DEATH AND RESURRECTION
As we have pointed out, the first thing the Lord Jesus did when He came out to minister was to be buried by John the Baptist. This indicates that He exercised His will to terminate His natural life. When John the Baptist wanted to hinder Him from being baptized, the Lord seemed to say, "No, I must be baptized. You must put Me into the water." By being baptized by John, the Lord indicated that He was willing to put away His human life and to keep it always under the cross. For this reason, in the four Gospels we see a crucified and resurrected life. To repeat, the Lord was crucified and resurrected, not only at the end of the four Gospels, but at the beginning. Eventually the time came for the Lord to be crucified physically. Then, after this consummate death there was the ultimate resurrection. Thus, wherever death is, there is resurrection.
How much the power of resurrection can be manifested in us depends upon how much death we enter into. If we do not get into death at all, there will be no resurrection. If we have a little experience of death, a little of the power of resurrection will be manifested. The basic principle is this: the more death, the more resurrection. In Philippians 3 Paul wanted to gain Christ and be found in Him in a condition of not having his own righteousness, but of living out God as his righteousness. He wanted to know Christ and the power of His resurrection by putting himself aside and living under the death of Christ. The result of living under Christ’s death is knowing the power of His resurrection.
THE SPIRIT BEING THE POWER OF RESURRECTION
It is difficult to say what the power of resurrection is. Speaking of Christ, Paul says in Romans 1:4 that He was "designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead." Here Paul says that Christ was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit. This indicates that power is according to the Spirit out of resurrection. This proves that the power of resurrection is the Spirit. The Spirit is the reality of the power of resurrection.
In a previous message we pointed out that the Spirit is what remains after we set ourselves aside. If unbelievers set themselves aside, nothing will remain, for they do not have the Spirit as the remainder in them. We are different. If we put ourselves aside, we have the Spirit as the remainder within us. What is set aside is the self, and what remains is the Spirit. If a brother will set himself aside when his wife is arguing with him, the Spirit will come out. This is the power of resurrection. We need to do only one thing—always put ourselves aside. To do this is to put the self under death and to keep it on the cross. When we do this, we live a crucified life and have a base for the power of resurrection to be manifested.
(The Experience of Christ, Chapter 16, by Witness Lee)
