Scripture Reading: John 19:34; 1:29; 20:17, 22; 21:15-22
Ⅰ
In John 19:34 we see that Christ is the redeeming and life-imparting One:
A
The experience and enjoyment of Christ as the redeeming and life-imparting One is based upon the two aspects of the Lord's death—the redemptive aspect signified by the blood and the life-imparting aspect signified by the water—v. 34:
１
Blood is for redemption, to deal with sins for the purchasing of the church— 1:29; Heb. 9:22; Acts 20:28.
２
Water is for imparting life, to deal with death for the producing of the church—John 12:24; 3:14-15; Eph. 5:29-30.
B
As sinners, we need to be redeemed judicially from God's condemnation according to the righteous requirement of the law and to be saved organically by His life from the death brought in by sin—Gal. 3:13; 2 Tim. 1:10; Rom. 5:10.
C
God's purpose is that redemption be followed by the imparting of life, for God's intention is to dispense Himself into us as life; therefore, redemption prepares the way for the release of the divine life so that this life may be dispensed into us for the producing of the church—John 1:29; 3:15-16; Rom. 3:24-25; 8:2, 6, 10-11.
Ⅱ
In John 20 Christ is revealed as the resurrected One who brought His believers into God the Father and breathed the Holy Spirit into them—vv. 17, 22:
A
Christ, as the resurrected One, brings His believers into God the Father, making His Father their Father and His God their God and making them His brothers—14:20; 20:17:
１
In resurrection His disciples became the same as He insofar as they also were sons of God—v. 17.
２
The many brothers are the propagation of the Father's life and the multiplication of the Son in the divine life; hence, in Christ's resurrection God's eternal purpose is fulfilled—12:24; Eph. 3:9-11.
３
By making His Father and His God the Father and God of the disciples, Christ has brought them into His position—the position of the Son—before the Father and God; thus, in life and nature inwardly and in position outwardly they are the same as the Lord, with whom they have been made one—John 14:20.
B
Christ as the resurrected One breathed the Holy Spirit into His believers, as the pneumatic Christ, the Christ who is the life-giving Spirit—20:22; 1 Cor. 15:45b:
１
The Holy Spirit in John 20:22 is actually the resurrected Christ Himself because the Spirit is His breath; the Holy Spirit is the breath of the Son.
２
By breathing Himself into the disciples, the resurrected Christ imparted Himself into them as life and everything—v. 22; 11:25.
３
From that time onward, He was truly one with His disciples, for He had become their intrinsic being; He had entered into them to be the divine essence of their spiritual life and being—1 Cor. 6:17; John 15:4-5.
４
The Lord is the Spirit who gives life, and this Spirit is our breath—2 Cor. 3:6, 17; John 20:22:
ａ
The Word, who was God, became flesh to be the Lamb of God, and in resurrection He became the holy breath for us to breathe in—1:29; 20:22.
ｂ
The Spirit as breath is everything to us in living the Christian life; only the breath can be a Christian, and only the breath can be an overcomer— Rev. 2:7.
Ⅲ
In John 21:15-22 Christ is unveiled as the Chief Shepherd:
A
In resurrection Christ worked and walked with the believers as the Chief Shepherd to build up the church by shepherding His flock—1 Pet. 5:4.
B
As the great Shepherd in resurrection, the Lord charged His disciples to feed and shepherd His lambs and sheep at the cost of their life and to glorify God by following His pattern of laying down His soul-life for the sheep—Heb. 13:20; John 21:19-22; 10:11, 15; 1 John 3:16:
１
Our shepherding should be Christ shepherding through us; when Christ shepherds through us, our labor is in resurrection—John 11:25.
２
Lamb-feeding is by the nourishing with the riches of the inner life, and sheep-shepherding is for the building up of the church—21:15-17.
３
Shepherding is for the "flock," which is the church; therefore, it is related to God's building—10:14, 16; Acts 20:28; Matt. 16:18.
C
After restoring Peter's love for Him and charging him with lamb-feeding and sheep-shepherding, the Lord, by predicting Peter's martyrdom, instructed the disciples to follow Him unto death—John 21:18-22:
１
We all must follow the Lord as the good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep; our following Him even unto death is to glorify God—10:11, 15; 21:19.
２
After we have been regenerated and commissioned by the Lord, we must love Him at any cost and follow Him to the end at any sacrifice—vv. 15-19.
３
By following the Lord's pattern of laying down His life for the sheep, we will accomplish the Lord's purpose to feed His lambs and to shepherd and feed His sheep—10:15, 18; 21:15-17; 1 John 3:16.