Philippians 3:10 says, “To know...the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” According to the original Greek, these two phrases are two of the hardest phrases to translate because there is no such expression in Chinese. The meaning of the original Greek is “to realize, or to know.” Having fellowship in the Lord’s sufferings is to have fellowship with the Lord in His sufferings and through His sufferings. To be conformed to His death means that His death is like a mold and that we are in this mold to be conformed to His death.
In the previous chapters we saw the obstacles that the life of God encounters in us. Now we need to see how God deals with these problems and how He opens a clear pathway for His life in us. This pathway is called the pathway of life. Although the life of God is in us, His life often cannot come out of us because there are strong hindrances, obstacles, and restrictions in us. Thus, the life of God has a difficult way to get through in us; it is rebuffed at every point and resisted in every matter. A part of God’s work in His salvation is to pave a clear way for His life in us. This work is accomplished through the death of the cross.
In God’s salvation, there is life and there is death, and His salvation involves several matters of faith that are not the subject of other “faiths.” For example, no other “faith” speaks of the blood or redemption by the blood. In God’s salvation, however, the blood is an important matter because without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins (Heb. 9:22). This point is not stressed by other “faiths.” Furthermore, life is also a very special matter in God’s salvation. However, only in God’s salvation is the matter of life considered and emphasized. From beginning to end, the Bible is focused on life. The goal of God’s center and purpose is life. In religion there is not much speaking concerning life; instead, self-cultivation, character improvement, and charitable and pious deeds are emphasized. However, in God’s salvation there is blood and life.
Most people do not like to hear about death. The Chinese like to display words in their homes like blessing, wealth, longevity, and happiness, but no one likes the word death. Nevertheless, in God’s salvation, there is the matter of death, and it is a great matter. Those who know God’s salvation not only appreciate the preciousness of the blood and the importance of life but also realize the importance of death. In the provisions of God’s salvation, He has prepared blood, life, and death for us. In regard to God’s salvation, we often say that we have received the life of God, a life that is eternal, holy, full, and shining. However, we may not realize that there is also something else that is precious in God’s salvation, which people do not like to hear—the matter of death.
Paul, who knew both God and His salvation, not only pursued His life but also His death. He said, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Phil. 3:10). The fellowship he desired to know was not in Christ’s life but in His sufferings. Knowing this fellowship meant that Paul participated in this fellowship, which caused him to be conformed to Christ’s death. Paul desired, pursued, and also treasured Christ’s death. Even though many people do not like death, Paul treasured it. Just as the blood is precious and life is important in God’s salvation, so is death. Whoever desires to know God’s salvation must know these three precious things: the blood, life, and death.
We all know the preciousness of the Lord’s blood and how the blood enables our sins to be forgiven. When we fall short before the Lord and cannot come to Him because of condemnation in our conscience, we can look to the blood, trust in the blood, and come to the Lord. Through the blood our sins are forgiven, and through the cleansing of our conscience our fellowship with God is restored (Heb. 10:19; 9:14). In this way, we experience the preciousness of the blood.
Many saved ones emphasize life and the experience of the Lord’s life. Nevertheless, very few of us realize that God has prepared another wonderful thing for us in His salvation—the death of Christ. We may have been Christians for many years, but have we ever realized that God has prepared death for us in His salvation? In our Christian experience, how much do we genuinely experience death in the Lord’s salvation? We have ignored this great matter of death in God’s salvation.
In the Bible we can see that God’s salvation and life have been concealed in death. John 12:24 says, “Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” This means that there is life in a grain of wheat, but unless the grain falls into the ground and dies, the life within the grain will not be released. If, however, the grain dies, the life will be released. This shows that death is the way for life to be released. Since death is an outlet for life, life must pass through death. Regardless of whether it is a grain of wheat or another kind of seed, a seed must pass through death in order to release the life that is in it.
If we love a seed and put it in a very beautiful place or even in a precious box, the life within the seed, that is, all the content and splendor concealed within the seed, will not be expressed. However, if we bury the seed in the earth, the seed will have an opportunity to enter into death so that all of the seed’s content will come out. The life within the seed is released through death. After a short time, we will see a green seedling growing up. After more time, we will see a leaf sprouting on the seedling, and after still more time, the leaf will be full grown and a flower will blossom. Eventually, the seedling will blossom, bear fruit, and be full grown.
This shows that it is only through death that the life in a seed can be released. This is a natural law in the universe, and this law signifies the pathway to release the life of God in us. Both plant and animal life are released through death. For example, the life of a chicken is in an egg, but if the eggshell is not broken, life cannot come out. Those who raise chickens know that in order for the life in an egg to be born, the eggshell must be broken. The breaking of an eggshell is a process of death. Regardless of whether it is plant or animal life, life must pass through the process of death in order to be born. This is a natural law, and it is also a principle. This law signifies that in order for the life of God to come out of us, it must pass through death.
Similarly, in order for the life of God to come out of the Lord Jesus, He had to pass through death. He said that without death there would be no life (John 12:24). Without death as the pathway, life cannot be released. The way of life is the way of death; wherever there is death, there is a way for life to come out. If there is no death in us, God’s life will not be able to find a way to be released from us. Paul said, “Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Cor. 4:10). The expression of the Lord’s life in us is contingent upon one thing: death. The extent to which death has worked in us is the extent to which the Lord’s life has a way to come out of us. For this reason, even Paul, who was full of experience and was mature in life, pursued to know Christ’s death; he wanted to be conformed to Christ’s death. He pursued this death because he knew that the extent to which death worked in him would be the extent to which the Lord’s life could be released from him.