RESURRECTION BEING LIFE DISPENSING
Not many see that Christ’s resurrection is a life dispensing. Most Christians only see that the resurrection of Christ is Christ’s victory. Death cannot hold Christ. He overcomes death, the tomb, and Hades. But it is hard to find a hymn that tells us that the resurrection of Christ is life dispensing. The resurrection of a grain of wheat is life dispensing. Life was only in Christ as the one grain, but after dying and resurrecting, His life was dispensed into many grains.
Before the Lord died and resurrected, the divine life was only in Himself. Jesus was the only person who had the divine life. The disciples were around Him, but they did not have the eternal life in them. But Jesus had a way to dispense His divine life into Peter, John, James, Andrew, and all the other disciples. The way was for Him to die and to resurrect. By resurrection the divine life in Jesus is dispensed into all of His disciples. Before the death of Christ, Jesus was the only grain. All the other disciples were not grains. But He wanted all His disciples to become grains. How could this be? It could never be by teaching. John 1:4 tells us that in Jesus was life. Life was in Him because He was God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God (John 1:1). In Him was life. Outwardly Jesus and His disciples were the same. But the difference was this: in Jesus was life. In Peter there was no life; in James there was no life; in John there was no life; in Andrew there was no life; and in all the other disciples there was no life. Jesus was the only grain who had the eternal life. As the unique grain of wheat He died and rose up to produce many grains. By His rising up, the life within Him was dispensed into all of the disciples to make each one of them a grain. Now we can see what resurrection is. Resurrection is life dispensing. This is a new term that we should not forget—Christ’s resurrection is life dispensing. This life is the divine life, God’s life.
We have seen that the Lord Jesus as the God-man died as the Lamb of God, a man in the flesh, the last Adam, the brass serpent, the Firstborn of all creation, and the Peacemaker. The Lord’s death on the cross in these aspects was not for life dispensing. Only His death on the cross as the grain of wheat was for life dispensing. If a grain of wheat does not die, it remains one grain. But if it dies, it will grow up to produce many grains. This is life dispensing. The Lord Jesus died on the cross not only to clear up all the negative things in the universe, but He died on the cross in a positive aspect to release His divine life. Thus, there are the redeeming aspect of the Lord’s death and the life releasing aspect of His death.
When He was dying two substances came out of His pierced side: blood and water. Blood is the sign of His redemption, and water is the sign of His life releasing. He died to accomplish redemption, and He died to release His divine life. Now we have the redeeming blood and the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) signified by the water. Thank the Lord for the blood and the living water. The Lord’s death leads to resurrection. He died to live. Before the Lord Jesus no man died to live. This is because no one had the divine life within him. When they died, that meant termination. But Jesus had the divine life within Him, so His death was His release of that life. He died to live, and the release of His life produced many grains.
(The Divine Economy, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee)
