“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ” (12:12). From this verse we can see that Christ is not only the Head but also the Body. In the new man there is no room for you nor me; Christ is all in all (Col. 3:10-11).
“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruit of them that slept” (1 Cor. 15:20, Gk.). Christ is the first. “The second man is the Lord from heaven” (15:47). Here He is second! “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit” (15:45, Gk.). Here He is last! If He is A and B, He is also Z. Christ is everything.
How could this marvelous One, represented by all these items, be the reality of them to us? It is because He is this final one we have mentioned, the life-giving Spirit. By turning away from our mind, emotion, and will, we can encounter Him in our spirit. As He spreads into our inner being and makes His home there, He becomes our reality as well as our life, and we are no longer empty.
After we have experienced Christ as our life and enjoyed Him as our reality, this reality becomes our way. God’s way with us is always a Person. For us to contact God, the way is a Person. The same is true of fellow-shipping with the saints, serving God, living in the church life, preaching the gospel, shepherding the saints, becoming holy, or being redeemed. In our Christian life the way to do everything is a Person.
The One who is the power and wisdom of God to us is Christ crucified (1: 23-24). Paul refers to Him again as the crucified One in the second chapter: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of spirit [Gk.] and of power” (vv. 1-4).
In preaching this crucified One, Paul held the attitude of being also crucified. Rather than demonstrating a clever mind or eloquent words, he was with the Corinthians in weakness, fear, and much trembling. The way to preach is in demonstration of spirit, not in the exaltation of the natural man. The crucified Jesus is the way of all ministry.
When the Lord Jesus began His ministry around the age of thirty, His first public act was to be baptized by John (Matt. 3:13-17). His ministry began with His being buried. He was holy, pure, and sinless, yet before he could touch God’s ministry, (in figure) He had to die. John the Baptist did not realize this. He could see how sinners like the Pharisees and Sadducees needed to be baptized, but how could this One born of the Holy Spirit need baptism? “But Jesus answering said to him, Permit it now, for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Dear ones, the highest righteousness is to be buried. After Christ had been buried and come up from the water, he entered into the enjoyment of the presence of God. Such is the meaning of the opened heavens, the descent of the Spirit like a dove, and the Father’s voice. For the true enjoyment of God’s presence, we must die and be buried.
A careful study of the Gospels will reveal that the whole earthly life of the Lord Jesus was under the death of the cross. His baptism was the first step in a life of dying. Eventually He went to the cross and physically died.
In resurrection this One became the life-giving Spirit. The effectiveness of His death is in this very Spirit who now indwells us (see Life Message Eight.) We do not die by committing suicide but by experiencing the dying One within. Hebrews 10:20 tells us that a new and living way has been dedicated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh. When Jesus was crucified, the veil that separated man from God was rent from top to bottom. His being crucified opened the way and made Him the way. Whatever we seek to do or be in our Christian life, the way is to die with Christ.
I trust that through this message we have become clear that the One who is “the way, and the reality, and the life” is experienced by us firstly as our life, then as our reality, and lastly as our way. Such experiences are possible because in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit, and as such He indwells us. Because we are one Spirit with Him, whatever He is becomes ours and our reality. This reality then becomes our way to live in the presence of God.
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