The more you read the Bible, the more you realize how much the Lord loves us and what a price He paid to redeem us, obtain us, regenerate us, and court us to draw us to Himself.
From the very first two chapters of the Bible we see a picture of how God intends to obtain a counterpart for Christ, someone who comes out of Christ and who matches Him. Then, in the Gospels with the help of the Epistles we see how God Himself became a man, died on the cross, released His divine life, and in resurrection He brought forth the church, which is every inch Himself.
The church is Christ Himself in another form, since only that which comes out of Christ with His resurrection life can be His complement and counterpart (see 1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 5:29-30). Today in the church life we need to put off all the natural life until the living Christ can be expressed from within our spirit!
Only when Christ lives in us and when to us to live is Christ are we the church in reality. Only when Christ is expressed through us corporately can He say about us, This time this is bone of My bones and flesh of My flesh – she is the church!
Today we are in the process of transformation to be conformed to the image of Christ, and our destiny as believers in Christ is to live a happy marriage life together with our Husband Christ, a life that is the mingling of God and man as one spirit! Our destiny is that for eternity we would live a life that is superexcelent and that overflows with blessings and joy! Hallelujah!
Out of His Side Flowed Blood and Water
Because at the time of Adam there was no sin, there was no need for blood for the building of Eve. But at the time of the Lord Jesus sin was a big problem, and so from His side (when one of the soldiers pierced Him) flowed blood and water (see John 19:34).
The blood flowed from Christ for our judicial redemption, so that we may be redeemed from sin and reconciled to God. The water flowed from Him in streams of pure salvation so that we may receive the flow of the divine life for our regeneration, so that we may be produced as the church, His counterpart.
It is in Christ’s resurrection that His unbreakable divine life regenerated us for the church, and we are now not merely human beings but God-men, those who have God’s life and God’s nature! The water that flowed out of Christ signifies the flowing life of God for our organic salvation (see Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4; Num. 20:8).
Whenever we sin, we can apply the blood of Christ and then we can go on with the Lord by enjoying the flow of His divine life for the church to be built up to be His counterpart, His bride.
The Church as the Real Eve is the Totality of Christ in All His Believers
Everything about Eve and in Eve had its source in Adam – she was not created (as Adam was) but she was built from the rib taken by God out of Adam’s side. The church was not created: it was built from the resurrection life of Christ, and everything in and about the church is Christ.
Only that which comes out of Christ with His resurrection life can be His complement and counterpart (see 1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 5:28-30). This means that the church as the real Eve is the totality of Christ in all His believers.
The church is not a building on the corner with a cross on top of it, and the church is not merely a gathering of some people who believe in the Bible. The church is the totality of Christ in all His believers. The church is nothing but Christ, and in the church as the one new man there is no culture, race, color, disposition, learned or unlearned, but Christ is all and in all.
For us to be part of the church in reality, Christ needs to be everything to us. We need to put off and away all the natural life until the living Christ in our spirit can be expressed from us (see Col. 3:10-11). To live out anything other than Christ can be recognized by Christ, and only that which comes out of Christ can return to Christ and match Him. In the church there’s no room for any natural person.
The Church is “No Longer I who Live but Christ who Lives in Me”
Simply put, the church is “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20) and “to me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). Man’s talent, man’s natural strength, man’s ability, man’s thought, and all that man has are all something outside the church.
The church is the pure element of Christ in all His believers. In our natural man we may be frank, eloquent, clever, able, loving, zealous, and many other “good things”. But all these are not useful to the Lord in the church unless they go through the cross and come out in resurrection, constituted with Christ.
The first lesson and the last lesson we need to learn in the church life is to reject anything that comes from ourselves. Nothing which comes out of the human nature is the church. Only Christ living in us is the church.
The church is an entity in resurrection – it is resurrectionly – and in ascension with Christ (see Eph. 2:6). The church is purely a product out of Christ – it is “Christly”, “resurrectionly”, and heavenly. Nothing else but Christ living in us is recognized by Christ as being the church.
When Christ sees His regenerated believers living Christ and expressing Christ, He gladly says, “This time this is bone of My bones and flesh of My flesh” (see Gen. 2:23; Eph. 5:30).
The Entire Bible Shows us the Love Story of a Universal Couple
What the entire Bible speaks about, from the first chapter to the last, is the love story of a universal couple. God Himself, the sovereign Lord, the One who created the universe and all things, desires to get married – He wants to obtain a counterpart, one who would match Him and live with Him a marriage life for eternity.
God is Triune – the Father, the Son, and the Spirit – and for Him to obtain a counterpart He went through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
He created man in His image and desired to be joined with man, but man chose to eat from the wrong tree and was separated from God through sin. Through His death on the cross, Christ redeemed man; through His resurrection, Christ regenerated man. Now as the life-giving Spirit in man’s spirit, God transforms man in His image and will eventually glorify man to make him His corporate bride, His counterpart.
Today in the age of the church we are in the process of renewing, transformation, and conformation to the glorious image of Christ, living a God-man life in the church life.
In the New Jerusalem we see that the processed and consummated Triune God as The Spirit will marry and become one with the created, redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite man who becomes the church, the expression of God. God and man will be joined in marriage as a universal couple to live a “happy marriage life” for eternity!
Our destiny as believers in Christ and the consummation of God’s economy is an eternal marriage life with the Triune God, in which we will live a life of the mingling of God and man as one spirit, a life that is super-excellent and that overflows with blessings and joy. What a glorious destiny we have as believers in Christ and members of the church!
Lord Jesus, uplift our appreciation and increase our vision of Christ and the church. May we really see the church as You see it, and may we reject anything that is natural so that Christ may live in us. Lord, renew our love toward You. Create in us a hunger and a desire for Your word, so that we may be washed, cleansed, reconstituted, and prepared as Your bride. Lord, live in us today! No longer us but Christ! We want to let You live in us for the church! Gain the glorious church You desire!
References and Further Reading
- Inspiration: bro. Ed Marks’ speaking in this message and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1969, vol. 2, “The Crucial Revelation of Life in the Scriptures,” ch. 2, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization Study of Genesis (1), week / msg 8, The Type of Eve as the Counterpart of Adam.
- Further reading: Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery, ch. 3 (by Witness Lee), and footnote 1 on Rev. 22:17 in the Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic:
# The blood and water flowed from Him, / In streams of pure salvation. / The blood brings cleansing from all sin; / Water, regeneration. / And now the Spirit flows, / Brings God where’er He goes. / All he could do, the foe, / Was just release the flow. / And God just keeps on flowing.
# God fell in love with man; / For only God’s love can / Make man just the same as He / In life and in nature. / We are His expression, / His bride, His enlargement; / Forever, together, / As living, insep’rable as one couple / Eternally.
# Christ is our coming Bridegroom; / We are the Church, His Bride, / Redeemed, regenerated, / The issue of His side, / In source, in life, in nature / And person fully one, / His counterpart forever, / The New Jerusalem.
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