The Spirit is the realization of Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God (John 14:16-20). The embodiment of the Triune God is Christ, and this Christ is realized as the Spirit. The Spirit is also the consummation of the Triune God (Matt. 28:19), the Spirit of life, and the life-giving Spirit (Rom. 8:2; 2 Cor. 3:6b). Furthermore, the consummated Spirit is the positive consummation of the work of Christ (John 19:34). Such a Spirit is the issue of the cross of Christ (John 19:34; Exo. 17:6). Just as the rock was smitten by Moses in the Old Testament to flow out water for the people to drink, Christ was smitten on the cross by the law, typified by Moses. Then the living water flowed out of Him. This living water is the Spirit as the issue of the Lord’s all-inclusive death.
The Spirit of the crucified Christ is always bringing us to the cross of Christ (1 Cor. 1:23; 2:2; Gal. 5:22-24). As Christians, our destiny is to be crucified, to be crossed out. The religious Jews in Paul’s day were proud of their traditional religion, and the philosophical Greeks were haughty in their worldly wisdom. In 1 Corinthians Paul said that Jews asked for signs and Greeks sought wisdom (1:22), but he preached Christ crucified (v. 23). Then he said that he determined to know only Jesus Christ and this One crucified (2:2). The Spirit of Christ always leads us to live a crucified life, conforming us to the death of Christ. In Philippians 3:10 Paul said that He desired to know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. The wonderful Spirit works to conform us to the death of Christ.
The cross of Christ is the negative consummation of the work of Christ (1 Cor. 1:17-18; Gal. 6:12). The cross of Christ has put away sin (Heb. 9:26), has destroyed the devil, Satan (Heb. 2:14; Col. 2:15), has crucified the world and us (Gal. 6:14b; 2:20a), and has crucified our old man (Rom. 6:6). The cross of Christ has also abolished the ordinances of the law (Eph. 2:15; Col. 2:14). The top ordinances among the Jews were those concerning circumcision, keeping the Sabbath, and the holy diet. There are also countless ordinances in the human race. Ordinances are the forms or ways of living and worship. All of our ordinances have to go to the cross. Then we can have a genuine oneness with harmony in Christ for the Body of Christ. In the universe there is such an all-inclusive death that has killed all the separating ordinances among men. But sometimes these separating ordinances may creep into the church life. This is why we need the all-inclusive death of Christ. We have to realize that our destiny is to be crucified, and we must take a crucified way. Whatever we are, has to be crucified.
The cross of Christ is applied to us by the Spirit (Rom. 8:13b). In the Spirit, there is the killing element of the cross. When we live by the Spirit, the Spirit within us will kill all the negative things, such as sin, Satan, the world, me, the old man, and all the differences due to ordinances. We need to apply the cross of Christ to our flesh with the passions and the lusts through the cooperation with the Spirit (Gal. 5:24).
The experience of the cross of Christ issues in the abundance of the Spirit of life. According to Galatians 2:20, the more we experience the cross of Christ, the more Christ lives in us. John 12:24 shows that the Lord’s death as a grain of wheat issued in much fruit. When we experience the death of Christ, the issue is the multiplication of life. Furthermore, we boast in the cross of Christ (Gal. 6:14a). The cross was really an abasement, but the Apostle Paul made it his boast.
The Spirit brings us to the cross. If we take the cross, the cross will issue in more of the Spirit. Before Christ went to the cross, the Spirit was always leading Him. This leading Spirit always led Him to the cross. The entire life of Christ was a life led by the Spirit to the cross. Christ lived a crucified life, a life under the cross for thirty-three and a half years. Every day of His life, He was being crucified by the Holy Spirit. Even when He went to the physical cross for six hours, He went there by the eternal Spirit of God and offered Himself to God through this Spirit (Heb. 9:14). Therefore, the Spirit comes first and then the cross. When we were saved, the first thing we received was the Spirit. Then from that time onward, this Spirit leads us to the cross. We have to undergo the process of being crossed out all the time by allowing the Spirit to bring us to the cross, so that the cross can issue in more of the Spirit.