In Christ’s resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). Before His resurrection, such a Spirit was not yet (John 7:39). The life-giving Spirit is the Spirit who gives life (2 Cor. 3:6, 17). Now the Spirit of God has been compounded, as typified by the compounding of the holy anointing ointment in Exodus 30:22-33. When the tabernacle was built, God commanded that a hin of pure olive oil, typifying the Spirit of God, be compounded with four spices—myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia. These spices signify, respectively, Christ’s death, the sweetness of His death, His resurrection, and the power of His resurrection. This type was fulfilled when the Spirit of God was compounded with Christ’s death and resurrection. In resurrection Christ became the life-giving Spirit, and His death and resurrection were compounded into the Spirit. Ingredients such as tea, milk, lemon, and honey may be added to a glass of water. When we take in such a drink, we receive not only the water but also all the other ingredients along with their benefits. Likewise, when we drink the Spirit today, we receive not only the Spirit but also the death and the resurrection of Christ. These elements have been mingled into the compound Spirit, who is the life-giving Spirit, the resurrected Christ.
Today the Spirit who indwells our spirit is a killing One because He has been compounded with the death of Christ and its effectiveness. There is killing in the life-giving Spirit. When we call, “O Lord Jesus,” we experience killing from within. Immediately after calling on the Lord, we may sense that we have been wrong in our conduct or attitude toward our husband or wife. This is a killing. The life-giving Spirit is also the germ-killing Spirit. When we are wrong, rather than hearing an admonishing or rebuking word from someone, we simply need to call, “O Lord Jesus.” The more we call, the more the negative elements within us are killed.
A medical doctor who knows that his patient is sick from certain germs will be at peace once he has given his patient the right antibiotic. The doctor knows that when the antibiotic has been taken, the germs will be killed. In the same way, as long as I minister the crucified Christ into the saints, I am fully at peace. My ministry may be likened to a medical treatment. After the last message in a conference is given, I am at peace because I have the full assurance that I have passed on the necessary antibiotic—Christ crucified.
There is not much recorded of the Lord’s first thirty years on the earth, but we have the full record of His last three and a half years. In those three and a half years He constantly walked, lived, moved, and worked under death. The first step was baptism; the last step was the cross. He was crucified to live. If Christ had not died, He could not have resurrected. Death being the threshold of resurrection is a great principle. Christ’s death ushered Him into resurrection. His dying to be resurrected was His dying to live. Without death He could not have resurrected. Death brings in resurrection.
Today we too need to die to live. We have a dying Christ within us, and this dying Christ is the ingredients of the life-giving Spirit. The life-giving Spirit is constituted with the death of Christ and the resurrected Christ. We do not need to make ourselves die, because we have a dying One within us. We do not need to kill our own “germs,” because we have the antibiotics to do the work. This is the crucified Christ as the way.
The crucified Christ being the way is further revealed in Hebrews 10:19-20, which says, “Having therefore, brothers, boldness for entering the Holy of Holies in the blood of Jesus, which entrance He initiated for us as a new and living way through the veil, that is, His flesh.” A new and living way has been opened by Christ’s death on the cross. He was crucified to rend the veil that separates man from God. The way has been opened by Christ’s crucifixion. Therefore, the crucified Christ is the way.
To take Christ as our way in everything, we need to die with Him. In order to shepherd the saints or be a good elder, brother, sister, husband, wife, father, or mother, we do not need to learn certain steps. The way is simply to die with Christ. The way of the Christian life is the crucified Christ.
Christ crucified is the way of my ministry. When I die with Him, I have much to minister. I have learned this secret. Whenever I need to speak, I go to the cross. Then I receive a word from the Lord. A word from the crucified Christ is a word in resurrection, and a word in resurrection is boundless. If we have merely learned something of dead letters, after we speak it, that is the end of it. But if we go to the cross and are willing to die there, our speaking will be in resurrection. Christ crucified is the way of our ministry.
Before a recent turmoil among the local churches, I saw signs of rebellion and signs that the churches were deviating from the way of life. At that time I went to the Lord, and the Lord told me not to do anything outwardly or make an issue of anything but to go to the cross. By the Lord’s mercy and grace I went to the cross. By going to the cross, a living word came. Many messages came by my going to the cross. Now I would never leave the cross. Many things have tempted me to leave the cross, but by the Lord’s mercy I have been preserved on the cross. The more I remain on the cross, the more the messages come. The crucified Christ is the way to carry out the ministry.
In our daily Christian walk the crucified Christ is the prevailing way. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:10-12, “Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who are alive are always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death operates in us, but life in you.” The putting to death of Jesus is the way of our daily walk. If we are identified with the crucified Christ, He becomes our way—our way to live the Christian life, to worship God, to enter into God’s presence, to take care of the church, to shepherd the saints, to preach the gospel, and to be a proper husband, wife, son, or daughter. The crucified Christ is the way to do everything in the Christian life.
The Christ who said that He is the way (John 14:6) constantly lived under death throughout the three and a half years of His earthly ministry. From the first step of His baptism to the last step of the cross, Christ was crucified all the way to Calvary. It is as such a crucified One that He is the way. The way for us to live the Christian life today is to die with Christ.