THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Full Ministry of Christ in the Stage of Inclusion
Message One—Being Begotten as God’s Firstborn Son
Scripture Reading: 2Sam. 7:12-14a，Rom. 1:3-4，8:28-30，Heb. 2:10-11，1Cor. 15:31、36
I. To experience and enjoy Christ (to gain Christ) in His full ministry in His three divine and mystical stages—Phil. 3:8:
A. In the second stage, the stage of His inclusion, from His resurrection to the degradation of the church—Acts 2:24, 32; 1 Cor. 15:45b:
1. To be begotten as God’s firstborn Son—Rom. 1:3-4:
a. From eternity past without beginning, Christ was God’s only begotten Son—John 1:18:
(1) Possessing only divinity, without humanity.
(2) Not having passed through death into resurrection.
b. 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—Matt. 1:18b, 20b.
c. 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:
(1) In death His humanity was crucified—Acts 2:23, 36.
(2) 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—Acts 13:33.
(3) Thus, He was begotten by God in His resurrection to be the firstborn Son of God—Rom. 8:29.
II. The seed of David becoming the Son of God speaks of the process of Christ’s being designated the firstborn Son of God by resurrection— 2 Sam. 7:12-14a; Rom. 1:3-4; Matt. 22:45; Rev. 22:16:
A. Paul said that he was separated unto the gospel of God concerning God’s Son, which indicates that the gospel of God is a gospel of sonship for the reality of the Body of Christ—Rom. 1:1, 3-4; 8:28-30; 12:5.
B. Romans 1:3-4 is the fulfillment of the prophecy in typology in 2 Samuel 7:12-14a, unveiling the mystery of God becoming man to make man God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead:
1. By incarnation, Christ, the only begotten Son of God in His divinity, put on the flesh, the human nature, which had nothing to do with divinity; in His humanity, He was not the Son of God—John 1:18:
a. Jesus in His humanity was the seed of David, a human seed belonging to the old creation (the old man—Rom. 6:6) of God—Col. 1:15b.
b. When Christ died on the cross as the seed of David in His humanity, He crucified the old man with the old creation, destroyed the devil, condemned sin in the flesh, and judged the world—Rom. 6:6; Heb. 2:14; Rom. 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:21; John 3:14; 12:31.
III. In resurrection His humanity was deified, sonized, meaning that He became the Son of God not only in His divinity but also in His humanity—Rom. 1:3-4:
A. In resurrection He was designated the Son of God, made the firstborn Son of God, possessing both divinity and humanity—8:29.
B. Crucifixion was the best way for Him to be designated, glorified, resurrected—Acts 4:10; Rom. 1:3-4:
1. If a seed dies by being buried in the soil, it will eventually sprout, grow, and blossom, because the operation of the seed’s life is activated simultaneously with its death—John 12:23-24.
2. The divinity, the Spirit of holiness, in Christ became operative in His death, and in resurrection He “blossomed” as the Son of God—Acts 13:33.
3. According to His flesh, Christ was crucified, but in His resurrection God the Spirit as Christ’s divinity was made strong, very active, to put divinity into the humanity of Christ to make it divine; this is what it means to designate, and this is to sonize—1 Pet. 3:18.
Ministry Excerpts:
IN THE SECOND STAGE, THE STAGE OF HIS INCLUSION,
FROM HIS RESURRECTION TO THE DEGRADATION OF THE CHURCH
The first stage of Christ’s full ministry was the stage of His incarnation, from His birth through His human living to His death. The second stage is the stage of His inclusion, from His resurrection to the degradation of the church. We need to see why we call it the stage of inclusion. In His first stage He possessed only two elements—divinity and humanity. This was a little more complicated than what He had prior to His incarnation. Before His incarnation, in eternity past, He possessed only one element—divinity. From the time of His incarnation, when He put on human nature, He possessed humanity in addition to His divinity; hence, He had two natures. After His death and resurrection, more elements were added to Him in His resurrection. In His resurrection, the last Adam, Christ in the stage of His incarnation, became the life-giving Spirit. This “becoming” made Him the Christ of inclusion, with the divine element and the human element included in Him, with the element of His death and its effectiveness included in Him, and with the element of His resurrection and its power included in Him. Hence, in the Old Testament there is the type of the holy anointing ointment (Exo. 30:22-25). The holy anointing ointment was not merely oil, which was just one of the ingredients; it was an ointment compounded with many ingredients. The holy anointing ointment typifies the compound, life-giving Spirit whom Christ became in the stage of His inclusion.
This light was hidden from us until 1954 when we saw it clearly through The Spirit of Christ, a book written by Andrew Murray. In chapter five of his book, Andrew Murray indicates that in the Spirit of the glorified Jesus today there is not only His human nature but also His death with its effectiveness and His resurrection with its power. In 1954, in Hong Kong, I released a message saying that in the Spirit of the glorified Jesus there are the divine element, the human element, the element of His death with its effectiveness, and the element of His resurrection with its power. All these elements can be likened to the ingredients in a dose which contains a germ-killing element like the effectiveness of death and a life-supplying element like the power of resurrection. The elements contained in the Spirit of Christ are bountiful and all-inclusive.
In the stage of His inclusion Christ accomplished three great things. First, He was begotten as God’s firstborn Son; second, He became the life-giving Spirit; and third, He regenerated His believers for His Body. Apparently, these great things are quite simple, but actually they are very complicated.
To Be Begotten as God’s Firstborn Son
From Eternity Past without Beginning, Christ Being God’s Only Begotten Son
From eternity past without beginning, Christ was God’s only begotten Son. As such, He possessed only divinity and was without humanity, because He had not yet become flesh to pass through death and enter into resurrection. In the Gospel of John the Lord said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25). In eternity past He was already resurrection just as He was life, but He had not yet entered into the experience of resurrection. For example, you may be a professor but still lack the experience of being a professor. The Lord is resurrection, and He has been resurrection from eternity past because He is God, who is resurrection. To be resurrected is to overcome and transcend death, that is, to enter into and come out of death. As the only begotten Son of God, Christ is resurrection from eternity, but then He did not have the experience of resurrection. It was not until after He had accomplished His ministry in the flesh through His death that He entered into resurrection.
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
In His 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.
Through Death and Resurrection Christ in the Flesh as the Seed of David Being Designated to Be the Firstborn Son of God
Romans 1:3-4 tells us that through His death and resurrection Christ in the flesh as the seed of David was designated to be the firstborn Son of God. Before His incarnation, Christ, the divine One, was already the Son of God (John 1:18; Rom. 8:3). By incarnation He put on an element, the human flesh, which had nothing to do with divinity; that part of Him needed to be sanctified and uplifted by passing through death and resurrection. By resurrection His human nature was sanctified, uplifted, and transformed. Hence, by resurrection He was designated the Son of God with His humanity (Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5). His resurrection was His designation. In the upcoming winter training, we will have a further crystallization-study of Romans to see something more concerning Christ’s human nature and divine nature and how He was designated to be the firstborn Son of God.
In Death His Humanity Being Crucified
In His death Christ’s humanity was crucified. When Christ was crucified on the cross, His humanity was crucified there. First Peter 3:18 says, “Christ…on the one hand being put to death in the flesh, but on the other, made alive in the Spirit.” Here we can see that when He died, it was His flesh that was crucified. His divinity was not crucified; rather, it became very active. It is not easy for the readers of the Bible to see that when Christ was on the cross, while His flesh was being put to death, His divinity was actively working.
In Resurrection His Crucified Humanity Being Made Alive by the Spirit of His Divinity and Being Uplifted into the Sonship of the Only Begotten Son of God
Then, in the resurrection of Christ, 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. For example, a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies. That death causes the shell of the grain to be broken and destroyed, yet at the same time, the life within the grain is made active. The outward shell is broken and dies, but the life within is activated and begins to germinate and grow. This germination, this growth, is resurrection. In Hymns, #482 the first two lines of stanza 1 say, “I am crucified with Christ, / And the cross hath set me free”; then the first two lines of stanza3 say, “This the secret nature hideth, / Harvest grows from buried grain.” When a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, is it dying or living? If the grain of wheat were merely dying, no farmer would want to sow any grain. Everyone who sows knows that although a grain dies alone when it is sown, it brings forth thirty grains, sixty grains, and even a hundred grains.
John 12:24 says, “Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” To bear much fruit is to be made alive, and this takes place at the time of dying. The grain of wheat, on the one hand, is dying, but on the other hand, is being made alive. The same is true with Christ when He was on the cross. Although His humanity, His flesh, as His outer shell, was crucified on the cross, the Spirit as the essence of His divinity was greatly activated so that His crucified humanity might be made alive in resurrection. Not only so, when His humanity was made alive, it was uplifted into the sonship of the only begotten Son of God. In other words, as soon as He was resurrected, His humanity was uplifted into the divine sonship. Thus, He was begotten to be the firstborn Son of God.
Thus, He Being Begotten by God in His Resurrection to Be the Firstborn Son of God
The only begotten son is different from the firstborn son. The “only begotten son” means that there is only one son, whereas the “firstborn son” means that there are at least two sons. Those who were begotten with Christ in His resurrection were not just two, but millions. Ephesians 2:5 says that God “made us alive together with Christ,” and verse 6 says that He “raised us up together with Him.” We were enlivened by being made alive together with Christ and then we were resurrected together with Him. When He died on the cross, we also died with Him there. While He was dying on the cross, His Spirit of life was making Him alive and also making us alive. Thus, we were made alive with Him and were resurrected with Him. His resurrection was His birth, in which He was begotten to be God’s firstborn Son (Acts 13:33). Our resurrection was also our birth, in which we were born to be God’s many sons (1 Pet. 1:3). He is God’s firstborn Son; we are God’s many sons (Rom. 8:29). (How to Be a Co-worker and an Elder and How to Fulfill Their Obligations, msg. 2)
TO BE BORN AS THE FIRSTBORN SON OF GOD
The New Testament reveals that in Christ’s resurrection, He was born as the firstborn Son of God. Acts 13:33 says, “God has fully fulfilled this promise to us their children in raising up Jesus, as it is also written in the second psalm, You are My Son; today I have begotten You.” Furthermore, Romans 8:29 refers to Christ as God’s Son, the Firstborn among many brothers. From these two verses we can see that on the day of resurrection, Jesus was begotten by God to be the firstborn Son of God.
Of course, Christ’s incarnation was also a birth, but that birth made Him the Son of Man. Christ did not become the Son of God through incarnation. In eternity past, before His incarnation and before His resurrection, Christ was already the Son of God. The Bible reveals that Christ, the Son of God, is eternal. God is triune—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—and all Three are eternal. God the Father is eternal (Isa. 9:6), God the Son is eternal (Heb. 7:3), and God the Spirit is eternal (Heb. 9:14).
The Son of God is eternal, yet this eternal Son of God was born as the Son of Man about two thousand years ago. In His incarnation He was born of Mary, and by that birth He became the Son of Man. Therefore, His incarnation is His first birth. But the Bible also tells us that Christ had a second birth. In His first birth Christ was born as the Son of Man, and in His second birth He was born as the firstborn Son of God. On the one hand, John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” This verse indicates that Christ was God’s only Son. On the other hand, Romans 8:29 says, “…that He should be the Firstborn among many brothers.” Have you ever considered that Christ is the Son of God in two ways? In the first way He was God’s only begotten Son, and in the second way He is the firstborn Son among many sons. Romans 8:29 says that the believers are to be conformed, not to the image of the only begotten Son, but to the image of God’s firstborn Son.
At this point we need to ask ourselves what the difference is between the only begotten Son and the firstborn Son. Our first response may be to say that the only begotten Son had no brothers, but the firstborn Son has many brothers. Although this is true, we still need to ask what the difference is in the Son of God Himself. The difference between the only begotten Son of God in eternity past and the firstborn Son of God in resurrection is that in eternity past, before His incarnation, He possessed only divinity without humanity. But through the process of incarnation, He put on humanity. He passed through human living, entered into death, and came out in resurrection. In resurrection He still remained the Son of God according to His divinity, but there was something more; He also possessed the humanity He obtained through incarnation. The humanity He put on in incarnation was also brought into resurrection to share in the sonship. This is why Acts 13:33 says that on the day of resurrection, Christ was begotten of God to be God’s Son. It means that resurrection “sonized” His humanity, made it also the Son of God. According to Acts 13:33, Christ’s resurrection was a birth, making Him not only God’s only begotten Son with divinity, but also God’s firstborn Son with both divinity and humanity.
Today Christ is the Son of God in two respects: He is God’s only begotten Son and He is also God’s firstborn Son. However, if He were only God’s only begotten Son, He could not have any brothers. To have us as His brothers, He must possess humanity; but as God’s only begotten Son in eternity past, He possessed only divinity, not humanity. Nevertheless, in His incarnation Christ put on humanity, and through resurrection He brought this humanity into sonship. In this way He became God’s firstborn Son with both divinity and humanity. Then, as the life-giving Spirit, He entered into us to make us also sons of God. Now we are the many sons of God being conformed to the image, not of God’s only begotten Son, but of His firstborn Son. Therefore, as God’s firstborn Son, Christ has many brothers. We all need to see that being born as the firstborn Son of God was a great work which Christ accomplished through His resurrection. Although it is clearly taught in the Bible, many Christians have never seen this matter.
On the day of His resurrection Christ was begotten by God in His humanity. He became the firstborn Son of God in order to produce many sons of God. We need to realize that the date of our regeneration was the date of Christ’s resurrection. When Christ was resurrected from among the dead, we, all the believers, were resurrected with Him (1 Pet. 1:3). Through His resurrection He was born to be God’s firstborn Son, and at the same time all His believers were born to be the many sons of God. On the day of Christ’s resurrection, all God’s chosen people were resurrected and were born to be God’s many sons. Now God has many sons with both divinity and humanity. But among these many sons, only the Firstborn is His only begotten Son. This only begotten Son of God, in His resurrected humanity, is also the firstborn Son of God. As the firstborn Son of God, He has both divinity and humanity, and we His believers as God’s many sons also possess both the human nature and the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). Now day by day we are being conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son (Rom. 8:29).
TO RELEASE HIS DIVINE LIFE FOR HIS PROPAGATION
In His resurrection Christ also released His divine life for His propagation (John 12:24; 1 Pet. 1:3). When the Lord Jesus died as the grain of wheat, His inner divine life rose up to grow. In His resurrection this life was released to produce many grains as His multiplication. This multiplication is His propagation. The one grain was propagated into many grains. Christ accomplished this great work in His resurrection.
TO BE GLORIFIED THAT GOD MAY BE GLORIFIED IN HIM
Furthermore, Christ’s resurrection was His glorification that God might be glorified in Him (John 12:28; 13:31-32; 17:1; Luke 24:26). A carnation flower is an illustration of this. When a carnation seed is sown, in a sense the carnation blossom is concealed within the seed. But when the plant blossoms, the glory of the carnation flower is manifested. This blossoming is the glorification of the carnation. Similarly, when Christ became a man, God’s divine life was concealed in His human shell. When Christ’s death broke His human shell, His divine life was released. This releasing of the divine life was the glorification of Christ. At the same time it was also the glorification of the concealed God. Luke 24:26 says, “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” This word refers to His resurrection (1 Cor. 15:43a; Acts 3:13a, 15a). Therefore, this verse tells us that through His resurrection Christ entered into glory. Before He ascended to the heavens, Christ had already entered into glory. Christ was glorified in His resurrection, and in His glorification God was also glorified. (The Secret of Experiencing Christ, msg. 4)