THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The All-inclusive Christ
Message Nine—Experiencing, Enjoying, and Ministering Christ in the Stage of Inclusion
Scriptures Reading: Exo. 30:22-25; Acts 13:33; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 1 Pet. 1:3; Rom. 5:10; Psa. 23
I. The second stage of Christ’s full ministry is the stage of inclusion, from His resurrection to the degradation of the church: (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
A. The stage of incarnation was the stage of Christ’s first “becoming”—the stage of His becoming flesh—John 1:14. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
B. The stage of inclusion is the stage of Christ’s second “becoming”—the stage of His becoming the life-giving Spirit—1 Cor. 15:45b. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
C. Our use of the word inclusion is based on our use of the word inclusive; for Christ, as the last Adam, to become the life-giving Spirit was for Him to become the all-inclusive Spirit—Phil. 1:19; Exo. 30:22-25; cf. Gen. 17:1. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
II. Christ’s ministry in the stage of inclusion is His ministry in resurrection as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit; resurrection is the life pulse and lifeline of the divine economy—1 Cor. 15:12-19, 31-36, 45-49, 54-58: (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
A. If there were no resurrection, God would be the God of the dead, not of the living—Matt. 22:32. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
B. If there were no resurrection, Christ would not have been raised from the dead; He would be a dead Savior, not a living One who lives forever (Rev. 1:18) and is able to save to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25; Rom. 5:10). (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
C. If there were no resurrection, there would be no living proof of our being justified by His death (4:25), no imparting of life (John 12:24), no regeneration (3:5), no renewing (Titus 3:5), no transformation (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18), and no conformity to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
D. If there were no resurrection, there would be no members of Christ (12:5), no Body of Christ as His fullness (Eph. 1:20-23), no church as Christ’s bride (John 3:29), and therefore no new man (Eph. 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10-11). (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
E. If there were no resurrection, God’s New Testament economy would altogether collapse, and God’s eternal purpose would be nullified—Acts 13:33; 1 Pet. 1:3; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Col. 1:18. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
III. We need to see and enter into the unveiled truth of Christ’s resurrection in the stage of inclusion for the ultimate goal of God’s economy: (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
A. In resurrection Christ was born to be the firstborn Son of God—Acts 13:33:
1. From eternity past without beginning, Christ was God’s only begotten Son, possessing only divinity, without humanity and not having passed through death into resurrection—John 1:18. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
2. In incarnation the only begotten Son of God became flesh to be a God-man, a man possessing both the divine nature and the human nature. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
3. Through death and resurrection Christ in the flesh as the seed of David was designated to be the firstborn Son of God—Rom. 1:3-4: (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
a. In death His humanity was crucified—1 Pet. 3:18. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
b. In resurrection His crucified humanity was made alive by the Spirit of His divinity and was uplifted into the sonship of the only begotten Son of God; thus, He was begotten by God in His resurrection to be the firstborn Son of God—Rom. 8:29. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
B. In resurrection Christ became the life-giving Spirit—1 Cor. 15:45b: (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
1. The life-giving Spirit “was not yet” before the resurrection of Christ—the glorification of Christ—John 7:39. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
2. Christ, the Son of God as the second of the Divine Trinity, after completing His ministry on the earth, became (was transfigured into) the life-giving Spirit in His resurrection to release the divine life that was confined in the shell of His humanity and to dispense it into His believers, making them the many members which constitute His Body—12:24; cf. 19:34. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
3. This life-giving Spirit, who is the pneumatic Christ, is also called: (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
a. The Spirit of life—Rom. 8:2. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
b. The Spirit of Jesus—Acts 16:7. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
c. The Spirit of Christ—Rom. 8:9. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
d. The Spirit of Jesus Christ—Phil. 1:19. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
e. The Lord Spirit—2 Cor. 3:18. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
C. In resurrection we, God’s chosen ones, were regenerated—1 Pet. 1:3: (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
1. The pneumatic Christ became the firstborn Son of God and the life-giving Spirit for the regenerating of the believers, making them the many sons of God born of God with Him in one great universal delivery. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
2. This great birth of the firstborn Son of God and of the many sons of God in Christ’s resurrection was for the composition of the house of God and for the constitution of the Body of Christ to be His fullness, His expression and expansion, to consummate the eternal expression and expansion of the processed and consummated Triune God—Eph. 1:23; 3:19; Rev. 21:10-11. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
3. In the one Spirit all the believers of Christ have been baptized into the one Body of Christ and have been given to drink this Spirit—1 Cor. 12:13. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
4. The Christ in resurrection gives Himself as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit without measure through His speaking of the words of God—John 3:34. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
5. All the believers in Christ are built up into a dwelling place of God in their spirit indwelt by Him as the Spirit (Eph. 2:22) through the process of His organic salvation (Rom. 5:10)—through dispositional sanctification (15:16), renewing (Titus 3:5), transformation (2 Cor. 3:18), and conformation (Rom. 8:29) unto glorification (Phil. 3:21). (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
IV. We need to establish and shepherd the churches by the pneumatic Christ, the Christ who is the life-giving Spirit, with His organic salvation: (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
A. The Lord Jesus has incorporated the apostolic ministry with His heavenly ministry to take care of God’s flock, which is the church, issuing in the Body of Christ—John 21:15-17; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2; 1 Cor. 15:58; cf. Gen. 48:15-16a. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
B. The shepherding of the pneumatic Christ is in five stages—Psa. 23: (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
1. The enjoyment of Christ as the green pastures and of the Spirit as the waters of rest—v. 2. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
2. The revival and transformation on the paths of righteousness—v. 3. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
3. The experience of the resurrected pneumatic Christ while walking through the valley of the shadow of death—v. 4. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
4. The deeper and higher enjoyment of the resurrected Christ in fighting against the adversaries—v. 5. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)
5. The lifelong enjoyment of the divine goodness and lovingkindness in the house of Jehovah as the ultimate goal of God’s eternal economy—v. 6. (2008 MDC, msg. 3)