Scripture Reading: John 11:25; Acts 2:24; Eph. 1:19-23; 2:6; Phil. 3:10
Ⅰ
The church is "resurrectionly"; that is, the church is absolutely of and in the resurrection life of Christ—John 11:25; Acts 2:24; Eph. 1:19-23; Rom. 1:3-4; 4:24-25; 6:4-5, 8-9; 8:11, 34; 12:4-5; 16:1, 4, 16:
A
After Christ terminated the entire old creation through His all-inclusive death, the church was produced in His resurrection—1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 2:6, 21-22:
１
The church is a new creation created in Christ's resurrection and by the resurrected Christ—2 Cor. 1:1; 5:17; Gal. 1:2; 6:15.
２
The church is an entity absolutely in resurrection; it is not natural, nor is it of the old creation—Eph. 1:19-23; 2:6.
B
"God sees the church as a being that can endure death. The gates of Hades are open to the church, but the gates of Hades cannot prevail against her and cannot confine her; thus, the nature of the church is resurrection" (The Orthodoxy of the Church, p. 21).
C
The golden lampstand, typifying the church as the Body of Christ, portrays Christ as the resurrection life, growing, branching, budding, and blossoming to shine the light—Exo. 25:31-40; Num. 17:8; Rev. 1:11-12.
D
The body of Jesus, the temple, that was destroyed on the cross was small and weak, but the Body of Christ in resurrection is vast and powerful—John 2:19-22; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; Eph. 1:19-23.
E
In John 12:1-11 the house of feasting as the issue of the resurrection life of Christ (11:25) is a miniature of the church life.
Ⅱ
For the church as the Body of Christ, we must be absolutely in the resurrection life of Christ—v. 25; Phil. 3:10:
A
In our natural life and in the old creation, we are not the Body; we are the Body in the new creation germinated by Christ's resurrection life—2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 1:19-23:
１
The Body of Christ is in resurrection, that is, in the Spirit, in the pneumatic Christ, and in the consummated God—John 7:39; 2 Cor. 3:17; Matt. 28:19.
２
The reality of resurrection is Christ as the life-giving Spirit—John 11:25; 20:22; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
B
The principle of resurrection is that the natural life is killed and that the divine life rises up in its place; when we do not live by our natural life but live by the divine life within us, we are in resurrection—2 Cor. 1:9; Phil. 3:10-11.
C
In order to live in resurrection we need to know, experience, and gain God as the God of resurrection; when the God of resurrection works, His life and nature are wrought into our being—2 Cor. 1:8-9; 4:14, 16; Gal. 4:19:
１
Our natural ability needs to be dealt with by the cross to become useful in resurrection; in resurrection something divine is wrought into our ability so that it is full of God—Phil. 3:10-11.
２
We need to experience, in resurrection, a mysterious transfer out of "Tyre" and "Dan" into the "tribe of Naphtali"—2 Chron. 2:14; 1 Kings 7:14; Gen. 49:21.
D
To live in resurrection is to live by the grace of God; grace is the resurrected Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit to bring the processed and consummated Triune God in resurrection into us to be our life and life supply so that we may live in resurrection for the building of God—1 Cor. 15:10, 45b; 3:9, 16-17.
E
If we do any work that is not in resurrection, the life-giving Spirit will not honor it; the Spirit honors only what is in resurrection—15:45b, 58:
１
In our service to the Lord we must reject our natural enthusiasm and control our natural affection—Lev. 10:1-11; Matt. 10:37-39.
２
The budding rod signifies our experience of Christ in His resurrection as our acceptance by God for authority in the God-given ministry—Num. 17:8.
３
The leadership among God's people must be Christ Himself as the resurrection life, which buds, blossoms, and bears almonds to feed God's people—v. 8.
Ⅲ
The church as the Body of Christ in the resurrection life of Christ is the depository and storehouse of the power of Christ's resurrection—Eph. 1:19-23; Phil. 3:10:
A
We need to know the power of Christ's resurrection—Eph. 1:19; Phil. 3:10:
１
In His resurrection the Lord Jesus broke through all barriers, even the greatest barrier of all—death—Rom. 6:9; Rev. 1:18; Eph. 1:19-20:
ａ
Death is the greatest limitation, but resurrection has conquered death.
ｂ
Resurrection is the greatest power of all—Acts 2:24.
２
The power of resurrection is in the Spirit of Jesus Christ—Phil. 1:19; 3:10.
３
Ephesians 1:19-20 speaks of the surpassing greatness of God's power toward us who believe; this is the resurrection power manifested by God in Christ through His raising Him from the dead.
B
The church is the place where God demonstrates the operation of the might of His strength, according to the power which He caused to operate in Christ in raising Him from the dead—vv. 19-20:
１
The church is the same as the resurrected Christ not only in nature but also in power—vv. 19-23; 3:16; 6:10.
２
The church is the same as Christ in resurrection and should be as unlimited and victorious as Christ is—1:19-23.