In this message we shall first cover more aspects of Christ’s work in His resurrection. Then we shall go on to consider His work in His ascension.
In resurrection Christ became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). This was not an easy matter; on the contrary, it was a great work. In order to accomplish the work of becoming the life-giving Spirit, the Lord Jesus had to pass through death and then, in resurrection, do certain wonderful things. Now He is the Spirit who gives life, the Spirit who imparts life to us, the Spirit who dispenses Himself as life into the believers.
Christ’s resurrection was His transfiguration into the life-giving Spirit. He was Christ in the flesh, but He has been transfigured into the pneumatic Christ, the Christ who is the life-giving Spirit. Resurrection was His actual transfiguration. Before His death and resurrection He was transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration. However, that transfiguration was temporary. His actual transfiguration was His resurrection, for in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit.
If we are lacking in revelation, in proper spiritual vision, we may not realize that in resurrection Christ as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit. To deny that Christ is the life-giving Spirit is equal to denying the reality of resurrection. The life-giving Spirit is the life pulse of Christ’s resurrection. If Christ had merely been resurrected with a body and had not become the life-giving Spirit, His resurrection would not mean nearly as much to us. It would simply be an objective fact unrelated to life. It could then be compared to the resurrection of Lazarus. The resurrection of Lazarus was merely an act of resurrection; it did not produce anything related to life. But Christ’s resurrection is a matter absolutely related to life, for in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit who imparts life.
Resurrection was not merely an objective act accomplished by Christ. It is very much related to us subjectively. Through incarnation Christ became a man. Incarnation was much more than an objective fact; it was a process that brought God into humanity. The principle is the same with the process of resurrection. Resurrection was not merely an act in itself; it was a process to bring forth the life-giving Spirit. Through the process of resurrection Christ, who ended the old creation, became the life-giving Spirit, the germinating element of the new creation.
Few Christians have seen that Christ in resurrection is the life-giving Spirit. Andrew Murray, however, understood something concerning this and wrote about it in his masterpiece, The Spirit of Christ, in the chapter entitled, “The Spirit of the Glorified Jesus.” The Spirit of the glorified Jesus is actually the Lord Jesus Himself in resurrection and in glory. When He entered into resurrection, He became the Spirit who gives life. This life-giving Spirit is the essence to germinate a new creation. The germinating element of the new creation is the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit.
First Corinthians 15:45 is a great verse because it implies the new creation with the Spirit as the center. This Spirit is nothing less than Christ, the Triune God. Actually, the life-giving Spirit is the processed Triune God. Christ passed through the process of incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. Now in resurrection He is the life essence to germinate the new creation. We have become the new creation germinated by Christ as the life-giving Spirit. The highest definition of resurrection is that it is the process by which Christ, the last Adam, became the life-giving Spirit.
When Christ came through incarnation, He came with the Father and by the Spirit. After coming in incarnation, He took a further step to pass through death and enter into resurrection. This is the process that we call Christ’s transfiguration from the flesh into the Spirit. By going through this process of transfiguration, the Lord Jesus, who came in incarnation with the Father and by the Spirit, became the Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. Therefore, Christ’s resurrection was His transfiguration-the transfiguration into the life-giving Spirit to enter into His believers. This transfiguration included a number of elements: humanity, human living, Christ’s all-inclusive death, and His life-imparting resurrection. All these elements have been brought into the all- inclusive life-giving Spirit, the consummation of the Triune God.
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