Finally, in His work on the cross the Lord Jesus flowed out water from His body, signifying the release of His divine life for the producing of the church. “One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water” (John 19:34). Here we see that two substances came out of the Lord’s pierced side: blood and water. Blood is for redemption, dealing with sins (John 1:29; Heb. 9:22) for the purchase of the church (Acts 20:28), and water is for imparting life, dealing with death (John 12:24; 3:14-15) for the producing of the church (Eph. 5:26-31). We were sinners fallen away from God, but through the blood of Jesus we have been brought back. Moreover, we were dead. Therefore, the Lord released His divine life to enliven us, to make us alive. In this way the problem of death is solved, and the church as the new creation is produced. On the one hand, the church was bought by the Lord’s blood; on the other hand, the church was produced by His divine life, which He released and imparted to us.
On the negative side, Christ’s death takes away our sins; on the positive side, it releases the divine life. Hence, His death has two aspects-the redemptive aspect and the life-releasing aspect. The redemptive aspect is for the life-releasing aspect, which is even more wonderful than the redemptive aspect. God’s purpose is that redemption be followed by the imparting of life, for God’s intention is to dispense Himself into us as life. Therefore, redemption prepares the way for the release of the divine life so that this life may be dispensed into us for the producing of the church.
The water that flowed out of the Lord’s side signifies the life-releasing aspect of His death. This is typified by the water flowing out of the smitten rock (Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4). This aspect of Christ’s death is the life-releasing, life-propagating, life-multiplying death, the generating and reproducing death. When the Lord Jesus said that He was a grain of wheat falling into the ground to die so that many grains might be produced (John 12:24), He was referring to the life-releasing aspect of His death. The dying of this grain of wheat was not for redemption; it was for releasing the divine life so that it may be imparted into the many grains. On the negative side, Christ’s death dealt with our sins; on the positive side, it released the divine life. As we believe in Him today, our sins are forgiven through His redemptive death, and eternal life is imparted into us through His life-releasing death.
Through His death on the cross Christ’s divine life was released. Hence, His death was a life-releasing death. Because His divine life has not only been released out of Him but also imparted into us, His death was a life-imparting death. On His side it was the life-releasing death; on our side it is the life-imparting death. Moreover, it is the life-propagating death, for by it life is spread in many directions. Furthermore, it is the life-multiplying death, causing the multiplication of life. It is also the life-producing death, for the one grain has been reproduced in the many grains. We need to be deeply impressed with the wonderful life-releasing aspect of Christ’s all-inclusive death.
Now we need to consider Christ’s work in His burial. After He was buried, Christ went in His living spirit to the spirits in prison (the rebellious angels) to proclaim God’s victory, through His incarnation in Christ and Christ’s death in the flesh, over Satan’s scheme to derange the divine plan.
According to 1 Peter 3:18, Christ was “put to death in flesh, but made alive in spirit.” This is not the Holy Spirit but the spirit which is Christ’s spiritual nature (Mark 2:8; Luke 23:46). The crucifixion put Christ to death only in His flesh which He received through incarnation, not in His spirit. Instead of dying at the cross when His flesh did, Christ’s spirit was made alive, enlivened with new power of life, so that in this empowered spirit Christ made a proclamation to the fallen angels after His death in the flesh and before His resurrection.
We should not interpret “made alive in spirit” as referring to Christ’s resurrection. There is no mention of Christ’s resurrection in 1 Peter 3:18. Rather, this verse indicates that when Christ was buried in the tomb, in His empowered spirit, He went before His resurrection, to the abyss to proclaim God’s victory to the rebellious angels.
First Peter 3:19 says, “In which also having gone to the spirits in prison, He proclaimed.” The phrase “in which” refers to the spirit in verse 18, indicating and proving that in this spirit Christ, after dying in His flesh, was still active. In particular, in His enlivened spirit He made a proclamation to the spirits in prison. Throughout the centuries great teachers of different schools have had varying interpretations concerning the spirits in prison. The most acceptable according to the Scriptures is as follows. The spirits here do not refer to the disembodied spirits of dead human beings held in Hades, but to the angels (angels are spirits-Heb. 1:14) who fell through disobedience at Noah’s time (1 Pet. 3:20 and Life-study of Genesis Message 27, pp. 363-364) and are imprisoned in pits of gloom for the judgment of the great day (2 Pet. 2:4-5; Jude 6). After His death in the flesh, Christ in His living spirit went (probably to the abyss-Rom. 10:7) to these rebellious angels to proclaim, perhaps, God’s victory through His incarnation in Christ and Christ’s death in the flesh, over Satan’s scheme to derange the divine plan.
The prison in 1 Peter 3:19 refers to Tartarus, the deep and gloomy pits (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6) where the fallen angels are kept. The word “proclaimed” does not indicate the preaching of the good news but the proclaiming of the triumphant victory. This proclamation was made to “those once disobedient” (1 Pet. 3:20). These are angelic beings, not human beings, and therefore are different from the eight souls also spoken of in verse 20. Thus, the spirits in prison do not refer to the disembodied spirits of dead human beings held in Hades, but to angels who fell through their disobedience at the time of Noah. Those angels left their own place, came down to earth, and used human bodies to commit fornication with the daughters of men, polluting the human race and producing giants (Gen. 6:4). It was to these angels, to these spirits, that Christ made a proclamation of victory.
Christ died on the cross for our redemption. But although He was put to death in His body, He was enlivened and empowered in His spirit, even before the resurrection. In this enlivened and empowered spirit He went to proclaim to the rebellious angels God’s victory over Satan, their leader. Hence, Christ’s death not only accomplished redemption for us, but also gained the victory over Satan and his followers. After His death and before His resurrection, Christ proclaimed to Satan’s followers God’s victory over the Devil through the crucifixion of Christ. This was Christ’s work in His burial.
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