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Scripture Reading: Matt. 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:6; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Rev. 1:5; 1 Pet. 2:24; John 1:29; 4:42; Titus 2:13; Rom. 5:10; Phil. 1:19
Prayer: O Lord, we worship You from deep within, and we offer to You our thanks and praise. We praise You that You are God and also man. As man You have become our Redeemer, and as the Spirit You have become our Savior. Thank You for gathering us before You. O Lord, we pray that You would remove the veils of heaven and give us a clear sky. Bring us all into the spirit that we may know You by the spirit within us, not by the letter without. Today You are the Spirit, the life-giving Spirit, and You have given us a regenerated spirit. These two spirits, Your Spirit and our spirit, fellowship with one another and are mingled as one spirit. It is in this spirit that we are gathered to worship You and enjoy You by dining with You.
Lord, we pray that You would give us a sober mind, an open spirit, and, even more, a hungry and thirsty heart so that we may really sense that even though we already have You, we still need more of You. O Lord, every one of us needs You, and we need You at all times and in all things. We pray that You would touch all our hearts and gain more ground in us. We want to be possessed, filled, saturated, and wholly gained by You.
O Lord, shame Your enemy. You have already destroyed him on the cross. We are crushing him under our feet in Your church. Here he has no ground, but You have gained all the glory. Our spirit worships You, our heart exalts You, and our mouth sings praise to You. Amen.
As those who have received Jesus, we are different from others because we are those who bear the mark of Jesus, those who have been marked out by Jesus. Furthermore, we have all been attracted by His wonderful being and have become “Jesus addicts.” He is truly wonderful, and His wonderful being has drawn many millions of people to Himself. This is why we use The Wonderful Being of Christ as the title of this book.
We have already seen that Christ is both God and man. Now we want to go on further to see that this wonderful Christ is both the Redeemer and the Savior. Many Christians are not clear about the difference between redemption and salvation. Hence, they often mix up the aspect of Christ’s being the Redeemer and the aspect of Christ’s being the Savior, and they refer to Him simply as the Savior. Even though this is not wrong, the Bible is not that simple. According to the revelation of the Bible, Christ is both the Redeemer and the Savior. Moreover, the difference between these two aspects is truly big. I hope that in this chapter I can clarify this matter so that we can see clearly that our Lord is, on the one hand, the Redeemer and, on the other hand, the Savior.
God made man in His image and according to His likeness. He created man in this way for the glorious purpose that the created man may express Him and glorify Him. To attain this goal, God must work Himself into man as his life and everything. This is God’s procedure. Man must have God’s life in order to express God Himself in His image. Regrettably, however, before God had the opportunity to carry out His procedure, Satan went before Him to seduce the first ancestors of the human race, Adam and Eve, to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Consequently, the life of Satan entered into man to become sin within man and thus damage him. In Romans 7 Paul tells us that there is something in man’s flesh called sin. He says, “For I do not do the good which I will; but the evil which I do not will, this I practice. But if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me” (vv. 19-20). The word dwells implies living and acting. Sin not only dwells but also lives and acts in our flesh to deceive, kill, and capture us so that we become sinners dominated by sin and commit sins and do evil things involuntarily.
God created man with a glorious purpose, but because man was defiled and damaged, he became a fallen sinner. According to the righteous law of God, such a man has a problem concerning his position before God. Man’s position is that of a sinner with a record of sins before God. Man cannot make amends for this by doing good works through cultivating his morality. Furthermore, God’s righteous law says that he who sins must die because the wages of sin is death (6:23). This is the sinner’s position and record, and this will be his fate.
According to our position as a sinner and our record of sins and according to the righteous requirement of God’s law, we need a Redeemer. We have sinned and have a record of sins; thus, we fall short of God’s glory and deserve to die and perish. Hence, we need a Redeemer to clear the record of our sins, to satisfy the requirement of God’s law, and to redeem us.
According to the requirement of God’s righteous law, man should perish. In order to redeem man God Himself became a man to be our Redeemer. He stood in the position of a sinner and died on the cross as our Substitute to suffer God’s righteous judgment and be punished on our behalf by suffering the pain of death.
John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This Word is the Lord Jesus. Verse 14 says, “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us...full of grace and reality.” Verse 29 says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” From these three verses we can see that the Lord Jesus was God, yet He became a man to shed human blood for us; He was the Lamb of God to take away our sin. If He had not become a man, He could not shed human blood, nor could He have the created flesh to die for us. He needed to have a real body, not an abstract one but a created one, so that He could shed the blood of a created man for us. In this way He could die for the created man, and the human blood that He shed could make redemption for man’s sins.
In the Old Testament age, when the children of Israel slaughtered bulls and goats to offer as sacrifices, the blood that was shed was only a sign and could not take away sins (Heb. 10:4). This was because bulls and goats are not human beings and therefore could not die for men. Likewise, the blood of bulls and goats could not make propitiation for man’s sins; only the human blood can do this. The Lord Jesus was God, yet He became a created man with a created body and had the blood of a created man. Therefore, He could die on the cross for us and shed human blood to make redemption for our sins.
Matthew 20:28 says that the Son of Man came “to give His life as a ransom for many.” Man has sinned and is under God’s condemnation. According to the requirement of God’s law, the world is under the condemnation of God’s righteousness and therefore needs a Substitute. The Lord Jesus became the Son of Man by putting on the body of flesh and blood and gave His life as a ransom on the cross for many.
Those who do not believe that the Lord Jesus was a created man are the antichrists referred to in 1 John 4:3. These antichrists were the Docetists, who denied that the Lord Jesus was God who became flesh to be a real man. They considered the body of the Lord Jesus to be not a real body of flesh and blood but a mere phantasm. This is a great heresy. We must confess that our Lord Jesus is God and the Creator, yet He became a creature with the body and the blood of a created man. Therefore, He could indeed be nailed on the cross and pierced in His side to flow out the genuine human blood, even the blood of a sinless man, to redeem us from sins and to clear our record of sins before God.
Based on the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross and the precious blood that He shed, God can declare forgiveness. As our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus was judged on our behalf according to God’s righteousness and fully paid the debt of our sins. This is why His blood is a declaration, announcing that God has forgiven all the sinners. If anyone calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus, based on the Lord’s name and the Lord’s blood, God will forgive him. This forgiveness is the issue of redemption.
The Lord Jesus was crucified and suffered on the cross for six hours, from 9:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. In the first three hours He was persecuted and humiliated by men for doing God’s will; in the last three hours after the noon hour, He was judged and punished by God to accomplish our redemption. It was during this time that God counted Him as our Substitute to suffer God’s punishment for our sins. Therefore, darkness fell over all the land, and the sun was darkened because our sin, our sins, and all negative things were placed upon Him and judged by God. It was in this time that He was also forsaken by God. Therefore, He cried out with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). The Lord Jesus had said that God never left Him but was with Him all the time. Why then did God forsake Him at that time? Isaiah 53:6 says, “Jehovah has caused the iniquity of us all / To fall on Him.” Moreover, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf.” He not only bore the sins of the world but was also made sin on behalf of the world. For us, He became a sinner in the eyes of God. Therefore, God judged and forsook Him on the cross. From God’s point of view, He was the Substitute for all the sinners. He suffered for us the judgment that we deserved. In the last three hours on the cross the Lord Jesus bore the sins of the whole human race and suffered God’s righteous judgment. Finally, the great work of redemption was accomplished. The problem of the record of sins was solved, the question of the law was cleared, and all the barriers between God and man were removed. Therefore, He prayed with a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46). After He accomplished His redemptive work, He entered into rest.
After three days in the grave, the Lord Jesus resurrected very early on the first day of the week. He overcame the power of death and came out of the grave. Through such a resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit to enter into us to be our Savior. He was the Redeemer until the time of His death. He made redemption for our sins through His death and accomplished the redemptive work for our redemption. However, after the fall man did not just have a problem in position, a problem in legal procedure, or a problem of having a record of sins before God; man also had a problem within him in that now Satan’s life had entered into him.
Even though a person has been redeemed and saved by believing in the Lord, he has not yet been fully saved. He still needs to be saved daily from his sinful nature. The Lord Jesus’ precious blood is for clearing our record of sins and redeeming us. To be sure, because of His death and the blood shed by Him we have been redeemed, and we will never perish. However, sin still dwells in our flesh. Within us we have a great deal of unclean and unrighteous thoughts, and in our outward actions we constantly have trespasses and defilement. Thus, we still need to be washed by the Lord’s precious blood and, at the same time, we also need to be saved by the Lord as the Spirit of life.
First John 1:2 and 3 say that the eternal life has been reported to us and that we may enjoy fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. However, this fellowship can be interrupted because of our sinning. If we say that after we have believed in the Lord, sin is no longer in us and the root of sin has been eradicated, this is a great error. We should know that after we have believed in the Lord, our sinful nature is still in our flesh and has not been eradicated. It will not be until the time of our rapture, at the redemption of our body, that we can say that our whole being has been fully saved. However, today this sinful nature is still within us; if we say that we do not have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Before God, man not only has the problem of the record of sins and the problem of position, but man also has the problem of the sinful nature. To illustrate, before a mother leaves the house, she may repeatedly warn her child, saying, “After I leave, do not drink from that bottle, because it contains poison; you will be poisoned if you drink it.” Even though the mother repeatedly urges the child in this way, he still may take the bottle and drink from it. In doing this, he sins against his mother, so he may come to the mother to confess his sin. The mother can say, “I forgive you. Don’t do that again.” However, even though the case is dealt with, the poison remains inside the child.
It is not sufficient for a man only to have the outward redemption of sins; he still has the problem of the sinful nature within him; he still has the sinning life and nature. Hence, he needs to be saved in life. This is not a matter of being redeemed by the precious blood but a matter of being saved in life. Thus, man has a twofold need. On the one hand, there is the outward problem related to position, the law, and the record; for this, man needs redemption by the precious blood of Christ. On the other hand, there is the inward problem related to the old life and the sinful nature; for this, man needs to have another life, a transcendent life, to come into him to save him so that he may be delivered from the fallen life that he had from the beginning.
Since man has this dual need, after the Lord Jesus accomplished redemption by His death, He resurrected from the dead to become the life-giving Spirit as the Savior. Romans 5:10 says, “We, being enemies, were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” This means that when we had a record of sins, we were reconciled to God through the redemptive death of the Lord Jesus on the cross, the death in which He shed His blood for us. Thus, the record of our sins was cleared, and we were redeemed. This is the redemptive aspect. Then Paul goes on to say, “Much more we will be saved in His life, having been reconciled.” This is the saving aspect.
Christ’s death is a matter of redemption, whereas Christ’s life is a matter of salvation. In order to save us in His life Christ must be the Spirit so that He can enter into us to be our life and everything. Therefore, Romans 8:2 speaks of “the Spirit of life.” This Spirit is the living water in John 4 and the rivers of living water that flow out of the innermost being of those who believe into the Lord, referred to in John 7:38. The Bible tells us that this word which the Lord Jesus spoke was concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive, but at that time the Spirit was not yet, because the Lord Jesus had not yet been glorified (v. 39). After He entered into glory in His resurrection (Luke 24:26), He became the Spirit.
The Spirit is Christ who became the life-giving Spirit to come into us as our resurrection life to save us from the sinful nature within us. Paul says in Romans 8:2, “The law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.” This is salvation, which is Christ as our Savior. With the Redeemer there is redemption through the precious blood; with the Savior there is salvation by the Spirit of life. This Spirit of life has entered into us with the highest law to free us from the law of sin and of death. We can use the law of gravity as an illustration. Even though the law of gravity is very strong, there is a stronger law that can cause an airplane to overcome gravity.
Within us there is a transcendent law, the law of the Spirit of life. Philippians 1:19 refers to “the Spirit of Jesus Christ,” who is the Spirit of life. Here it does not say “the Spirit of God” or “the Holy Spirit”; rather, it says “the Spirit of Jesus Christ,” referring to the Spirit of the incarnated and resurrected One, the life-giving Spirit. Philippians 1:19 says that we are being saved through the bountiful supply of this Spirit. This is Christ as our Savior saving us through the bountiful supply of the Spirit.
Therefore, there are two aspects here. The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus on the cross was for redemption through His blood. His resurrection was for salvation by the life-giving Spirit. Among the four Gospels, only the Gospel of John refers to the fact that when the Lord Jesus died for us on the cross, both blood and water came out of Him. This is because the Gospel of John is concerned not only with redemption but also with life. Blood signifies redemption, whereas water signifies the Spirit of life. We should see both the redemptive side and the saving side. We have redemption through the precious blood and salvation by the Spirit of life. In brief, we have the blood and the Spirit. The blood is for redemption, and the Spirit is for salvation.
Stanza 1 of Hymns, #1058 says, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, / Let me hide myself in Thee; / Let the water and the blood, / From Thy riven side which flowed, / Be of sin the double cure, / Save me from its guilt and power.” We have a double problem. On the one hand, we have a record of sins before God. On the other hand, we have the nature of sin within us. Only the blood and water can be the double cure for our sin. On the one hand, the redemptive blood redeems us that we may escape the eternal punishment for sins. On the other hand, the water of life saves us that we may be delivered from the power of sin. Sin not only causes man to suffer eternal punishment, but it also has the power, which is the law of sin, to dominate man from within. In our natural life we have no way to overcome the law of sin and of death, but the law of the Spirit of life can free us in Christ from the law of sin and of death. Only the precious blood can solve the problems concerning our condemned position and our record of sins. Only the Spirit of life can solve our problem concerning the law of sin and of death. God’s full salvation consists not only of the redemption through the precious blood but also of the salvation by the Spirit of life.
In God’s full salvation there is the redemption and there is also the saving. Redemption is the effect of the precious blood, whereas saving is the power of the Spirit. In God’s full salvation there are the redemption and the saving, and there are also the blood and the Spirit. To be redeemed is a matter that is once for all. Once we have been redeemed, we have been redeemed forever, and God will never condemn us because of our sins. However, to be saved is a daily and lifelong matter. We need to be saved every day. We are people who have been bought back and redeemed by God with a high price, but we still need to be saved every day in all things, both great and small. We have received redemption, which is by the blood, once for all; however, we need to experience salvation, which is by the Spirit, day by day for our whole life.
This wonderful Christ is our Redeemer; He died on the cross and shed His blood to accomplish redemption for us. Now in His resurrection He has become the life-giving Spirit to enter into us to become our daily salvation by the inner regulation and supply. We treasure His redemption, which has cleared the record of our sins before God once for all. We treasure even more that as the Spirit of life, He lives in us daily to be our salvation in life. Whenever and wherever we turn to Him and draw on the bountiful supply of Him as the Spirit, He enables us to overcome the power of sin and of death so that we can live before God in freedom and have a holy and overcoming life.
