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Romans 6:3-5 says, “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. For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection.” Galatians 3:27 says, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” First Corinthians 11:23 says, “I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread.” Verse 26 says, “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you declare the Lord’s death until He comes.”
We all know that the reality of all spiritual things is Christ. The essence of a Christian is Christ, and the essence of the church is Christ. Without Christ there are no Christians; without Christ there is no church. We have to understand this word in a very deep and subjective way. Never think that the church is something produced outside of Christ. The essence of the church is Christ Himself. The church is not merely produced out of Christ; neither does it merely come into being through Christ. Rather, the church itself — the very essence of the church — is Christ. Whether we speak of a Christian himself or of the church, the essence is just Christ. If Christ is not in someone, that one is not a Christian; if Christ is not in a group of people, they are not the church.
Colossians tells us that Christ is all and in all (3:11). Speaking of Christians, we may say that Christians are Christ; speaking of the church, we may say that the church also is Christ. Christ lives in the Christians, and Christ also lives in the church. Moreover, all the Christians’ experiences, and all the church’s experiences as well, are experiences of Christ Himself. Christ Himself is the Christians’ experience, and Christ Himself is also the church’s experience. Neither the church nor any Christian can have a spiritual experience apart from Christ. Apart from Christ a Christian is devoid of spiritual experiences; apart from Christ the church is also devoid of spiritual experiences. All the experiences of Christians and of the church are not only in Christ but also are Christ Himself. All spiritual experiences are just Christ Himself. If we do not touch or experience Christ, we will not gain Him, and our experience cannot be counted as a spiritual experience.
I hope that we all would grasp this principle firmly. Whether speaking of believing in the Lord, baptism, breaking bread, reading the Bible, praying, preaching the gospel, edifying the believers, serving, worshipping, or any other spiritual experience, the experience itself must be Christ. If we do not touch Christ in our prayer, our prayer cannot be counted as a spiritual experience. If we do not touch or contact Christ in our Bible reading, then our reading of the Bible is at the most the reading of religious scriptures; it is without any spiritual experience. In the same principle, if we do not touch or contact Christ in every spiritual matter, we are merely touching empty things without touching the spiritual reality, because the spiritual reality is just Christ Himself. It is only when we touch Christ in everything that we can have the spiritual reality. Christ Himself is the spiritual reality.
What does it mean to believe in the Lord? In the countryside of mainland China many Christians refer to “believing in a doctrine” instead of “believing in the Lord” and speak of “listening to doctrines” instead of “meeting together.” However, a Christian’s experience should be a matter of touching Christ. To be a Christian is not to believe doctrines but to believe in the Lord, to touch the Lord, to receive the Lord, and to contact the Lord by faith. It is not a matter of religion or doctrine but a matter of Christ Himself. If a person merely believes doctrines without touching Christ inwardly, he is at most a follower of the Christian religion; in God’s eyes he is still not a Christian, a Christ-man. He has doctrines but not Christ. He understands the doctrines with his mind, but he does not have Christ in his spirit. He does not have any contact with Christ and has not touched Christ; thus, he is not a Christian.
Hence, being saved by believing in the Lord is absolutely different from “joining Christianity.” A truly saved one is a constituent of the church; this is different from joining Christianity. Many who have joined Christianity have not received the Lord. They have received a religion without receiving the living Savior. They have joined Christianity, but Christ has not been joined to them. They are in Christianity, but Christ is not in them. They have a relationship with Christianity, but Christ does not have a relationship with them. They have Christianity, but they do not have Christ. They belong to Christianity, but they do not belong to Christ. All they have received is merely Christianity. As such, they have believed and received the doctrines concerning Christ, but they have not received the Lord. They understand and believe many doctrines, which are a matter of the mind and the intellect, but they have not received and do not possess the Lord in their spirit.
If someone tells us about the doctrine of an orange, this doctrine will only enter into our mind, but the vitamins of the orange will not enter into our stomach because our mind can receive only the concept of the orange, not the orange itself. We must use our mouth to eat the orange. In the same way, our mind can study the doctrines concerning Christ, but our mind cannot receive Christ Himself. In order to receive Christ, we must use our spirit. The Lord Christ is the Spirit, and His essence is Spirit. If we want to contact and receive Him, we cannot use our mind to merely think about Him. We have to receive Him with our spirit. No matter how much we understand an orange with our mind, the orange cannot enter into our stomach; likewise, no matter how much we understand Christ, Christ cannot enter into us. Only when we use our spirit and open our spirit to receive Christ will He enter into us. He has to pass through our mind, emotion, and will and enter into our innermost part — our spirit. To believe in the Lord is to have Christ enter into our spirit.
I hope that all the saved ones among us would realize that to believe in the Lord is to open our spirit to receive the Lord into us. Formerly, our spirit and our heart were empty; we were without God and without Christ. However, one day, from our innermost part, we opened our spirit from deep within to receive Christ. From that day on, we had something added into us — Christ Himself. In this way we were saved. After being saved, we are no longer one person. We are two yet one. Formerly, it was only we ourselves, but now we have Christ in us. The two — He and we — have become one. This is to believe in the Lord.
What is baptism? Baptism is not a ceremony for joining the church. A certain book containing questions and answers about the church tells people that baptism is a ceremony for joining the church. This kind of speaking has a “Babylonian” flavor and is from the spirit of error in man. This word is absolutely not from the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, “One faith, one baptism” (Eph. 4:5). Baptism is not a ritual. What then is baptism? Some people say that through baptism we are immersed into Christ’s death. Although this is not wrong, there is a prerequisite to being immersed into Christ’s death.
Many people when reading Romans 6 always miss one phrase. They read that they have been baptized into Christ’s death and that they have been buried with Him, but they miss the phrase baptized into Christ Jesus. Verse 3 says, “Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?” How can we be baptized into Christ’s death? Only those who have been baptized into Christ can be baptized into His death. Thus, to be baptized is to be immersed into Christ. Because we have been baptized into Christ, we are in Christ and are identified with Christ. Hence, when Christ died, we also died.
For example, suppose a store called Huang’s is one million dollars in debt, but because I do not know it, I buy its stock and become a shareholder. Two months later, someone comes to me and asks me to pay the debt. I tell him, “I do not owe you anything.” Then he asks me, “Are you a shareholder of Huang’s?” I reply, “Yes.” Then he says, “Because you are a shareholder of Huang’s, its debt is your debt.” Since I have become a shareholder of Huang’s, its mistake becomes my mistake, and its debt becomes my debt. In the same principle, when we were baptized, we were baptized into Christ. Hence, when Christ died, we also died, and when Christ was resurrected, we also were resurrected.
In baptism we are baptized into Christ. What is baptism? Baptism is to be immersed into Christ. To believe in the Lord is to receive Christ, and when we open our heart to receive Christ, this is to believe in the Lord. Through baptism we are immersed into Christ; that is, we are baptized into Christ from our spirit. If a person who enters into the baptistry does not have the faith to commit himself to the Holy Spirit, yet allows himself to be baptized into Christ through the church, his baptism is meaningless and worthless. Baptism is an act of faith, and it is through this act of faith that we are baptized into Christ. It is neither an outward form nor an outward ritual.
Many Christians truly have the presence and working of the Holy Spirit in their baptisms. In their baptisms they are filled with faith. In such a faith they have an outward action — they give themselves to the Holy Spirit through their faith. When they enter into the water, they are baptized into Christ. From that time on, they are baptized into Christ and are in Christ. Christ’s death is their death, Christ’s resurrection is their resurrection, and Christ’s experience is their experience because they have been identified with Christ.
Now we will go on to speak about the second Mary. The first Mary is related to Christ’s birth, and the second Mary is related to Christ’s death. Anyone who wants to let Christ be born in him must be like the first Mary. Who does the first Mary represent? The first Mary represents those who love God to such a degree that they do not care for their own status. The principle of God’s becoming flesh is the giving up of His status. If God had considered Himself to be God, He could not have become flesh and entered into man. The reason that God could become flesh is that He lost His own status. Hence, for one to receive God into him, he must also be one who loses his status. Mary gave up her status of being a virgin and became a pregnant woman. If it were not for one’s love for God, no one would be willing to do this. All those who want Christ to enter into them must likewise lose their status.
The second Mary is related to Christ’s death. Many Christians know of the Lord’s death, but they do not understand the meaning of the Lord’s death. In the New Testament the Lord’s death — or the Lord’s cross — is a big topic. Paul says that he did not determine to know anything except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). Generally, every Christian should know Christ’s death, but to this day very few Christians have really understood it. In the Gospels the Lord told the disciples again and again that He had to suffer death, but none of His disciples heard, understood, or knew what He was saying. Immediately after the Lord told the disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem to suffer death and be crucified, the disciples turned around and had a contention as to which one among them would be the greatest.
The mother of the sons of Zebedee came with her two sons to ask the Lord Jesus for one thing — that her two sons would sit, one on His right and one on His left, in His kingdom. This was the disciples’ response after hearing of the Lord’s death. Then the Lord asked them, “Are you able to drink the cup which I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?...But to sit on My right or on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared” (Mark 10:38, 40). The baptism with which the Lord was baptized refers to His death, and the cup which He drank refers to the shedding of His blood. The Lord Jesus told the disciples so many things, but they did not understand. Why were they unable to understand? It was because they loved vainglory, position, reputation, and themselves instead of the Lord. It is impossible for one who loves himself to know the Lord’s death.
Among the many disciples of the Lord was one — Mary of Bethany. This sister was different from the other disciples. The other disciples loved not the Lord but themselves; this sister loved not herself but the Lord. Thus, while the other disciples could not understand the things the Lord said, she could. While no one heard the Lord’s speaking concerning His death, she did. Others did not know the time, but she knew that a few days later the Lord would be delivered to sinners and would die, so she grasped the opportunity to pour ointment on the Lord. Judas, the disciple who loved money, rebuked her, saying, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” (John 12:5). This kind of person cannot know the Lord. If a person always haggles over money and is calculating in material things, his love will be reduced to nothing by his calculating. Such a one cannot know the Lord. Mary loved the Lord to such an extent that she did not keep accounts. If there are accounts, there is no love. When there is real love, there is no accounting.
In the entire New Testament only Judas knew accounting. Was Mary confused? No, it was Judas who was confused. A few days later when Judas was betraying the Lord Jesus, he bargained and asked for thirty pieces of silver. He must have been influenced by his accounting on that day. Many times when a person is too clear and is too good in calculating, he is unable to know Christ’s death because he does not know the preciousness and sweetness in Christ’s death. Neither does he know how great a salvation or how glorious a release there is in Christ’s death. Because he does not know Christ’s death, he does not appreciate it.
However, the Lord testified for this sister, Mary, telling the disciples to leave her alone because she had done a noble deed to Him. The Lord said that they always had the poor with them, and whenever they wanted to they could do good deeds for them, but they would not always have Him. What she had done for the Lord was not a waste. Moreover, the Lord told the disciples, “Wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done shall also be told as a memorial of her” (Mark 14:6-9). This may be considered the second gospel, which is preached simultaneously with the Lord’s dying love. The first gospel is that the Lord Jesus died for us, and the second gospel is that we know and comprehend His death.
Those who do not love the Lord cannot have the experience of Romans 6. The experience in Romans 6 is the experience of dying with Christ. Mary was the only one among the disciples who was conformed to the Lord’s death in the experience of dying with Him. Among so many followers, only Mary knew, appreciated, experienced, and had a foretaste of the Lord’s death. Why was this the case? It was because she was Mary, and the meaning of Mary is to love the Lord. Only those who love the Lord will allow the Lord to be born in them, only those who love the Lord can know the Lord’s death, and only those who love the Lord can know the Lord’s resurrection.
The one who experienced the Lord’s resurrection was also a Mary. Many people followed the Lord but did not love the Lord. After they saw that the Lord had died and was buried, they all went home. However, there was one among them, Mary, who came early to the tomb while it was yet dark on the day of the Lord Jesus’ resurrection. Did she not know that the Lord was in the tomb? Yes, she knew. So why did she still go there? She did so because of her love for the Lord. She thought that even if she could not see the Lord, it would still be sweet to see His tomb. Mary was the first one who discovered that the stone was taken away from the Lord’s tomb. The tombs of the Jews were caves dug out in a hill, and in the caves they put the dead. Mary saw that the stone was taken away from the tomb and ran to the disciples and told them that someone had taken the Lord out of the tomb. Then Peter and John ran to the tomb, but when they saw that the dead body was no longer there, they went back to their own homes. Mary was the only one who stood outside the tomb weeping (John 20:1-11).
A person who really loves the Lord will love Him to such an extent that he would not care for his own status nor count the cost. In fact, love that does not confuse you is not real love. Many saints’ love for the Lord is too clear and calm, and as a result, they do not receive the real light. When the two disciples saw that the Lord was not in the tomb, they went away because they were too calm and too clear. Mary, however, was there weeping. As she wept, both light and revelation came. While she was weeping, she saw two angels, and then she saw Jesus. The Lord asked her why she was weeping. Thinking that He was the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away” (vv. 11-15).
It was at that moment Jesus said to her, “Mary!” Once this voice was expressed, she knew that it was the Lord. When the Lord was on the earth, He had called her with that same voice. The word of the Lord Jesus was so dear and lovely to her. He said, “Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God” (vv. 16-17). In principle, the Lord’s resurrection should not have been seen by anyone, but because Mary was so earnest in her pursuing, the Lord had to appear first to her.
Many Christians quote Romans 9:16, which says, “So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” Many who quote this verse are slothful and loose persons because all those who really know the Lord are determined seekers. Only Mary rose up early while the sky was yet dark. Do not think that this was an easy matter. At that time Jewish girls were supposed to stay home. It would have been very dangerous for her to run to the tomb early in the morning. If something bad had happened to her that day, the brothers would have said that this sister had lost her protection because she had not submitted to authority. God will let only those who love Him know His birth, His death, and His resurrection. Only this kind of person can experience Christ and know Christ. Only a “Mary” can know the Lord’s death and experience the Lord’s resurrection.
