
Here we declare the Lord’s death, as we partake of the Lord’s table; therefore, the altar is the cross.
In His economy, God gives us one person and one way: Christ and the cross (1 Cor. 2:2).
God gives us only one person, the all-inclusive Christ to be our everything for our enjoyment. And He gives us one way, the cross.
In God’s economy, Christ is everything. There should be no replacements or substitutes for Christ.
Satan in his subtlety brought many things into the church life to replace Christ for God’s building.
But there should be only one person – Christ. Christ is God’s temple, and the church is the enlargement of Christ.
Nothing and no one should be a rival for Christ or a substitute for Him.
And there is only one way that God deals with everything – the cross of Christ.
Paul said that he did not determine to see among the saints anything except Jesus Christ and this One crucified; one person and one way.
The cross of Christ is the centre of God’s operation in His economy (Gal. 1:4; 2:19-21; 3:1, 13; 5:24; 6:14).
When God operates in His economy, He does it through the cross.
The way that God takes in the carrying out of His economy is the cross.
The cross is not something that was added along the way by God; rather, it was planned and prepared in eternity even before the world began.
1 Pet. 1 says that Christ as the redeeming Lamb was foreknown by God before the foundation of the world, and Rev. 13:8 says that Christ was slain from the foundation of the world.
The cross is something vital and crucial to God’s operation in His economy.
God in His foreknowledge realized and foresaw that there would be problems along the way, and His way to deal with those problems and to carry out His economy is the cross.
Both in dealing with negative things and in releasing and dispensing the positive things, God takes a unique way: the cross.
The cross is central in the operation of God in His economy.
In Gal. 2:19-21 we see that Paul through the law died to the law that he may live to God.
There’s no way for us to live to God if we did not die to the law.
Through the cross, we are crucified with Christ, and it is no longer us who live but it is Christ who lives in us.
Christ cannot live in us unless we experience the cross of Christ.
If Christ is going to live in us, we must die, we must come to an end by experiencing the cross.
May we not nullify the grace of God, thinking that righteousness is through the law; rather, may we take God’s unique way, the cross, and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ.
Christ died to fulfil all the requirements of God’s holy law so that we may have righteousness in Him.
God governs everything by the cross and deals with everything by the cross (Col. 1:20-22; 2:11-15).
God’s government is by the cross; He deals with all things by the cross.
The cross is the centre of God’s government.
He reconciled all things to Himself through the cross, having made peace through the blood of the cross of Christ.
We were once alienated and enemies of God in our mind because of our evil works, but God reconciled us to Himself in the body of Christ’s flesh.
God used the cross to reconcile all things, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, and all of us to Himself.
And we were circumcised through the cross (Col. 2:11); our flesh was cut off by the cross of Christ.
We were buried with Christ in baptism and we were raised together with Him, made alive together with Him, and were forgiven all our offenses through the cross.
Even the handwriting in ordinances was wiped out through the cross, for it was nailed to the cross.
Through the cross, God stripped off the rulers and the authorities, making a display of them openly. Wow!
How extensive the work of the cross is!
Through the cross of Christ, we were all reconciled to God, we were circumcised for the termination of our flesh, we were buried so that we may be raised with Christ, we were forgiven of our sins, and the enemy was put to shame openly! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah, in His economy God gives us Christ and the cross for us to enjoy and experience God! Amen, Lord, we want to take You as the all-inclusive One to be our life, our life supply, and our everything. We take the cross as the unique way. Grant us a vision, Lord, of the cross being the centre of God’s operation in His economy. Save us from taking any other way than the cross. May Christ and the cross be what is seen among us in the church life today. Hallelujah, through the law we have died to the law so that we may live to God! Praise the Lord, we have died with Christ on the cross, and it is no longer us who live but Christ who lives in us! He is our life and our righteousness, and we are His expression today! Praise the Lord for the all-inclusive Christ and for the cross of Christ!
We need to Pass through the Cross Daily to Experience Christ and Progress Spiritually
The cross is the base, the ground, of all spiritual experiences; all our spiritual experience begins from the cross (Gal. 2:20; 6:14; 1 Cor. 2:2).
Our spiritual experience begins from the cross, for we have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer us who live but Christ who lives in us.
In the description of the altar of burnt offering in the Old Testament, we realize that the altar was quite large.
It was a square of five cubits by five cubits, and the height was three cubits.
The size of the altar was sufficient that all the furniture and the utensils of the tabernacle could fit inside of it.
The furniture and utensils of the tabernacle signify our experiences of Christ; all these fit within the cross and have their base in the cross.
Our experience of the cross is the basis for all our spiritual experience.
Apart from the cross, we cannot have any spiritual experience in the Spirit.
It is crucial to experience the cross of Christ in our experience so that we may experience Christ in our daily life.
In order for us to have the experience of Christ for the building up of the church as the temple of God, we need to have the experience of the cross of Christ.
Christ needs to live in us, grow in us, saturate us, and permeate us; for this, we need to have a full appreciation of the cross and a full experience of the cross as the base and the ground of all our spiritual experience.
In order for us to progress spiritually, we need to pass through the cross of Christ daily (Matt. 10:38; 16:24; Luke 14:27).
Whenever the Lord Jesus spoke concerning us following Him, He always mentioned the cross, asking all His followers to take up the cross and follow Him.
If we want to progress with the Lord, we need to pass through the cross daily.
For example, as we drive on the road to reach a destination, we pass through many intersections; each intersection is a cross.
To reach our destination we need to pass through many crosses; for us to progress with the Lord, we need to pass through the cross of Christ daily.
At the end of the day, as we lie on the bed ready to go to sleep, we need to pass our entire day with all our being through the cross.
We simply need to apply the cross to our being, our whole day, and everything we are and do, so that the next day when we wake up in the morning we would have a new beginning in resurrection.
The cross encompasses all our experiences, and we need to pass through the cross every day.
Paul even said that he died daily; he died by being crucified with Christ daily.
May we be those who follow the Lord by taking up our own cross and following Him, realizing that there’s no spiritual progress without passing through the cross.
If we would know Christ’s risen power we must ever love the cross (Hymns 631).
For us to know the power of Christ’s resurrection, we must know the cross of Christ.
If we want to have a proper church life, we need to experience the cross (Eph. 2:14-16).
There’s no way for us to have a proper church life if we don’t experience the cross.
Through the cross we need to become nothing, to have nothing, and to be able to do nothing; otherwise, what we are, what we have, and what we do will become a substitute for Christ (1 Cor. 1:17-18, 23).
God wants only Christ and He does everything by the cross; in His economy there’s only one person – Christ – and one way – the cross.
There should be no substitute for Christ.
Probably the biggest substitute for Christ is ourselves, what we are, what we have, and what we can do.
The cross of Christ needs to deal with all the aspects of our person so that what we are, what we have, and what we can do will not become a substitute for Christ.
We may be eloquent and speak with much wisdom, but the Lord may be replaced by our eloquence and wisdom.
What we should preach is not wisdom or knowledge but Christ and His cross.
We proclaim only Christ and the cross, and we daily pass through the cross so that we may live the church life.
Lord Jesus, cause us to realize that the cross is the base of all spiritual experiences. May we see that God governs everything by the cross and deals with everything by the cross. Save us from taking any other way except the cross. We want to be those who follow the Lord Jesus by taking up their cross daily and following Him in the same way He walked. We want to progress spiritually by passing through the cross daily. Amen, Lord, we treasure Christ and the cross of Christ! We want to let the cross deal with all our day, all the things related to us, and even our whole being. Grant us to experience the cross of Christ so that we may have a proper church life. May nothing that we have, are, or can do become a substitute for Christ. Lord Jesus, You are our everything! We take You as our life and person, and we apply the cross to anything that substitutes You as our centre and everything for the church life!
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 the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, pp. 214-216 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (2022 winter training), week 3, entitled, The Rebuilding of the Altar of God – the Altar of Burnt Offering.
- Further reading on this topic:
– Spiritual progress being the addition of the element of Christ, a portion from, The Crucified Christ, Chapter 12, by Witness Lee.
– How Does God Carry Out His Economy? Read more via, Amana Trust to find out.
– The Economy of God: The Triune God in His Operation, an article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique.
– A brief summary of the economy of God, a portion via, Enjoying the Riches of Christ for the Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
– 3 Major Steps in God’s Plan of Salvation after the Fall of Man, an article via, Bibles for America blog.
– What is God’s Economy in the Bible? What is “God’s economy”? It’s crucial to ask this question. Why? Because it’s a great mystery in the Bible, one that opens up God’s entire plan for man. Read more via, Holding to Truth.
– The God-man, the cross, and the life-giving Spirit, a portion via, The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee. - Hymns on this topic:
– If I’d know Christ’s risen power. / I must ever love the Cross; / Life from death alone arises; / There’s no gain except by loss. (Hymns #631 stanza 1)
– The way of the Cross means sacrifice, / As to God you yield your all / To be laid on the altar, the place of death, / Where fire will surely fall. / ’Tis the way of the Cross, are you willing for this? / What does bearing the Cross mean to you? / You who’ve given yourself, your all to God! / To God are you wholly true? (Hymns #630 stanza 1 and chorus)
– First the altar, then the fire, / If no loss, there’ll be no gain; / If our all has not been offered, / To the throne we’ll ne’er attain. / If to sacrifice we’re willing, / All forsaking, God t’obey, / He to us will be committed / And thru us His pow’r display. / Through the Cross, O Lord, I pray, / Put my soul-life all away; / Make me any price to pay, / Full anointing to receive. (Hymns #279 stanza 3 and chorus)
About aGodMan
When we go to bed at night,…we should pass through the cross. This means that no matter what we have done during the day or what has happened to us, the cross takes care of everything.
Suppose in the afternoon you are made unhappy in some way by your wife or husband. At bedtime you need to apply the cross to your feeling of unhappiness. If you do this, the feeling of unhappiness will disappear. This indicates that our way is the cross, not asceticism or any severe treatment of the self.
Realizing that we have already died in Christ, we should go to bed at night with a consciousness of the cross. If we practice going to bed through the cross, lying down with the realization that we have died in Christ, the next morning we shall wake up in resurrection as a new person.
We not only have Christ, the unique person who is versus all things; we also have the cross, the unique way, which is versus all other ways. Driving down the street can be a reminder of the way of the cross. As we drive, we come to many intersections.
Have you realized that every intersection is a cross? Some of these crosses may be large and others may be small, but they are all crosses. Only by passing through many crosses can we get to our destination. Speaking of spiritual experience, we also must pass through many crosses before we can reach the New Jerusalem.
Just as we cannot travel very far geographically without crossing an intersection, so we cannot progress spiritually without passing through the cross.
Only when we arrive at the New Jerusalem shall we cease to pass through the cross, for by that time all the negative things will have been eliminated. Until we come to the New Jerusalem, we need to pass through the cross day by day in our walk with the Lord.
Life-study of Colossians, pp. 214-216, by Witness Lee
The altar of burnt offering is a type of the cross.
God gives us one person, Christ, and one way, the cross.
Only by passing through the Cross can we have spiritual progress and live the church life.
Aaaaameeen! The cross is both a narrow way and a highway!
Lord may we be willing to take the cross, may the cross be a highway to us!
Ameeeen! Lord thank you for your cross, we choose to follow you daily! Thank you for we can have a new day and a start on the cross 🙏🏽may we be reminded the cross every time we pass through the intersection 🙏🏽
Brother the central for us in the Christian for us to reach the goal is the cross if we want to be those who reach the highest of the divine revelation and become the holy city the New Jerusalem, we need to be those who are open and willing to apply the cross in our daily situations ,especially when we are unhappy
may the Lord have mercy on us and supply us to apply the cross in every situation
Amen brother!
So how do we take up the cross brother?
Yes, Lord! help us to concentrate on the cross so that our all beings can be yours. You are the all inclusive Lord. Nothing remains undone.
Let all our old nature be terminated and unloaded. You need an empty container to contain you.
Make our spirit poor to be rich in your bountiful Spirit.
Praise the Lord!
Amen brother. Oh Lord May we take up our cross daily and follow you.
https://youtu.be/P2ENKnWVGq0
Amen Lord
Amen brother. We have only one person and one way. Our Jesus is everything positive in the universe and our one way is the cross.
The cross takes care of everything.
Because we have Christ as our unique & wonderful person and the cross as our unique way, we do not need asceticism, severe treatment of the self or resolutions.
We need only the experience of Christ’s death.
We must pass through many crosses before we reach the New Jerusalem.
Like Isaac, may we all simply lie down on the altar and allow Christ’s death to pass through us so that we may rise in resurrection.
Further Reading: Life-study of Leviticus, msgs. 6-9; Life-study of 1 John, msg. 10
*asceticism: severe self-discipline
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In which way we are substituting Christ in our daily life? By our family? By our jobs? By our financial anxieties?
The one person = CHRIST, and
The one way = the CROSS!
Once I understood that the only way is to pass through many crosses for us to reach the New Jerusalem, I give thanks and praise our Lord for such a way.
I used to feel very unhappy by situations that always happen in our marriage and with our children.
However, since I learned the way, today, I can say, although in my humanity for a moment I might feel the negative feelings, I always turn around to Christ, who is against all negative things, and I apply the cross, which is the unique way, and I can testify that every negative feeling just disappear in a blink of an eye, even in the middle of the storms or struggles. Hallelujah for that blessing!!
Have I reached the New Jerusalem? Not yet, but I’m putting everything in the altar every day, day by day, applying the cross in every thing that happens in my life. It is not easy, because our flesh is very weak but this is the reason to pray, to praise and read His Word every day.
Christ = the unique person
The CROSS = the unique way
Lord I want you to be the only unique person in my life, and the cross to be the only way I live. Amen!
“In the church we all should be nothing and nobody. This was Paul’s attitude when he said that we have died and have been buried.”
Let’s practice Paul’s attitude! Amen!
Ammeeen!!!
The one person in God’s economy is this wonderful marvelous person who is the all inclusive, all extensive, unlimited, preeminent, transcendent Christ who is the embodiment of God and reality of every positive thing in the universe.
The one way in God’s econonmy is the cross, the way of righteousness, the center of God’s administration and government, the way God governs everything and deals with things everything.
Enjoy the audio version of the agodman.com article entitled, Pass through the Cross of Christ to Progress Spiritually and have a Proper Church Life (based on the HWMR on, the Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther – week 3 day 2).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxLR19Cs5nk
The article is online at https://bit.ly/PassThroughtheCross
The cross is not merely a suffering; it is also a killing. It kills and terminates the criminal. Christ first bore the cross and then was crucified. We, His believers, first were crucified with Him and now bear the cross. To us, to bear the cross is to remain under the killing of the death of Christ for the terminating of our self, our natural life, and our old man. In so doing we deny our self that we may follow the Lord.
Matt. 16:24, footnote 3 on “cross”, Recovery Version Bible