THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Gospel according to John
Message Five
Christ’s Death and Resurrection
Scripture Reading: John 1:29; 3:14; 12:24, 31; 19:34; 20:1, 17, 22; S. S. 4:6; 1:13-14, 17; 2:5, 10-14
I. We need to see a vision of Christ’s person and work in His death and resurrection as presented in the Gospel of John—1:29; 20:1, 17, 22: (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
A. John speaks concerning Christ’s person and work in His death—1:29; 3:14; 12:24: (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
1. Christ died as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world—1:29; 1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Pet. 2:24; Heb. 9:28; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 9:26: (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
a. In redemption as the Lamb of God, Christ satisfied the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory—Rom. 2:5; Heb. 12:29; 9:5. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
b. In the Gospel of John, the Lamb of God signifies the Word in the flesh as the fulfillment and the totality of all the Old Testament offerings to accomplish God’s full redemption—1:1, 14. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
2. Christ died as a serpent in form, destroying the devil, who had the might of death—3:14; 12:31; Heb. 2:14: (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
a. The Lord Jesus applied the type of the bronze serpent to Himself, indicating that when He was in the flesh, He was “in the likeness of the flesh of sin,” which likeness is equal to the form of the bronze serpent—Num. 21:4-9; Rom. 8:3. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
b. Christ was made “in the likeness of the flesh of sin,” but He did not participate in any way in the sin of the flesh—2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
c. By being crucified as a serpent in form, the Lord Jesus crushed the head of the serpent, judging the ruler of this world—John 12:31. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
3. Christ died on the cross as a grain of wheat, falling into death for the release of the divine life—v. 24: (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
a. He, as the God-man, was a grain of wheat, having both the shell without and the divine life within. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
b. As a grain of wheat Christ died to release the divine life for the enlivening of God’s redeemed ones, producing many grains that are ground and blended into flour to make a loaf, which signifies the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 10:17. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
4. In His work on the cross, Christ cast out the ruler of this world and judged the world—John 12:31: (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
a. Because the world system is connected to Satan, when he, the ruler of the world, was judged, the world was judged as well—1 John 5:19. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
b. When the Lord Jesus was crucified, the satanic world was crucified with Him; hence, His death terminated the satanic world—Gal. 6:14. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
5. Two substances came out of the Lord’s pierced side: blood and water—John 19:34: (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
a. Blood is for redemption, to deal with sins for the purchasing of the church—Heb. 9:22; Acts 20:28. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
b. Water is for imparting life, to deal with death for the producing of the church—John 3:14-15; Eph. 5:29-30. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
B. John speaks of Christ’s person and work in His resurrection: (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
1. In His resurrection Christ accomplished the work of rising from the dead to be the firstfruits of resurrection; the freshness of His resurrection was first for the Father’s enjoyment—John 20:17; Exo. 23:19a; Lev. 23:10-11. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
2. In His resurrection Christ germinated the new creation; the fact that He arose on the first day of the week indicates that the entire universe had a new beginning in His resurrection—John 20:1; 2 Cor. 5:17. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
3. In His resurrection Christ produced many grains for His multiplication and glorification—John 12:24; 13:31-32; 17:1. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
4. In His resurrection Christ brought forth the corporate child—the corporate new man—including Himself as God’s firstborn Son and His many brothers as God’s many sons—16:19-22; 20:17; Rom. 8:29; Heb. 2:10. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
5. In His resurrection Christ rebuilt God’s temple, making it a corporate one—John 2:19-22; 14:2; 1 Cor. 3:16-17. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
6. Christ’s resurrection was His transfiguration into the life-giving Spirit, the pneumatic Christ, the Spirit of reality as another Comforter, and in His resurrection He breathed Himself as the Holy Spirit into His disciples—John 14:16-18; 20:22. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
C. All our experiences of Christ are related to His death, His resurrection, and His Spirit—3:14; 12:24; 20:1, 22: (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
1. The death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ always go together—19:34; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 8:9, 11, 13. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
2. The way to enjoy Christ is to experience Him in His death and resur-rection and to remain in His Spirit, who is in our spirit—v. 16; 1 Cor. 6:17. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
II. We need to experience Christ in His death and resurrection as portrayed in Song of Songs—4:6; 1:13-14, 17; 2:5, 10-14: (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
A. We cannot experience Christ’s death and resurrection as something apart from Christ Himself—4:6; Rom. 6:5. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
B. The lover of Christ enjoys Him as a bundle of myrrh between her breasts (faith and love) in the night, signifying Christ in His sweet death for her; this is Christ in His death for her to enjoy privately—S. S. 1:13; 4:6. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
C. The lover of Christ enjoys Him as a cluster of henna flowers, signifying Christ in His resurrection, for her to express openly—1:14; 4:13; Rom. 1:3-4. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
D. The lover of Christ enjoys Him in His resurrection (cedars) as the beams and in His death (cypresses) as the rafters for her shelter—S. S. 1:17; Psa. 92:12. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
E. Christ in His death is signified by the raisin, and Christ in His resurrection is signified by the fresh apples; we can be nourished by experiencing Christ as the crucified One, as the raisin, and be refreshed by experiencing Christ in His resurrection, as the refreshing apples—S. S. 2:3, 5. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
F. Staying in the cross—”the clefts of the rock” and “the covert of the precipice”—is possible only by the power of Christ’s resurrection—vv. 10-14: (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
1. Our being crucified is not by our natural life or natural strength but by the power of Christ’s resurrection—Phil. 3:10. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)
2. It is only by being conformed to the death of Christ by the power of His resurrection that we can be delivered from our self to be transformed— S. S. 2:15; Matt. 16:24; Phil. 3:10; 2 Cor. 3:18. (2005 ITERO-Fall, msg. 5)