Message Eleven

Christ Becoming the Life-giving Spirit
through Resurrection

Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 15:45b, 10, 58;
Phil. 1:19; Exo. 30:23-25

1. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul dealt with the Corinthians’ heretical saying that there is no resurrection of the dead; we must see that resurrection is the life pulse and lifeline of the divine economy—v. 12:
   1. The three major items of the Lord’s resurrection are the birth of the firstborn Son of God, the regeneration of the many sons of God, and Christ as the last Adam becoming a life-giving Spirit; the entire economy of God is carried out by these three items—Acts 13:33; 1 Pet. 1:3; 1 Cor. 15:45b:
      1. The firstborn Son of God is the Head of the Body (Col. 1:18), the many sons of God are the members of the Body (John 12:24; Rom. 8:29), and the life-giving Spirit is the reality and life of the Body (John 14:17; Eph. 4:4).
      2. Without these major items of the Lord’s resurrection, there would be no church, no Body of Christ, and there would be no economy of God.
   2. If there were no resurrection, God would be the God of the dead, not of the living—Matt. 22:32.
   3. If there were no resurrection, Christ would not have been raised from the dead; He would be a dead Savior, not a living One who lives forever (Rev. 1:18) and is able to save to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25).
   4. If there were no resurrection, there would be no living proof of our being justified by His death (Rom. 4:25), no imparting of life (John 12:24), no regeneration (3:5), no renewing (Titus 3:5), no transformation (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18), and no conformity to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29).
   5. If there were no resurrection, there would be no members of Christ (12:5), no Body of Christ as His fullness (Eph. 1:20-23), and no church as Christ’s bride (John 3:29), and therefore no new man (Eph. 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10-11).
   6. If there were no resurrection, God’s New Testament economy would altogether collapse and God’s eternal purpose would be nullified.
2. In incarnation Christ became flesh for redemption (John 1:14, 29); then in resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit for the impartation of life to make us men of life (10:10b; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 8:10, 6, 11):
   1. Through and in His resurrection, Christ as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit to enter into His believers to flow out as rivers of living water—John 7:37-39; Rev. 21:6; 22:17.
   2. The life-giving Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, comprising all the elements of Jesus’ humanity with His death and Christ’s divinity with His resurrection, which become the bountiful supply of the unsearchable Christ for the support of His believers—Phil. 1:19b.
   3. The life-giving Spirit is a compound Spirit, typified by the compound anointing ointment with its ingredients—Exo. 30:23-25; 1 John 2:20, 27:
      1. Olive oil signifies the Spirit of God with divinity:
         1. Olive oil is the base of the compound ointment, the holy anointing oil—Isa. 61:1-2; Heb. 1:9.
         2. Olive oil, produced by the pressing of olives (cf. Matt. 26:36), is for the priesthood and the kingship to proclaim the jubilee of grace—Lev. 8:12; 1 Sam. 16:12-13; Luke 4:18-19.
      2. Myrrh signifies the precious death of Christ:
         1. Myrrh was used to reduce pain and heal the body when it gave off the wrong kind of secretion—Mark 15:23; John 19:39.
         2. The Spirit was compounded through Christ’s sufferings in His living a crucified life, a life of myrrh, from the manger to the cross as the first God-man—Matt. 2:11; John 19:39; Isa. 53:2-3.
         3. The Spirit leads us to the cross, the cross is applied by the Spirit, and the cross issues in more abundance of the Spirit—Heb. 9:14; Rom. 6:3, 6; 8:13-14; Gal. 2:20; John 12:24.
      3. Cinnamon typifies the sweetness and effectiveness of Christ’s death:
         1. Cinnamon was used to stimulate a weak heart— Neh. 8:10; Isa. 42:4a.
         2. We are conformed to the death of Christ by our outward, consuming environment in cooperation with the indwelling, crucifying Spirit— 2 Cor. 4:10-11, 16; Rom. 8:13-14; Gal. 5:24; Col. 3:5; Gal. 6:17.
      4. Calamus signifies the precious resurrection of Christ:
         1. Calamus is a reed standing up (shooting into the air) and growing in a marsh or muddy place—1 Pet. 3:18.
         2. We need to experience the Spirit as the reality of Christ’s resurrection—John 11:25; 20:22; Lam. 3:55-57.
      5. Cassia signifies the repelling power of Christ’s resurrection:
         1. Cinnamon is from the inner part of the bark, and cassia, from the outer part—Rev. 2:7; 1 Pet. 2:24; John 11:25.
         2. Cassia was a repellent to drive away insects and snakes—Eph. 6:11, 17b-18.
         3. We need to know the power of Christ’s resurrection in the life-giving Spirit as the all-sufficient grace of the processed and consummated Triune God—Phil. 3:10; 2 Cor. 12:9-10; 1 Cor. 15:10, 45b, 58; Phil. 4:23.
   4. The life-giving Spirit is the Lord Spirit, the pneumatic Christ, for the metabolic transformation of the believers and for the growth and building up of the Body of Christ—2 Cor. 3:17-18; 1 Cor. 3:6, 9b, 12a; Eph. 4:16b.
   5. Without Christ being the life-giving Spirit, we cannot experience anything of God in His economy—1 John 5:6; John 16:13; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2:10; 6:17.
3. Grace is the resurrected Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit to bring the processed Triune God in resurrection into us to be our life and life supply that we may live in resurrection—15:10, 45b:
   1. The grace that motivated the apostle and operated in him was a living person, the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit—John 1:17; Gal. 2:20-21; cf. 1 Cor. 15:10.
   2. His ministry and living by this grace were an undeniable testimony to Christ’s resurrection—vv. 8-10, 31, 58.