A GRAFTED LIFE
The Bible is a wonderful book. It is wonderful not only in revealing Christ’s Person and work, but it is even more wonderful in its revelation of this organic union. In the Old Testament there are thirty-nine books, and in the New Testament there are twenty-seven. In the four Gospels we cannot see a full revelation of this organic union. However, the organic union is strongly stressed in John chapters fourteen through seventeen. The central thought and focus of John 14 through 17 is this organic union. In chapter fifteen the Lord Jesus illustrated this organic union by saying that He is the vine and we, the believers in Him, are all the branches of this vine. Between the vine and the branches there is an organic union.
In John 15 we see the vine with all the branches, but we do not see that all the branches have been grafted into the vine. Originally, we, the believers in Christ, were not united to Christ. According to the picture in Romans 11:17 and 24, we were branches of a wild olive tree. But when we believed in the Lord Jesus, we were saved and we were regenerated. In regeneration we received a new life, and this new life made us alive. This new life also grafted us into Christ. We who formerly were branches of a wild olive tree have all been regenerated and made alive, and we all have been grafted into the cultivated olive tree, which is Christ with God’s chosen people given to Him as His members. Originally, we were not branches in Christ, but we have been grafted into Christ. By our natural birth we were not branches of Christ, but through regeneration we were cut off from the wild olive tree and were grafted into the cultivated tree, which is Christ with His members as the divine organism to express the Triune God. Now between Christ, the cultivated tree, and us, the grafted branches, there is an organic union. This grafted life between the grafted branches and the cultivated tree is the best illustration of our organic union with Christ.
CHRIST BECOMING THE LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT
TO ENTER INTO HIS BELIEVERS
After passing through the first four major processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, Christ in His resurrection became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). This wonderful Man is the complete God and also the perfect man. Furthermore, He has done everything for God and for us. Eventually, in His resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit. This life-giving Spirit is the extract of His Person and His work. In making a medicine we may collect a number of elements from various plants, flowers, roots, and trees, and combine them together. We may then process these elements further and extract the crucial essence of each element to formulate the most effective medicine. This medicine may be a liquid, or it may be in the form of pills. In one drop of that liquid, or in one pill, we have the extract of many elements. This extract may be called the spirit of all those elements. In this extract is the crucial essence of all the elements. After passing through all the processes in His humanity, Christ as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. This life-giving Spirit can be considered as the extract of Christ in His Person and His work. In this life-giving Spirit, or in this extract, we have divinity, humanity, human living, the effectiveness of Christ’s all-inclusive death, and the power of Christ’s resurrection. The ascension of Christ is also included in this life-giving Spirit.
In His resurrection Christ became such a life-giving Spirit in order that He might enter into His believers (John 20:22). Today, anywhere on this earth, wherever and whenever a person calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, believes in Him, and receives Him as his Savior, this life-giving Spirit immediately enters into him. This means that Christ as the life-giving Spirit enters into His believers. Have you believed in the Lord Jesus? Have you called on His name and received Him? If so, you should realize that He has entered into your innermost being. He is the Almighty God, the Almighty Creator, and He became a perfect man. As such a One He accomplished everything. He died for us, He was buried, and He was resurrected. In His resurrection He was transfigured into the life-giving Spirit. Now this life-giving Spirit is not restricted by anything. He is not limited by time or by space. He is everywhere, He is present, and He is now. In the morning, at noon, in the evening, or at midnight, He is always now, and He is always present. He is present with you just like the air. Wherever you go there is air. Air is always now, and air is always present. Whenever you open your mouth, air gets into you. Often you are unconscious of the fact that the air has entered into you. This is why Romans 10:8 tells us that Christ as the living Word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart.
I do not deny that Christ is great. On one hand He is still on the throne in the third heavens (Rom. 8:34; Col. 3:1). There in the third heavens He is the Lord of all and the Administrator of the entire universe. He is the great God and the great Lord. Yet, on the other hand, He is the Spirit. As the life-giving Spirit He is everywhere. Whenever we call on Him, He enters into us. Now He is within us. Hallelujah for this!
(The Secret of Experiencing Christ, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)
