These past two weeks we have reviewed and enjoyed the matter of Christ’s resurrection, not merely in its aspect of Christ being raised from the dead (which is something amazing in itself) but in the aspects of the divine incorporation of the processed Triune God and the regenerated believers in Christ (see John 14-17), and in the aspect of the seed of David becoming the Son of God out of the resurrection of the dead (Rom. 1:3-4; 2 Sam. 7:12-14).
The fact that Christ was raised from the dead has become common knowledge to many believers in Christ, but we need to be hungry, open, and unveiled before the Lord so that He may fill us with good things regarding the intrinsic significance and the way to experience Christ’s resurrection. This week we will go on to not only SEE but also experience living in resurrection for the reality of the Body of Christ.
As believers in Christ we have received Christ, who is resurrection, into our spirit; He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25), and as the life-giving Spirit He imparts the unbreakable, indestructible, death-overcoming divine resurrection life into all the parts of our inner being. Hallelujah, in us we have a life that cannot be overcome, damaged, or injured by death! Christ as the life-giving Spirit is the resurrection life in our spirit, and it is NOT possible for death to overcome Him or hold Him.
We need to live in resurrection today for the reality of the Body of Christ. What is the reality of the Body of Christ? It is a corporate living of the conformity to the death of Christ through the power of the resurrection of Christ. It is having the same experience as Paul did in Phil. 3:10 but in a corporate way: knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.
However, many times we fall into introspection: we analyze ourselves, look into ourselves to see where we are with the Lord, how much we really experience of Him, and how much we have of Christ. But the Lord is the mountain-leaping and hill-skipping Christ like a young gazelle, and He calls us out of our introspective self and on with Him leaping over any problems and skipping over any barriers to be one with Him in His resurrection so that we may be conformed to His death.
By the power of resurrection we are transported by the mountain-leaping and hill-skipping Christ to be one with Him and be in Him as the clefts of the rock and the covert of the precipice, and here we stay in His death by the power of His resurrection. Here, in our union with Christ in His death by the power of His resurrection, our voice is sweet to Him and our countenance is lovely (see Song of Songs ch. 2).
May the reality of the Body of Christ, the corporate conformity to the death of Christ through the power of His resurrection, become our reality today!
Being Unveiled to see the Truth concerning Christ’s Resurrection
We need the Lord to roll away any veils of opinions, concepts, and religion so that we may see the unveiled truth concerning Christ’s resurrection in the Bible and live in resurrection. Whenever we turn our heart to the Lord, the veil is taken away, and we see the truth concerning Christ’s resurrection.
Christ was not only raised up from the dead by God but much more, in His resurrection Christ in His humanity was begotten by God to be the firstborn Son of God as the Head of the Body, all the believers were regenerated by God to be the many members of the Body of Christ, and Christ became the life-giving Spirit. Wow!
From eternity past to eternity future without beginning and without ending, Christ was, is, and will be God’s only begotten Son in His divinity. However, through incarnation Christ put on humanity, and in His humanity He was not the Son of God. Therefore, in His resurrection Christ in His humanity was begotten by God to be the firstborn Son of God, and God the Father declared, You are My Son, today I have begotten You (Acts 13:33). Furthermore, He became the firstborn among many brothers to be the Head of the Body; He is the firstborn from the dead to be the Head of the church, the Body of Christ (Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:18).
As we give the Lord the first place and love Him with the first and best love in all things, we hold Him as the Head, giving Him the preeminence. Nothing but love can keep us in a proper relationship with the Lord; we need to be the, Lord Jesus, I love You!-people.
In Christ’s resurrection all the believers of Christ were regenerated by God the Father for the producing of the church as His Body, His reproduction (see 1 Pet. 1:3; John 12:24; 1 Cor. 10:17; 12:12). We all were regenerated through Christ’s resurrection from the dead; when He resurrected, we were resurrected, and we were regenerated! When He was born again in His humanity to be the Firstborn Son of God, we were also born again by His divinity coming into our humanity. In His resurrection the Head of the Body and the members of the Body were produced.
Resurrection is very important, since in it the Head and the Body of Christ were brought forth. The Body of Christ is one and yet has many members – this is “the Christ”, the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ, who came forth in Christ’s resurrection.
In His resurrection, Christ as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit as the essence, content, and reality of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 15:45; Eph. 4:4). In His resurrection Christ was transfigured, transformed, and pneumatized to become a life-giving Spirit to be the essence of the Body of Christ (one Body and one Spirit), the content of the Body (Christ is all in all), and the reality of the Body (Christ is expressed and realized through His Body).
In this one act, Christ’s resurrection, God accomplished three amazing things: He begot His Firstborn Son, Christ, to be the Head of the Body, He begot His many sons to be the many members of the Body of Christ, and He made Jesus Christ the life-giving Spirit to be the essence, element, and reality of the Body of Christ. Hallelujah for Christ’s resurrection!
Lord Jesus, unveil us to see the truth concerning Your resurrection. May we realize that in Your resurrection You were begotten of God in Your humanity to be the firstborn Son of God, we believers were regenerated by God to be the many brothers of Christ and the many members of the Body of Christ, and You were made the life-giving Spirit. Lord Jesus, may the truth concerning Your resurrection and the amazing things that happened in Your resurrection be imprinted in us and become a vision to us so that we may appreciate Your resurrection and live in resurrection for the reality of the Body of Christ!
The Importance of Christ’s Resurrection to our Christian Life and Faith
Without the Lord Jesus becoming the firstborn Son of God, without the many sons of God being produced, and without Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit in Christ’s resurrection, there would be NO church, NO Body of Christ, and NO economy of God. Everything in our Christian life and faith hinges on Christ’s resurrection.
In 1 Cor. 15 Paul exposes the heresy which some were spreading that “there is no resurrection”; if Christ did not resurrect, our Christian faith is in vain, we all believe a lie, and we are the most miserable and vain people on earth. But we believe that this Man, Jesus Christ, was resurrected by God after accomplishing an all-inclusive death on the cross, and so based on His resurrection we enjoy many wonderful things!
Resurrection is the life pulse and the lifeline of the divine economy; without Christ’s resurrection there’s no church, no Body of Christ, no economy of God, and no New Jerusalem! I recommend footnote 1 in the Recovery Version Bible on 1 Cor. 15:12, which really explains this so well,
In this chapter the apostle dealt with the Corinthians’ heretical saying that there is no resurrection of the dead. The Corinthians were like the Sadducees (Matt. 22:23; Acts 23:8). This was the tenth problem among them. It is the most damaging and destructive to God’s New Testament economy, worse than the heresy of Hymenaeus and Philetus concerning resurrection (2 Tim. 2:17-18). Resurrection is the life pulse and lifeline of the divine economy. If there were no resurrection, God would be the God of the dead, not of the living (Matt. 22:32). If there were no resurrection, Christ would not have been raised from the dead. He would be a dead Savior, not a living One who lives forever (Rev. 1:18) and is able to save to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25). If there were no resurrection, there would be no living proof of our being justified by His death (Rom. 4:25 and note), no imparting of life (John 12:24), no regeneration (John 3:5), no renewing (Titus 3:5), no transformation (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18), and no conformity to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). If there were no resurrection, there would be no members of Christ (Rom. 12:5), no Body of Christ as His fullness (Eph. 1:20-23), and no church as Christ’s bride (John 3:29), and therefore no new man (Eph. 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10-11). If there were no resurrection, God’s New Testament economy would altogether collapse and God’s eternal purpose would be nullified.
Hallelujah, Christ resurrected from the dead, and in His resurrection He was begotten in His humanity to be the firstborn Son of God, we were begotten by God to be the many sons of God, and Christ became the life-giving Spirit!
Praise the Lord for Christ’s resurrection! Because of Christ’s resurrection, our God is the God of the living, Christ lives forever and He’s able to save us to the uttermost, He is saving us from the power of sin, we have been justified by God, we received God’s life and were thus regenerated to be the many sons of God, we are in the process of being renewed, transformed, and conformed to Christ’s image, we are the many members of the Body of Christ to be His fullness, we are the church as the bride of Christ, we are the new man, we are part of God’s economy, and we will become the New Jerusalem! Praise the Lord for Christ’s resurrection!
Lord Jesus, how we treasure Your resurrection! Because of Your resurrection God is the God of the living to us, and Christ is our living Savior living forever and able to save us to the uttermost! Praise the Lord, because of Christ’s resurrection we were justified by God, we received the divine life, and we are being renewed, transformed, and conformed to Christ’s glorious image! Hallelujah, because of Christ’s resurrection we are the many members of Christ to be His Body, the church as His bride, the new man, and the New Jerusalem! Praise the Lord for Christ’s resurrection, the life pulse and lifeline of the divine economy!
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 Practical Way to Live a Life according to the High Peak of the Divine Revelation in the Holy Scriptures, ch. 3 (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.
- Similar sharing on this topic: see, If there were no resurrection (via holdingtotruth.com).
- Hymns to strengthen the burden in this article:
# He’s the Spirit of reality, / Pneumatic Christ, the Firstborn Son in me, / The consummation of the Triune God, / Life-giving Spirit, all-inclusive Christ / Intensified sevenfold. (song on Christ the Firstborn Son)
# If there is no resurrection, / God would be God of the dead; / Christ Himself would not be living, / Ne’er have been raised from the dead. / But there is a resurrection / Which is the vitality, / Both the life pulse and the lifeline / Within God’s economy. (song on Christ’s resurrection)
# Death cannot hold the resurrection life, / The life of God eternal manifest; / ’Tis uncreated, indestructible, / ’Tis Christ Himself, unconqu’rable, expressed. (Hymns #639)
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