We come now to the fourth major step of Christ: His ascension. We already have seen the incarnation, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. By the resurrection the creation was brought to a new standing, and we were regenerated to be members of the Body of Christ. But the Body was not yet formed. It was by the ascension of Christ that all these members were formed into a living Body. After Christ ascended to heaven, He baptized His whole Body by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4, 16-18, 33), and it was by this baptism in the Holy Spirit that all the members were formed into one Body (1 Cor. 12:13). After His ascension, He also gave many gifts: apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers and pastors (Eph. 4:8, 11-12). The purpose of these gifts was to build up the Body.
At each of the four major steps of Christ, there was one main accomplishment. In His incarnation Christ joined Himself to the creation. By His crucifixion He put all the creation to an end. By His resurrection Christ brought in the new creation with all the regenerated as living members of His Body. This, however, was only the preparation of the materials and still not the building. It was not until He ascended to heaven and poured down the Holy Spirit of power that the Body was formed. It was also then that He gave gifts for the building up of that Body.
We were indeed put to an end in Christ on the cross and also regenerated to be living members of Christ. But do we live as members of the Body and take Christ as our life? Many Christians today simply are not like members of Christ because they are not living by Christ. When we live by Christ and take Him as our life, then we are living members and real brothers. Sometimes a brother will say to me, "That brother is a real brother!" When I ask him what he means by "real brother," he says, "Oh, he is so sincere, so nice and so lovely!" I shake my head. "No, brother. A nice brother may not be a real brother!" We may be quite lovely, quite nice, and still not be living by Christ. We may be born "nice," or born "lovely." I have met many people both in the East and West who are naturally "nice," though they have never received Christ. We should not say that a lovely brother is a real brother. To be a real brother means to be living by Christ, to be a living member for the Body. I do not say "of the Body," but "for the Body."
We may be a living member, a real brother, but have we been built up together with others? I know we have been joined to Christ and put to an end on the cross, and that we do take Christ as our life, but are we now members in the Body? We must be in the ascension of Christ as well as in His resurrection.