How is it possible for us to be replaced by Christ? We can be replaced by Him only through His death and resurrection. Apart from His death and resurrection, Christ Himself would not be able to replace us. Also, it would not be possible for us to be replaced by Him. This replacement can be carried out only through Christ’s death and resurrection.
We need to realize that it is necessary for us to deny our self. Our attitude should be of willingness to be replaced. We also need to see that a replacement has been prepared for us, and this replacement is Christ. In the words of Paul in Galatians 2:20, it should be no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us.
When we live, we live according to our corrupt heart. We live according to ourselves, and within us we have an evil heart. If we would be delivered from what we are in ourselves, from our evil heart, we need to deny ourselves. To deny ourselves actually means to be replaced by Christ through His death and resurrection.
Christ’s death on the cross included us. This means that when He died, we died with Him. Now we need to realize this fact and apply it to our living. To see that we have been crucified with Christ and apply this fact to our living is to take the cross. Therefore, to take the cross means to admit that we have been terminated by Christ’s death and to apply this termination to ourselves. When we make this application, resurrection life comes in.
In our daily living, the crucified and resurrected Christ is the life-giving Spirit. The reality of Christ’s resurrection is actually the life-giving Spirit. Whenever we apply the cross of Christ, the life-giving Spirit, as the reality of Christ’s resurrection, comes in to be our real replacement. Then we are able to say, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live—Christ lives in me.”
Have you seen what is revealed in 8:27—9:13? Here we have a revelation of Christ’s Person and His death and resurrection. Oh, we all need to see this! I am concerned that some of us have not seen the crucial matters of Christ’s all-inclusive Person, His wonderful death, and His marvelous resurrection. If we see them, we shall say, “Amen! Amen to Christ! Amen to the death of Christ! Amen to the resurrection of Christ! Amen to my termination! Because I have been terminated, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Christ is the entire replacement in this universe. God does not want Moses, God does not want Elijah, and God does not want me in what I am. I say amen to the fact that God only wants Christ.”
God does not want whatever we are in ourselves. He does not want our flesh, and He does not want our heart in its corruption. God only wants Christ, for Christ is the unique, all-inclusive replacement.
In 9:7 God declared, “This is My Son, the Beloved. Hear Him!” We need to hear Him, not ourselves. We should not listen to our mind, emotion, or will. We should not listen to what we think, imagine, or love. We should listen to Christ. Christ is God’s Beloved, God’s Favorite. He is the One who replaces everyone else and everything. Therefore, He should have all the ground in our living. Everything in our living should be given over to Him.
As the One who is our replacement, Christ has been crucified. On the cross He died an all-inclusive death, a death that included us and terminated us. After dying such a death, Christ was resurrected. Now in resurrection He is the life-giving Spirit to be the reality of our life. When we apply His death as our termination, the Spirit has the full ground to make Christ real to us. Then we enjoy a real replacement. As a result, we can declare that we have been crucified with Christ and that we live no longer, but Christ lives in us. We can even say with Paul, “To me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). In everything, whether in death or life, we live Christ and magnify Him (Phil. 1:20).
In order to interpret these verses from chapters eight and nine of the Gospel of Mark, we need the fourteen Epistles written by Paul. With the help of these Epistles, we can see the picture in the first eight and a half chapters of Mark. May we be so deeply impressed with this picture that we never forget it! Praise the Lord that this picture includes us! We are in a divine realm living Christ through His death and resurrection. How wonderful! Praise the Lord for this highlight in the Gospel of Mark, the place where we have a revelation of Christ with His death and resurrection!