«　WEEK 38　DAY 2　»

　　Rev. 1:17-18 …I am the First and the Last and the living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am living forever and ever; and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

　　Acts 2:24 Whom God has raised up, having loosed the pangs of death, since it was not possible for Him to be held by it.

　　The Lord suffered death and lived again [Rev. 1:18]. He entered into death, but death could not hold Him (Acts 2:24), because He is the resurrection (John 11:25)…Resurrection is the lengthening of the Lord’s days. He will exist forever and ever in His resurrection…For Christ to dispense life, He must be the living One since a dead person can never dispense life to others. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 4153)

　　The living One within us can never be dead. His church should be neither dead nor deadened; instead, His church must be living all the time. We must learn to enjoy Christ as the living One. His living forever is His testimony, for the testimony of Jesus is always related to the matter of being living. If a local church is not living, it will not have the testimony of Jesus. The more living we are, the more we are the testimony of the living Jesus.

　　The Christ who walks in the midst of the churches, who is the Head of the churches and to whom the churches belong, is the living One—full of life. Hence, the churches as His Body should also be living, fresh, and strong. We have a living Christ who has overcome death. Our Christ, who is the resurrected One, is living in us and among us. He is living forever and ever…In the recovery all the churches should be as living as Christ, full of life and overcoming death. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4153-4154)

　　In Acts 2:24-32 Peter spoke concerning the resurrection of the Lord Jesus…Peter said that God raised up Jesus. In 10:40 and 41 he said the same thing again but added, “He rose from the dead.” Regarding the Lord as a man, the New Testament tells us that God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 8:11); considering Him as God, it tells us that He Himself rose from the dead (1 Thes. 4:14). This proves His dual status—human and divine.

　　Acts 2:24 says that it was not possible for the Lord to be held by death. The Lord is both God and resurrection (John 1:1; 11:25), possessing the indestructible life (Heb. 7:16). Since He is such an ever-living One, death is not able to hold Him. He delivered Himself to death, but death had no way to detain Him; rather, death was defeated by Him, and He rose up from it. (Life- study of Acts, pp. 75-76)

　　John testifies of Jesus Christ as the One who said that He is the living One and that He became dead but is living forever and ever [Rev. 1:18]. This is a word spoken to the churches. Today He is living in the heavens at the right hand of the throne of God, but this is not the point of emphasis. The importance of His being the living One is that He is living in us. He is living forever and is living in us. He told us that today He is still living. Therefore, He wants us to leave every kind of death and rise up to be the living church. This is the thought in Revelation 1.

　　How do you live by Him? First, you must realize that formerly you had only your life, but now it is no longer you but the Lord Jesus who is living within you. Therefore, today you are a dual person. Outwardly it is you, and inwardly it is the Lord Jesus; within you there are two lives. Second, God does not want you to live by your original life. God wants you to live by your second life, which is God Himself. Third, this second life is in your spirit. Thus, if you want to live by this life, you need to live by your spirit. The issue of this living is the church. Therefore, for the church life we must all live in our spirit, exercising to live by the Lord. (CWWL, 1983, vol. 3, “A Living of Mutual Abiding with the Lord in Spirit,” pp. 26-28)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Revelation, msg. 9