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Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:9-10; 2 Cor. 4:10-12a; Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20a; 5:24; Rom. 8:13b; Matt. 16:24; Rom. 8:6b; Gal. 5:16, 25; Rom. 8:4b; 1 Cor. 15:36; John 12:24
In this chapter we want to see the Spirit’s application of Christ’s death and its effectiveness. This is very mysterious, but it is definitely revealed in the Bible. Christ, the person, and His death and resurrection are one entity. This is logical, but it is not easy to understand. Why is it that Christ’s resurrection and His death are one with Himself?
If we had only Christ without His death and resurrection, we would have a Christ without a way of application. Christ’s riches, Christ’s contents, are altogether wrapped up with His death and resurrection. We saw in the previous chapter that Christ, His death, and His resurrection are compounded together in the Spirit. This compounding makes Christ, His death, and His resurrection one entity.
In order to see the great importance of the compound Spirit and of its application, we need to see the major items in the history of the universe. In the universe first there was God, the Triune God. Even in eternity past God was triune. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit coexist eternally. The Bible shows that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one God and that They are eternally coexistent.
The eternal Triune God created the universe, but the universe was altogether outside of God. God still remained by Himself in His divinity. God and the universe were fully separated. God was in the universe, but God stood alone, by Himself, leaving His universe also alone by itself.
Then God created man. Man was made in God’s image and according to God’s form (Gen. 1:26). After creating man, however, God still existed apart from the universe and from man. Even though man was bearing His image and form, God still existed by Himself. God and man were separate. Man lived apart from God, and man was not united with God.
About four thousand years after the creation of man, God became a man. He was conceived in the womb of a virgin. Conceiving is a mingling, a blending. About two thousand years ago the unique God, who had been existing for a long time, came into man. That was the incarnation. Incarnation brought divinity into humanity. Through incarnation the Triune God was not only united with man but also blended with man. The issue of this blending is a man in the universe who is the mingling of God with man, and His name is Jesus. Jesus is the complete God and the perfect man. He is God and man mingled together. God, in Christ, is mingled with man.
The first item in the history of the universe is God, the second item is the created universe, and the third item is man. The fourth item is the mingling of the first and the third items. Jesus Christ is the mingling of God and man. The Bible in Isaiah 9:6 says that He is wonderful. This verse also says that a child is born to us and a Son is given to us, yet His name is called Eternal Father. Isaiah 7:14 says that a virgin will conceive and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. These verses show that the Son is the Father and that the child is God. Immanuel means “God with us.” Jesus is God with us. He is God, and He is also God incarnated to dwell among us.
This One is God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — and this One is also a man. This man is wonderful in what He is, wonderful in His being. Jesus is a wonder in the universe because He is God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, and also a man. Is He not a wonder? He is the fourth major item in the history of the universe.
The fifth item is Christ’s death. His death was a joint venture. God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, and man were all involved in the death of Christ. They all were joined in a joint venture to accomplish redemption. There is a group of stars in the universe in the form of a cross, which is called the Southern Cross. Jessie Penn-Lewis, in her speaking about the cross of Christ, referred to this group of stars. This shows that Christ’s death is a great thing in the universe.
The sixth major item in the history of the universe is the resurrection of Christ. The principle of resurrection is involved with all kinds of living things. In the book of Isaiah the kingly family of David is likened to a big tree. One day this big tree was cut down to the very root. Only a short stump was left. Isaiah 11:1 says, “Then a sprout will come forth from the stump of Jesse, / And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.” Christ as a sprout came out of the stump of Jesse. This sprout eventually became a branch. Here we can see the principle of resurrection. Christ’s coming was the resurrection of the kingly family of David. The principle of resurrection can also be seen in nature. When a seed is sown into the earth, it dies and then it rises up. This is resurrection. The New Testament tells us that Christ rose up from the dead.
The seventh major item in the history of the universe is that in and through His resurrection, Christ became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). We have seen in the previous chapter that the life-giving Spirit is a compound, as typified by the compound ointment in Exodus 30:23-25. The life-giving Spirit has been compounded with God as the base, typified by the one hin of olive oil, and with man, typified by the four spices. This all-inclusive Spirit is also compounded with all the elements of the process through which God has passed. In this compound there is the death of Christ, signified by myrrh, and the resurrection of Christ, signified by calamus. There is also the effectiveness of the death of Christ, signified by cinnamon, and the repelling power of the resurrection of Christ, signified by cassia.
The one hin of oil and the three units of five hundred shekels among the spices signify the unique Triune God. The second unit is split into two, signifying that the second of the Divine Trinity was split on the cross. In the compound Spirit we have God, the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and the uplifted man. In the compound Spirit we also have Christ’s death, the effectiveness of Christ’s death, Christ’s resurrection, and the repelling power of Christ’s resurrection. The compound Spirit is the totality of all these items. God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, the uplifted man, the death of Christ, the effectiveness of His death, the resurrection of Christ, and the power of His resurrection are compounded together, blended together, to be the compound life-giving Spirit.
Today where is God? We have to say, “In the Spirit.” Where is the Father? “In the Spirit.” Where is the Son? “In the Spirit.” Where is the Spirit? “In the Spirit.” Where is the uplifted man? “In the Spirit.” Where is the death of Christ? “In the Spirit.” Where is the effectiveness of the death of Christ? “In the Spirit.” Where is the resurrection of Christ? “In the Spirit.” Where is the power of the resurrection of Christ? “In the Spirit.” Thus, if we have the Spirit, we have everything.
When we have some sensation that God is with us, we are sensing the Spirit. When the husbands are about to argue with their wives, they may experience something within urging them to stop. At that juncture they are sensing that the Spirit is there with the death of Christ. Without the Spirit we cannot experience the death of Christ, because His death is in the Spirit.
We need to realize that without the Spirit, we cannot experience anything of God in His economy. No Spirit, no God the Father. No Spirit, no God the Son. No Spirit, no God the Spirit. No Spirit, no uplifted, glorified man. No Spirit, no death of Christ. No Spirit, no effectiveness of the death of Christ. Without the Spirit, the death of Christ is far away from us in time and space. But with the Spirit, Christ’s death is here to kill us, to crucify our old man. No Spirit, no resurrection. No Spirit, no salvation. No Spirit, no regeneration. No Spirit, no renewing. No Spirit, no sanctification. No Spirit, no transformation. No Spirit, no conformation. No Spirit, no glorification. Every positive thing in the universe in the economy of God is compounded in this Spirit. Today we can see, by God’s enlightenment, the all-inclusiveness of the Spirit.
The Spirit is the totality of God, of the Triune God, of the uplifted man, of the death of Christ, of the effectiveness of this death, of the resurrection of Christ, and of the power of this resurrection. This is why the New Testament charges us to live by the Spirit, to walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25), and to do everything according to the spirit (Rom. 8:4). The only way to exalt Christ, express Christ, manifest Christ, and live Christ is to live, to walk, and to do things according to the spirit. If we love others in ourselves, we exalt ourselves. But if Christ loves others in us and through us, He is exalted.
John Wesley thought that holiness was sinless perfection, but according to the principle of the Bible, even if we could arrive at sinless perfection, that would not exalt Christ but ourselves. That would not express Christ but ourselves. To live by the Spirit, walk by the Spirit, and do things according to the spirit is to live Christ, to magnify Christ, to manifest Christ, to express Christ, to exalt Christ, and to glorify Christ.
In the compound Spirit, we experience the killing of Christ’s death. When we live and walk by the Spirit, the Spirit becomes a killing to our soul, our natural man, and our body with its practices. The Spirit is an all-inclusive dose that both nourishes us and kills the negative things in our being. Even the physical food that we eat nourishes us and helps to kill the germs in our being. Today the pneumatic Christ, the all-inclusive Spirit, is our life, light, food, drink, and air so that we can be spiritually nourished and so that the negative things within us can be killed. We have to eat, drink, and breathe in the pneumatic Christ, who today is the life-giving, compound Spirit. I would consider the life-giving Spirit as the seventh major item in the history of the universe.
The eighth item is the church, and the ninth item is the New Jerusalem. The issue of our enjoyment of the compound Spirit first is the church and consummately will be the New Jerusalem. These nine items are the real history of the universe.
Now we want to see the Spirit’s application of Christ’s death and its effectiveness. Christ’s death and its effectiveness, with which the Spirit has been compounded, become prevailing in the Spirit. If Christ’s death were not in the Spirit, His death could not be prevailing. If we enjoy and experience the Spirit, His death becomes prevailing in us. The death of Christ is in the Spirit.
The compounded Spirit dwells in our spirit to dispense Christ’s death and its effectiveness from our spirit to our soul and even to our mortal body (Rom. 8:6, 9-10). This dispensing is the anointing (1 John 2:20, 27), and the anointing is the moving of the indwelling Spirit. Those Christians who love the Lord and maintain fellowship with the Lord have the feeling and sensation that something always is moving within them. That moving is the anointing, and that anointing is the dispensing of the Triune God, of the death of Christ, and of the resurrection of Christ. That dispensing comprises all these elements: divinity, Christ’s humanity, Christ’s death, the effectiveness of His death, Christ’s resurrection, and the power of His resurrection.
When we are under this dispensing, our natural life is killed, and our flesh is crucified. It is under this dispensing, this anointing, this moving of the indwelling Spirit, that we experience the death of Christ. When we are about to lose our temper, we may stop ourselves and go to pray. After our prayer, our anger is over. This is because our prayer activates the moving of the indwelling Spirit, and within this moving there is the killing power.
The putting to death of Jesus in our environment cooperates with the indwelling Spirit to kill our natural man (our outer man), comprising our body and our soul. This is mentioned emphatically in 2 Corinthians 4:10-12. Paul says that he was bearing about in his body the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus might be manifested in his body.
We have the indwelling Spirit within us, but because we are sometimes stiff-necked and stubborn, God raises up the environment to deal with us. The entire situation of our living rises up against us to help the indwelling Spirit. The indwelling Spirit works to kill us. The Spirit is the Killer, but He needs an instrument, a “knife,” to kill us. The “knife” may be a brother’s wife, his children, or certain brothers and sisters in the church. A certain saint can become a “knife” which the Spirit uses to kill us.
We all like to have a nice environment, with everything smooth, peaceful, sweet, and nice. When people ask us, “How are you?” We always say, “Fine.” Many times when we say this, however, we are lying. If we were fully honest, we would respond by saying, “Not so good.” This is because we are under an environment of sufferings and pressures that works with the Spirit to kill our natural man. Brother Nee referred to this kind of environment as the discipline of the Holy Spirit. The putting to death, the killing, in 2 Corinthians 4 is through the environment. In speaking about the application of Christ’s death, Romans 8 refers to the indwelling Spirit, and 2 Corinthians 4 refers to the outward environment. The outward environment cooperates with the inward Spirit to carry out the killing of our natural man.
Second Corinthians 4:16 says, “Our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” The word decaying means “being consumed, being wasted away, being worn out.” According to the Chinese translation of the Bible, it can also mean “being destroyed.” As our outer man is being consumed by the killing work of death, our inner man is being renewed with the fresh supply of the resurrection life.
We should cooperate with the operating Spirit and accept the environment in our spirit, soul, and body. In every part of our being, we must be willing to cooperate with the indwelling Spirit and to accept the outward environment. Then we are acting under the killing of Christ. This killing is carried out by the indwelling Spirit with the environment as the killing weapon.
In order to cooperate with the operating Spirit and accept the outward environment, we need to recognize that we have been crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20a). We also need to crucify our flesh with its passions and its lusts (5:24). In one sense we cannot crucify ourselves. But in another sense we can crucify our flesh with its passions and lusts because we have the new man. The new man crucifies the flesh. This is why we need to exercise our spirit, the new man, to crucify our flesh, our outer man.
We also need to put to death, by the Spirit, the practices of our body (Rom. 8:13b). To put to death means to kill. We need to kill the practices of our body. Whatever our body of sin does, needs to be killed. To gossip on the telephone is a practice of the body that needs to be killed.
We need to bear the cross, that is, to remain in the crucifixion of Christ (Matt. 16:24). We should not depart from the crucifixion. We have to stay in the crucifixion, to bear the cross. We also need to stay in our spirit and to live by and walk according to the spirit — the mingled spirit (Rom. 8:6b; Gal. 5:16, 25; Rom. 8:4b).
Such an experience of the death of Christ brings in His resurrection — if there is no death, there is no life. In 1 Corinthians 15:36 Paul says, “What you sow is not made alive unless it dies.” The Lord’s word in John 12:24 reveals this principle. The grain of wheat needs to die. Otherwise, it cannot be multiplied. Romans 8:13 also implies this principle. This verse says that if by the Spirit we put to death the practices of our body, we will live. This is the resurrection brought in by our experience of Christ’s death. Second Corinthians 4:10-11 shows that the killing of the cross results in the manifestation of the resurrection life. This daily killing is for the release of the divine life in resurrection.
We should not forget that if there is no death, there is no life. The death of Christ is in the compound Spirit. The Spirit is the application of the death of Christ and its effectiveness. What is the Christian life? The Christian life is a life that is all the time under the killing by the compound Spirit. If there is no killing, there is no life. In everything we do, we need to be killed. In our shopping, in the way that we cut our hair, and in our home we need to be killed in our natural man.
In the church life we cannot avoid being killed. Every saint in the church is a “knife” to kill our outer man. The longer we stay in the church, the more we experience the killing, the working of death, the working of the cross. We need to remain under the killing, the working of death, the working of the cross, that we may live in resurrection. This is glorious. Even this is our happiness, our joy. We need to experience the Lord’s killing, His putting to death, every day. Then we will daily have the victory and joy in Christ’s resurrection.
