Death and resurrection do not put man aside or nullify man but bring man into God. In eternity future God will see many different faces with many different personalities and kinds of humanity joined as one in His divinity. Everyone will live out God Himself, but each one will do so with his own flavor and character. In eternity, in the last poem of God, we will see that the brothers will have the brothers’ flavor, but at the same time they will all have the glory of God, and the sisters will have the sisters’ flavor, but at the same time they will also have the glory of God. This is death and resurrection. Death and resurrection do not mean that we no longer exist but that we enter into God.
It is terrible to be a person without humanity, and it is terrible to be a Christian without humanity. It is right to be humble, but to be humble without humanity is not right. It is right to be meek, but to be meek without humanity is not right. It is right to give hospitality, but to give hospitality without humanity is not right. This means that a person should not be too mild. Even mud should bear the flavor of mud. If a person becomes so spiritual that even his human flavor is gone, then he must be pretending. Such a one is full of the flavor of falsehood, and his understanding of death and resurrection is wrong.
Sadly, this kind of spiritual pretense and falsehood exists among Christians today. For example, there was once a sister, who, pretending to be spiritual, lowered her shoulders, bent her waist a little, took a few seconds to sit down, and then remained still. People were amazed when they looked at her. However, was this sister spiritual? No, she was just pretending. Her self and natural man had not yet been broken. Instead, they were deeply hidden in her.
Genuine spirituality is reached through death and resurrection. Man is not nullified or done away with. Rather, man is still there, but this man has entered into God. In the past, regardless of whether we were sinful or not sinful, good or bad, we did not have the element of God in us. Now we not only have been cleansed from our sin, but we also have God in us. Thus, if we could have seen James, we would have seen God; if we could have seen Peter, we would have seen God; and if we could have seen Paul, we would have seen God. Their “human flavors” were not nullified but were brought into God.
Through death and resurrection man enters into God and is mingled with God. Death and resurrection do not mean that there is no longer man and that there is only God. If this were the case, then in eternity there would only be God Himself and no man. God keeps on working because He has no intention to nullify man. Hence, we should not be influenced by the erroneous doctrine that we should pretend in any way. If we are influenced in this way, eventually we will lose our human flavor. If there is a brother among us who is quick and stubborn, we should never try to annul his quickness and stubbornness, because this will cause him to become like mud or tofu. What he needs is to pass through death and resurrection. He may be quick and stubborn as an ox, and no one may be able to do anything with him. However, after passing through death and resurrection, his stubbornness may still be there, but there will be the flavor of God in his stubbornness. His stubbornness will be in God and will have the element of God. Likewise, he may still be quick, but his quickness will be in God and will have the element of God.
One who is in God still has his own personality and existence, but he has entered into God. This is what God is doing. One day we will all see a beautiful scene in which there will be all kinds of people with various characteristics in all the churches, yet all of them will have entered into God, will be living in God, and will have the flavor and glory of God. This will not only be a beautiful scene but also a beautiful song. What a glory it will be to Him when all of us different people are in our great God and are living out His image and His flavor! This is what God wants. This is death and resurrection.