Eph. 5:25-27 presents Christ to us in three stages. Verse 25 says that Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Here we see Christ in the stage of the flesh. Verse 26 speaks of Christ sanctifying the church, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the Word. In this verse we have Christ in the stage of the life-giving Spirit. Finally, a third stage of Christ is revealed in verse 27, which speaks of Christ presenting the church to Himself in His coming back. Hence, in this stage Christ will be the Bridegroom receiving His Bride. The first of these three stages was in the past, the second is in the present, and the third will be in the future. In the first stage Christ was the Redeemer; in the second, He is the life-giving Spirit; and in the third, He will be the Bridegroom.
In this message we need to consider certain points found in these verses. However, I wish to point out that our concern is not doctrinal. In the Lord’s recovery there is no need for us to pay very much attention to doctrine. The important matter is that we see what a Christ we have and come to experience and enjoy Him more and more.
Although Christ is God, He is not God only. If He were simply God, He could not be our Christ. To be the Christ to us, He had to be incarnated. Through incarnation, Christ became a man with flesh, blood, and bones. How wonderful that God put on human nature! Our God is not merely God. In Christ He has become a God-man.
It was in the flesh that the Lord gave Himself up for us. If He had not given Himself up as a man in the flesh, there would have been no way for us to gain Him. We are not spirits; we are flesh. Angels are spirits. God has no intention for us to become spirits like angels. God’s concern is not with angels, but with men of flesh. Nothing is more pleasing to God than a man of flesh. At times we regret that we are fleshly. However, if we see ourselves from God’s point of view, we shall realize that there is a positive aspect of the flesh. According to Hebrews 2, Christ did not take on the nature of angels, but He did take on blood and flesh. Furthermore, John 1 says that the Word which was God and was with God became flesh (v. 14). Great is the mystery of godliness — God was manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16). God cannot be manifest in angels; He can be manifest only in the flesh. The portion of the angels is to behold the manifestation of God in the flesh.
The Word became flesh and God was manifested in the flesh. Yes, we must condemn the sinful flesh. But there is also a positive aspect of the flesh. We are not spirits as angels are — we are flesh! Our Christ did not become an angelic spirit; He became flesh. The Christ who gave Himself up for us was God incarnate.
If Christ had not put on human nature, it would be impossible for us to receive Him into us. The very Christ we take as our person is the God-man. It is impossible for us to take in God directly. Only after God has become the God-man can we take Him into our being to be our life and our person.
Some Christians think that they should behave as if they were angels. They try to live like heavenly beings. In the eyes of God, this kind of living is abnormal. He does not want His children to imitate angels; on the contrary, He wants them to be very human. All the members of the church should have a genuine humanity. For this reason, Ephesians, a book dealing with the church, covers various human relationships: the relationship between wife and husband, between children and parents, between servants and masters. In order to have a proper church life, we must have a proper human life.
The very Christ we have received and gained is not an angel or some kind of heavenly being, but a God-man. It was as a man in the flesh that He gave Himself up for us. Furthermore, it is as a man that He is able to fit into our situation and meet our need. He has put on human nature in order to be like us. Now He lives in us as our life and as our person to be manifested from within us. When a sister takes Christ as her person in submitting to her husband, her submission will be glorious, full of the reality of Christ lived out from within her. Likewise, when a brother takes Christ as his person in loving his wife, Christ will be expressed in his love for her. Such a manifestation of Christ is possible because as the God-man He gave Himself up for us.
According to verse 26, Christ gave Himself up for the church so that “He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word.” After the Lord Jesus gave Himself for us in the flesh, He was resurrected and in resurrection became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). As the life-giving Spirit, He is the speaking Spirit. Whatever He speaks is the word that washes us. The Greek word rendered word in verse 26 is not logos, the constant word, but rhema, which denotes the instant word, the word the Lord presently speaks to us. As the life-giving Spirit, the Lord is not silent; He is constantly speaking. If you take Him as your person, you will discover how much He desires to speak within you. Idols are dumb, but the indwelling Christ is always speaking. No one who takes Christ as his life and his person can remain silent. On the contrary, he will be constrained by Christ to speak. As I minister to the Lord’s children, I experience Christ speaking within me.
In John 6:63 the Lord Jesus said, “The words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life.” The Greek word rendered words here is also rhema, the instant and present spoken word. This differs from logos, the constant word, as in John 1:1. As the speaking Spirit, the Lord is speaking the rhema to us. Whatever He speaks is spirit.
If day by day there is no speaking of the Lord within us, it is an indication that there is some problem within us. If there is no speaking, no rhema, then in our practical experience the Spirit is absent, for the Lord’s speaking actually is the Spirit. As long as we have the Lord’s present word, we have the Spirit, the life-giving Spirit. We cannot separate Christ as the life-giving Spirit from His speaking. His presence consists in His speaking. How can we know that Christ as our person is present with us? We know it by His speaking. If we do not have His speaking within us, we do not have His presence. But if we turn to Him, to mean business to take Christ as our life and our person. His speaking will begin again. His speaking is the living word. the living word is the Spirit, and the Spirit is our wonderful Christ Himself. How practical, subjective, intimate, and real He is as the speaking Spirit!
This Spirit is the water that washes us. The more the Spirit speaks, the more we are washed, cleansed. Every time He speaks within us we should experience cleansing.
This cleansing is a metabolic cleansing that removes what is old and replaces it with what is new. How different this is from some type of outward cleansing! It is by the inward, metabolic cleansing that we have transformation. By the metabolic cleansing that comes from the speaking of Christ as the life-giving Spirit, we are truly changed, transformed.
Because such an inward transformation is taking place within us, there is no need for outward correction in the church life. God’s way in His economy is not to change us outwardly. His way is for Christ to give Himself up for us and then to come into us as the life-giving Spirit. In a very practical sense, the Lord’s presence is one with His speaking. Whenever He speaks, we realize His presence within us. This speaking of the life-giving Spirit within is the water that cleanses our inner being. This cleansing water deposits a new element into us to replace the old element in our nature and disposition. This metabolic cleansing causes a genuine change in life. This change is what we mean by transformation. Outward correction has no value. What the church needs is the inward metabolic cleansing that comes from allowing Christ as the life-giving Spirit to be our life and our person.
In verse 26 we have Christ not in the stage of the flesh, but in the stage of the life-giving Spirit. As we have pointed out, the life-giving Spirit is the speaking Spirit. Christ’s speaking is the Spirit; it is the very presence of the life-giving Spirit. If we honor the speaking of the Spirit within us, the Spirit’s speaking will become the water that cleanses, purifies, sanctifies, and supplies us with the element of Christ. This element replaces and discharges our old element and brings about genuine transformation. In this way we are purified and sanctified; in this way we also experience the practicality of the church life.
Suppose two brothers who live together in a brothers’ house have a problem with each other. One may contact an elder for help, and another may go to an elderly sister for fellowship. The elder may tell the one brother that in the church life we all must learn patience, whereas the elderly sister may tell the other that the Lord has put him into his situation so he could learn certain lessons. Such advice may be mere religious talk. If these brothers try to follow it, they will have even greater problems. Eventually, they may choose to move out of the brothers’ house and even leave the church life.
In the church life we do not need outward correction. Instead, the church life is a life in which we all take Christ as our life and person. The elders and the elderly sisters need to help the saints to realize that their need is to take the Lord Jesus as their person. The more all the saints do this, the more they will experience the speaking of Christ as the life-giving Spirit. This speaking will be to them the cleansing, purifying water. This water will spread the element of Christ throughout their being, and it will discharge all oldness. Eventually, brothers like those in the illustration above will no longer be bothered by problems with each other, but will grow together and be built up together. This is the proper church life. Oh, how we all need the inward cleansing, the metabolic purification that transforms us!
What I am ministering to you in this message is something I have learned through years of experience in the Christian life as well as in the church life. I am familiar with various teachings concerning the inner life, holiness, and spirituality. Although I put these teachings into practice, most of them were not very effective. Many of us can testify that although we endeavored to practice what we read on holiness and spirituality, what we read did not work very well in our experience. Out of failure and disappointment many have come to believe that it simply is not possible to have the proper church life today. They claim that for this we must wait until the next age. By the Lord’s mercy I can testify that it is possible to have the genuine church life. We have the church life not by trying to carry out teachings in an outward way, but by taking Christ as our life and as our person. Then we enjoy and experience Christ as the life-giving, speaking Spirit. We enjoy the speaking that cleanses us, transforms us, and causes us to grow.
As we grow in life, we are spontaneously built up with others. In such a building there is no place for division or strife concerning opinion and doctrine. We in the church in Los Angeles can testify that we do not care for opinions, suggestions, or proposals. We care only for taking Christ as our life and as our speaking person. We treasure His speaking because His presence as the life-giving Spirit is in His speaking. By His speaking He cleanses us, purifies, and sanctifies us. Eventually, all the spots and wrinkles are swallowed up by life.
Through the Lord’s speaking within us as the life-giving Spirit, we are becoming a glorious church, a church holy and without blemish. Today we are waiting for the Lord’s coming back, knowing that when He comes, He will present us to Himself a glorious church, holy and without blemish. At that time, we shall experience Christ in the third stage as the Bridegroom coming for His Bride. Until then, our need is to daily take Christ as our person and to be cleansed, purified, and sanctified through the speaking of the life-giving Spirit. In this way we shall undergo a metabolic change leading to the transformation in life which is necessary for the church life.
