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Scripture Reading: John 1:14; 1 Cor. 15:45b; John 20:22; Rev. 1:4; 5:6
In the previous chapter we began to consider the three stages of Christ. In this message I have the burden to give a particular and up-to-date message on Christ in the three stages of incarnation, inclusion, and intensification.
If we would know Christ in these three stages, we need to consider the whole Bible. The Old Testament contains many types and prophecies concerning Christ, the Messiah, the coming One. In the New Testament we have the fulfillment of the types and prophecies regarding Christ in the Old Testament. (We have considered these in detail in The Conclusion of the New Testament, Messages 34 through 45.) The whole New Testament is concerned with one person — Christ. The New Testament clearly reveals that as the fulfillment of the types and prophecies in the Old Testament, Christ is a wonderful person in three stages. As the wonderful One, He is deep, mysterious, and very complicated.
Throughout the centuries the New Testament has been read, studied, and investigated by millions of people. I myself have been reading and studying the New Testament for seventy years. My study has been in three stages: the first stage in mainland China, the second stage in Taiwan, and the third stage in the United States. When I was in China, I was greatly helped, even tutored, by Brother Nee. I studied every book of the New Testament and also many different interpretations of the Scriptures. Although I was helped to the uttermost by Brother Nee, my study while I was in China was limited mainly to the first stage of Christ, that is, the stage of Christ in the flesh, Christ in His incarnation.
As the record of the four Gospels indicates, this stage lasted only thirty-three and a half years. This was the time in which the Lord Jesus accomplished God’s redemption judicially. The four Gospels reveal Christ in the flesh as the One who lived a human life on earth and who was then crucified, dying for our sins in order to redeem us back to God. Strictly speaking, this is a matter not of salvation but of judicial redemption.
God’s judicial redemption includes the forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:47), the purification of sins (Heb. 1:3), justification (Rom. 3:24-25), reconciliation to God (5:10a), and positional sanctification (1 Cor. 1:2; Heb. 13:12). In a judicial sense, one who has been forgiven, washed, justified by God, reconciled to God, and sanctified unto God is a saved person.
This judicial redemption is not God’s full salvation. Rather, judicial redemption is simply the initial part, the foundational part, of God’s full salvation; it is the base upon which God’s complete, organic salvation is built.
At this juncture we need to consider the way the four Gospels end. The Gospels end with a record regarding the resurrected Christ who has become the all-inclusive, compound, life-giving Spirit. In the evening of the day of His resurrection, this One came back to His disciples in an altogether mystical way (John 20:19-22). We cannot say that He appeared to them merely in a spiritual way, because He still had a body of flesh and bones. He said to them, “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you behold Me having. And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet” (Luke 24:39-40). The disciples could see the mark of the nails in His hands and touch His body. Although the resurrected Christ had a body of flesh and bones that could be seen and touched, He suddenly appeared to the disciples without coming through a door (John 20:19). He did not knock on the door, and no one opened the door, yet He came and stood in their midst. His coming in this way was actually His appearing, His manifestation (21:1, 14). He appeared suddenly to the disciples, and then He disappeared suddenly. Although the Lord Jesus had a physical body, He suddenly appeared in the room where the doors were shut. His appearing and disappearing at the end of the four Gospels is not merely spiritual; it is mystical, something that no one can explain.
John 20:22 says, “He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” This word indicates that Christ was there with the disciples not only in a physical way but also as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b), as the pneumatic Christ. If He had been present only physically and not as the Spirit, His disciples could not have received Him as the holy pneuma, the holy breath. If the Lord had not come to them as the Spirit, they could have touched His physical body of flesh and bones and they could have embraced Him, but they could not have received Him by breathing Him in. In John 20 the resurrected Christ exhaled, breathing Himself out, and the disciples inhaled, breathing Him in. This indicates strongly that in resurrection He has become the pneumatic Christ, the Christ who is the life-giving Spirit.
In resurrection Christ as the last Adam in the flesh became the life-giving Spirit. This life-giving Spirit is not simple, for this Spirit includes divinity, humanity, death, and resurrection. The Christ who appeared to the disciples in John 20 had four elements as four factors and four qualifications. He was God with the element of divinity, and He was a man with the elements of humanity, death, and resurrection. As the One who had become the life-giving Spirit in resurrection, He had these four factors.
This life-giving Spirit is the all-inclusive, compound Spirit, typified by the compound anointing ointment in Exodus 30:23-25. Now the Spirit is no longer just the Spirit of God, typified by the olive oil, but is the compound Spirit, typified by the ointment formed by compounding a hin of olive oil with four spices — myrrh and cinnamon (signifying Christ’s death with its effectiveness) and calamus and cassia (signifying Christ’s resurrection with its power). As the compounded, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit, He is now an ointment compounded with the four factors of God, man, Christ’s death, and Christ’s resurrection.
The compounding of the Spirit took place when Christ as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit. This becoming was not a simple matter. As we pointed out in the previous chapter, Christ has passed through two becomings. The first becoming was His incarnation: “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14). This becoming was rather simple, for it involved the entering of divinity into humanity and the mingling of divinity with humanity, but it did not include either death or resurrection. Christ’s second becoming was His becoming in resurrection: “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45b). This becoming was quite complicated because it included divinity, humanity, Christ’s death, and Christ’s resurrection.
Christ’s death was itself very complicated. His death was an all-inclusive death. In His all-inclusive death He crucified the flesh of sin (Gal. 5:24; Rom. 8:3b); condemned sin and took away sin and sins by shedding His blood (v. 3b; John 1:29; Heb. 9:26b, 28a; John 19:34b); destroyed the devil, who has the might of death (Heb. 2:14; John 12:31b); judged the world and cast out its ruler (v. 31; Gal. 6:14b); crucified the old man (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20a; 6:14b); terminated the old creation by the crucifixion of the old man (Rom. 6:6); abolished the law of the commandments in ordinances (Eph. 2:15a); and released the divine life (John 12:24; 19:34b). On the one hand, Christ’s death dealt with all the negative things; on the other hand, His death released the divine life. The more we consider this, the more we will realize the complications involved in the Lord’s all-inclusive death.
Christ’s resurrection was also very complicated. His resurrection produced the firstborn Son of God by uplifting the humanity of Christ into His divinity and by having Christ born of God (Acts 13:33; Psa. 2:7), that is, by designating the seed of David (Christ’s human nature) by the Spirit of holiness (the divinity of Christ) in the power of resurrection to be the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 1:3-4). In Christ’s resurrection all of God’s chosen people were regenerated to be the many sons of God and the many brothers of the firstborn Son of God (1 Pet. 1:3; Heb. 2:10; Rom. 8:29). In Christ’s resurrection the Spirit of God was consummated to be the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b): the Spirit of Christ — the pneumatic Christ, the pneumatized Christ (Rom. 8:9); the ultimate consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God, who is embodied in the pneumatized Christ as the life-giving Spirit; and the reality of resurrection, which is Christ Himself and the processed and consummated Triune God (John 11:25; 1 John 5:6). From this we can see that Christ’s resurrection is full of complications.
Because so many complications are involved in Christ’s second becoming, His becoming the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit in resurrection, we may use the word inclusion in speaking of this second stage of Christ. The issue of this becoming was not something simple but something compounded, that is, not just oil signifying the Spirit of God but the ointment signifying the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit who gives life. This Spirit is the pneumatic Christ, the Christ in the second stage — the stage of inclusion.
Whereas it is common for Christians to teach concerning incarnation, very few, if any, teach concerning inclusion. The incarnation issued in the Christ who was in the flesh, but the inclusion has issued in a Christ who has become the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit. We see this compound Spirit in the book of Acts and in the twenty-one Epistles from Romans to Jude.
In the first stage, the stage of Christ in the flesh, Christ produced a group of redeemed persons, such as Peter and all the other disciples. Although a redeemed people had been produced, the church had not yet been produced. The church was produced by Christ in the second stage. In this stage Christ is the pneumatic Christ, the compound, life-giving Spirit who produced the church on the day of Pentecost. The redeemed saints, who were produced by Christ in the flesh, became the church produced by Christ as the life-giving Spirit.
Shortly after the church was produced, it began to become degraded. This is clearly seen in Acts. In chapter 5 Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit; in chapter 6 there was a murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews regarding the daily dispensing; and in chapter 15 there was trouble concerning circumcision. The separation of Barnabas from Paul (vv. 35-39) should also be regarded as a part of the degradation. Eventually, the church degraded to such an extent that the Lord could no longer tolerate it, and He reacted by intensifying Himself sevenfold to become the sevenfold intensified Spirit (Rev. 1:4; 5:6). He became intensified sevenfold to deal with the degradation of the church.
In his Epistles Paul speaks about the Body (Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12, 27; Eph. 1:23; 4:4, 16; Col. 2:19), but I do not believe that Paul saw the actual building up of the Body. Paul could see the church expressed in various localities, but he could not see, in actuality, the church as the Body in a perfect and complete way. In order for the Body to be produced in a full and complete way, there is the need of the third stage of Christ, the stage of intensification in which Christ becomes the sevenfold intensified Spirit.
After Paul died, the Lord waited more than twenty years until John wrote the book of Revelation. Revelation is an Epistle, but it is very different in character from all the other Epistles in the New Testament. In this book Christ, who became the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit, has become the sevenfold intensified Spirit. In Revelation 1:4 the third of the Divine Trinity, the Spirit, becomes the seven Spirits and is ranked as the second of the Divine Trinity.
We have pointed out that in His second stage, the stage of His being the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit, Christ has produced the churches, but not much of the Body was produced and built up in an actual and practical way. For this reason Christ has become the sevenfold intensified Spirit to overcome the degradation of the church that the overcomers may be produced to bring forth the Body.
The issue of Christ in the flesh was a group of redeemed persons, and the issue of Christ as the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit was the churches. For the Body to be produced, there is the need for the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit to be intensified sevenfold. This sevenfold intensification deals with the sevenfold situation of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3.
The Brethren and those who followed their teaching saw something concerning the prophetic significance of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. From their study of these chapters, they discovered that the church is in seven conditions, in seven stages, and in seven periods of time. However, they did not see the matter of overcoming. Jessie Penn-Lewis saw this matter and published a paper called The Overcomer. Although Mrs. Penn-Lewis wrote something concerning the seven churches producing the overcomers, the light she received was not full, and thus she did not see that the overcomers are for the building up of the Body to consummate the New Jerusalem. The stage of incarnation produced a group of redeemed people, and the stage of inclusion produced the church. The stage of intensification will build up the Body to consummate the New Jerusalem.
I am burdened that all the co-workers in the Lord’s recovery would realize that we need to do a work of three sections. We should not only be able to do the work of the first section, the section of incarnation, to produce redeemed people, but we should also be able to do a work that can serve the purpose of the second section, the section of inclusion, to produce churches. Furthermore, we should be able to do a work to build up the Body of Christ consummating the New Jerusalem. This is the work of the stage of intensification.
The first stage — incarnation — is in the physical realm for the accomplishment of judicial redemption, which is a physical matter. The second stage — inclusion — is divine and mystical. In the third stage — intensification — there will be a maturing and a ripening in the divine and mystical realm, and the Body will be built up to consummate the New Jerusalem.
In releasing this message, I am concerned that the co-workers are not carrying out a threefold work: the work in the stage of incarnation, the work in the stage of inclusion, and the work in the stage of intensification. If we are carrying out this threefold work, we will work not only to produce redeemed ones and work to establish churches but will also work to build up the Body consummating the New Jerusalem.
I would ask the co-workers to consider what kind of work they have done in the past and ask themselves if they have been doing a work of three sections. Regarding my own work, I can say that the work which I did in mainland China was mainly to produce redeemed people. Only a small part of my work there was for the producing of churches. This indicates that my work in China was mainly a work in the first stage. However, when I came to Taiwan, I began to do a work in the stage of inclusion, and many churches were raised up. Now I am burdened to carry out a work in the stage of intensification. Therefore, I pray to the Lord, saying, “Lord, I am endeavoring to do my best to be an overcomer for the building up of Your Body to consummate the New Jerusalem.”
I hope that all the co-workers will see the three stages, the three sections, of Christ: incarnation — the stage of Christ in the flesh; inclusion — the stage of Christ as the life-giving Spirit; and intensification — the stage of Christ as the sevenfold intensified life-giving Spirit. These three stages are the three sections of Christ’s history. This means that Christ’s history is divided into the section of His incarnation, the section of His inclusion, and the section of His intensification. Therefore, we emphasize these three words — incarnation, inclusion, and intensification — and stress the facts that incarnation produces redeemed people, that inclusion produces the churches, and that intensification produces the overcomers to build up the Body, which consummates in the New Jerusalem as the unique goal of God’s economy. This is the revelation in the New Testament.
What kind of work should we be doing today? We should be doing a work of all three sections. I am concerned that many of the co-workers are still working only in the first section, the section of incarnation. If this is your situation, you need to improve and to advance. What you have learned and what you have done in the past are not adequate. Of course, you should not discard the things of the first stage, for those things are the foundation. Now you need to begin building on this foundation and eventually have the completion of the building. The foundation is the work in the stage of incarnation; the building up is the work in the stage of inclusion; and the completion of the building is the work in the stage of intensification.
My use of the word inclusion is based on our use of the word inclusive. For the last Adam to become the life-giving Spirit was for Christ to become the all-inclusive Spirit. His becoming all-inclusive was a matter not just of incarnation but of inclusion. As we have pointed out, inclusion involves many complications. In the stage of inclusion, many things are included in the pneumatic Christ, in the Christ who is the life-giving Spirit. Now we need to see that the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit has been intensified sevenfold.
I would urge you to consider this matter of intensification and to pray desperately, saying, “Lord, I must advance. I need Your grace to bring me onward. I do not want to remain in the work of incarnation nor even in the work of inclusion. I want to advance from inclusion to intensification. Lord, You have been intensified sevenfold, and I pray that I also will be intensified sevenfold to overcome the degradation of the church that the Body may be built up to consummate the New Jerusalem.”
