Item number ten says that this God-man entered death, passed through death, and overcame death. The death of the Lord Jesus on the cross was a voluntary one. He said, “No one takes it [My life] away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again” (John 10:18). Although the Lord Jesus died, He was resurrected. He walked into death boldly and without hesitation, and He also walked out of death boldly and without hesitation. He entered death, passed through death, overcame death, and resurrected from death in His flesh, that His flesh might become a resurrected spiritual body. This is not easy to explain. We need an illustration to clarify it. For example, if we bury a tiny, dark carnation seed into the ground, it dies in the ground. At the same time it also germinates in the ground. The death and germination of this seed is a good illustration of death and resurrection. The green sprout is a transformed form of the flower seed. Although the shape has changed, its essence remains the same. Later the sprout grows to blossom, and the shape is further transformed in resurrection. Yet its essence is still the same as the seed’s. The Lord Jesus said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). The Lord is the grain of wheat that entered into death. In resurrection He grew up to produce many grains. This is His death and resurrection.
Item eleven says that this last Adam who died and resurrected passed through death and resurrection to become a life-giving Spirit. This is based on the word in 1 Corinthians 15:45. This life-giving Spirit is breathed into the believers as air, to be their life and essence. John 20:22 shows us that after the Lord’s resurrection He came in the midst of His disciples to breathe into them. His breathing is the exhaling of Himself which is also our inhaling. This breath is a holy breath, which is also the Holy Spirit, indicated by the Greek word pneuma. This word means breath. It also means spirit, or wind. The adjective in English is pneumatic, which means to be full of air. After the Lord Jesus died and resurrected, He became a pneuma. Hence, in theology there is such a term, the pneumatic Christ. This Christ is the Spirit; therefore, He can breathe Himself into the disciples to be their life and essence. This Lord who has passed through death and has entered into resurrection is the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and is within the disciples to be with them forever. This is the Jesus described in the four Gospels.
From His conception, Christ passed through His birth, His living on earth, His death, and His resurrection to become the Spirit of life to enter into the believers as their life. Such a pneumatic Christ is the Christ revealed in the four Gospels. May this complete picture show you what a person the Lord Jesus is in the four Gospels. He is the Triune God entering into the womb of a chaste virgin to be conceived and born. He is God and also man. He has the essence of God, yet He lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years in humanity for God’s economy. In Him there is the Holy Spirit as the essence, and upon Him there is the Holy Spirit as the power. He entered death, passed through death, and overcame death. Finally, He was resurrected from death to become the pneumatic Christ to enter into us who believe in Him, to be our life and essence. In this way we enjoy the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, in us to be with us all the time as our everything.