Christ is the fountain, or spring, of water. In John 4:14 He says, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life.”
As we all know, Christ is the bread of life typified by manna (John 6:35). The spring of water is for us to drink, and the bread of life is for us to eat. Thus, we must drink of Him and eat Him. The Lord Jesus said, “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me shall also live because of Me” (John 6:57). If we eat Him, we shall live by Him. Because I eat adequately day after day, I have the energy I need. I live by what I eat. If I do not eat properly, I do not have the energy to speak. The food I eat energizes me. This food is not the objective food, the food for study; it is the subjective food, the food I take in through eating. The real food is Christ.
In John 10:7 the Lord Jesus said that He was the door. Many Christians think that Christ as the door is for us to go to heaven. But if you read John chapter ten, you will see that the door is not for going to heaven; it is for enabling us to get out of the fold, that is, to get out of religion. Religion, including every denomination, is a fold, but the church is a flock. We must come out of the fold and be flocked together as one flock. Only through Christ as the door can we come out of the fold. Hallelujah for Christ as the door! The more you love Christ, eat Christ, live by Christ, and fellowship with Christ, the more He will be the wide open door through which you may walk out of religion, out of the denominations, out of every kind of fold. Through Him as the door you will be released from the fold to the pasture. Sheep do not enjoy the fold as much as they do the pasture. When there is danger or bad weather, the fold is useful. But when there is no danger and the weather is pleasant, the sheep prefer to come out of the fold and to get into the pasture where they can enjoy the green grass as their food. We in the Lord’s recovery are in the tender green pasture feeding on Christ. We are not in the fold eating dry grass.
Christ is not only the door for us to come out of religion; He is also the pasture. In the church life, meeting after meeting we sense that we are in the pasture eating the tender grass.
We have already pointed out that Christ is life. Now we must see that He is also the resurrection (John 11:25). Resurrection is stronger than life. Resurrection is life that has been put into death and that has risen above death. Thus, resurrection is the life that conquers and subdues death. It is the life that can walk out of death. Because the Lord Jesus was the resurrection, He was able to be put into death, walk through death, take a look at every aspect of death as if He were on a sight-seeing tour, and then walk out of death. After completing His tour of the region of death, Christ walked out of death. This is Christ as the resurrection. We all need to enjoy Christ not only as life, but also as the resurrection.
This is not a doctrine; it is something that must be applied to our daily living. Many of us have a problem with our temper. It seems that our little temper often puts us into death. Many times sisters have come to me and said, “Brother Lee, I want to be a good sister, a good wife, and a good mother. But I am bothered by my temper. When my temper rises up, I don’t know what to do. Please help me. I am afraid of my temper.” In the past, my experience was the same as theirs. Gradually, however, I received the revelation that my temper is death. However, because Christ is in me as resurrection, I need not be afraid of the death my temper brings. Suppose the enemy uses your husband or wife to stir up your temper. The first thing you must realize is that the devil is tempting you. The devil may say, “You have heard that Christ is your resurrection. Now let me test you to see whether or not this resurrection will work.” After you realize that this temptation is coming from Satan, do not be afraid of your temper, and do not try to overcome it. Rather, praise the Lord and say, “Hallelujah! Amen! Little devil, are you trying to cause me to lose my temper? Do you intend to put me into death? I would like to go with you to have a sightseeing tour. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Good-by death!” This is the experience of resurrection.
Sometimes the devil may send a brother to rebuke you. This brother may be the only one who has the boldness to rebuke you. His rebuke is another form of death. After being rebuked by him for several minutes, you may find yourself in a tomb. You may be tempted to think that it is not fair for him to rebuke you. But yielding to that temptation will cause you to lose the resurrection. I have had some experience of this. As someone was rebuking me, I said within to the Lord, “Amen, Lord! Hallelujah, now I am coming out of the tomb.” Even as that one was rebuking me, I came forth from the tomb. This is the experience of Christ as the resurrection.