We come now to study the third of the four stages in our spiritual life, that is, “Christ living in me,” or, the experience of “the stage of the cross.”
If a Christian, after he consecrates himself to the Lord, deals thoroughly with all unrighteousness, unholiness, and the feelings of the conscience, and has certain experiences in obeying the teaching of the anointing and understands God’s will, then the Lord will lead him to accept the dealings of the cross. Thus, he will obtain experiences of the stage of the cross.
The experience of the stage of the cross is different in many respects from the previous spiritual experiences. The first two stages of the experience of life can only be counted as the experience of one stage, because all those dealings can be experienced once a person is saved. A person who is saved in a very thorough way begins immediately to clear the past and deals with sin, the world, and the conscience. Even in the deeper lessons, such as obeying the teaching of the anointing and understanding the will of God, he has already made headway. Therefore, these experiences actually belong to the stage of salvation. However, there is definitely a difference when we come to the third stage. It brings us to the starting point of another aspect in Christian experience, and this serves as a great turning point for a Christian before the Lord. Mrs. Penn-Lewis named this stage “the way of the cross.” She used the term “way” to denote that it is at this stage that a Christian begins to walk formally in the way of the cross, having the experience of the cross and walking entirely under the cross. Therefore, from this time on, his spiritual walk enters into a new stage.
Moreover, all the dealings during the first two stages with regard to unrighteousness, unholiness, and even the unpeaceful feelings in the conscience are related to matters outside of us and have nothing to do with our own self. In the first two stages, we conceive of all our problems as being things related to sin and the world, and that if we have dealt with them, we will have no further problems. However, not until we consecrate ourselves to the Lord and obey Him in an absolute way, making progress in the Lord and entering into the third stage, do we gradually discover that, in following the Lord, not only do we have problems related to matters outside of us, but also problems of our very being, such as our flesh, our self, and our natural constitution. Furthermore, these inward matters hinder and offend the Lord most severely. At this time we will be led by the Lord to see how the cross can solve all these difficulties pertaining to our being. Then we will have deeper dealings with regard to these matters. This is why we say that if a Christian can enter into this third stage of the experience of the cross, then indeed a great turning point and a new beginning will be effected in his life.
The matter concerning the cleansing of leprosy (Lev. 14:2-9) is a type which very clearly shows these two different kinds of dealing related to the matters outside of us and the things of our selves. In the Bible a leper always typifies our fallen, sinful man. The problem of a leper is really not in his outward filthiness and ugliness, but in the poison of the disease within. Likewise, the main problem with us fallen sinners is really not our outward sinful deeds, but the sinful nature within us, which originates from the evil life of Satan. Therefore, the typology regarding leprosy is a very accurate and thorough description of our sinful condition before God. Hence, the way of cleansing related to the leper, as recorded in Leviticus, is also the way of our being cleansed and dealt with before God.
The first requirement for the cleansing of a leper was to bring him to the priest. The priest typifies the Lord Jesus. “The priest shall go forth out of the camp” to examine the leper, because the leper could not enter into the camp, but must remain outside. This tells us that we sinners cannot come into the midst of God’s people, where God manifests His grace; but the Lord Jesus has come out to examine us. If we have really repented from our heart, then the plague of leprosy is healed in the sight of God. After it is healed, “then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two living clean birds, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: and the priest shall command to kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar-wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let go the living bird into the open field.” The filthiness of the leper is a sin before God; therefore, it requires the cleansing of the sprinkling of the blood. This is not for the cleansing of the sinful nature, but for the abolishing of all record of sin before God. The procedure in the sprinkling of the blood is to prepare two birds: one to be killed in an earthen vessel over running water, and the other, which is living, to be dipped in the blood and sprinkled over the leper. The bird that is killed typifies the Lord Jesus shedding His blood and suffering death; the living bird typifies the Lord Jesus resurrected from death; and the running water typifies the everlasting life of our Lord. Therefore, this indicates that the Lord Jesus shed His blood and suffered death in His everlasting life. Furthermore, the blood, shed by His death, and His everlasting life are brought unto us and become effective in us through His resurrection. The seven times sprinkling indicates the completeness of the cleansing of the Lord’s blood; it can abolish all our sinful record before God and make us acceptable to God. After the living bird was dipped into the blood, it was set loose into the open field. This means that after a person receives the death of the Lord Jesus in his stead, the blood of the Lord becomes effective upon him, and the power of the resurrection of the Lord is manifested in him and sets him free.
When a person is resurrected and liberated through the death and resurrection of the Lord, he is saved. From this time forth, he must cleanse away all his filthiness, dealing with both his inward and outward difficulties.
“He that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes.” Clothing, which is something put upon the human body, typifies our living, deeds, and actions. Therefore, the washing of the clothes indicates dealing with all improper and wrong deeds in our lives. This includes all that we have mentioned before-the clearance of the past, the dealing with sin, the world, and the conscience, which belong to the first two stages of the experience of life.
It follows then that the leper has to “shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water; and he shall be clean.” The hair, which is something grown out from a man’s body, signifies the difficulties within ourselves. Therefore, shaving the hair means dealing with the difficulties of our own self. This is the work of the cross in dealing with our being. After one passes through the dealing of the cross, his whole being is cleansed in a practical way. This kind of dealing is not once for all; it must be repeated again and again to become thorough. Therefore, “on the seventh day he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eye-brows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and he shall be clean.” This continuous dealing is not only thorough, but detailed; that is, it is not only the shaving of the hair in general, but it also differentiates between the hair of the head, the beard, the eyebrows, and the hair of the whole body. These areas must be dealt with one by one, and eventually the whole body completely shaved.
In the Bible, each of the different kinds of hair has its own significance. The hair of the head signifies the glory of man, the beard represents the honor of man, the eyebrows speak of the beauty of man, and the hair of the whole body denotes the natural strength of man. Everyone has his boasts in certain areas. Some boast of their ancestry, some of their education, some of their virtues, some of their zeal in their love for the Lord. Almost everyone can find an area in which to boast, to glorify himself, and to make a display before man. This is typified by the hair of the head. Moreover, people esteem themselves honorable with regard to their position, their family background, or even in their spirituality; they always have a superior feeling that they are above others. This is his beard. At the same time, men also have some natural beauty, that is, some naturally good and strong points, which did not issue from the experience of God’s salvation, but from natural birth. This is the eyebrows of man. Finally, as human beings, we are full of natural strength, natural methods and opinions, thinking that we can do this or that for the Lord, and that we are capable of doing all things. This means that we still have very long hair all over our body; we have not been shaved. All these are not outward contaminations, but problems of our natural birth. The outward contaminations need only to be washed with water; however, our own natural problems must be shaved with a razor, which means that they must be dealt with by the cross. This kind of dealing is deep and severe, hurting us within and causing us much pain.
What we will discuss in the third stage are the experiences of “shaving of the hair,” that is, dealing with the problems of our own self. We will divide these dealings into the following items: dealing with the flesh, dealing with self, and dealing with the natural constitution. These are the major experiences of dealing in the third stage of the experience of life.
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