Date: 1940Place: Unrecorded
God's children are those who are joined to Christ. The result of God's salvation is to join men to Christ. If a man is not joined to Christ, salvation counts for nothing, and the Christian life means nothing. Redemption has its basis in Christ's union with man. The most important concept in the Bible is that of union. This union has nothing to do with understanding some doctrines; it has to do with the revelation of the reality of our union with Christ. If a Christian sees this, he will spontaneously become a living person. If he does not see this, he is dead and has no involvement with Christ in life.
The matter of union is revealed throughout the whole Bible. In Genesis Adam and Eve sinned. The Bible says that all have sinned through one man. It does not matter how we have conducted ourselves. When Adam sinned, all of his descendants sinned as well. The veil to the Holy of Holies was embroidered with four living creatures. These four living creatures signify the whole creation, while the veil signifies the body of Christ (Heb. 10:20). This tells us that the whole creation was joined to Christ. When His body was broken (Matt. 27:51; Heb. 10:20), the whole creation went through God's judgment. He accomplished redemption for the whole creation (Heb. 2:9). Leviticus tells us that the offerer had to lay his hand on the offering before it was offered up as a sacrifice. This was a sign of the union of the offering with the offerer. In Joshua 4 the Israelites took twelve stones from the river Jordan when they crossed over. We find reference to the matter of union everywhere in the Bible. Union is a very basic principle. In the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 15 speaks of the first man and the second man. The first man is Adam, and the second man is Christ. The second man is the last man; after Him, there is no third man. This is a fact in the eyes of God. In His eyes there are only two men — Adam and Christ. A person is either in Christ or in Adam.
Consider the insects. One little insect soon propagates itself into dozens of insects. They are identical to the one. If we do not kill the one little insect at the beginning, it will propagate itself into a big colony. Adam was the first "insect." Those who came after him are the descendants of Adam; they are the same as he. When a man is born, his parents give him a name, which is his given name. His family name never changes. His family name is the same as that of his ancestors. Everyone derives his heritage from his ancestors; everyone inherits his life from his ancestors. All the descendants of Adam have inherited the Adamic life of sin.
Since every descendant of Adam has inherited his sinful life, what must God do to save man? He does not save us individually one by one. He does not deal with us as individuals. Rather, He has put us all into Christ. All He had to do was to deal with Christ. God caused Christ to bear our sins, die for us, and resurrect for us. In dealing with Christ, God dealt with us all. There is a pregnant sister from Changchow who once lived in Kulangsu. Later, her child was born in Changchow. Has the baby ever been to Kulangsu? Of course he has. He was in Kulangsu when he was in his mother's womb. Adam and Christ are both originators; we are in either one or the other. Before we were saved, we were in Adam. All of Adam's experiences were our experiences. After we are saved, we were put into Christ. All of Christ's accomplishments have become our experiences. This is the way God deals with us.
Some may ask, "How can we be in Christ? He was crucified two thousand years ago. At that time I was not even born. How can I be in Christ and be crucified with Him?" We can consider the following illustration. When I was a child, my aunt once gave me a ten-dollar bill, and I put it into the pocket of my long gown. When I sent the gown to the cleaner, I forgot to take the money out. By the time I discovered it, the money was ruined from being washed. The one who washed the gown did not have any intention to wash my money, but it was washed when the gown was washed because it was inside the gown. Consider this hymnbook. Suppose I slip a piece of paper into this hymnbook and mail it to Nanking. Where will the piece of paper be? Is it possible for the book to go to Nanking and for the paper to remain here? No. Although I am sending the hymnbook to Nanking, the paper will arrive when the book arrives, because the paper is inside the book. If I throw the hymnbook into the river, the paper will be thrown into the river as well. If I snatch the book out of the water, the paper will be snatched out of the water also. The experience of the hymnbook will be the experience of the paper, because the paper is in the book. If I, Watchman Nee, can put a piece of paper into a book, is God not able to put all of us into Christ? This is something very easy for Him to do. He has put us all into Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). Hence, whatever God has done in Christ has been done in us. When Christ was judged by God, we were all judged as well. When Christ died, we died as well. All the experiences of Christ have become our experiences. This shows us that union is the underlying principle of redemption. Our redemption is based on our union with Christ. We receive all the benefits of salvation by being in Christ and joined to Him.
Before you became a Christian, you felt unhappy and angry when others criticized you. But after you become a Christian, you begin to realize that you are not really that good. Many people try as hard as they can to escape from a sinful living, yet they discover that sin tenaciously holds on to them. How does God deal with this? What is His way of deliverance? His way is not for us to make improvements in ourselves. He has put us in Christ and crucified us in Christ. The way of our deliverance lies in our acknowledgment of what God has done in Christ. We are fully dealt with by being in Christ.
In Genesis God created six categories of creatures: fish, birds, insects, animals, beasts, and man. However, only four creatures represent the whole creation: the man, the lion, the ox, and the eagle. These four living creatures can be seen in the four faces of the cherubim. The cherubim signify the created life. The veil to the Holy of Holies was embroidered with the cherubim. When Christ died, the veil was split. This veil signifies the body of Christ. This means that when Christ died, the whole creation died together with Him. A believer's crucifixion with Christ is not something that he attains by himself. It is a matter of seeing and believing in what God has done. Once we see and believe, it becomes real to us. Unless we see and believe, no amount of mental or psychological exercise will help us. Through seeing our position in Christ and our union with Him, we are delivered from sin. Christ's experience has become our history. When He was dealt with, we were dealt with as well.
In 1927 I saw that I was dead with Christ. Before that time, I had prayed for six years for the Lord to show me the matter of my crucifixion with Him. One day the Holy Spirit's revelation came, and I saw that I was in Christ. When He died, I also died. I saw that my death was a thing of the past rather than a thing of the future. The death of Christ is a fact. My death is also a fact. When He died nineteen hundred years ago, God crucified me at the same time, because I was in Christ when He died. I was overjoyed by this revelation, and I ran downstairs from my room. Seeing a brother, I grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. He was bewildered and asked what had happened to me. I said, "Brother, do you realize that I have died?" He asked, "What do you mean?" I said, "Do you not know that Christ has died? And do you not know that I have died with Him? Do you not know that when He died, I died?" This fact had become such a reality to me! From that time on, I never doubted my crucifixion with Christ. This revelation was the turning point of my Christian life.
Why does a Christian need to be baptized after he has believed in the Lord? Baptism is our confession that we have died with Christ. It speaks of two things. First, it signifies that we are related to Christ. The water of baptism symbolizes Christ. Being baptized means God has put us into Christ. When others are baptized, it is as if God is putting them into Christ. Second, it speaks of our crucifixion with Him. The water of baptism symbolizes the grave. Being baptized means that God has put us into the grave. When a person is baptized, it is as if God is putting him into the grave. On the one hand, he becomes related to Christ; he is put into Christ and becomes a new man in Him. On the other hand, his old man has died; it is buried and terminated.
When Westerners drink tea, they like to add sugar to the tea. One day I was with a brother. As we were drinking tea, I put sugar into the tea and stirred it. After a few minutes I asked the brother, "Can you tell me where the sugar is now, and where is the tea?" He said, "No, you have mixed the two together, and they cannot be separated." We can say that the sugar has been "baptized" into the tea. The sugar is no longer merely inside the tea, with the sugar remaining as sugar and the tea remaining as tea. The sugar and the tea have become inseparable; the two have become one. God did not put us into Christ at the time we were baptized. No! Baptism is merely a reenactment of what happened two thousand years ago. Christ's crucifixion on the cross two thousand years ago is a fact. In the same way, our being in Christ and our crucifixion with Him are also facts. Our baptism is a reenactment of the fact which happened two thousand years ago. God has accomplished this fact, and it cannot be overturned. Baptism is our identification, our union, with Christ. Moreover, it is not performed merely in reference to something of the past, but to something of the present. We are crucified with Christ. Not only has our well-deserved punishment of sin been executed in Christ, but our very self has been dealt with as well. Baptism is our answer to God's accomplishment. We acknowledge that we have died and that we are crucified with Christ. In God's eyes when Christ died on the cross, we were crucified with Him as well. Our baptism is a testimony to this fact.
If you are not dead and someone buries you in the ground, you will surely struggle. You would not allow him to bury you. Burial is the consequence of death. Only dead men can be buried; those who are alive can never be buried. If you are not joined to Christ, you have no share in what Christ accomplished on the cross. You cannot be forgiven, justified, sanctified, or regenerated. But now that you are joined to Christ, His accomplishments become your experiences. Today you are being baptized. You have to see that God has put you into Christ, and He has dealt with Christ. When Christ went to the cross, He took the whole creation with Him. His death includes you and me. When you are baptized, you are testifying to the fact that you have died in the death of Christ. You have died with Christ, and therefore you are being buried in the water of baptism. "Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:3-4).
