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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 15:45b; John 14:16-20; 12:24b; 1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 1:20-23
In this message we shall consider further the subjective aspect of the Man-Savior’s resurrection. We have seen that the Man-Savior’s resurrection was His transfiguration into the life-giving Spirit in order to enter into His believers (1 Cor. 15:45b; John 14:16-20). Now we shall go on to see that His resurrection also involves both germination and propagation.
In John 12:24 the Lord Jesus says that if a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it bears much fruit. This is a matter of germination through resurrection. Concerning this, Peter says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead” (1 Pet. 1:3). When Christ was resurrected, we His believers, were all included in Him. Hence, we were resurrected with Him (Eph. 2:6). In His resurrection, He imparted the divine life into us and made us the same as He is in life and nature.
In the foregoing message we pointed out that all fallen human beings are dying. A person begins to die from the moment of birth. Although we may say that people are dying, the Bible reveals that sinners are already dead. Ephesians 2:1 and 5 say that, as sinners, we were dead in offenses and sins. Colossians 2:13 also says that we were dead in offenses. In these verses God seems to be saying, “You may think that human beings are living. You are mistaken. Fallen human beings are not living — they are dead.”
In John 5:25 we see that when we preach the gospel, we are actually preaching to those who are spiritually dead: “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live.” Here we see a positive point: those who are spiritually dead still have ears to hear the voice of the Son of God. This means that the dead in spirit are still able to hear the gospel. On the one hand, the Bible tells us that fallen human beings are dead. On the other hand, the Bible says that even those who are spiritually dead can hear the gospel. It is of God’s mercy and sovereignty that the dead have ears to hear the gospel.
When a spiritually dead person hears the gospel, he may say, “I believe in Jesus; I love Him.” Then as he calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, the divine life is imparted to him, and he is germinated to become a new creation.
Before we were germinated through the Man-Savior’s resurrection, we were the old creation. But from the time of our germination we began to be the new creation. The old creation does not have the divine life and nature, but the new creation, which consists of believers born again of God (John 1:13; 3:15; 2 Pet. 1:4), does have the divine life and nature. Therefore, we are a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15), not according to the old nature of flesh, but according to the new nature of the divine life.
When the old creation is germinated with the divine life it becomes the new creation. We, the believers in Christ, who have been germinated through His resurrection, are now the new creation. The old creation does not have God in it. But the new creation begins by God coming into us in the way of germination. Praise the Lord that we have been germinated! This germination is the impartation of the divine life into the believers. Through this impartation of the divine life we were regenerated. Therefore, germination is the impartation of the divine life into the believers for their regeneration. The second point related to the subjective aspect of the Man-Savior’s resurrection is that it is His germination of the new creation to impart the divine life into the believers for their regeneration.
Perhaps we did not realize what happened to us when we were regenerated. Now we see that when we were regenerated we were germinated. We may say that this germination was a divine injection. The divine life was “injected” into us at the time we believed in Christ and were regenerated, and that injection was our germination. Hallelujah, the divine life has been injected, infused, into our inner being! That infusion was our rebirth, our regeneration.
The Man-Savior’s resurrection was also His propagation to produce the church as His reproduction. By His resurrection the Man-Savior could be multiplied and thereby have His propagation.
As an illustration of the Lord’s propagation through resurrection, consider a grain of wheat that falls into the earth and dies. After a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it grows up and becomes many grains. The many grains are the multiplication of the one grain, and this multiplication is the propagation of that grain of wheat.
According to John 12:24, the Lord Jesus is the grain of wheat who fell into the ground and died in order to be multiplied. Through His death and resurrection the Lord Jesus certainly has been multiplied and propagated. This propagation is for producing His reproduction, and the reproduction of Christ is the church. Therefore, the Lord’s resurrection is His propagation to produce the church as His reproduction.
If we study carefully Ephesians 1:20-23, we shall see that these verses reveal that the propagation of Christ produces the church as His reproduction. Ephesians 1:20 and 21 say, “Which He wrought in Christ in raising Him from among the dead, and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power and lordship, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is coming.” The relative pronoun “which” at the beginning of verse 20 refers to “the surpassing greatness of His power” spoken of in verse 19. God’s great power that operated in Christ first raised Him from among the dead. This power has overcome death, the grave, and Hades, where the dead are held. Due to God’s resurrection power, death and Hades could not hold Christ (Acts 2:24).
Second, God’s power that operated in Christ seated Him at God’s right hand in the heavenlies far above all. God’s right hand, where Christ has been seated by the surpassing great power of God, is the most honorable place, with the supreme authority. The “heavenlies” in verse 20 refers not only to the third heaven, the highest place in the universe, where God dwells, but also to the state and atmosphere of the heavens, in which Christ was seated by God’s power.
According to verse 21, Christ has been seated far above all rule, authority, power, lordship, and every name. Rule refers to the highest office, authority to every kind of official power (Matt. 8:9), power to the might of authority, and lordship to the preeminence which power establishes. The ascended Christ has been seated by the great power of God above all rules, authorities, powers, and lordships in the entire universe.
Furthermore, Christ is seated above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is coming. Here “every name” refers not only to titles of honor but also to everything that has a name. Christ has been seated far above everything, not only the things in this age, but also in the coming age.
Ephesians 1:22 continues, “And He subjected all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church.” Third, God’s great power that operated in Christ has subjected all things under His feet. To be far above all is one thing; to have all things subjected under Christ’s feet is another. The former is a matter of Christ’s transcendency; the latter is a matter of the subjection of all things to Him.
Fourth, God’s great power that operated in Christ gave Him to be Head over all things to the church. The headship of Christ over all things is a gift from God to Him. It was through God’s surpassingly great power that Christ received the headship in the whole universe. It was as a man, in His humanity with His divinity, that Christ was raised up from the dead, was seated in the heavenlies, had all things subjected to Him, and was given to be Head over all things.
In verse 22 we have the significant phrase “to the church.” This phrase implies a transmission. Whatever Christ, the Head, attained and obtained is transmitted to the church, His Body. In this transmission the church shares with Christ in all His attainments: the resurrection from among the dead, being seated in His transcendency, the subjection of all things under His feet, and the headship over all things.
In Ephesians 1:20-22 we see four matters related to the producing of the church: raising Christ up from the dead, seating Him in His transcendency, subjecting all things under His feet, and giving Him to be Head over all things. The result, the outcome, of these four matters is the church, as indicated by the phrase “to the church” in verse 22.
Today’s Christians often talk about the church in a very elementary way, even in a childish way. Very few believers have seen that the church comes out of what the surpassing great power of God has done in and with Christ. God’s power raised Christ from among the dead. Then this great power seated Christ in His transcendency, subjected all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things. The issue of this is the producing of the church. This means that the church is the outcome of the process involving raising Christ, seating Him, subjecting all things under His feet, and giving Him to be the Head of all things.
Having a superficial understanding of the church, some Christians even speak of the church as a material building with a steep roof and a tower. However, according to the New Testament, the church that is recognized by God is the issue of four things done with Christ. As we have emphasized, these four things are the raising up of Christ, seating Him in His transcendency, subjecting all things under His feet, and making Him the Head over all things. The church is the outcome of the process involving these four things, a process that began with the Man-Savior’s resurrection. Because this process began with Christ’s resurrection, His resurrection is for the producing of the church as His reproduction.
The points we have covered in this message involve certain of the deeper truths in the Bible. I hope that all the saints among us, especially the young ones, will not stay with the shallowness and superficiality common among Christians today. All the saints need to enter into the deeper truths in the Bible.
Today the Man-Savior in His resurrection is the life-giving Spirit to make us, God’s chosen people, His reproduction. This reproduction is the church, His Body, to express Him as His fullness. This is the ultimate issue of Christ’s resurrection. Ephesians 1:22 and 23 speak of “the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” The Body is not an organization but an organism constituted of all the regenerated believers for the expression and activities of the Head. The Body of Christ is His fullness, which issues from the enjoyment of the riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8). Through the enjoyment of Christ’s riches, we become His fullness to express Him. Christ, who is the infinite God without limitation, is so great that He fills all things in all things. Such a great Christ needs the church to be His fullness for His complete expression.
We have considered three points related to the subjective aspect of the Man-Savior’s resurrection. His resurrection is His transfiguration into the life-giving Spirit to enter into His believers, His germination of the new creation to impart the divine life into His believers for their regeneration, and His propagation to produce the church as His reproduction. The crucial point here is that in resurrection Christ has become the life-giving Spirit. However, some Bible teachers oppose this truth, claiming that the life-giving Spirit in 1 Corinthians 15:45 is not the Holy Spirit. Those who deny that the life-giving Spirit in this verse is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit who gives life, are twisting the Word of God. Paul does not simply say, “The last Adam became a Spirit.” On the contrary, he says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” The Spirit who gives life, the divine life, must be the Spirit of God Himself. But concerning this those who are short of light even criticize what the Bible teaches. How deplorable!
We must testify that, according to the Scriptures, Christ in resurrection is the life-giving Spirit. We have been charged by the Lord with the burden to proclaim this. The more others oppose it, the more we shall proclaim the truth that Christ is now the life-giving Spirit. Praise the Lord for His transfiguration, germination, and propagation to produce the church as His reproduction! Now He is the life-giving Spirit, and we are His reproduction.
