The first deeper item of Christ is Christ's crucifixion, Christ's cross, mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:23. No one can understand why Christ, who was God incarnated as a man and who could have called more than twelve legions of angels to protect Him (Matt. 26:53), was willing to be nailed to the cross and to hang there for six hours. This is one item of the depths of God concerning Christ. Then, Christ died on that cross. Who understands fully the meaning, the significance, of Christ's death? The understanding that, because we were sinners, God sent His Son to die for us so that He could save us according to His love is correct, but it is too superficial. The death of Christ has a much deeper significance than this. In its deeper significance, Christ's death not only involved Christ Himself but also included us (Gal. 2:20). Furthermore, Christ's death terminated all the ordinances among mankind concerning the different ways of living (Eph. 2:14-15; Col. 2:14). This too is something deeper concerning the significance of Christ's death. Then, according to John 12:24, Christ's death, like a grain of wheat falling into the ground, released God's divine life. Christ's death also judged the world (John 12:31) and destroyed the one who has the might of death, that is, the devil (Heb. 2:14). These are additional items of the deeper significance of Christ's death.

Another item of the depths of God concerning Christ is Christ's resurrection. Apparently, Christ's resurrection was simply His rising up from death. However, the resurrection of Christ was much more than merely His rising up. According to its deeper significance, the resurrection of Christ was a great birth. In the resurrection of Christ, not only Christ Himself was born (John 16:20-22; Acts 13:33); millions of Christ's believers also were born in His resurrection. First Peter 1:3 tells us that through the resurrection of Christ, we all were regenerated, and Romans 8:29 says that Christ is now God's Firstborn among many brothers. This is a deeper aspect of Christ's resurrection. Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 15:45b says that as the last Adam, Christ became a life-giving Spirit through resurrection. Before His resurrection Christ was a man in the flesh, but through His resurrection He was transferred out of the realm of the flesh and became a life-giving Spirit. This is certainly a matter of great depth. All these deeper things concerning Christ are fully revealed in the New Testament, but it is very difficult to see these things concerning Christ in the Old Testament.

When they come to either the Old Testament or the New Testament, many readers of the Bible hold to their own natural concepts. In a very real sense, the kind of person we are determines the kind of Bible we have. The Bible contains many deep things that are difficult to understand; but thank the Lord that He is the searching Spirit, and He is also the unveiling Spirit, the revealing Spirit. In Acts 8 the Ethiopian eunuch was reading Isaiah 53:7-8, concerning Christ as a lamb brought to the slaughter and as a sheep that was dumb before its shearers. These words are very simple, yet the eunuch did not understand them. He asked Philip, "Concerning whom does the prophet say this? Concerning himself or concerning someone else?" The Bible is full of deep things such as these. Thus, whenever we come to the Bible, we need to forget about what we know, what we have learned, and what we have heard, and pray, "Lord, I look to You for my understanding of Your Word."