The cross is precious to the uttermost because the cross terminated all the enemies of God. God has four main enemies: Satan, sin, the flesh (the fallen man), and the world (the satanic cosmos). By one crucifixion Christ terminated these four enemies of God. Satan was crucified (Heb. 2:14; John 12:31), sin was condemned (Rom. 8:3), the old fallen man was crucified (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20), and the world was crucified and judged (Gal. 6:14; John 12:31). At the same time the cross of Christ released the divine life (John 12:24). Christ crucified all the negative things and then released something positive to supply God’s eternally chosen people. The divine life released by the cross of Christ is God Himself.
John 19:34 says that when Christ was crucified two substances flowed out from Him: blood and water. The blood is for the judicial need, and the water, the flowing divine life, is for the organic need. The released divine life was then dispensed in Christ’s resurrection. This is why the cross is so precious in the eyes of God. God loves the cross.
Following the cross is the resurrection of Christ, in which three great things took place. First, in the resurrection of Christ, Christ in His humanity was begotten to be God’s firstborn Son (Rom. 1:4; 8:29). In that resurrection His humanity, which He inherited from the seed of David (1:3), was designated the Son of God by the Spirit of holiness, which was Christ’s divine essence. His divine essence in the resurrection uplifted His humanity from the human level to the divine level. God came in to beget Him on that day. Acts 13:33 says that on the day of resurrection Christ was begotten by God: “You are My Son; today I have begotten You.” “Today” is the day of resurrection.
The second great thing that was accomplished in Christ’s resurrection was that He, as the last Adam, became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Before that “becoming,” Christ was physical. He was in the flesh. Wherever He was, people saw Him as a man in the flesh. Even He was hanging on the cross as a man in the flesh. But after not more than three days, He was transformed into the life-giving Spirit. Christ’s physical body was buried in a tomb, but in resurrection His physical body was transformed. When Peter and John entered into the tomb, they saw the grave clothes, but they did not see Christ’s body. The physical Jesus had been transformed into the life-giving Spirit. In the evening of the day of resurrection, He came back to His disciples as the physical Jesus who had been transformed to be the life-giving Spirit (John 20:19-22). The transformed Christ is the life-giving Spirit. The twenty-two Epistles of the New Testament do not teach a physical Christ but a pneumatic Christ, a Christ who is the totality of the Spirit of God.
The third great thing which took place on the day of resurrection was that God regenerated all His chosen people (1 Pet. 1:3) when He begot Christ to be His firstborn Son. We have been regenerated, but many of us do not know our birthday. We were regenerated, born again, about two thousand years ago on the day of Christ’s resurrection. This is according to the biblical calendar. Christ is the firstborn Son of God, and we are His many “twins.” Thus, the resurrection produced the firstborn Son of God, the life-giving Spirit, and the many sons of God. The firstborn Son of God is the Head, and His many brothers, the sons of God, are the members of Christ. The Head with all the members is a complete organism, the Body of Christ. This is what the Bible unveils concerning the resurrection of Christ.
The Lord wants us to experience His cross that we may enter into His resurrection. The calling for the cross and the resurrection figured by the springtime is in Song of Songs 2. The Beloved calls His lover by saying, “Rise up, my love, / My beauty, and come away” (v. 10). He calls her into the springtime. The winter is a time of dormancy but now there is budding and blossoming to replace dormancy. The flowers, the fruit, the time of singing, and the voice of the turtledove are a picture of resurrection. The Lord’s seeker is disappointed by her introspection. When she looks into herself, it is the wintertime of dormancy. But when she looks away to the resurrected Christ, she enters into the stage of spring, signifying the stage of resurrection.
Let us consider how to apply this fellowship with an illustration. Suppose that a brother would not take the cross in dealing with his wife. Then he would have no spring, no time of praising and singing. But if he accepts the cross in dealing with his wife to be conformed to the death of Christ, he will enjoy the springtime of Christ’s resurrection with everything budding and blossoming. When he stays in the cross, he enjoys Christ’s presence. If a brother does not have such an experience of the cross, his speaking in the meeting will be without the content of resurrection. In his speaking we would sense no power, no blossoming, no bearing of fruit. But when he has the experience of the cross, we can sense the springtime in his speaking. Do we spend our days sighing instead of singing? Our sighing is the sign of our rejection of the cross. If we receive the cross, right away the resurrection comes. Resurrection always follows the cross.
The reality of the resurrection is the pneumatic Christ who is the consummated Spirit. This consummated Spirit is in our spirit. Our spirit has become His dwelling place. Our spirit is the Holy of Holies for the Triune God as the consummated Spirit living within us. This is why we say, “Turn to your spirit.” About thirty years ago when we were in Elden Hall in Los Angeles, everyone was singing this. That was the springtime. But why has the spring gradually ceased among us? This is because we do not accept the cross. The rejection of the cross causes us to suffer the winter, the dormant stage.