"That
in my dying flesh the life whereby Jesus conquered death
might show forth its power" (2 Cor. 4:11 -
Conybeare).
Let it
be immediately understood that, while resurrection as a
whole may be here mentioned and ranged, it is not the
future resurrection of the body but the immediate spiritual
significance to the believer that particularly
governs our consideration. The range is very great, but
we shall deliberately seek to keep within the strict
limits of essential and practical truth, using such wider
Scriptural illustrations as will seem most helpful and
enforcing. We feel that God would have us put as concise
and definite a basis for prayer and spiritual enquiry as
possible into the hands of His people, and not extend to
a treatise. Time is short, duties are many and pressing,
problems are acute, and spiritual "helps" are
few in the realm of Christian life and service. Hence our
need is to have vital basic principles emphasised as
finger-posts to effectiveness and victory.
It is
all-important that, at the outset, we should recognise
what a great scope and tremendous emphasis the subject of
resurrection has in the Word of God. As a principle it is
patent or latent, according to the measure of our
discernment, from the beginning to the end of the Divine
revelation of Scripture. Undoubtedly, all things which
are of God have their new beginning and vital value since
"the fall" in and by the representative and
inclusive resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Note how much is wrapped up with the Divine attestation
of His Sonship at resurrection. Note the specific
attestation itself. Not at His birth nor at His death,
not at Bethlehem nor at Calvary, is this special
declaration from heaven made - the thing is true there,
we know - but the attestation is reserved for
resurrection. "Declared to be (marked out as) the
Son of God with (in) power... by the resurrection from
the dead" (Rom. 1:4). Psalm 2 prefigures the counsel
of malignity against the Lord's Anointed. This counsel is
put into action to its utmost limit; He is slain. The
ultimate issue is the heritage of the nations; the
immediate issue in resurrection is a decree (verse 7)
"Thou art my son; this day have I begotten
thee." He is the representative "firstborn from
the dead" of a specific and peculiar kind of
sonship.
To this
very passage the company of believers in the presence of
a further counsel of malignity made their appeal (Acts
4:25) and received at once a further Divine
acknowledgment; the place was shaken, they were all
filled with the Holy Spirit, and there were other
triumphant issues. Similarly an effectual testimony was
born at Antioch of Pisidia with this very passage at the
centre of that preached (Acts 13:33), clearly relating
the Divine announcement to the resurrection. Then again,
this particular transcendence of Christ's Sonship above
angels and all else has this very passage quoted as its
basis in Heb. 1:5. We shall see later that this is
related to the inclusive dominion in the universe of the
race in Christ, and also to the dethronement of the
"lord of death" (Heb. 2:5-15).
Now this
has been said simply in order to signify where the finger
of God makes its emphatic seal, and how God is jealous
for a testimony to the resurrection of Christ. We are
then able to draw attention to a very vital principle in
Christian experience as coming out of the Divine truth.
Have you ever noticed that even that which had, and has,
its origin in God, which comes forth from God, which is
brought about by a supernatural act of God, has to pass
into death in order that by resurrection it may have its
supreme Divine seal and attestation?
The Old Testament is full of types of this
truth. Reflect upon Isaac alone. He was brought into the
world by a miracle. There was no natural ground upon
which to account for him. (See Rom. 4:19.) Yet he must
die, and (as is said of Abraham's body) he was "as
good as dead" when the knife was lifted; but for all
time, resurrection is the point of Divine emphasis in
this story, especially in the vindication of Abraham's
faith. Isaac was a type of Christ and, as we have said,
although Christ was a miracle in His birth and truly the
Son of God incarnate, yet the death prepares the way for
a superlative testimony from heaven. Without tracing this
principle (which you may do for yourself) so far as the
Word is concerned, let us note its application in
experience as to ourselves. We are born of God, and are
sons in the Son by right of our birth from above; but how
true it is that the course of our spiritual experience
seems to be deeper and ever deeper baptisms in death -
His death - in order that more and more of the power of
His resurrection may be known by us and manifested in us.
There seem to be cycles, or tides, of death and life, and
while each cycle or tide seems to compass our end more
completely or to leave us at lower ebb than ever, there
comes with ever-increasing fullness an uprising of
spiritual life and knowledge and power. Thus while the
death destroys "the old man," we live
increasingly by that life, "the new man," which
is not human but Divine, and upon which - and upon which
alone - the seal of God rests. This is a deliberate
course taken by God with us.
See it further in service and work. Is it
not true that most, if not all, of the pieces of work
raised up by God to fulfil some ministry in His eternal
purpose have firstly had every evidence of being
God-born, but later have gone down into a time of deep
and awful death, seeming disintegration, break-up, loss,
until it seemed that nothing would remain? Sometimes this
has been by persecution, massacre, and that counsel of
malignity; sometimes by a series of what we humanly call
catastrophies, tragedies, misfortunes. Sometimes the
causes are not apparent; they are inside, like some evil
thing sapping the very vitals. Sometimes, again, it is an
inexplicable arrest and pressure, a paralysis and a
deadlock, and it is difficult to know whether it is from
within or from without. All we know is that death reigns,
or appears so to do. Place this rule alongside of some of
the great missions for work abroad or at home, and see
how truly it applies. What is true in the greater is also
true in the smaller - a local fellowship, a Bible or
Sunday-school class, or some other piece of work.
Provided always that the initiation of the work was of
Him, that we were put into it by Him, and that it has
been kept on such lines as are consistent with His mind
and purpose, such an experience of death is not an
argument that the Lord is not in it, but may be regarded
as evidence of His concern to put the work ever more
fully where His highest attestation can be given.
The principle holds good in the matter of
received truth. The Lord may reveal to us truth which is
of great importance and which is intended to be
tremendously fruitful in life and ministry. It comes with
the power of a revelation, and for a while we rejoice in
its light, talk about nothing else, and find that it
works. Then something happens. Whatever that may be, the
result is that we go down to death with and because of
that truth. For the time it seems to have lost its
potency, and all hope that we shall be saved is
abandoned. We wonder if we shall ever be able honestly to
believe that again, much less preach it. But at length,
by a touch of life which leaves us as those who dream
(Ps. 126:1) and in spite of all our past fears, that very
truth is our chief emphasis, but now with a solemnity and
reality not known before. Moreover the Lord is making its
ministry a power to others which is quite new and
previously unknown. So in all this He seems to get more
for Himself by resurrection than He did by birth. This
may seem largely a mystery, but it is evident and true to
experience. There are other directions in which this
applies, one of which we might mention. It is that of
relationships. How frequently have we come up against
this perplexing experience. Between those related -
sometimes in the deepest bonds - for some reason, often
quite without any natural ground, there has come the
severest strain. It appears that the old ground of
fellowship is entirely breaking down and being lost. It
may be by reason of some spiritual crisis in the life of
one of those affected, some call to service or to go a
little farther with the Lord, or some test of faith or
loyalty to God. Whatever may be the cause, seen or
unseen, such an experience is not uncommon. The first
issue is an end of the kind or level of fellowship that
has been. It would sometimes appear that the whole thing
has broken down and gone forever. At such a time serious
questionings arise as to the apparent antagonism between
a conceived idea of what God requires and what looks
manifestly to be plain, common duty to others.
This is a bitter and harrowing time to the
soul-life. The ultimate issue - if there has been a
definite willingness to suffer the loss of all for His
sake, and a holding on to God though blindly and with
much weakness - is that the whole thing is brought back
again, but yet not the same. "That which thou
sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall be," (1
Cor. 15:37): it is the same yet different. It is on a
higher plane; a purer, holier, stronger, deeper thing,
and capable of much greater spiritual fruitfulness. In a
word, in the grave it has shed much of the human and in
the resurrection it has become much more Divine. The
elements which are temporal and natural have been
supplanted by more of the spiritual and eternal.
Having given this space to stating and
illustrating a fact, and enunciating or disclosing an
abiding law, we must now say something about the nature
of resurrection.
What is resurrection? It is the power of
ascendency over death. What is the central factor in
resurrection? It is a life which cannot know death, a
life which is indestructible. Such is the nature of the
resurrection to which we are giving our attention. There
is a resurrection which is but the re-animation of the
body for a time or for a judgment. That is not our
subject. We are speaking of the resurrection of Christ
and our incorporation thereinto.
By our new birth from above we become
partakers of the life of God. That which the Scripture in
our versions calls "eternal life" is the unique
possession of the born-again; no man by nature has it.
The whole course of true spiritual experience is for the
increase and development of that life, and this
particularly takes place, as we have seen, through crises
and cycles of death and resurrection. What is the Lord's
supreme aim with His children? It is undoubtedly to get
them to live by His life only. To this end He will more
and more take away their own life.
As the time of the Church's translation
becomes more imminent, this truth will have an increased
emphasis, so that to live victoriously at all, or work
effectively, there will need to be a great drawing upon
the Lord for His life. When the saints are translated
that they shall not see death, and when that great shout
of victory over death and the grave goes up (1 Cor.
15:54,55) it will not be by some outside, external
operation of Divine power alone, but it will be the
triumph of the resurrection life within the Body of
Christ expressing itself in that final glorious
consummation of a process of ascendency which has been
going on since the time when life was received at new
birth by faith in the risen Lord. This is a most
important truth to recognise, for it explains everything.
Why must we know weakness, impotence, worthlessness,
nothingness, on the side of our natural life?
Emphatically, that His strength may be "made perfect
(or be perfected) in weakness." And what is His
strength? "The exceeding greatness of his power to
usward who believe, according to that working of the
strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when
he raised him from the dead" (Eph. 1:19,20). It
is resurrection might and life. The more spiritual a
believer becomes, the more he will realize his dependence
upon the life of God for all things. This will be true
physically as in every other way.
The central principle of any "Divine
healing" which is in truth of God and to spiritual
purpose is Rom. 8:11, an energizing of the mortal body
with resurrection life. This does not of necessity
inevitably or invariably carry with it complete physical
healing, but it does mean such a quickening as to make
for a transcendence of the weakness or infirmity which
prevents a fulfilment of the will of God in life or
service. It means an accession of Divine life in our
spirit so that we are enabled to do much more than is
humanly or naturally possible. This life cannot be taken
hold of and used by the flesh. Immediately there is a
dropping down on to a natural level by one who has been
led into a life of faith, there will be a recrudescence
of death. An atmosphere charged with the life of God is
always a place of renewal, refreshing, and strengthening
to him that is spiritual.
If Enoch was a type of the believers who
will be translated that they shall not see death, then we
must remember that "by faith Enoch was
translated." What is the nature of this faith? It is
the faith which depends upon Divine life for all things,
and is therefore an abiding witness and testimony to the
resurrection of Christ. Hence, as the Lord's coming draws
near, we shall be forced to live exclusively by His life
- "the life whereby Jesus conquered death."
This is the life by which God's people have triumphed in
all ages. A close study of the Old Testament will reveal
that it was faith in resurrection life which brought the
Divine vindication. "That they might obtain a better
resurrection" was the motive which made them
victorious in death and therefore over the authority of
death. The ascendency of spirit so markedly
characteristic of New Testament believers is to be
accounted for on the ground of a life within their spirit
which could not see death, the life of Him Who
"dieth no more; death no more hath dominion over
him," for "it was impossible that he should be
holden of death."
Now it is important to remember that death
is not only a law or a principle. It is that; but the
Scriptures constantly make clear that behind the thing
there is a person. Just as in giving eternal life the
Lord gives Himself - for, said He, "I am the
resurrection and the life" and it is "Christ in
you, the hope of glory" - so back of death is he
"that had the power of death, that is, the
devil." Conybeare translates that "the lord of
death."
The great battle of Egypt which issued in
the establishing of that which for all Old Testament
times was pointed to as the classic illustration of the
exercise of supreme Divine power, was not originally
between Jehovah on the one hand and Pharaoh or the
Egyptians on the other. The latter were involved, and
were ultimately destroyed because in the presence of
Divine revelation and manifestation they persisted in
rebellion. The real battle was between Jehovah and
"all the gods of Egypt" (Ex. 12:12), which gods
were but the spiritual hierarchy of him who had ever made
it his aim to be "like the Most High," and had
assumed the role of "the god of this world." A
right understanding of that story would make very clear
that it was a conflict between the Lord of Life and the
lord of death, and the Hebrews were only translated out
of the kingdom of darkness and the authority of death
because a lamb had shed its blood, and through death had
figuratively destroyed him that had the power of death.
That is the background of Calvary.
In His Cross Christ drew on Himself the
whole hierarchy of evil, and went down under it to the
bottom-most reach of its domain, and then, by reason of
the life which could not be holden of death, He stripped
off principalities and powers, broke through, and rose
their conqueror, and in resurrection far above all rule
and authority was the firstborn from the dead - the first
and inclusive One of all who should be identified with
Him. The final triumph of His Body will be the
consummation of Rev. 12:11 - victory over the system and
its power by reason of the life of the risen Lord
indwelling. If it be true that this is progressive, then
it is the power of Satan as "the prince of this
world" which is being broken by the life of Christ
increasing within us; or to put it in a more useful way,
the power of Satan can only be destroyed as we, through
death, know Christ in the power of His resurrection and
receive His risen life more and more.
In conclusion, let us point out that after
His resurrection our Lord was, because of the peculiar
nature of His resurrection state, no longer subject to
natural limitations. Time and space had no more control
of Him. The principle abides and applies now. When there
is a living in the values and energy of resurrection life
we are children of eternity and of the universe. Prayer
touches the ends of the earth, and the significance of
our being and doing is of universal and eternal
dimensions; there are no limitations.
So then, beloved of God, the natural life
is no longer a criterion; whether it be strong or weak it
matters not. Its strength does not mean effectiveness in
spiritual things, whether that strength be intellectual,
moral, circumstantial, social, physical. Its weakness
does not carry a handicap. We are called to live and
serve only in His life, and it is the only efficiency,
but the sure one. Then we must try to keep in mind that
the Lord's purpose, in all that seems to be destructive
of us, is to get us upon this plane which is in every
sense supernatural.
Further, we must see to it that all the
means whereby this life can be strengthened and increased
are used to the full, and a clear discernment of the Body
of Christ is of supreme account. This life is the life of
the whole corporate Body, and the individual member can
only have it in relation thereto. This subject is dealt
with more fully elsewhere, but here it must be the
closing word because we are dealing with incorporation
into Christ, and this is Christ in His fullness as the
Head; but not alone as Head, but as one Body. What is
true of the Head must be true of the members. What is
true of the Vine must be true of the branches. What is
true of the Last Adam must be true of every member of His
race. "Planted together in the likeness of his
resurrection" said the Apostle (Rom. 6:5), and he
prayed that it might be more and more experimental -
"that I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection..." (Phil. 3:10).
This is truly the prayer of the Holy
Spirit in the servant of Christ seeking to make real the
great truth of John 5:21,25,26 -
"The
hour... now is."
"The hour cometh."