The Man-Savior’s resurrection was also His propagation to produce the church as His reproduction. By His resurrection the Man-Savior could be multiplied and thereby have His propagation.
As an illustration of the Lord’s propagation through resurrection, consider a grain of wheat that falls into the earth and dies. After a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it grows up and becomes many grains. The many grains are the multiplication of the one grain, and this multiplication is the propagation of that grain of wheat.
According to John 12:24, the Lord Jesus is the grain of wheat who fell into the ground and died in order to be multiplied. Through His death and resurrection the Lord Jesus certainly has been multiplied and propagated. This propagation is for producing His reproduction, and the reproduction of Christ is the church. Therefore, the Lord’s resurrection is His propagation to produce the church as His reproduction.
If we study carefully Ephesians 1:20-23, we shall see that these verses reveal that the propagation of Christ produces the church as His reproduction. Ephesians 1:20 and 21 say, “Which He wrought in Christ in raising Him from among the dead, and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power and lordship, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is coming.” The relative pronoun “which” at the beginning of verse 20 refers to “the surpassing greatness of His power” spoken of in verse 19. God’s great power that operated in Christ first raised Him from among the dead. This power has overcome death, the grave, and Hades, where the dead are held. Due to God’s resurrection power, death and Hades could not hold Christ (Acts 2:24).
Second, God’s power that operated in Christ seated Him at God’s right hand in the heavenlies far above all. God’s right hand, where Christ has been seated by the surpassing great power of God, is the most honorable place, with the supreme authority. The “heavenlies” in verse 20 refers not only to the third heaven, the highest place in the universe, where God dwells, but also to the state and atmosphere of the heavens, in which Christ was seated by God’s power.
According to verse 21, Christ has been seated far above all rule, authority, power, lordship, and every name. Rule refers to the highest office, authority to every kind of official power (Matt. 8:9), power to the might of authority, and lordship to the preeminence which power establishes. The ascended Christ has been seated by the great power of God above all rules, authorities, powers, and lordships in the entire universe.
Furthermore, Christ is seated above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is coming. Here “every name” refers not only to titles of honor but also to everything that has a name. Christ has been seated far above everything, not only the things in this age, but also in the coming age.
Ephesians 1:22 continues, “And He subjected all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church.” Third, God’s great power that operated in Christ has subjected all things under His feet. To be far above all is one thing; to have all things subjected under Christ’s feet is another. The former is a matter of Christ’s transcendency; the latter is a matter of the subjection of all things to Him.
Fourth, God’s great power that operated in Christ gave Him to be Head over all things to the church. The headship of Christ over all things is a gift from God to Him. It was through God’s surpassingly great power that Christ received the headship in the whole universe. It was as a man, in His humanity with His divinity, that Christ was raised up from the dead, was seated in the heavenlies, had all things subjected to Him, and was given to be Head over all things.
In verse 22 we have the significant phrase “to the church.” This phrase implies a transmission. Whatever Christ, the Head, attained and obtained is transmitted to the church, His Body. In this transmission the church shares with Christ in all His attainments: the resurrection from among the dead, being seated in His transcendency, the subjection of all things under His feet, and the headship over all things.
In Ephesians 1:20-22 we see four matters related to the producing of the church: raising Christ up from the dead, seating Him in His transcendency, subjecting all things under His feet, and giving Him to be Head over all things. The result, the outcome, of these four matters is the church, as indicated by the phrase “to the church” in verse 22.
Today’s Christians often talk about the church in a very elementary way, even in a childish way. Very few believers have seen that the church comes out of what the surpassing great power of God has done in and with Christ. God’s power raised Christ from among the dead. Then this great power seated Christ in His transcendency, subjected all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things. The issue of this is the producing of the church. This means that the church is the outcome of the process involving raising Christ, seating Him, subjecting all things under His feet, and giving Him to be the Head of all things.
Having a superficial understanding of the church, some Christians even speak of the church as a material building with a steep roof and a tower. However, according to the New Testament, the church that is recognized by God is the issue of four things done with Christ. As we have emphasized, these four things are the raising up of Christ, seating Him in His transcendency, subjecting all things under His feet, and making Him the Head over all things. The church is the outcome of the process involving these four things, a process that began with the Man-Savior’s resurrection. Because this process began with Christ’s resurrection, His resurrection is for the producing of the church as His reproduction.
The points we have covered in this message involve certain of the deeper truths in the Bible. I hope that all the saints among us, especially the young ones, will not stay with the shallowness and superficiality common among Christians today. All the saints need to enter into the deeper truths in the Bible.
Today the Man-Savior in His resurrection is the life-giving Spirit to make us, God’s chosen people, His reproduction. This reproduction is the church, His Body, to express Him as His fullness. This is the ultimate issue of Christ’s resurrection. Ephesians 1:22 and 23 speak of “the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” The Body is not an organization but an organism constituted of all the regenerated believers for the expression and activities of the Head. The Body of Christ is His fullness, which issues from the enjoyment of the riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8). Through the enjoyment of Christ’s riches, we become His fullness to express Him. Christ, who is the infinite God without limitation, is so great that He fills all things in all things. Such a great Christ needs the church to be His fullness for His complete expression.
We have considered three points related to the subjective aspect of the Man-Savior’s resurrection. His resurrection is His transfiguration into the life-giving Spirit to enter into His believers, His germination of the new creation to impart the divine life into His believers for their regeneration, and His propagation to produce the church as His reproduction. The crucial point here is that in resurrection Christ has become the life-giving Spirit. However, some Bible teachers oppose this truth, claiming that the life-giving Spirit in 1 Corinthians 15:45 is not the Holy Spirit. Those who deny that the life-giving Spirit in this verse is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit who gives life, are twisting the Word of God. Paul does not simply say, “The last Adam became a Spirit.” On the contrary, he says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” The Spirit who gives life, the divine life, must be the Spirit of God Himself. But concerning this those who are short of light even criticize what the Bible teaches. How deplorable!
We must testify that, according to the Scriptures, Christ in resurrection is the life-giving Spirit. We have been charged by the Lord with the burden to proclaim this. The more others oppose it, the more we shall proclaim the truth that Christ is now the life-giving Spirit. Praise the Lord for His transfiguration, germination, and propagation to produce the church as His reproduction! Now He is the life-giving Spirit, and we are His reproduction.