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Scripture Reading: John 3:14; Rom. 6:6-7; Gal. 6:14; 5:16-17, 24-25; Heb. 2:14; 10:19-20; Gal. 2:20; 1 Cor. 2:2, 4, 14-15; Matt. 16:23-24; Phil. 3:10-11
Spiritual experiences refer to experiencing what God has prepared for us in Christ. In order to experience what God has prepared for us, we must partake of Christ, and we can partake of Christ only through the cross. The cross brings Christ to us. We gain Christ and partake of Him only through the cross. The cross is the only way for us to experience what God has prepared for us in Christ. All our spiritual experiences come through the cross and depend on the cross. This is revealed in the Bible and confirmed in our experience.
In the Old Testament everything in the Tent of Meeting typifies Christ. This indicates that God wants Christ to be everything to us (Heb. 9:1-14). The way that the children of Israel entered into the Tent of Meeting to partake of everything in it portrays how we enter into Christ to partake of everything that God has prepared for us in Him. Those who entered into the Tent of Meeting had to first pass through the altar. They had to deal with their sins and all their problems before entering into the Tent of Meeting and partaking of everything in the Tent of Meeting. The altar typifies the cross. This indicates that we must first deal with our sins and problems through the cross before we partake of Christ. Before entering the Tent of Meeting, a person had to pass though the altar. Similarly, in order to enter into Christ to partake of everything in Him, a person must pass through the cross.
The altar was the largest piece of furniture in the Tent of Meeting (Exo. 27:1). Some scholars say that the altar could contain all the utensils in the Tent of Meeting. This indicates that all the blessings in Christ are obtained through the cross. When we experience the cross, we can partake of all the blessings in Christ. When we experience the death of the cross, we can experience everything that God has prepared for us in Christ. We can partake of the blessings in Christ and experience everything that God has prepared for us only through the cross. All our spiritual experiences depend on the cross.
To be regenerated is to receive God’s life into us, that is, to have another life, God’s eternal life, in addition to our natural life (1 Pet. 1:3; John 3:16). Regeneration is the beginning of our spiritual experience, and it comes through the cross of Christ. When the children of Israel offended God and were bitten by fiery serpents in the wilderness, Moses lifted up a bronze serpent on a pole, and those who looked at the bronze serpent lived (Num. 21:4-9). We were dead in our sins, but when we looked at Christ on the cross, we were regenerated with God’s eternal life (John 3:14-15). To be regenerated does not mean that we have “mended our ways” or “turned over a new leaf.” Neither is it a psychological exercise similar to the Chinese saying, which says, “Everything in the past died yesterday, and everything is born today.” Such a mindset does not require that we look at Christ on the cross; it requires a strong human will. Regeneration, however, is through the cross of Christ. At best, a strong will can change a person’s outward conduct, but it cannot change his inner life; it cannot cause God’s life to enter into him and regenerate him. Regeneration comes only through the cross of Christ.
On the one hand, the cross of Christ redeems us, and on the other hand, the cross releases Christ’s life. We were dead because of sin, but through Christ’s redemption on the cross we can receive the life that He released on the cross and be regenerated and enlivened. Apart from the cross we have no way to be regenerated with God’s divine, eternal life. The cross frees us from sin so that we can receive the life of God. All sinners have a deadened spirit; therefore, they need to be regenerated and enlivened in their deadened spirit. The cross of Christ is the means for our regeneration.
Being delivered from sin, that is, overcoming sin, is a spiritual experience that we must have after being regenerated. No regenerated person should continue to live in sin. We must be delivered from sin. This is a commandment in God’s Word and a demand of His life within us. God’s life demands that we be delivered from sin, and God’s nature does not allow us to continue to live in sin. Continuing to live in sin oppresses God’s nature in us, making us miserable and uneasy. Being delivered from sin releases God’s life in us, making us comfortable and at ease. As those who have been regenerated and who have God’s life and nature, we must be delivered from sin. We can be delivered from sin only through the cross.
Romans 6:7 says, “He who has died is justified from sin.” This means that only a person who has died can be delivered from sin. A person can never be delivered from sin as long as he is still alive. In order to be delivered from sin, we must die. Once we die, we are delivered from sin. Without death, there is no way to be delivered from sin. No matter how much a person resolves, how much he endeavors, how much he afflicts himself, or how much contrition he expresses, he cannot deliver himself from sin. Only death delivers a man from sin.
Even though death is necessary, a believer does not need to try to die, because he has already died. A person who is dead does not need to die again. Romans 6:6 says, “Our old man has been crucified with Him.” Those who are joined to Christ through faith are in Him, and therefore, they have been crucified with Him. We do not need to die again. We only need to see and believe that we have died with Christ. It is sufficient for us to confess this fact. The death of Christ has been applied to us; hence, we do not need to put ourselves to death. We have been crucified with Christ in His death on the cross; hence, we do not need to think of ways to crucify ourselves.
On the cross of Christ we were crucified together with Christ, and His death was a deliverance that only such a death can provide. When the cross of Christ crucified our old man, the body of sin was annulled so that we should no longer serve sin as slaves (v. 6), that is, so that we would no longer be bound by sin. To no longer be bound by sin is to be delivered from sin. Thus, the cross of Christ delivers us from sin. We are delivered from the bondage of sin when we believe and accept our death with Christ on the cross. Our experience of being delivered from sin comes from seeing and knowing our co-crucifixion with Christ.
When we confess and accept our co-death with Christ on the cross, when we are joined with the cross of Christ by faith, and when we live in the death of the cross of Christ, we will experience deliverance from sin. The experience of deliverance from sin is only through the cross of Christ. Being delivered from sin does not depend on our doing but on our seeing and accepting Christ’s death on the cross. Just as regeneration does not depend on self-improvement but on seeing and accepting Christ’s vicarious death on the cross, deliverance from sin does not depend on our resolving but on our seeing and accepting our co-crucifixion with Christ on the cross. When we accepted Christ’s vicarious death on the cross, we experienced regeneration. Similarly, when we accept our co-crucifixion with Christ on the cross, we experience deliverance from sin.
Overcoming the world, or being delivered from the world, is also a spiritual experience that should follow a believer’s regeneration. After being regenerated, a believer should be delivered from sin and from the world. The world is at enmity with God (James 4:4). All that is in the world is not of God and does not match His holy nature (1 John 2:16). No one who is born of God and who has God’s life can love the world boldly or be at ease while loving the world. God’s holy nature has made us incompatible with the things of the world. God’s life in us demands that we be delivered from the world. First John 5:4 says, “Everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world.” The things that have been begotten of God are the believers who have God’s life. Hence, those who have God’s life can overcome the world. The nature of God’s life demands that we be delivered from the world, and the power of God’s life enables us to be delivered from the world. Being delivered from the world comes through the cross (Gal. 6:14).
Being delivered from sin comes through the cross, and being delivered from the world also comes through the cross. A person must be dead in order to be delivered from sin, and a person must be dead in order to be delivered from the world. Only the dead can be delivered from sin, and only the dead can be delivered from the world. The world can touch and attract every kind of person, but the world has no attracting power over dead persons. We thank God that we have been crucified together with Christ. We were delivered not only from sin but also from the world by Christ’s death on the cross.
We were separated from the world by Christ’s death on the cross, just as the children of Israel were separated from the Egyptians by the Red Sea. Because of the Red Sea, the Egyptians were dead to the children of Israel, and the children of Israel were dead to the Egyptians (Exo. 14:21-31). Similarly, the world has been crucified to us and we to the world because of the cross of Christ (Gal. 6:14). Just as the waters of the Red Sea covered Egypt’s army and caused it to perish, the cross of Christ destroyed the forces of the world. Just as the Red Sea annulled Egypt’s power over the children of Israel, the cross of Christ annuls the world’s power over us. When we accept the death of the cross of Christ, the world and the things in the world lose their power and effect on us. When we live in the death of the cross of Christ, we are delivered from the power and the usurpation of the world. Our experience of being delivered from the world and overcoming the world depends on the cross of Christ and is through the cross of Christ.
After a person is saved, he should experience being delivered from sin and overcoming the world, and he should also experience dealing with the flesh. Sin is an offense to God and interrupts our fellowship with God, but the flesh prevents us from submitting to God and, thus, from pleasing God. The world causes us to be at enmity with God, and the flesh also causes us to be at enmity with God (Rom. 8:7-8). The flesh strives against the Spirit, who indwells us, to prevent us from walking by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-17). The flesh is the biggest problem and the biggest frustration to our spiritual life. Just as the Amalekites frustrated the children of Israel in their journey through the wilderness (Exo. 17:8-16), the flesh frustrates us from advancing on our spiritual path. God charged the children of Israel to destroy the Amalekites, and He wants us to deal with our flesh.
God condemns the evil aspects of the flesh, but He also rejects the good aspects of the flesh. Man can commit evil sins by the flesh, and he can also seek to serve God by the flesh (Phil. 3:3-4). God is offended by sins in the flesh, and He abhors our service to Him in the flesh. God condemns the flesh, and those in the flesh cannot please God (Rom. 8:8). If we want to live in the spirit, serve God in spirit, or please God, we must deal with the flesh and put off the flesh.
We can deal with the flesh and put off the flesh only through the cross of Christ. Galatians 5:24 says, “They who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its lusts.” Christ condemned and crucified the flesh on the cross. We must accept, believe, confess, and apply this fact to our flesh and to everything related to our flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit (v. 16). Objectively, we must believe that the flesh has been crucified on the cross of Christ, and subjectively, we must put to death our flesh with its passions and its lusts by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the way to deal with and put off our flesh. Putting to death our flesh and everything of the flesh by the Spirit, according to the fact accomplished by the cross of Christ, is the way to deal with the flesh and put off the flesh.
We must believe that the cross of Christ has crucified the flesh, and by the Spirit we must put to death the flesh with its passions and its lusts under the crucifixion of the cross. Merely believing that the cross of Christ has crucified the flesh will not enable us to deal with the flesh or to put off the flesh. We must apply to our flesh the fact that the cross of Christ has crucified our flesh. We can deal with and put off the flesh only when we apply the crucifixion of Christ to our flesh by the Spirit, that is, when we let the crucifixion of Christ put our flesh and everything of the flesh to death. The experience of dealing with the flesh and putting off the flesh is through the cross of Christ and depends on the cross of Christ.
Overcoming Satan is another experience that a believer should have after being saved. God’s plan includes our overcoming of Satan, who is God’s unique enemy in the universe. The world and the flesh are at enmity with God, but they are out of Satan and belong to Satan. The world and the flesh are instruments and puppets used by Satan to resist God. Everything in the universe that is contrary to God and that opposes God is out of Satan and belongs to Satan. Satan is the aggregate of all resistance to God in the universe, and thus, he is God’s greatest problem. Ever since Satan rebelled, everything that God has done in the universe has included the purpose of dealing with and destroying Satan.
In order to express His wisdom, God determined that man should deal with Satan through the cross (Eph. 3:10). As the Creator, God would not deal with a rebellious creature, Satan. Instead, God determined that created man would deal with Satan, a created archangel who rebelled (Isa. 14:12; Heb. 2:14). Satan knew that God created man to deal with him, so he came to the garden of Eden to ruin and deceive man shortly after man had been created (Gen. 3:1-13). At that time God judged Satan and said that the seed of the woman would bruise Satan on the head (v. 15). The seed of the woman is the incarnated Son of God, Jesus the Nazarene, who was born of a virgin (John 1:14; Matt. 1:22-25).
After Satan ruined the first man — Adam, whom God created to deal with Satan — God was incarnated to be the second man — Christ — in order to deal with Satan (1 Cor. 15:47). God sent His Son to deal with and destroy Satan (1 John 3:8). The Lord Jesus, however, did not deal with Satan as the Son of God; He dealt with Satan as the Son of Man. One reason for His becoming a man was to deal with Satan as a man in humanity. The Lord Jesus did not take the position of the Son of God when He dealt with Satan; rather, He took the position of the Son of Man (Matt. 4:3-4; Luke 4:3-4). He put on blood and flesh in order to be crucified as a man in the flesh so that through His crucifixion in the flesh, He might destroy Satan, who was joined to man’s flesh. Thus, the Lord Jesus dealt a fatal blow to Satan (Heb. 2:14).
Through His death on the cross as a man, God destroyed the man-corrupting Satan. As the seed of the woman, He bruised the serpent on the head and gave Satan a deathblow. Only Christ’s death as a man in the flesh on the cross was able to fatally deal with Satan. In order for us to deal with Satan, we must experience the death of His cross. The cross of Christ is our means to deal with Satan and overcome him.
When Satan corrupted man by enticing man to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he joined himself to man (Gen. 3:1-6). Thus, Satan is joined to fallen man in man’s flesh. When the Lord Jesus, who was clothed in the flesh, was crucified, He crucified man’s flesh and also destroyed Satan, who was joined to man’s flesh. Therefore, when the flesh was crucified on the cross, Satan was also destroyed on the cross. When a person’s flesh is put to death through the cross, Satan is destroyed as well. Just as dealing with the flesh and putting the flesh to death are through the cross, overcoming Satan and destroying Satan are also through the cross.
Through the cross Christ destroyed Satan. We should believe this fact, accept it, and apply it. By the Spirit we must apply the death of Christ that crucified the flesh and destroyed Satan so that Satan may be destroyed and annihilated in us. By applying the death of the cross and standing in His death, we can triumph over Satan and his authority of darkness (Col. 2:15). We cannot overcome Satan in ourselves, nor do we need to overcome him in ourselves. The Lord has already overcome Satan on the cross. Satan is an enemy who has already been defeated and destroyed on the cross. We only need to stand in our co-crucifixion with the Lord and hold fast the victory that the Lord’s crucifixion has won for us in order to triumph over Satan and his angels. When we stand in the death of the cross and triumph over Satan by the cross, we will overcome Satan. The experience of overcoming Satan is through the cross of Christ and depends on the cross of Christ.
Christ being lived out of us is the center of our spiritual experience. It is the most precious aspect of our spiritual experience, and it is the sweetest aspect of our spiritual experience. God saved us so that we would deal with Satan, on the negative side, and so that Christ would be lived out of us, on the positive side. We live Christ through the cross. When we received Christ as our Savior, He entered into us to be our life and to be lived out of us. However, He can be lived out of us only to the extent that we have been broken by the cross. If the cross has not dealt with our flesh, put our self to death, or broken our natural life, there is no way for Christ to be lived out of us.
Christ can be lived out of us only when we accept the breaking of the cross, letting the cross work on us and put our self and natural life to death. Christ can be lived out of us only if we can say, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). When His cross operates in us, the power of His life can be manifested from within us (2 Cor. 4:10). If we accept the dealing of the cross in every situation, Christ will be magnified in our body. Furthermore, if we accept the breaking of His cross, we will reach the point where we say that for us, “to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). Christ is lived out of us and magnified in our body through the breaking of the cross (v. 20). The experience of living out Christ is always through the cross. There is no way for us to live out Christ apart from the cross.
The experience of the Spirit is the life pulse of our spiritual experience; it has an exceedingly important place in our spiritual experience. In the last chapter we saw that the cross enables man to experience the Spirit. Based on the accomplishments of the cross, the Spirit descended (Matt. 3:16; John 7:38-39; Luke 24:26). Based on the accomplishments of the cross, the Spirit regenerates man and enters into man as the indwelling Spirit of life (1 Pet. 1:3; John 20:22). Based on the accomplishments of the cross, the Spirit also fills us within with the divine life and fills us without with spiritual power. We must pass through the cross in order to receive the Spirit as the Spirit of life and as the Spirit of power, and we must also pass through the cross to be filled inwardly with His life and filled outwardly with His power.
We must pass through the cross in order to be born of the Spirit, to live by the Spirit, to walk by the Spirit, and to work by the Spirit. We must pass through the cross to experience the Spirit. The only way to experience the Spirit is through the cross.
Faith is very important in our spiritual experiences. Genuine faith is not from us. Genuine faith is the faith of the Son of God worked into us by the Spirit, and this faith comes through the cross. Because the Spirit deals with our flesh, puts our self to death, and breaks our natural life through the cross, He can work the faith of the Son of God into us so that we live by His faith, not by our flesh, self, or natural life. In Galatians 2:20 Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me,” and he also says, “The life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God.” Paul had been crucified with Christ, and it was no longer he who lived. It was Christ who lived in him. Thus, he could have the faith of the Son of God and live by His faith. Christ lived in Paul, and Paul had the faith of Christ because he was crucified with Christ on the cross. Thus, Paul no longer lived by himself, nor could he live himself; instead, he lived by Christ, and he lived Christ. Paul lived by the faith of Christ.
Galatians 2:20 shows that we obtain the faith of Christ that enables us to live before God when our self is put to death by the cross, and Christ lives in us. In order to have the faith that is out of the Son of God, our self must experience the breaking and crucifixion of the cross. Faith comes through the cross of Christ and depends on the cross of Christ.
Prayer is another crucial matter in our spiritual experience. Prayer is not asking God for things related to ourselves according to our will; rather, it is asking God for things related to His will (Matt. 26:39-42). In a deeper sense, prayer is not our asking God for things but God asking in us and through us. To pray is to fellowship with God in spirit. When we pray, we must contact God in spirit (John 4:24). We can enter into such prayer after we experience the dealing and breaking of the cross (Heb. 10:19-20).
A person whose flesh has been dealt with and whose self has been broken by the cross will not pray according to his own will, asking God for things for himself. Instead, he will pray according to God’s will, asking God for matters that concern God. For such a person, prayer is not a matter of asking God for things but of God asking in him and through him. Only a person in whom the veil of the flesh has been split can pray in spirit. To such a person, prayer involves fellowshipping with God, contacting God. Genuine, spiritual, and valuable prayer comes through the cross.
Spiritual revelation is related to spiritual experience. Spiritual revelation is the base for spiritual experience. Spiritual experience often comes through spiritual revelation, and spiritual revelation is often gained through spiritual experience. Our spiritual experience often depends on the spiritual revelation that we have, and our spiritual revelation often depends on our spiritual experience. Hence, both spiritual experience and spiritual revelation are the cause and the effect of the other. In order to have spiritual experience, we must have spiritual revelation, and in order to have spiritual revelation, we must also have spiritual experience. Because spiritual experience comes through the cross, the spiritual revelation gained through experience must also come through the cross.
Speaking to the Corinthians, Paul said, “I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified...My speech and my proclamation were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 2:2, 4). Paul knew only Christ, and this One crucified. Paul’s proclamation was not in human words of wisdom; his instruction was by the Spirit. This is the receiving of spiritual revelation. Our own wisdom is the greatest hindrance to obtaining spiritual revelation. Just as our self and our flesh hinder us from being spiritual, our wisdom and cleverness hinder us from obtaining spiritual revelation. We must let the cross of Christ deal with our wisdom and cleverness; otherwise, we will not obtain spiritual revelation.
In order for a person to receive spiritual revelation, he must let the cross deal with his wisdom and cleverness, for only such a person can receive spiritual revelation. Our wisdom and cleverness must be dealt with and broken by the cross in order for us to receive spiritual revelation. May our wisdom and cleverness pass through the death of the cross so that we can receive spiritual revelation. The more the cross breaks our wisdom and cleverness, the easier it will be for us to receive spiritual revelation. Spiritual revelation is always received when the cross breaks our wisdom and cleverness.
Revelation is a spiritual matter. In verses 14 and 15 the apostle says, “A soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God...and he is not able to know them because they are discerned spiritually. But the spiritual man discerns all things.” A soulish man is a natural person; he lives mainly in his soul and by his mind. Such a person cannot perceive spiritual things and cannot receive spiritual revelation. A spiritual man lives by his spirit and in the spirit; he does not live by his soul. Only such a person can discern spiritual things and receive spiritual revelation. In order to be such a person, we must let the cross deal with the wisdom and cleverness of our natural mind. Letting the cross deal with our soul enables us to live not by the soul but by the spirit and to not be soulish but to be spiritual. We perceive spiritual things and receive spiritual revelation only when the cross deals with our soul.
Knowing God’s will is a great matter in our spiritual life. No one can live a spiritual life without knowing God’s will. Knowing God’s will is a test to our spiritual life. The more we live a spiritual life, the more we will know God’s will. In order to know God’s will, we need to live a spiritual life, and in order to live a spiritual life, we need to know God’s will. The self is the greatest hindrance to knowing God’s will. The self represents us. Our will, ideas, insights, and views are elements of our self. Our self, including our will, ideas, insights, and views, is the greatest hindrance to knowing God’s will.
Knowing God’s will requires that the self be rejected, denied, and broken. This can only be accomplished through the cross. We can reject and deny the self only through the cross. In Matthew 16:24 the Lord said, “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” According to this verse, denying the self is related to taking up the cross. To deny the self is to reject the self. To take up the cross is to accept the cross, to place one’s self under the death of the cross. This verse shows that denying the self is related to the cross. In order for a person to deny the self, he must take up the cross, and in order for him to take up the cross, he must reject the self and accept the death of the cross. Only such a person can deny himself and reject his self, which is full of opinions. Only a person who denies and rejects the self through the cross and lets the cross break his opinions and assertions can care for God’s will and know God’s will instead of the will of the self (v. 23). Hence, knowing God’s will comes through the cross and depends on the cross.
To experience resurrection is to experience the Lord’s resurrection life, which is to experience His resurrection power. Experiencing resurrection is the deepest and highest spiritual experience, and it comes through the cross. Without the death of the cross, there can be no resurrection. Unless a grain of wheat dies, it cannot be made alive (John 12:24; 1 Cor. 15:36). If the death of Christ does not operate in us, the resurrection life, the life of Christ, will not be manifested in our body (2 Cor. 4:10). Unless the cross of Christ puts our natural life to death, we cannot experience the resurrection life of Christ. We must let the cross put us to death in order to experience the life and power of Christ’s resurrection. When we accept the death of the cross and let the death of the cross operate in us, Christ’s resurrection life and power will become our experience. We can be raised in resurrection if we are conformed to Christ’s death. This is to experience Christ’s resurrection (Phil. 3:10-11).
Every item of our spiritual life is in Christ’s resurrection, every spiritual thing depends on God, and our God is in resurrection (Matt. 22:32; John 11:25). Therefore, the natural man must not touch anything related to the spiritual life with his natural life. The natural life must be broken by the cross before we can touch life and touch God in resurrection. How much we touch life, touch God, and experience resurrection depends entirely on whether we accept the breaking of the cross and experience the death of the cross. The death of the cross must do a deep work of putting everything that is natural in us to death so that the life of Christ and the power of His resurrection can bring us into spiritual matters. Then we will touch God and experience Him in resurrection.
Every spiritual experience depends on the cross and must be through the cross. May we learn to know the cross more, accept the cross more, and experience the cross more so that we can have rich spiritual experiences in resurrection. May God be gracious to us.
