BORN IN RESURRECTION
In the foregoing message we strongly emphasized the fact that the new man was born in the resurrection of Christ. However, according to the book of Acts, the church came into existence, or was born, on the day of Pentecost. This is the record according to history. All Christians can easily see that the church had its birth on the day of Pentecost. But many believers do not see that actually, in the divine view, the church as part of the new man was born in Christ’s resurrection. How, then, should we answer the question regarding when the church was born? The best answer is to say that from the human point of view, that is, from the historical point of view, the church was born on the day of Pentecost. This historical event is recorded in Acts 2. But according to the divine point of view, the church as part of the new man was born in Christ’s resurrection.
Recently a sister testified that before hearing the message on the sign of the newborn child in John 16, she thought that all regenerated people were born again one by one. She did not realize that we were all regenerated in Christ’s resurrection.
We know that the entire church is one new man, Christ the Head and we the Body. Could this man have many births? Could part of the new man have been born at one time and other parts born at different times? The answer to these questions is no. Just as an entire human being is born at one time, so the entire new man was born at the same time. It was not the case that the Head of the new man was born at one time and that the members of the Body were born at a later time. The new man had one birth, and every part of the new man was born at the same time.
We have seen that the new man was born in resurrection. As a divine matter, resurrection does not have the elements of time or space. Hence, we cannot say where the new man was born; that is, we cannot point out the place where the new man was born. Resurrection is not a place. Rather, resurrection is a divine matter, and in this divine matter there are not the elements of space or time. Because the new man was born in resurrection and resurrection is a divine matter, the birth of the new man was not a matter of time or place.
It is correct to say that the church was born on the day of Pentecost. But it would not be correct to say that the new man was born on the day of Pentecost. It would be a serious mistake to say this. In the human point of view the church as the Body of the new man came into existence on the day of Pentecost. However, the new man was not born on the day of Pentecost, but was born in resurrection fifty days earlier.
The day of the Lord’s resurrection was the day of firstfruit. Pentecost was celebrated fifty days after the feast of firstfruit. According to the record of history, the Lord Jesus was resurrected fifty days before Pentecost. From the human point of view, we may say that the Head of the new man came into existence in resurrection and that the Body of the new man came into being as the church fifty days later, on the day of Pentecost. However, we need to realize that in God’s economy and from the divine viewpoint, the entire new man came into being through a single birth at the same time. Therefore, in the sight of God the entire new man was born in resurrection.
As human beings, our view always has the limitation of time. From our perspective, the delivery of the new man in resurrection involves a long span of time. At first only the Head was born, and then gradually other parts of the new man come into being. Therefore, from our limited point of view, the birth of the new man takes place gradually throughout the centuries following Christ’s resurrection.
God’s viewpoint, however, is different. In His sight a thousand years are as one day (2 Pet. 3:8). As we consider the birth of the new man, it appears to us that some parts have already been born and other parts will be born in the future. But according to God’s view, everything regarding the birth of the new man has already been accomplished. In the sight of God, the whole new man was born through Christ’s resurrection.
(The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, Chapter 48, by Witness Lee)
