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Scripture Reading: Gal. 2:20; Rom. 8:13
Christ and the cross are the center of God’s eternal plan. God’s plan depends on Christ and is for Christ. God’s plan was accomplished on the cross and through the cross. We cannot be in God’s plan without Christ, and we cannot obtain Christ without knowing and contacting the cross. In the preceding chapters we said that Christ is God’s purpose and that the cross is God’s procedure. We can obtain Christ only through the cross. Christ as God’s purpose is all-inclusive, and the cross as God’s procedure is universal. God’s purpose depends on Christ, and God’s procedure depends on the cross. We must pass through the cross in order to gain what God has planned in Christ.
Christ is our life, and the cross is our living. As our life, Christ leads us to live the life of the cross. If we want to obtain Christ, we must contact the cross and go through the cross. We obtain Christ through the cross, and we live out Christ through the cross. The cross gives us Christ, and Christ gives us the cross. Therefore, we must know and experience the cross in order to experience Christ. The cross is indispensable to our experience of Christ.
Every spiritual experience is obtained through the cross. Without the cross as the means, that is, without going through the cross, it is difficult to have genuine spiritual experiences. This indicates the importance and necessity of knowing and experiencing the cross. We must pursue and obtain the cross.
Although the knowledge and experience of the cross are the same for all God’s children, there are two ways, in terms of sequence, for knowing and experiencing the cross.
The first way of knowing and experiencing the cross occurs when a new believer receives intense light to know that the cross has terminated everything. Such believers, from the beginning of their Christian life, see that the Lord wants to be their life and everything and that they have been dealt with and terminated on the cross. This light is intense, penetrating, and all-pervasive. These believers see that all things — Satan, the demons, the world, sin, the flesh, man, everything of the old creation, and everything fallen — have been dealt with and terminated on the cross. They see that Christ’s death on the cross is all-inclusive. Their view of Christ’s death on the cross is so thorough and clear that they recognize that they themselves have been terminated. Under this intense light they acknowledge the termination of their flesh, temper, naturalness, and self. The light they see concerning the cross is so great and intense that it seems to terminate all that they are. As a result, the things in their being, such as their temper and their flesh, lack their former strength.
As a result of this shining, everything of the old creation in these believers is terminated. Although they are still living in their body of flesh, they can sense the flesh, temper, and naturalness in their living and service. Nevertheless, their flesh, temper, and natural man are not active or prevailing, nor do these things have any ground in these believers. It is hard for the flesh to rise up, because it is under the killing of such great light. The intensity of the light that these believers received makes it hard for Satan to stir up their flesh in their living and work. The flesh, temper, naturalness, and self of these believers are under their feet, and they follow the Lord to walk the way of the cross. They walk on the pathway of the Lord with these things under their feet. These things are only under their feet because they have received the knowledge that everything in the old creation was terminated on the cross.
These believers see that God’s evaluation of man’s condition calls for death. Having received this clear vision, they no longer give opportunity or ground to their flesh, temper, naturalness, or self. The flesh, temper, naturalness, and self are under their feet because of the intensity of the shining of the light.
This is the superior way to know and experience the cross. In the past two thousand years of church history, at least one believer, the apostle Paul, gained the knowledge and experience of the cross in this manner. When he was on the way to Damascus, he saw an intense and penetrating light (Acts 9:3-9), which revealed to him that he had been terminated on the cross and that the whole old creation had been terminated as well.
The content of Paul’s Epistles shows that he saw Christ’s all-inclusive and all-terminating death on the cross in the light from heaven that shined upon him that day. His knowledge of the cross was due to this intense shining, and he realized that his flesh, old creation, self, and naturalness had been terminated on the cross. Thus, in his Epistles he subsequently writes that all things belonging to Satan and the old creation have been crucified and terminated on the cross (1 Cor. 15:3; Heb. 2:14; Gal. 6:14; Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20; 5:24).
Although other believers may not have seen such an intense light, some have seen that everything of themselves was dealt with on the cross and that all things were terminated in the death of Christ. The light that these believers have seen concerning the cross is great. This way of knowing and experiencing the cross is superior.
Throughout church history only a few saints have come to know and experience the cross as Paul did. The majority of the saints, however, do not see such a great light when they are saved and constrained by the Lord’s love at the beginning of their Christian life. Such believers love and pursue the Lord, consecrate themselves to Him, and let Him gain ground in them. As a result of their consecration, the indwelling Spirit operates in them and enables them to sense the Lord’s demands in every matter. The demands of the Lord are always related to death, that is, to experiencing the death of the cross in every matter. They may not have a deep sense of this demand from Him in the beginning, but gradually they have such experiences. Most believers know and experience the cross according to this sequence.
This way of knowing and experiencing the cross is inferior to the first way, the way of Paul’s category. Believers in Paul’s category see a great light at the time of their salvation. They see that the old creation, their flesh, their naturalness, and their self have been terminated on the cross. As a result, Christ has much ground in them to be their Lord in everything. The light that they see concerning the cross is so strong and thorough that it subdues their flesh, temper, naturalness, and self. However, most saints do not have this kind of knowledge and experience of the cross.
Most believers have a heart for the Lord after their salvation, so they consecrate themselves to Him with the desire to do something for Him and to be useful to Him. Because they draw near to the Lord and give Him an opening, the Spirit operates within them to give them a sense to deal with certain things. At first these demands relate to outward matters. However, the Lord gradually demands that they experience the death of the cross on the things in their inward being.
For example, when a newly saved brother consecrates himself to the Lord out of a desire to live for the Lord and to be useful to Him, the Spirit will give him a sense that the Lord is unwilling to use him because his love for movies has not been terminated. If by the Lord’s grace, he deals with this matter, the Lord will have a way to touch the things that he wears. If the brother obeys this sense and submits to the Lord, he may receive a sense from the Lord regarding his temper being a hindrance to his usefulness to the Lord. When he receives this sense, he should confess and deal with his temper by giving it to the Lord. He should also condemn his temper.
Over time, such a brother will begin to be touched about deeper matters, such as his preferences, actions, and motives. The Spirit will not let him go in these matters. Whenever he expresses the self, the Spirit will give him a sense. For example, after giving a good testimony, he may feel proud and be exalted in his heart. Then the Spirit will touch him in regard to the presence of his self in the testimony, and he will sense his self-boasting and self-glorifying. If he is subdued by the Lord, he will confess his sins and ask for forgiveness. Later, when he and another brother express differing opinions while preaching the gospel, a voice within may say, “You are so insistent on your opinion. Is this of yourself or of the Lord? Is it natural, or is it spiritual?” When this brother senses that his insistence is of himself, not of the Lord, and that his reasoning is natural, not spiritual, he will be unable to pray until he submits to the breaking that comes from his acknowledgment of this sense. This breaking is a deeper and finer dealing.
As the Spirit’s operation in him deepens, he will find it difficult to either criticize or praise people. In the early stages of being dealt with in this matter, a voice within will ask whether his criticism or praise is of himself or of the Lord and whether it is natural or spiritual. If he continues to deal with these inward matters, the Spirit will even begin to ask whether his prayer is of himself or of God and whether he is the one praying or whether God is praying. At this stage the Spirit’s dealing is rather deep and severe.
Initially, the Spirit will touch our sins, temper, mistakes, and criticism of others. After dealing with these things, the Spirit will touch us in a deeper way. He will touch our good attributes, our good ideas, and our praise of others. At this stage our inner sense will not be related to whether our actions are right and our words are good but whether our actions and words are of Christ. Our actions may be right, and our words may be good, but they may only be of our natural self. Hence, the Spirit will show that even these things must be dealt with and rejected. If we deal with these matters, the Spirit will touch our prayer, which is deeper. He will ask whether He is the one praying in us or whether we are praying in ourselves. This experience indicates that the self must be terminated in both sinful matters and in our prayer. A Christian should abstain from sinning and also refrain from doing proper things by the self. To be a Christian is to put aside one’s self in everything, whether in doing good or in doing evil, and to live by Christ completely, allowing Him to live in us and live out of us.
The Spirit will continue to touch us until everything that issues out of us, including our sins, temper, flesh, naturalness, and self, is terminated. The more we are touched by the Lord, the more we will be dealt with. The more dealings we have, the more we will advance. Then our inner eyes will see the cross in a deeper way. Initially, our view of the cross is limited. This is not because the cross is small but because our view is limited. Every touch of the Spirit increases our view; that is, the more the Spirit touches us, the more we see. As we are continually touched, our view is gradually enlarged until our inner eyes are fully opened. As a result, we will be like the apostle Paul, and we will be able to say, “Lord, now I see that everything has been terminated!” We will even ask ourselves why we exerted so much effort and why we had to pass through such a complicated process in order to see that everything was terminated on the cross. In this process we begin with a limited amount of light concerning the cross, and we are dealt with step by step until the light that we receive concerning the cross is full and complete. This is the experience of most believers in knowing and experiencing the cross. This way of knowing and experiencing the cross is good, but it is not the best.
There are two ways to know and experience the cross. One way begins with seeing a great light, which is followed by step-by-step dealings. The other way begins with step-by-step dealings that culminate in a great light. One way begins with a great light and proceeds step by step with small dealings. The other way begins with small dealings and continues step by step toward a great light. The first way is superior to the second way. Paul and a few other believers followed the first way, but the majority of believers follow the second way.
Immediately after his conversion Paul saw that all things had been terminated in the death of the cross and that he himself had also been terminated. When he subsequently encountered his flesh, his temper, the world, and the things of the world, these items were under his feet. They were under his feet according to what he had seen. The vision that he saw was complete, but his experience was gradual. He first saw the complete vision, and then he experienced its application step by step.
Most of us, however, did not begin as Paul did. We did not begin by seeing that the cross had dealt with everything and terminated all things. Rather, we saw that the death of the cross dealt with our sins. This is all that we saw. According to our view, the cross was small. This does not mean that the cross is small; rather, it means that our seeing of the cross at the time of our salvation was limited. Nevertheless, the Lord gradually gained ground in us and showed us that we need to deal with certain things and drop certain matters. After a while the Lord showed us that our flesh, our temper, and our self need to be dealt with and that our disposition and naturalness need to be broken. As time goes on, the Lord will show us that even our prayers and spiritual activities need to be dealt with. These breakings and dealings are experiences of the cross. The more we are broken and dealt with, the greater our vision of the cross will be. This will bring us into deeper experiences of the cross. Our knowledge and experience of the cross complement each other as cause and effect and will progress in cycles. These cycles continue until our flesh, temper, naturalness, self, and everything that belongs to the old creation are broken, dealt with, and terminated by the Lord step by step. Eventually, we will see that everything of the flesh, the world, and the old creation has been dealt with and terminated on the cross. When the Lord shines upon us with this great light, a light like Paul saw when he met the Lord, we will regret having spent so many years in being dealt with by the Spirit.
When the Spirit has to deal with matters such as movies, clothing, temper, and disposition only gradually, it seems as if the Spirit is cutting down the “trees” in us with a small knife. He spends a long time to cut down one tree and then even more time to cut down another tree. However, such a slow work in us is not the only way. The light that He gives can be so intense that everything of the self will be terminated instantly. If we experience the Spirit’s shining with its exploding power, everything related to Satan and the old creation, including sin, the world, the flesh, and the self will collapse. This way of knowing and experiencing the cross is not only superior; it is normal. This was Paul’s experience.
Nevertheless, the majority of the believers do not know and experience the cross in this way. The Lord may need two weeks to cut down a tree in some believers, and this would be considered quite fast. Other believers may not let Him cut down a tree even after a year. A brother may allow Him to cut only a branch, and after the branch has been cut, he will give a testimony in the meeting, and the other saints will praise and thank the Lord, thinking that he has received light. However, the truth is that four other branches have grown during this time! The saints do not have much growth in life, because the Lord can cut only one branch at a time and one tree at a time. Although this is right, it is slow. We must ask God to grant us much light, light with exploding power, so that we may know and experience the cross in a definite and quick way.
Christians follow one of these two ways of knowing and experiencing the cross. Even though these ways differ in their sequence, the pathway is actually the same. One begins from the larger end, and the other begins from the smaller end. The one that begins from the larger end is normal, solid, and quick. The one that begins from the smaller end is correct, but it is weak and slow. The saints who know and experience the cross in the second way think that the second way is solid and practical. They even teach others to know and experience the cross in this way. They encourage others to pray and wait for the Spirit to touch their problems and then to deal with what the Spirit touches. This way of knowing and experiencing the cross may be practical, but it is too slow.
Since the Lord’s light enables us to know and experience the cross in a definite and quick way, why would we not seek the shining of this light? I do not deny or negate the gradual way of knowing and experiencing the cross. This way has its place. Those who know and experience the cross gradually obey the feeling that the anointing gives them. If the Spirit gives them a sense concerning movies, they deal with movies, and if He gives them a sense concerning clothing, they deal with clothing. Whatever He touches in their inner being is what they deal with. If the brothers and sisters among us practice this, they are doing something commendable, and they will advance. If there are brothers and sisters doing this in a certain locality, that church will be beautiful, because these saints are living in fellowship with the Lord, experiencing the moving of the Spirit, and dealing with matters one by one according to the teaching of the anointing. This is precious. However, this way is slow. There is another way, a faster way, in which we receive the shining of intense light that subdues everything instantly. We should treasure and seek this way.
May the Lord in His mercy show us that if we begin from the smaller end, we will have to deal with matters one by one before we see the great light, but if we begin from the larger end, we will see a great light and many things will be terminated by the shining of the light. Some portions of the Scriptures refer to the seeing that begins at the larger end, and some portions refer to the dealings that begin at the smaller end. Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ.” This refers to the seeing at the larger end. Romans 8:13 tells us to “put to death the practices of the body.” This refers to the dealing at the smaller end. These two verses seem to speak of two different experiences of the cross, but they are on the same pathway of knowing and experiencing the cross. Our vision should be great and complete, and our dealings should be small and gradual. The pathway that begins with a great and complete vision is solid and fast, and the pathway that begins with small, step-by-step dealings is weaker and slower.
We should walk on the pathway of knowing and experiencing the cross, but we should begin from the larger end. We should experience the cross gradually, but we should begin with a full knowledge of the cross. We should not be content with what we know or have experienced, nor should we be satisfied with beginning from the smaller end. Rather, we should aspire and seek after the better beginning, that is, to see the great and complete light of the cross and then let this light lead us on the way of the cross.
We may feel that we have seen the great light of the cross, but we should not be too confident or satisfied, because our feeling may not be accurate, and what we have seen may not be complete or solid. Hence, we need to seek with a humble heart and a deep aspiration. Our knowledge and experience of the cross can never be too deep or too solid. Even if we have some amount of knowledge and experience of the cross, there is much more for us to know and experience. We need to be humble, and we also need the Lord to create a deeper hunger and a more pressing desire in us.
We should not be satisfied with the gradual knowledge and experience of the cross, nor should we despise it. The accumulation of gradual knowledge and experience will lead us to see the great light. If we are faithful in every step of knowing and experiencing the cross, the light that we see will increase. Many people know and experience the cross according to the gradual way. They begin with limited knowledge and experience but continue step by step to a fuller knowledge and experience of the cross. Even fragments of knowledge and experience are precious. However, we must beware of being content with our knowledge and experience of the cross, because this contentment will hinder us from seeing greater light.
Those who follow the second way of knowing and experiencing the cross should not be self-satisfied or content. They should realize that there is more to know and experience of the cross. Furthermore, those who follow the first way of knowing and experiencing the cross should not despise the saints in the second way. The second way still comes from the Lord through the Spirit, and those in this way will eventually see a great and solid light.
A person’s knowledge and experience of the cross can even reflect both ways. For example, some believers seem to begin in the second way, but their knowledge and experience quickly change in their intensity, becoming like the first way. Both ways require spiritual revelation and sight. Our knowledge of the cross depends on the revelation that we have received, and our experience of the cross equally depends on how much we have seen. We must seek revelation and pursue vision. If we have revelation and vision, we need to be faithful to pay the price to obey. Whatever the Spirit touches needs to be condemned, and we must deal with it. We should forsake whatever needs to be forsaken. If we are not willing to obey, we will have very little genuine knowledge and experience of the cross. May the Lord be merciful to us!
