Search
I. In His becoming the flesh — John 1:14:
А. He became the embodiment of the Triune God — v. 14:
1. Bringing God to man.
2. Making God contactable, touchable, receivable, experienceable, enterable, and enjoyable.
B. He became a God-man:
1. Bringing divinity into humanity.
2. Mingling divinity with humanity.
C. As a prototype for the mass reproduction of many God-men.
II. In His human living:
А. He lived a human life:
1. Not by His human life.
2. But by His divine life.
3. To express the divine attributes in His human virtues.
B. As the model of the human living of His mass reproduction of the many God-men.
III. In His all-problems-solving death:
А. He became the flesh of sin (only in its likeness) — Rom. 8:3:
1. Being made sin and condemning sin in the flesh — 2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 8:3.
2. Being the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world — John 1:29.
B. He became a serpent (only in its likeness as the bronze serpent — Num. 21:4-9) — John 3:14:
1. Destroying the devil, who has the might of death — Heb. 2:14.
2. To judge the world, which is the system, the cosmos, of the devil, its ruler — John 12:31.
C. He became the end of the old man:
1. Crucifying the old man — Rom. 6:6.
2. Terminating the old creation.
D. He became the Peacemaker — Eph. 2:14-16:
1. Abolishing the law of the commandments in ordinances that separate men from one another.
2. Reconciling men to God, thus making peace.
E. He became the grain of wheat — John 12:24:
1. Falling into the earth and dying to break the shell of His humanity.
2. To release the divine life for the producing of many grains to constitute His organic Body.
3. Christ as the one grain became the many grains, and the many grains are the sons of God.
IV. In His all-conquering resurrection:
А. He uplifted His humanity for Him to be begotten of God as God’s firstborn Son — Acts 13:33; Rom. 8:29.
B. He became, by God the Father’s regeneration, the many sons of God as His many brothers — 1 Pet. 1:3; Rom. 8:29.
C. He, as the last Adam, became the life-giving Spirit, the pneumatic Christ, the all-inclusive compounded Spirit, as the consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God — 1 Cor. 15:45b; Exo. 30:23-25.
V. In His all-transcending ascension:
А. He became:
1. The Head of all things to be the Head of the Body — Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18.
2. The Lord and Christ — Acts 2:36.
3. Leader (of all the kings) and Savior — 5:31.
4. Our High Priest in God’s New Testament economy — Heb. 4:14; 7:26; 9:11.
5. The Mediator of the new covenant — v. 15.
6. The surety of the better covenant — 7:22.
7. The Paraclete (Advocate) of the New Testament believers — 1 John 2:1; John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7.
8. The New Testament believers’ Intercessor at the right hand of God and within them as well — 26, Rom. 8:34.
9. The heavenly Minister — Heb. 8:2.
B. For the accomplishment of God’s eternal economy.
I am looking to the Lord that this outline with this short fellowship can be a controlling vision to us for our direction and goal until He comes back. We want to see the most marvelous, excellent, mysterious, and all-inclusive transformations of the eternal and Triune God in His becoming a man. God is complete, perfect, and unchanging, but He has had many transformations. In my youth I was taught that the Lord Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). But after I got into the intrinsic depths of the Scriptures, I found out that merely to say this is not adequate in the interpretation of the deep mysteries concerning Christ, because the Bible shows that God has been transformed. God became a man. Is this not a transformation? All His transformations are marvelous, excellent, mysterious, and all-inclusive.
The Triune God became a God-man, bringing divinity into humanity and mingling divinity with humanity as a prototype for the mass reproduction of many God-men. He became the embodiment of the Triune God (John 1:14), bringing God to man and making God contactable, touchable, receivable, experienceable, enterable, and enjoyable. The very God who was in eternity became, through transformation, the very embodiment of the Triune God, which is typified by the tabernacle, a solid entity for people to contact, to touch, to receive, to experience, to enter into, and to enjoy.
He could not have lived a human life unless He had been transformed into a man. He lived a human life, yet He lived not by His human life but by His divine life to express the divine attributes in His human virtues. Such a living is the model of the human living of His mass reproduction of the many God-men (1 Pet. 2:21). He was not only the prototype for the mass reproduction of Himself; He was also a model, an example, for His mass reproduction of the many God-men to repeat His living, to be “Xerox copies” of His human living.
His death was not merely the all-inclusive death. It is more definite to say that His death was the all-problems-solving death.
To accomplish such a death, He became the flesh of sin (but only in its likeness — Rom. 8:3). He had the likeness of the flesh of sin, but within Him there is no sin (1 John 3:5). It was by this that He was made sin (2 Cor. 5:21) and condemned sin in the flesh (Rom. 8:3). The flesh, with sin in it, was condemned, judged, by God. He was the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world (John 1:29). We need to pay our full attention to this. He was God. First, He became a man. Second, He became the embodiment of God, which was the real tabernacle. Then He became the Lamb.
In His becoming a man, He also became a serpent (only in its likeness as the bronze serpent — Num. 21:4-9; John 3:14). It is difficult to imagine that one day God in His incarnation became a serpent, as typified by the bronze serpent. By becoming a serpent, He destroyed the devil, the ancient serpent (Rev. 12:9; 20:2), who has the might of death (Heb. 2:14), and He judged the world, which is the system (invented by the satanic systematization), the cosmos, of the devil, its ruler (John 12:31).
He also became the end of the old man. As the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45b), He ended the old man. As the end of the old man, He crucified the old man (Rom. 6:6) and terminated the old creation. The old man is the representative, the center, of the old creation, so by destroying the old man He terminated the old creation.
In His all-problems-solving death, He also became the Peacemaker (Eph. 2:14-16). It is not accurate to say that God has never changed. In eternity past He was only God; He was not the Peacemaker. He became the Peacemaker on the cross. He made peace by abolishing the law of the commandments in ordinances, which separate men from one another. Ordinances separate the Jews from the Gentiles. These separating ordinances include the customs and the ways of man’s living and worshipping. All the different tribes, races, and peoples have their different customs and ways of living and worshipping God. The entire world is divided, separated, by these different ways of living and worship. The Chinese have their way of eating with chopsticks, and the Indonesians have their way of eating with their fingers. These different ways are dividers, separators. But on the cross Christ abolished all the ordinances, the different ways of living and worship, that men may have peace with one another, and He reconciled man to God, thus making peace. As a result, we are here as the one new man. In the Lord’s recovery there are people from every inhabited continent. Christ as the Peacemaker accomplished this through His all-problems-solving death.
He also became a grain of wheat (John 12:24). He fell into the earth and died to break the shell of His humanity and to release His divine life for the producing of many grains to constitute His organic Body. Christ as the one grain became the many grains, and the many grains are the many sons of God.
In His all-conquering resurrection He accomplished three main things. First, He uplifted His humanity for Him to be begotten of God as God’s firstborn Son (Acts 13:33; Rom. 8:29). Second, He became, by God the Father’s regeneration, the many sons of God as His many brothers (1 Pet. 1:3; Rom. 8:29). He was born to be the firstborn Son, and He became the many sons of God. The many sons of God are the many brothers of Christ, and the many brothers are the members of Christ. Colossians 3 reveals that every member of the new man is Christ (vv. 10b-11). In the new man, Christ is all the members and in all the members. We became Christ in His resurrection. Thus, we can declare that we are Christ. Third, Christ, as the last Adam, became the life-giving Spirit, the pneumatic Christ, the all-inclusive compounded Spirit, as the consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God (1 Cor. 15:45b; Exo. 30:23-25). These are His transformations.
In His all-transcending ascension He became the Head of all things to be the Head of the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18). He was made the Head of all things that He might be the Head of the Body. He also became the Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), the Leader (of all the kings) and Savior (5:31), our High Priest in God’s New Testament economy (Heb. 4:14; 7:26; 9:11), the Mediator of the new covenant (v. 15), the surety of the better covenant (7:22), the Paraclete (Advocate, Comforter) of the New Testament believers (1 John 2:1; John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7), the New Testament believers’ Intercessor at the right hand of God and within them as well (26, Rom. 8:34), and the heavenly Minister (Heb. 8:2). In eternity past He was not all these items. He became all these items in His all-transcending ascension.
The transformations of the eternal and Triune God in His becoming a man are for the accomplishment of God’s eternal economy. Such a vision should control, direct, and be our goal for our whole life until we see Him. When Brother Watchman Nee and I were young people, we were caught by the Lord. We decided to spend our whole life to study the Bible, to find out what is in this book. What we have seen in the Bible is absolutely different from deformed Christianity. This short chapter with the accompanying outline is the crystallization of my lifelong study of the Bible. Every point is documented by the Bible.
