Based on the principle presented above, let us come to the quoted verses one by one. The first portion in Philippians 3:10 says, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” We not only need to know Christ, but we also need to know the power of His resurrection. As far as His person goes, He is the Christ. As far as His function goes, He is the power of resurrection. If we know the power of the Lord’s resurrection, we surely will be willing to be conformed to His death. What is contained here is the experience of death and resurrection. You should know that Christ first died and then resurrected; however, we first resurrected and then died. This is like the Lord Jesus who first bore the cross and then was crucified; but we were first crucified and then we bear the cross.
At the time we believed and were saved, we were already crucified and resurrected with Christ. After that, in our Christian life, the Lord put us into different situations such as our family life, the church life, the training center, the “kingdom houses,” or the brothers’ and sisters’ houses, in order that we would daily experience death and the power of His resurrection. When we encounter some troubles, difficulties, or even ill-treatment, we will have a genuine joy and release if we know the power of Christ’s resurrection and are conformed to His death. Our natural disposition and virtues, such as our natural power, natural love, or natural humility, will gradually pass through death and be terminated. We will then enjoy the power of the Lord’s resurrection and will live out the love and humility of resurrection.
The second portion in Ephesians 1:18-20a says, “That you may know...what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the operation of the might of His strength, which He wrought in Christ in raising Him from among the dead.” The surpassing greatness of His power mentioned here is the power of resurrection mentioned in Philippians 3:10. The power God has toward us is the same as the power which He wrought in Christ in raising Him from among the dead. How surpassingly great is this power! We need to know and experience this power.
The third portion in Acts 2:23-24 says, “This man, delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you, through the hand of lawless men, nailed to the cross and killed; whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death, since it was not possible for Him to be held by it.” Due to the power of God’s resurrection, death and Hades cannot hold Christ. Christ resurrected from the dead through the power of God’s resurrection within Him.
The fourth portion in Romans 6:9 says, “Christ having been raised from among the dead dies no more; death lords it over Him no more.” Romans 8:11 says, “But 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.” Christ in His resurrection far surpasses death. Since He was resurrected from among the dead, He took care of death completely. Not only so, the One who raised Christ from among the dead was God, and God Himself is resurrection, and resurrection is the Spirit of God. Today this Spirit dwells within us, giving life to our mortal bodies so that our mortal bodies can be made alive.
The fifth portion in 1 Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” Christ not only resurrected from among the dead by the Spirit of God, He Himself in resurrection became a life-giving Spirit. And now this life-giving Spirit is the reality of resurrection.
The sixth portion in 2 Corinthians 4:10-12 says, “Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be manifested in our body. For we who live are always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death operates in us, but life in you.” The putting to death of Jesus destroys our natural man, the outward man, and the flesh so that our inward man may have the opportunity to develop and be renewed. This kind of daily putting to death will eventually cause the resurrection life to be manifested. This is the living we ought to have.
The seventh portion in Romans 6:4-5 says, “We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into death that as Christ was raised from among the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.” Through baptism, our old man was buried with Christ into death so that we may live and move in the realm of resurrection. During baptism, we grew together with Him in the likeness of His death; and now through His death we grow into His resurrection. Christ Himself is the resurrection. After we have experienced the proper baptism, we in Him will continue to grow together with Him in the likeness of Christ’s resurrection.
The last portion in Romans 8:13b says, “If by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.” By the Spirit means by the power of resurrection because the Spirit is the power of resurrection. To put to death the practices of the body is to deny whatever I am and whatever I do outside of the Spirit. The result is that the power of resurrection will give us the strength of life to make us live.
All the Scriptures presented above show us clearly the principle of death and resurrection. Today our God is the God of resurrection; moreover, resurrection is God Himself, that is, the Spirit of God and also the life of God. Therefore God, the Spirit of God, and the life of God are all resurrection moving and operating within us to bring us the power of resurrection so that we may experience His death and resurrection. Day by day, we put off the nature of the old man and everything in the old creation and live and move in the newness of life in order to live out the new creation.
(A message given by Brother Witness Lee in Taipei, Taiwan on April 22, 1988)