In the previous message we saw that we need to be delivered from the self by the cross of Christ. Most of us are short of this kind of experience. We have the light of the truth and even speak the deep things of God’s economy, but we do not have the support of the adequate experiences of Christ. Hymns, #482 by A. B. Simpson is concerning the experience of being crucified with Christ. Stanza 5 says: “This the balm for pain and sickness, / Just to all our strength to die, / And to find His life and fulness, / All our being’s need supply.” If we die to our self and take the Lord’s resurrection life and power as our life supply, this conformation to the death of Christ by the power of His resurrection in our daily life heals us. According to the revelation of God’s complete gospel, Isaiah 53:4-5 makes it very clear that in His redeeming death on the cross, Christ has borne all our griefs and carried our sorrows; furthermore, by His chastening we receive peace and by His stripes we are healed. No one can be healed before God without Christ’s death for our redemption.
Christ’s redemption has accomplished two things: to have our sins forgiven and to have our illnesses healed. Without Christ’s death, there is no healing. Many Pentecostals stress miraculous healing, but they have no idea that healing is the consummation of Christ’s death. Such miraculous healing is called in Hebrews 6:5 “the powers of the age to come.” Eventually, God will give us the consummate healing, which will be our resurrection from the dead and rapture.
After the experience of the cross is the experience of resurrection. Resurrection is always an empowering and an encouraging factor. Christ’s resurrection power is signified by the gazelle’s leaping on the mountains and the young hart’s skipping on the hills. We can be conformed to Christ’s death by the power of His resurrection. Another A. B. Simpson hymn on our being crucified with Christ says, “‘Tis not hard to die with Christ / When His risen life we know” (Hymns, #481). To remain in Christ’s death we need the power of His resurrection. Romans 6:4 says that we were baptized into Christ’s death. From the time of our baptism, we should bear the cross daily to remain in His death (Luke 9:23).
The book of Song of Songs is a romance in poetic form between a king and a country girl. This is a figure of the romance of God and man. In the first two chapters is the initiation of the portrait of this excellent romance. In this initiation the female pursues the male for her satisfaction. Then the male leads her into the secret chamber. In that chamber, this female is brought into fellowship with the king and so many of his lovers. Through that fellowship in the inner chamber, the king directed his follower to go forth on the footsteps of the flock, which means that our King, Christ, directed us to take the way of the church life (1:6-8). This portion of Song of Songs presents a picture of how to discern the proper church life in the midst of today’s confusion of divisions.
In today’s church life the main thing is transformation. God intends not to improve us but to re-create us, to make us new persons. He does this first by regeneration and second by transformation. Romans 12:2 says that we are transformed by the renewing of the mind. Then 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that we are transformed into the image of the glory of Christ. Transformation is a divine metabolism. It is not an outward change but an inward process to transform us into different persons. Regeneration has been accomplished once for all, but transformation is a lifelong process. Eventually we will be conformed to the image of Christ. Romans 8:29-30 says that we are called, then justified, and then conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God. Conformation implies transformation and consummates in glorification. When we are glorified, our transformation will be completely consummated to make us totally new persons.
In the church life there is also our gaining of Christ and His gaining of us—a mutual gaining. We also enjoy Christ and He enjoys us—a mutual enjoyment. The beginning of this mutual gain and enjoyment is a feast, and the conclusion is a banqueting house.
Following the initial stage, the Lord comes in to call us to go on to the stage of the cross. Many in Christianity exalt the cross. They have the cross on the top of their cathedrals, and they adorn themselves with the cross. They know the cross mostly in a physical sense. We need to see why the cross of Christ is so precious, especially in the eyes of God.