When the Triune God entered into resurrection, He became the Spirit. The Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. Therefore, we may say that resurrection equals the Spirit. In the same way that resurrection is this mysterious Triune God, the Spirit is also this mysterious Triune God. Therefore, Matthew 28 records that after the Lord’s resurrection and before His ascension, He charged His disciples to disciple the nations and to baptize them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (v. 19). The name of this complete Triune God is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Before this time, although there are many places in the Bible which reveal the divine Trinity, there is no place like this one which puts the divine titles of the Father, Son, and Spirit together to form one name. This is because before resurrection, the Triune God had not yet been ultimately consummated; it was after He had entered into resurrection that He was ultimately consummated. Therefore, if we want to know the power of Christ’s resurrection, the important point is that we must first know this processed Triune God. He was incarnated, passed through human living, accomplished an all-inclusive death, entered into resurrection, and became the life-giving Spirit. This Spirit is now the resurrection of Christ.
According to the revelation of the Bible, four items mentioned in the New Testament—Spirit, life, resurrection, and power—all refer to one Person. The Spirit is a wonderful Person, yet the Spirit is resurrection; therefore, resurrection is also this wonderful Person. Moreover, resurrection is life, so life is also this wonderful Person. Yet life is power, so power is also this wonderful Person. This wonderful Person is the processed Triune God. Today in resurrection, He is the Spirit, He is resurrection, He is life, and He is also the power for us to receive and enjoy.
I hope that you can see such a vision, and can have the deeper revelation of the Bible to know that our God is the complete Triune God. With His divinity, humanity, human living, and all-inclusive death, He went into resurrection and even became resurrection itself. When we believed in the Lord, what we received was this resurrection. Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth, Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from among the dead, you shall be saved.” Believing in the resurrection of Christ is the condition for our salvation; the highest goal of our faith is the resurrection of Christ. The resurrection of Christ is the Triune God, who is all-inclusive and is Himself everything. He became the Spirit, and today He is dwelling in our spirit. How wonderful it is that such a universal, excellent One, after passing through all the processes, would come into us, the insignificant beings, and dwell in our spirit. This is the wonder of all wonders.
Now let us look at the outline. First, the resurrection of Christ is death-overcoming. The death of Christ mainly deals with sin. The result of sin is death; therefore sin and death constituted a law called the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2). Sin is the cause, and death is the result. The death of Christ eliminated sin, and the resurrection of Christ overcame death and also swallowed death. Sin in the universe was eliminated by the death of Christ, and death in the universe was overcome and swallowed up by the resurrection of Christ.
Second, the reality of the resurrection of Christ is the Spirit. In other words, resurrection is the Spirit, because it was the Spirit who raised Jesus from among the dead (Rom. 8:11) and because Christ resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). The Spirit is resurrection. Now with all the riches and elements of the Triune God, He is within us, supplying and filling us constantly. Although sometimes we do not seem to feel it, we cannot get rid of this “thing.” Sometimes when we have much prayer, this “thing” may rise up within us. Spontaneously we are cherished. Eventually, we have tenderness, patience, and also humility. We have all the supply that we need. This is because there is resurrection within us. To be a Christian is to exercise oneself to allow this resurrection to “warm” one up within. There is no need for us to do anything. All the supply comes from Him. This is to know the power of Christ’s resurrection.
The various kinds of situations and circumstances in our daily life are all for us to know the power of Christ’s resurrection. We are not trying to be a Christian. Rather, we are living out a Christian life. To be a Christian is not a matter of trying, but a matter of living. Trying depends on human effort; living depends on resurrection. Hymns, #362 says, “He died for me that I might live,” and “He lives for me that I may live.” The Lord did not only die for me, but He also lives for me so that I can live. Instead of trying by myself, I am living by Him.
Because the Spirit is Christ, to live in the Spirit is to live in the resurrection of Christ. In the Spirit there is the resurrection of Christ, and the Spirit is the reality of the resurrection of Christ.
Third, the resurrection of Christ is the manifestation of the divine life. Resurrection is the life of Jesus manifested through His death. Paul wrote the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians fully from experience. He described how the apostles lived out the crucified life and manifested the resurrection life. He said, “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” (vv. 10-11). The putting to death of Jesus destroys our natural man and our outward shell, so that the life of God within us can be manifested. Resurrection is also the life of Jesus working in others through His death working in us. Paul continued in verse 12, saying, “So then death operates in us, but life in you.” When we are under the operation of the Lord’s death, His resurrection life will be dispensed into others through us.