II. IN THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
A. Proving That God’s Requirements
Were Satisfied by the Death of Christ for Us
The resurrection of Christ proves that God’s requirements on us sinners were satisfied by the death of Christ for us. Christ’s death has fulfilled the requirement of God’s holiness, the requirement of God’s righteousness, and the requirement of God’s glory.
How do we know that God was satisfied by Christ’s death for us? The proof is Christ’s resurrection. After Christ’s death, God raised up Christ and accepted Him. We are justified by God because of Christ’s death, and in Christ, the resurrected One, we are accepted before Him. In Christ’s resurrection God justified us and put the resurrected One into us as a sign of God’s acceptance of us. He also makes the resurrected Christ live within us a life that can be justified by Him and that is always acceptable to Him.
Romans 4:25b says that Christ was raised for our justification. In His resurrection God justified us because Christ’s death satisfied God’s requirements. God’s resurrection of Christ is a proof that Christ’s death satisfied God. We can illustrate this by the payment of a loan. If we borrow money from someone, he possesses the receipt until the day the debt is paid. When the debt is paid the receipt is given to us to prove that the lender was satisfied with the payment. The "receipt" of God’s requirements being satisfied by the death of Christ and of our being justified is the resurrection of Christ.
This resurrected Christ has been put into us, first for our acceptance by God for our past and second for us to live a life that can be justified by God and always accepted by God for our present. The fact of resurrection takes care of our past. Our fall into sin brought us into a debt which we could not pay. Then Christ died for us and paid the price, so God released Christ to us in His resurrection. His resurrection released us from our debt. At the same time, Christ the Person, the resurrected One, was put into us that we may live a life that is always justified by God and accepted by God. This is a great part of God’s move in man.
Do you know that you are a justified person? Before you were saved, you were not justified. You were condemned. But once you receive Christ, you receive Him as the resurrected One. In His resurrection you have the proof that God was satisfied, so God can and has to justify you. To justify you is to release you. You have been released from your debt. Also, this resurrected One enters into you to live in you that you may live a life which is always justified by God and accepted by God. Therefore, the resurrection of Christ is for our justification, and our justification is for our past and for our present.
(The Move of God in Man, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee)
