After He experienced human living, Christ went to the cross and was crucified. In general, most Christians would say that because Jesus loved us, He bore our sins and died on our behalf to redeem us. This is correct but very shallow. The crystallized significance of Christ’s crucifixion is that He accomplished an all-inclusive death. On the negative side, His death terminated the old creation (Rom. 6:6), including all persons and things related to the old creation: Satan (Heb. 2:14), sin (Rom. 8:3b; John 1:29; Heb. 9:26b, 28a), the world, (John 12:31; Gal. 6:14b), man’s flesh (Gal. 5:24; Rom. 8:3b), the law of the commandments in ordinances (Eph. 2:15a), and everything outside of God. Thus, Christ’s death completely removed and thoroughly terminated all defilement and corruption in the universe brought in through Satan’s rebellion and man’s fall.
On the positive side, Christ’s death released the divine life in Him as a basic factor of God’s new creation. Christ’s death not only terminated the old creation but also released the divine life. His death was the death of a grain of wheat, as mentioned in John 12:24. Apparently, Christ as a grain of wheat fell into the ground and died; actually, that death was His being made alive. The riches of life contained in a seed can be released only through death. In the same way, when Christ as a grain of wheat fell into the ground and died, the life element within Him became intensely active to release the divine life—the very God Himself—that was concealed in Him and to impart it into the many grains. This is the crystallized significance of Christ’s death.
Christ’s resurrection, the beginning of the new creation, has a threefold crystallized significance. In this resurrection the firstborn Son of God was produced, the many sons of God were simultaneously produced, and Christ Himself was made the life-giving Spirit. Acts 13:33 says, “You are My Son; today I have begotten You.” Today refers to the day of Christ’s resurrection (Psa. 2:7). Christ’s resurrection was His being begotten by God as the firstborn Son (Rom. 1:4). First Peter 1:3 says, “God...has regenerated us...through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Hence, God also regenerated all His chosen people to be His many sons through Christ’s resurrection. Thus, God’s firstborn Son and His many sons constitute a universal, corporate new man with the firstborn Son as the Head and the many sons as the Body.
Furthermore, in this resurrection as a great delivery, the incarnated Christ passed through resurrection and became the life-giving Spirit. This life-giving Spirit, the Spirit of the Firstborn, who is also called the Spirit of Jesus Christ, enters into the many sons to be their bountiful supply (Phil. 1:19). This is God entering into the believers to regenerate them, sanctify them, renew them, transform them, conform them to the image of God’s firstborn Son, and eventually glorify them. All these things are carried out by Christ as the firstborn Son who has become the life-giving Spirit and has entered into us.
There were two “becomings” in the processes that God passed through. The first “becoming” was His becoming flesh (John 1:14) that He might come among men to be with them. However, He still could not enter into them. He needed to pass through another “becoming,” that is, His becoming the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). In John 14:3 the Lord said, “If I go...I am coming again.” His going was His going to pass through death and resurrection; His coming was His coming to His disciples and entering into them. In resurrection He was begotten as the firstborn Son of God, and in that birth the many sons of God were also begotten; furthermore, He Himself became the life-giving Spirit that He may enter and dwell in the many sons to be their life supply. This is the crystallized significance of Christ’s resurrection.
Through these four steps of God’s economy the many sons of God were produced. Corporately, the many sons of God are the church; organically, they are the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is the church, the house of God, the kingdom of God, and the bride, the counterpart, of Christ. In each aspect, the church takes the Body of Christ as its organic factor. Without the Body of Christ, the church is lifeless and is a mere human organization. Without the Body of Christ and, therefore, without the life of Christ, there cannot be the house of God, which is constituted with the children born of God the Father, and there cannot be the kingdom of God, which is the realm of God’s life. Without the life of Christ, there also cannot be the bride of Christ who, as His counterpart, must match Him to be a couple with Him. Eve came out of Adam and was a match to Adam, so she could be Adam’s counterpart. Likewise, the church must also have the life of Christ that she may be Christ’s counterpart. The church as the house of God, the kingdom of God, and the bride of Christ takes the Body of Christ as its organic factor.