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Scripture Reading: John 1:14; Heb. 2:14; Rom. 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:21; John 3:14; 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 Cor. 15:3; Heb. 9:28; Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:15; John 12:24, 31; 19:34; 7:39; Luke 24:26; Acts 13:33; Rom. 8:29; Heb. 2:11-12; 1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 2:6; 1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17-18; John 20:22; Eph. 1:20-21; Acts 2:36; Eph. 1:22-23; Acts 2:33
God created the heavens and the earth with man as the head and center. Then man fell. In the eyes of God, man’s fall involved the entire creation. To redeem this fallen creation God came in the Son.
Redemption was not an afterthought. It was preordained by God. First Peter 1:19-20 tells us that the Redeemer, Christ, was foreknown by God before the foundation of the world. In this verse world refers to the entire universe. Before the foundation of the universe, God knew that man would fall. Thus, God preordained the Son, Christ, to be the Redeemer. We can see from this that God’s redemption was not accidental.
Furthermore, Revelation 13:8 says that the Lamb, that is, the Redeemer, Christ, was slain “from the foundation of the world.” From the time creation came into existence, in the eyes of God, Christ, as the Lamb ordained by God, was slain. In our eyes Christ was crucified less than two thousand years ago. But in God’s view He was slain from the day creation came into existence, because God foreknew that His creation would fall.
These verses show that God’s redemption was not an afterthought but rather something ordained, planned, and prepared by God in eternity past. How we should treasure this fact about the redemption we enjoy in Christ!
The first step in God’s accomplishment of redemption was the incarnation. It was surely a marvelous thing for God to come into man and to be born of mankind through a virgin. Our God became a man. In creation He was the Creator. But though He created all things, He did not enter into any of the things He created. Even in creating man He only breathed the breath of life into him (Gen. 2:7). He was still outside man. His breath, according to Job 33:4, gave man life; however, He Himself did not come into man. Until the incarnation He was separate from man. But with the incarnation He personally entered into man. He was first conceived and then remained in the virgin’s womb for nine months, after which He was born.
According to John 1:14, He became not only a man; He “became flesh.” Flesh in this verse refers to man after the fall. Man in Genesis 1 and 2 had not fallen, but after Genesis 3 he had. The word flesh, referring to man after the fall, always bears a negative denotation. No flesh can be justified before God by works (Rom. 3:20). Flesh refers to fallen man, and Christ as the Son of God became a man. He became flesh.
I do not mean that Christ became a sinner. The Bible is very careful about this matter. If the Bible contained only John 1:14, we might think that He became a sinful person. But the Bible also contains Romans 8:3, which says that God sent His Son “in the likeness of the flesh of sin.” Christ became flesh, but He was only in the likeness of the flesh of sin. There was no sin in His flesh. He had only the likeness, not the sinful nature, of the flesh. Paul composed this phrase of three words: likeness, flesh, and sin. To say only “flesh of sin” would indicate sinful flesh. Praise the Lord that the Scripture adds in the likeness, indicating that in Christ’s human nature there was no sin, even though that nature did bear the likeness, the appearance, of the flesh of sin. Moreover, Paul does not say that God sent His Son in the likeness of the flesh and stop there. He adds of sin. Likeness denotes strongly that Christ’s humanity did not have sin, but still that His humanity was in some way related to sin.
In another verse, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul says that Christ “did not know sin.” This means that He had no sin. Yet 2 Corinthians 5:21 also says that this One who had no sin was made sin by God. Our mentality cannot understand this. If the Scriptures were not written in this way, it would seem heretical to say that Christ was made sin, but Christ was made sin for us as our full Substitute. If this had not happened, we could not have been saved. “Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf.” The One whom God made sin knew no sin.
This matter is portrayed in the Old Testament in the type of the bronze serpent, described in Numbers 21. When the children of Israel sinned against God, they were bitten by serpents and were dying. Moses looked to God for them, and God told him to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. Whoever looked at that bronze serpent would live, and many did (vv. 6-9).
Then in John 3 the Lord Jesus talked to Nicodemus about regeneration. Nicodemus was a Bible teacher (v. 10) and taught the Old Testament, especially the Pentateuch. “Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” (v. 4). The Lord implied that if he could go back to his mother’s womb and be born again, he would still be flesh: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” (v. 6). To be reborn is not to be born a second time of the flesh but to be born of the Spirit. “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (v. 6).
Nicodemus wondered how these things could be. Then the Lord Jesus said to him in a rebuking tone, “You are a teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things?” (v. 10). He then referred Nicodemus to the record in Numbers 21: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).
This portrait clearly indicates that the bronze serpent bears only the appearance, the likeness, of the serpent but not its poisonous nature. This corresponds with Paul’s word in the likeness of the flesh of sin.
When Christ died on the cross, He was not only a Lamb in the eyes of God but also a serpent. Both of these aspects of Christ are in John. John 1:29 refers to the Lamb of God, and John 3:14 refers to the Son of Man, Christ, lifted up like the bronze serpent in the wilderness. When Christ, our Redeemer, was on the cross, on the one hand, He was the Lamb of God to take away our sin; on the other hand, He was a serpent. The holy Word tells us that when Christ died on the cross, in the eyes of God He was like a bronze serpent. I stress this because we need to know what kind of redemption the Lord Jesus accomplished for us.
In order to accomplish a full redemption, He as the Son of God became flesh. The Word became incarnate. John, though, does not say that the Word became a man; he says, “The Word became flesh.” By the time of the incarnation, flesh was a negative term. But we must be careful in saying this. A serpent surely is negative, but this serpent is a bronze serpent. It bears only the appearance of a serpent; it does not have its nature. Do you think that Christ had a sinful nature when He was made sin? Absolutely not! This is why Paul qualifies his word by saying, “who did not know sin.” Even though He was made sin by God, He had no sin in Him, and He knew no sin. Our Lord is a wonderful Redeemer. The Bible tells us that God became a man in the likeness of fallen and sinful flesh.
Incarnation also has a positive side. It brought God into man. It made God and man one. Nearly two thousand years ago there was a man on this earth who was a combination of God and man. Was Jesus Christ just man? Was He just God? He was both God and man. Many Bible teachers call Him the God-man. He was not merely a man of God but a God-man. He was the complete God and a perfect man.
According to the genuine revelation of the Bible, in such an incarnation neither the nature of God nor the nature of man was lost, and no third nature was produced. Christ is a God-man with both the divine nature and the human nature, each existing in Him distinctly.
Our Redeemer is a God-man. By His incarnation for the accomplishment of redemption, He, as the very God, took this step of making Himself one with man. He participated in man’s blood and flesh. Hebrews 2:14 tells us, “Since therefore the children have shared in blood and flesh, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same.” If He had not had man’s blood, how could He have shed His blood for man’s sins? Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (9:22). As human beings, we need human blood to wash away our sins. Because our Redeemer partook of man’s blood, He could shed His blood for our sins.
When the Son of God became incarnate, He did not leave the Father in the heavens. Although I used to think so over fifty years ago, I gradually discovered by studying the Word that the Son and the Father cannot be separated. They are distinct but not separate. The Son Himself told us clearly that He came in the Father’s name (John 5:43) and that the Father was with Him all the time (16:32). He and the Father are one (10:30; 17:22).
As Christians, we believe that there is only one God. To believe in tritheism, that there are three Gods, is a great heresy. We have only one God, yet our God is triune. He is three in His Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Yet He is one God. We have no way to reconcile this. However, we do know the revealed fact that our God is triune, that He is three-one.
God’s plan is mainly the work of the Father, His redemption is mainly the work of the Son, and His application is mainly the work of the Spirit. The Father planned, the Son redeemed, and the Spirit applies.
The three are distinct but not separate. When the Son came, the Father came with Him. When the Spirit came, the Son and the Father came (14:17, 23). We do not believe in modalism, a heresy which says that when the Son came, the Father was over, and then when the Spirit came, the Son was over. We believe that God is three-one, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit as one God, coexisting and coinhering from eternity through eternity.
The incarnation was wonderful, and the crucifixion was marvelous. We have no human words to explain the incarnation in full; neither can we fully explain the fact of Christ’s death.
On the cross Christ bore our sins. Three verses are very clear regarding this: 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Corinthians 15:3, and Hebrews 9:28. These verses all say that Christ bore our sins. According to Isaiah 53:6, when Christ was on the cross, God took all our sins and put them upon this Lamb of God.
If you read the four Gospels concerning Christ’s death, you will see that He was crucified from nine o’clock in the morning, the third hour (Mark 15:25), until three o’clock in the afternoon, the ninth hour (v. 33; Matt. 27:46). In the midst of these six hours there was noontime, the sixth hour (Mark 15:33). The noontime divided these six hours into two periods of three hours each. Man’s persecution took place in the first three hours. Man nailed Him to the cross, mocked Him, and afflicted Him in every possible way. Then in the final three hours God came in to judge Him (Isa. 53:10). This is indicated by the darkness that came over the whole land at noontime. God put all the sins of mankind upon Him.
In the last three hours, in the eyes of God Christ was made sin. It was then on the cross that God condemned sin in the flesh of Christ. Romans 8:3 says that God, sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin (as the bronze serpent in the form of a serpent — John 3:14), condemned sin in the flesh. Sin was condemned. Sin was judged on the cross. Not only did Christ bear our sins; He was made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21) and was judged by God once for all.
In addition, when Christ was crucified, all His believers were crucified with Him (Gal. 2:20). When He was incarnated, He took us upon Himself. He put on blood and flesh. Therefore, when He was crucified, we were crucified with Him. From God’s viewpoint, before we were born, we were crucified in Christ. When Christ was crucified, not only were our sins dealt with and not only was our sin dealt with; we ourselves were crucified. Hence, Romans 6:6 says, “Our old man has been crucified with Him.”
Besides this, the entire creation was also crucified there. When Christ died, the veil of the temple was split in two from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51). From top to bottom indicates that it was not man’s doing but God’s doing from above. God split that veil into two pieces. On the veil there were cherubim embroidered (Exo. 26:31). According to Ezekiel 1:5 and 10 and 10:14-15, cherubim were living creatures. The cherubim on the veil, then, indicated the living creatures. Upon the humanity of Christ were all the creatures. When the veil was split in two, all the creatures were crucified. By this we can see that the death of Christ was all-inclusive. It dealt with our sins, with our sin, with our self, our old man, and with the entire old creation. Sins, sin, man, and the entire creation were all dealt with on the cross.
In Ephesians 2:15 Paul tells us that through His death on the cross, Christ abolished the law of the commandments in ordinances. In the Old Testament there were many ordinances. The main one was circumcision, which divided the Jews from the Gentiles. The Jews even used the term uncircumcision in referring to the Gentiles, whereas they considered themselves the circumcision. Circumcision was, therefore, a mark of separation. The Jews also kept the seventh day, another ordinance that made them different from the Gentiles. Christ abolished both of these ordinances on the cross (Col. 2:14, 16).
Other ordinances of the Jews were the dietary regulations. In Acts 10, however, while Peter was praying on the housetop, a vision came to him (vv. 9-16). The Lord told Peter to eat the animals that he considered common and unclean. Thus, circumcision, the Sabbath, and the dietary regulations were all abolished. These ordinances had been a strong and high wall of separation between the Jews and the Gentiles, but now it was torn down. There is no longer any separation. The Jews and the Gentiles can be built together as the Body of Christ.
The ordinances have been abolished, but what about the differences between the races, such as the difference between blacks and whites? In Christ’s complete redemption all these differences have also been abolished. He has done away with all the enmity. Yet many do not live according to this. The Jews still keep circumcision, the Sabbath, and the dietary regulations. Even many Christians still have enmity.
Through His one death Christ took away our sins and sin, He crucified the old man, He terminated the old creation, and He abolished the differences between the races. Now we are not in ourselves — we are in Christ. In Him there are no sins. In Him there is no sin. In Him there is no old man and no old creation. The church is simply Christ (1 Cor. 12:12). The very content, the constituent, of the church is Christ (Col. 3:10-11). In the new man there is no Greek and no Jew, no social rank, no racial distinctions, no national differences; Christ is all and in all (v. 11). In Christ sins, sin, the old man, the old creation, and all the ordinances are done away.
The flesh was crucified with Christ. Because the flesh is related to Satan, in crucifying the flesh Christ destroyed Satan. This is why Hebrews 2:14 says that through His death He destroyed the devil. From John 12:31 we know that when Christ was crucified, He cast out Satan, the ruler of the world, and He judged the world.
Around 1935 I heard a message given by Brother Watchman Nee in Shanghai. He said that if you went to a young believer and asked him who died on the cross, he would say that his Redeemer had died on the cross for both his sins and his sin. If you went to another one who was more advanced and asked him who had died on the cross, he would say that Christ died there, bearing his sins, sin, and himself (Gal. 2:20). Someone still more advanced in the Christian life would tell you that Christ died on the cross for his sins, sin, and himself with all of creation. A fourth category of Christians would say that Christ died on the cross not only for their sins, sin, and themselves with all of creation but also in order to destroy Satan and judge the world.
Later, I began to see that there was the need for further advancement in realizing the death of Christ, that is, the abolishing of the ordinances. All the ordinances — the habits, customs, traditions, and practices among the human race — were abolished on the cross. Christ’s crucifixion was the universal termination of all negative things. Hallelujah for such a termination!
Christ’s death was not only a terminating but also a releasing death. His death released the divine life concealed within Him (John 1:4). John 12:24 says that a grain of wheat remains alone unless it is sown into the earth. If it is sown into the earth, it dies and then grows up to become many grains. This illustrates the releasing death of Christ. His death not only terminates all negative things; it also releases the divine life — the unique positive thing in the whole universe.
When Christ died, a soldier pierced His side and out came blood and water (19:34). These are symbols. Blood signifies redemption, and water signifies life. Blood and water are symbols of the two aspects of Christ’s death. The negative aspect is redemption, and the positive aspect is the release of the divine life. He died, and the life within Him was released. Through His death not only did the redeeming blood flow out; the divine life also flowed out from Him. Today when we believe in Him, we receive the blood and obtain the living water, the divine life. We receive redemption, and we obtain eternal life.
On the third day after His death, Christ resurrected. Some wonderful things have been carried out through His resurrection.
First, in His resurrection Christ was glorified. When a carnation seed is sown, it dies under the earth, and then it grows up. When it blossoms, that blossoming is its glorification. Jesus was the unique seed of the divine life. Before His death the divine life was concealed within Him. His humanity was the shell. When His humanity was broken on the cross, the divine life came out from within Him, and He was glorified in that life (7:39; Luke 24:26). Christ’s entering into resurrection was like the blossoming of the carnation seed: He was glorified.
Second, in resurrection Christ was born as the firstborn Son of God. Not many Christians realize that to Jesus Christ resurrection was a birth. Incarnation was His birth as a man, but resurrection was His birth in His humanity as the firstborn Son of God (Acts 13:33).
Christ as the Son of God has two aspects. Before His resurrection He was the only begotten Son (John 1:14; 3:16); then in resurrection He was born of God as the firstborn Son. When Christ was incarnated, He put on humanity; however, His humanity was not divine. It was through death and resurrection that His humanity was brought into divinity. Thus, Acts 13:33 tells us that in His resurrection He was born. The only begotten Son became the firstborn Son (Rom. 8:29).
Ephesians 2:6 tells us that in Christ’s resurrection we, His believers, were also resurrected. When He was crucified, we were crucified. When He was resurrected, we were resurrected. In His resurrection He was born as the firstborn Son of God, and we also were born as the many sons of God. He became the Firstborn, and we became His many brothers (John 20:17; Heb. 2:11-12).
The Bible makes clear that before we were born, we were crucified with Christ and resurrected with Him. In resurrection He was born as the firstborn Son of God, and in His resurrection we also were born as the many sons of God (1 Pet. 1:3). He became the Firstborn among us, His many brothers.
In resurrection Christ also became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). This verse in 1 Corinthians is one of the most neglected verses in the Bible. In resurrection, the subject of 1 Corinthians 15, Christ as the last Adam, through His death and resurrection, became a life-giving Spirit. Many Christians consider Christ as their Redeemer, but very few consider Him as a life-giving Spirit. Our Redeemer is the life-giving Spirit in resurrection. By His death He redeemed us; in His resurrection He imparts Himself into us as life.
After His resurrection and in His resurrection, He became the pneumatic Christ. The pneumatic Christ is identical to the Spirit. This is why 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” Today in resurrection the very Christ, our Redeemer, is identical to the Spirit who gives life to us.
John 20 reveals that after His death and in His resurrection Christ came back. He returned in a wonderful way. The disciples were in a house with the doors shut for fear of the Jews (v. 19). Suddenly, Jesus was standing there and saying to them, “Peace be to you” (v. 21). He did not teach them, and He did not give them a sermon as He did on the mount. He simply breathed into them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22), the Holy Breath, the Holy Pneuma.
Christ appeared without knocking at the door because in resurrection He is the Spirit. He had a resurrected body, which is called a spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:44; John 20:27). We cannot explain this, but it is a fact revealed in the Bible. From the time of His resurrection, Christ never left the believers. Here and there He appeared to them, but He was always with them.
Consider, then, what is included in His resurrection: He was glorified; He became the firstborn Son of God, making all of us His brothers; and He became the life-giving Spirit breathed into us to be with us forever (14:16-20).
After His resurrection, in His ascension Christ was highly exalted (Eph. 1:20-21). He was made Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), and He was given to be the Head over all things to the church, which is His Body (Eph. 1:22-23). Our Head, Christ, is not only our Head but the Head over all things to us.
In His ascension Christ poured out the Holy Spirit upon all His believers (Acts 2:33). This was the genuine baptism of the Spirit that formed the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). In His resurrection He breathed the Holy Spirit into His disciples; then in His ascension He poured out His Spirit upon His believers. This means that within the believers and upon them there was only the Spirit. Within was the Spirit, and without was the Spirit. Within was the infilling Spirit, and without was the outpoured Spirit. This was accomplished once for all and is an eternal fact in which we participate.
Incarnation is a fact, and crucifixion is a fact, including all the accomplishments of the Lord on the cross. Resurrection is also a fact. In His resurrection Christ became the Firstborn, making us all His brothers, and He also became the life-giving Spirit breathed into us. Furthermore, the ascension is a fact. In His ascension Christ was made the Head over all things, He was made Lord and Christ, and He poured Himself out as the Spirit upon us all. Now we are in Him. He is in the heavenlies, and so are we (Eph. 2:6). He is within us and upon us, and we are in Him. This is the complete redemption of Christ.
