In His resurrection Christ became the firstborn Son. Acts 13:33 indicates that resurrection was a birth to the man Jesus. He was begotten by God in His resurrection to be the firstborn Son of God among many brothers (Rom. 8:29). He was the only begotten Son of God from eternity (John 1:18; 3:16). After incarnation, through resurrection He was begotten by God in His humanity to be God’s firstborn Son. We may say that in His resurrection His humanity was “sonized.” Furthermore, Christ’s resurrection was a birth not only to Him but also to all His millions of believers, who were regenerated by God in the resurrection of Christ (1 Pet. 1:3) to be the many sons of God and the many brothers of Christ (Heb. 2:10-12).
In resurrection Christ also became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor 15:45b), compounded with divinity, humanity, death, and resurrection. This Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God and the reality of resurrection. Actually, this Spirit is the pneumatic Christ Himself. According to John 11:25 resurrection is Christ Himself, and Christ is now the life-giving Spirit. Hence, the life-giving Spirit is the reality of resurrection. When we live in this Spirit, we live in resurrection. When we love others in this Spirit, we love them in resurrection.
In His ascension Christ was appointed to be the Lord to possess the whole earth and to be the Christ to bear God’s commission to complete God’s economy (Acts 2:36; 10:36). He is also the Ruler of the kings of the earth (Rev. 1:5) so that He can be the Savior to save God’s chosen people (Acts 5:31).
Christ today is in the Body. In His Body Christ has been enlarged, increased, and multiplied. Originally, the God-man was an individual, but now He is a corporate, universal God-man. Concerning this, 1 Corinthians 12:12 says, “Even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ” This refers to the corporate Christ, composed of Christ Himself as the Head and the church as His Body with all the believers as members. All the believers of Christ are organically united with Him and constituted with His life and element and have thus become His Body, an organism, to express Him. Hence, He is not only the Head but also the Body.
In His advent Christ will come like lightning in the twinkling of an eye (Luke 17:24). We do not have human expressions to describe His coming, but He will be extraordinary to us in His coming.
In the millennial kingdom Christ, the King, will rule the earth with His overcomers as His co-kings (Rev. 20:4, 6).
In the New Jerusalem Christ will be the holy city. The New Jerusalem will be the consummate manifestation of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God.
The Christ whom we know, enjoy, possess, and experience is typified by the spacious good land of mountains, rivers, brooks, and plains (Deut. 8:7-10). According to the book of Joshua, this is the Christ not only of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin but also of the tribe of Levi. In the Lord’s recovery we are today’s Levites. Judah’s portion is our portion, and Benjamin’s portion also is our portion. This means that we are enjoying all of the experiences of Christ in the twelve tribes, including the early apostles, the church fathers, the martyrs, the reformers, the Protestants, the mystics, the Moravians, the Brethren, the inner life Christians, the evangelicals, and the Pentecostals. This is spoken of in the preface to the Recovery Version:
Throughout the centuries the understanding of the divine revelation possessed by the saints has always been based upon the light they received, and this understanding has progressed steadily. The consummation of this understanding forms the basis of this translation and its footnotes. Hence, this translation and the accompanying footnotes could be called the “crystallization” of the understanding of the divine revelation which the saints everywhere have attained to in the past two thousand years. It is our hope that the Recovery Version will carry on the heritage that it has received and will pave the way for future generations.