After being regenerated, we begin to grow by the divine renewing, sanctification, and transformation until we mature in the divine life to be a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Col. 1:28; Eph. 4:13), being conformed to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29).
The fullness of Christ is the Body of Christ. Christ’s Body is not something empty or formless; rather, it is an organism with a measure of the stature of its fullness in its breadth, length, height, and depth. Thank the Lord that God has regenerated us that we may begin to have His divine element. Following this, we still need to be built up, established, and shaped in God’s organic salvation. However, after we have been shaped through transformation, it is still not enough. We need to continue to grow until we are matured in the divine life to become a full-grown man. Then we can arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and be conformed to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God.
Hence, our conformation is our maturity in the divine life through which we participate in God’s divinity in full and are solidified in the possession of His divine element. Many Christians are satisfied superficially with merely being saved to go to heaven instead of going to hell. But today in the Lord’s recovery we have seen that after regeneration, in which we have God’s divine life and begin to have God’s divine element, we still need to experience the growth in life unto a full-grown man.
God conforms us not only that we may be solidified in the possession of His divine element but also that we may be solidified in the experience of His organic salvation. God’s organic salvation is complete, but in our experience of His organic salvation we need to be solidified. We need conformation to help us in being solidified in the experience of such a salvation.
In God’s organic salvation, conformation is the consummation of our transformation in life (2 Cor. 3:18); it is also our preparation before the transfiguration and glorification of our body. God’s organic salvation begins with regeneration and passes through renewing, sanctification, transformation, and conformation; eventually He will glorify us that we may consummate in the New Jerusalem. In order to be glorified, we must first be conformed, that is, be matured in life. This becomes the preparation work before our glorification. God’s desire is to glorify His people, but He cannot glorify a group of children; He can only glorify a group of grown-up people. Hence, conformation is to prepare us that God may carry out the work of glorification in us.
Romans 8:29 says, “Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.” We have been regenerated to become the sons of God, but we still need to be conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son. God’s only begotten Son had divinity but not humanity; Christ as God’s firstborn Son has both divinity and humanity. We are to be conformed to God’s firstborn Son, Christ as the first God-man, that we may be a group of God-men who are exactly like Him.
When God’s firstborn Son, Christ as the first God-man, lived on earth, He lived in the shadow of the cross. His life was a crucified life. Such a crucified life became a mold. To experience being conformed to the image of God’s Firstborn, we must be conformed to His death daily. In Philippians 3:10 Paul said, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” On the one hand, we are being conformed to His death in all things through the power of His resurrection, and on the other hand, we live Christ for magnifying Him through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19-21a).
Such a conformation makes us the reprints of God’s firstborn Son that we may be exactly like Him and be exactly like God in His righteousness and holiness (1 John 3:2; Eph. 4:24). We are reprints of God not only in His image but also in His righteousness and holiness. God’s righteousness is His righteous procedure, and His holiness is His holy nature. We are not only like God in His outward image, but we are exactly like Him in His righteousness and holiness.
This is the work of conformation which God is doing in us to carry out His organic salvation to the uttermost. This is God’s heart’s desire and good pleasure in us; this is also the ultimate goal which God has concerning His chosen people, that is, to make us jasper stone and, consummately, the New Jerusalem.