Scripture Reading: Isa. 53:10c-12a; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Col. 1:18; Acts 13:33; John 12:24; Eph. 4:8-12; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15
Ⅰ
Isaiah 53 speaks of the all-inclusive Christ in the stage of His resurrection—vv. 10c-11b:
A
The seed and the issue mentioned in Isaiah 53:10c-11b imply a great deal—the various items concerning the produce of Christ's resurrection revealed in the New Testament:
１
In His resurrection, as the processed Christ, the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit—1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17.
２
In His resurrection Christ, as the preeminent One, the One who has the f irst place in all things, became the Firstborn from the dead and the Head of the Body—Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5a.
３
In His resurrection Christ as the God-man, in His humanity, was begotten of God to be the f irstborn Son of God— Acts 13:33; Rom. 1:3-4; 8:29.
４
In His resurrection Christ as the resurrection life regenerated all His believers—1 Pet. 1:3.
５
In His resurrection Christ, as the one grain of wheat, produced many grains; the many grains as the increase of Christ are the components of the one bread—the church, the Body of Christ—John 12:24; 1 Cor. 10:17; Eph. 1:22-23.
B
Through His life-releasing death and with His life-imparting resurrection, Christ produced a corporate seed as the issue of the travail of His soul, whom He saw in His resurrection and was satisf ied—Isa. 53:10c-11b:
１
As the resurrected Life-giver, the Lord Jesus produced a seed for the building up of His Body as His continuation for Jehovah's pleasure and Christ's satisfaction:
ａ
The thought of a life-giver is implied in the seed, which is produced by life.
ｂ
Christ as the Servant of Jehovah is the Life-giver so that He can produce a seed—v. 10b:
⑴
In resurrection He produced a seed for His satisfaction and for the Father's pleasure.
⑵
The seed produced by Christ in His resurrection is His believers for the building up of His Body as His continuation—Eph. 4:16.
ｃ
The corporate seed implies all the many grains, all the members of Christ's Body, all Christ's brothers, and all the sons of God—John 20:17; Heb. 2:10.
ｄ
The Father is pleased with the Body of Christ, which is constituted with the seed brought forth by Christ as the life-giving Spirit—1 Cor. 12:12-13; 15:45b.
ｅ
Christ has extended His days by producing a seed to build up His Body, and this Body is still extending—Isa. 53:10c-11:
⑴
This seed is Christ's continuation for the extension of His days—Rev. 1:18a.
⑵
Because Christ continues to live by living in us, we are the extension of His days—John 14:19; Gal. 2:20.
２
This seed is for the pleasure of Jehovah, which will prosper in the hand of the resurrected Christ—Eph. 1:5, 9; Phil. 2:13; Isa. 53:10c.
３
The resurrected Christ, the righteous One, will make the many righteous (v. 11b; Acts 13:39); this is not merely to justify us objectively but to make us righteous subjectively (2 Cor. 5:21) by living within us as the resurrection life.
４
Christ will see the issue of the travail of His soul and be satisf ied; this issue refers to the many who are justif ied (made righteous) by knowing Christ, for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ—Isa. 53:11; Rom. 12:4-5.
Ⅱ
Isaiah 53 speaks of the all-inclusive Christ in the stage of His ascension—v. 12a:
A
In Christ's ascension there was a demonstration of Christ's victory by the sharing of the spoil, the captives, taken in Christ's victory—v. 12a:
１
The word spoil in Isaiah 53:12a opens a wide window to us, enabling us to see the invisible scene of a war—Col. 2:15; 1 Pet. 3:18; Acts 2:24; Rev. 1:18:
ａ
Spoil indicates that there was a war, for spoil signif ies prey, and prey denotes captives taken in war—Eph. 4:8.
ｂ
Spoil indicates that a war was fought and someone won that war, and the winner got the spoil, the prey, the captives.
２
Christ won the war and then divided the spoil with the Great and the Strong—Isa. 53:12a:
ａ
The Great and the Strong refer to God; in the whole universe only God is great and only God is strong.
ｂ
As the Great, God received the honor from Christ's ascension, and as the Strong, He gained the victory.
ｃ
God the Father was the Great and the Strong, and God the Son was the Fighter:
⑴
Christ fought the battle on the cross and in His resurrection, and by winning the battle He captured all Satan's captives as the spoil—Col. 2:15; Acts 2:24; Rev. 1:18.
⑵
In His ascension Christ, the Fighter, and God, the Great and the Strong, shared the spoil with each other.
３
Ephesians 4:8-12 reveals that when Christ ascended to the heavens, He led a procession of captives, who were originally the captives of Satan, bringing them to the heavens and presenting them to the Father.
B
Christ's ascension consummates in the accomplishment of the work of God for His new creation—2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Rev. 21:2:
１
God is producing His new creation out of His old creation— 2 Cor. 5:17:
ａ
The new creation is the old creation transformed by the divine life, and thus it has God within it as its life, nature, constitution, appearance, and expression—Gal. 6:15; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rev. 4:2-3; 21:2, 9-11.
ｂ
The new creation is created altogether in Christ, by Christ, through Christ, and with Christ—2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 3:17.
ｃ
The continuing work of constituting the new creation is being carried out in the heavens in Christ's heavenly ministry—Heb. 8:1-2.
２
The work of God for His new creation is to complete the constitution of the New Jerusalem to be God's corporate expression and the saints' blessing for eternity—Rev. 21:2, 9-11; 22:3-5, 14, 17.