Now there is such a unique One in the universe who is both God and man. He is God plus man. He lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years. Then He went voluntarily to the cross and died there for us. Hebrews 9:14 indicates that when He went to the cross to offer Himself to God, He was not alone because the Holy Spirit was with Him to strengthen Him. His offering of Himself to God as a sacrifice was strengthened by the third of the Divine Trinity. When He was hanging on the cross, the Father, the first of the Divine Trinity, was also with Him. His death was not merely the death of a man. His death was the death of God plus man.

The Lord was crucified from the third hour, 9:00 a.m. (Mark 15:25), to the ninth hour, 3:00 p.m. He suffered on the cross for six hours. At 12:00 noon, the sixth hour, darkness fell over all the land until the ninth hour (Matt. 27:45). For the first three hours, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, He was persecuted by men for doing God's will; in the last three hours, He was judged by God to accomplish our redemption. It was during this time that God counted Him as our Substitute who suffered for our sin (Isa. 53:10). Darkness fell over all the land because our sin and sins and all negative things were being dealt with there; and because of our sin, God forsook Him (Matt. 27:46). God put all the sin of the world upon Him (Isa. 53:6), making Him sin on our behalf (2 Cor. 5:21). He died on the cross under God's judgment. He cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). God forsook Him for our sake and for the sake of our sins. God forsook Christ on the cross because He took the place of sinners (1 Pet. 3:18). He bore our sins (2:24; Isa. 53:6) and was made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). In the three hours from 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m., He was condemned by God, judged by God, and cut off by God from the land of the living for our sake.

Then He was buried, and after three days He rose up out of death. When He rose from among the dead, He did not drop His humanity. To say that Christ is no longer human after His resurrection is absolutely wrong and heretical. On the day of His resurrection in the evening, He came back to His disciples. Although the doors were shut where the disciples were, He appeared in their midst and said to them "Peace to you" (Luke 24:36). His disciples became frightened and thought they beheld a ghost (v. 37 and note 371—Recovery Version). Then He said, "See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you behold Me having" (v. 39). Although He was resurrected, He was a man with a physical body that could be touched.

When He appeared in the midst of His disciples, He did not speak much to them. Instead, He breathed into them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22). The Holy Spirit is the holy pneuma, the holy breath. The Lord breathed Himself into them as the holy breath. A person's breath is actually himself. The Spirit breathed into the disciples is Christ. First Corinthians 15:45b says that the last Adam, Christ, became a life-giving Spirit. This Spirit, who is the Spirit of Jesus, is a Spirit with humanity. No one can fully comprehend this divine mystery.

There is a brother among us who is a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley. I recently asked him whether the very Christ who was standing in the midst of the disciples on the day of resurrection was physical or spiritual. He said that he did not know. This is a mystery which no one can understand. Today the very Christ in resurrection still has the human nature. Even in His resurrection and in His ascension, He is both divine and human. Is this not wonderful? The life-giving Spirit of Christ is not merely the Spirit of God. Now He is the compounded Spirit. He is compounded with divinity, plus humanity, plus the wonderful all-inclusive death of Christ and the powerful resurrection of Christ. This is the consummated Spirit who is the very consummation of the Triune God.

Today when someone believes in the Lord Jesus, he receives the consummated Spirit of life as the eternal life. The eternal life is a mingled life—a life of divinity mingled with humanity. The Lord Jesus said that He is the eternal life (John 14:6a), and by believing into Him, we received Him as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. In Him we have the complete God and the perfect man. In Him we can also participate in His all-inclusive death. His death is a dear death. We all have to love this death, to "kiss" this death. His death is different from the death of Adam. The death of Adam is terrible, but the death of Christ is wonderful. In Him we also have the powerful resurrection. Thus, in Him we have God—complete, man—perfect, death—all-inclusive, and resurrection—powerful, compounded together as one. This is the life we received when we believed in the Lord Jesus. This is clearly revealed in the New Testament, but not many realize that the eternal life which they have received is such a mingled life. The Body of Christ is of such a life. We may talk much about the Body of Christ, but I am concerned that we may not realize that this Body is of such a wonderful life. We all have to see this.

Now we may ask how such a life could get into us. This is why we have to read Ephesians. Ephesians 1 is a particular, skillfully written chapter telling us how this wonderful life has gotten into us. We may have read Ephesians 1 many times without seeing this. This is why, in chapter one of Ephesians, Paul prayed that God would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation (v. 17). Paul prayed that God would open up our eyes, giving us the ability to know the wonderful, mysterious things recorded in Ephesians. We may read Ephesians 1 without a spirit of wisdom and revelation, without the opening of our inner eyes. Thus, we do not have the ability to apprehend the divine things. I have been praying much for all of us since the day we decided to have this conference. I desired that the Lord would grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation to see Ephesians 1. This chapter is a deep mine. I want to open up this mine and show us the treasures in this mine.