As believers, we also have Christ as our Brother. He is the elder Brother, and we are the many brothers. Romans 8:29 says, "Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers." This indicates that God's purpose is to prepare and produce many brothers for His firstborn Son that, on the one hand, they, together with God's firstborn Son, may be the many sons of God with the divine life and nature for the expression of God, and that, on the other hand, they may be the many members who constitute the Body of God's firstborn Son as the corporate expression of God in His firstborn Son, which is the fullness of the firstborn Son of God, that is, the fullness of God in His firstborn Son (Eph. 1:23; 3:19).
Christ was the only begotten Son of God from eternity (John 1:18), and up to the time He was sent by God into the world, He was still the only begotten Son of God (1 John 4:9; John 1:14; 3:16). After He passed through death and entered into resurrection, His humanity was uplifted into His divinity. Thus, He was begotten in resurrection as God's firstborn Son in His divinity with His humanity that had died and resurrected (Acts 13:33). At the same time, all His believers were raised together with Him in His resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3) and were begotten together with Him as the many sons of God. Thus they became His many brothers to constitute His Body and be God's corporate expression in Him.
On the day of His resurrection the Lord Jesus said to Mary, "Go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God" (John 20:17). Before His resurrection the Lord never called His disciples brothers. But after His resurrection He began to call them brothers. Through His death and resurrection He released the divine life and imparted it into His disciples. Thus, they were regenerated to become the many sons of God as the many brothers of Christ. By making His Father theirs, He brought them into His position—the position of the Son—before the Father. Thus, in life and nature inwardly and in position outwardly they are one with Him.
Hebrews 2:11 says, "Both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of One, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brothers." He who sanctifies is Christ as the firstborn Son of God, and those who are being sanctified are the believers of Christ as the many sons of God. Both the firstborn Son of God and the many sons of God are born of the same Father God in resurrection and have the same divine life and nature. Hence, He is not ashamed to call them brothers. Furthermore, because He is our elder Brother, He is our leading One. He takes the lead in everything that pertains to God the Father that we as the many brothers may enjoy Him as the elder Brother in His leading.
Christ is also our Partner. Hebrews 1:9 says, "God...has anointed You with the oil of exultant joy above Your partners." In God's economy Christ is the One appointed by God to accomplish God's plan, and we are Christ's partners in the divine interest. He was anointed by God, and we share with Him in this anointing for the fulfillment of God's purpose.
Hebrews 3:14 says, "We have become partners of Christ, if indeed we hold fast the beginning of the assurance firm to the end." The context of this verse concerns the wandering of the children of Israel in the wilderness. After they wandered in the wilderness for forty years, God caused Joshua to bring them into the good land. When Joshua entered into the good land, Caleb was his companion, his partner, in entering into and possessing the good land (Num. 14:30). Today Christ is the real Joshua, and we are His Calebs, His partners, sharing with Him the rest of the good land. Therefore, in God's economy we are partners of Christ, sharing with Him the spiritual anointing and the rest of the good land.
The Lord is also the Physician to us. In Matthew 9:12 the Lord said, "Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill." This indicates that in calling people to follow Him, He ministered as a physician, not as a judge. A judge's judgment is according to righteousness, whereas a physician's healing is according to mercy and grace. If the Lord had visited us, the pitiful people, as a judge, we all would have been condemned and rejected, and none of us would have been qualified, selected, and called to be His followers. However, He came to minister as a physician, to heal, recover, enliven, and save us that we may have the life of God and be constituted the members of the Body of Christ.
As our Physician, the Lord heals us mainly in our spirit and our soul, and sometimes in our body. Those who were ill, whom the Lord mentioned, refer to the tax collectors and sinners who were feasting with Him. They were not physically sick; they were spiritually sick. Because of the healing by the Lord as the heavenly Physician, their life was recovered. Likewise, although the Lord may or may not heal us in our body, He is always ready to heal us in every part of our spirit and soul. Christ is our Physician, the Healer of our spirit, our soul, and, at times, our body. When we experience and enjoy Him as our portion, we receive His healing of life to take away our sickness.