As we partake of Christ’s sufferings for the Body, we are conformed to His death. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was dead to everything other than God, including His family and relatives. The Lord lived a crucified life; He continually put His natural life to death. By living such a crucified life, He was alive to God and lived Him.
When we are willing to suffer for Christ and His Body, we also shall be dead to everything other than Him, and we shall live only to Him. Then we shall truly be conformed to His death, for we shall share in His death. Day by day we shall experience the power of His resurrection. This is the way to know Christ in an experiential way. By knowing Christ in this way, experiencing Him in the power of His resurrection, we obtain Him.
The reality of the power of Christ’s resurrection is the Spirit. Romans 1:4 proves this by saying that Christ was “designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead.” Furthermore, Romans 8:11 says, “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from among the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from among the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.” Both verses indicate that the Spirit is the reality of the power of Christ’s resurrection. Actually, Christ Himself is the power of His resurrection, and the Spirit is Christ in resurrection. We need to experience this power that we may obtain Christ.
There is a difference between the power of Christ’s resurrection and His power exhibited in creation. Creation testifies that God is powerful: “The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world, being apprehended by the things made, are clearly seen, both His eternal power and divinity” (Rom. 1:20). However, what we need to experience for the Body is not God’s creating power, but the power of Christ’s resurrection. Resurrection power is not an outward physical power; it is an inward, intrinsic power. As such, it is a life power. If we would obtain Christ, we must experience this intrinsic life power. The more we experience the power of Christ’s resurrection, the more we obtain Him. Thus, we obtain Him by experiencing the power of His resurrection.
To exhibit the intrinsic power of His resurrection, Christ first became a man. Then He died and visited Hades, the realm of the dead. Through His resurrection the intrinsic power of life within Him was manifested. Angels cannot experience this power. But we, human beings of blood and flesh, can experience it, if we share in Christ’s sufferings and are conformed to His death.
Many Christians today emphasize Christ’s creative power, not the power of Christ’s resurrection. When these Christians speak of the power of Christ, they think of creative power, not resurrection power. As the One who has passed through death, never to die again, Christ has manifested in His resurrection the intrinsic power of the divine life. This is the power of His resurrection. By experiencing the power of Christ’s resurrection we obtain Christ in reality.