THE SON’S COMING
The sign of the Son’s coming signifies His coming as the Spirit in resurrection. The Lord’s going was His death, and His coming was His resurrection. Actually, His going was His coming, for He came by going.
Without death we cannot have resurrection. Death is for resurrection. If we do not pass through death, we cannot be in resurrection. Hence, death is a preparatory step for resurrection. The Lord Jesus died so that He might enter into resurrection.
The Lord’s all-inclusive death was wonderful, and His resurrection was marvelous. I deeply appreciate the Lord’s death, and I appreciate also His resurrection. We have seen that through His death the Lord solved the problem of sin, terminated the old creation, judged the world, destroyed Satan, abolished the ordinances, released the divine life, and prepared a place for His believers to enter into God. Although all this is wonderful, we still need His resurrection.
The Last Adam Becoming the Life-giving Spirit
The sign of the Lord’s resurrection includes the fact that Christ, the last Adam, the One who is the Lamb of God, the Redeemer, has become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17). Both the Redeemer and the life-giving Spirit are precious. For our enjoyment, we need both the Redeemer and the life-giving Spirit. When I am thirsty, I need a drink. In preparing a drink of water for me, my wife first cleans the cup. It is very good that the cup is now clean. But if my wife does nothing more than clean the cup, I will still be thirsty. I might say to her, “Dear, I appreciate having a clean cup. But I am thirsty, and I need water to drink.” When she puts water in the cup, I treasure the cup and the water. We may say that the cup signifies the Redeemer and that the water signifies the life-giving Spirit. In their experience, some Christians have the cup but no water. They treasure a cup without water, but we treasure the cup with the water. We treasure both the Redeemer and the life-giving Spirit. In death, the Lord Jesus was the Lamb, the Redeemer. But in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. How marvelous!
The Son Coming as the Spirit
In resurrection the son comes to us as the Spirit, as the pneumatic Christ (John 20:19-22). Not only has Christ become the life-giving Spirit, but when He comes to us, He comes as the Spirit. He comes as the pneumatic Christ.
The Lord Jesus came to His disciples as the pneumatic Christ on the day of His resurrection. In chapter twenty of the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus came to His disciples, who were in a place where the doors were shut, as the pneuma. The Greek word pneuma means spirit; it also means breath or air. In chapter one Christ was the Lamb, but in chapter twenty, after His death and in His resurrection, He was the pneumatic Christ. The first time He came, He came as the Lamb of God. The second time He came as the pneuma. According to John 20:22, “He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” This indicates that the Lord came to them as breath, as air.
When we receive Christ today, we receive the pneumatic Christ. This means that we receive not only the redeeming Christ but also the life-giving Christ. What kind of Christ are you enjoying? Do you enjoy only the redeeming Christ? Do you not also enjoy the life-giving Christ? Praise the Lord that we are enjoying not only the redeeming Christ but also the pneumatic Christ, the life-giving Christ!
Our Christ is pneumatic. To say that He is the pneumatic Christ means that He is full of divine air. Just as a car tire must be pneumatic, that is, full of air, so every Christian should be pneumatic, full of heavenly air. In our daily life we should not be “flat,” short of the divine air, short of the divine breath. Unfortunately, most Christians are flat.
Our spiritual air is the Spirit. In resurrection Christ has come to us as the Spirit, the pneuma. How is it possible for the Lord Jesus to be pneumatic? The Lord became the pneumatic Christ through resurrection. Resurrection is a sign that Christ the Redeemer has become the pneumatic Christ.
(The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, Chapter 39, by Witness Lee)
