WHAT LIFE IS
Now we need to ask what life is. Life is God Himself; life is God in Christ; life is God in Christ through the Spirit; life is Christ with God; and life is the Spirit with all the riches of Christ in all the fullness of the Godhead. John 1:4 says, “In Him was life.” The One in whom there is life is the One who was the Word in the beginning, who was with God in the beginning, who was God in the beginning, and through whom all things came into being. In this One was life. This life was the light of men (John 1:4). John 10:10b tells us that the Lord Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly. This is the purpose of Christ’s coming. First Timothy 1:15 says that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” He came into the world to save us from our sins, to deal with the negative side (Matt. 1:21). The positive purpose of Christ’s coming, however, is that we may have life and have it abundantly.
This life is life with resurrection power. The life we have received from God through Christ is a resurrection life. We have to differentiate life from resurrection. Resurrection is life that has been tested by passing through death. The life that we possess is a life with resurrection power. This life has been tested by being put into death and by passing through death. Christ is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). Because Christ is the resurrection, it was not possible for Him to be held by death (Acts 2:24). Death cannot hold the resurrection life. If we have the Son, we have this life. If we do not have the Son, we do not have this life. Because we have received the Son, we can declare that we have this life. We can say, “Christ is our life” (Col. 3:4a).
SAVED IN HIS LIFE
Romans 5:10 says, “For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved in His life.” The two main items in this verse are the death of the Son of God and the life of the Son of God. In addition to the death and the life of the Son of God, there are the two matters of reconciliation and salvation. Reconciliation is through His death. Salvation is in His life. Reconciliation to God through Christ has been accomplished already, but to be saved in His life from many negative things is still a daily matter. We also need to pay attention to the words “much more” in this verse. We have been reconciled, but much more, we shall be saved in the Lord’s life. As sinners, we need justification, but as enemies we need reconciliation. Because of the enmity between us and God there was the need of reconciliation. We were not only sinners but also enemies. When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of Christ. We can say that we have been saved from the lake of fire and from God’s condemnation through the redeeming blood of Christ. But according to Romans 5:10 we still need to be saved in His life, which is the divine life, the real life.
Saved from the Law of Sin, the Flesh, and Death
After we have been saved from God’s condemnation and from the lake of fire, we need to be saved first from the law of sin. The law of sin is the besetting power of sin. Romans 8:2 says that the law of the Spirit of life sets us free from the law of sin. The second item we need to be saved from is the flesh. The third negative item that we need to be saved from is death. Death includes all negative things. Our sloppiness, looseness, weakness, negative thoughts, and failures are included in death. We need to be saved from the law of sin, from the flesh, and from death. The law of sin, the flesh, and death are prevailing and powerful negative items that trouble us even after we have been regenerated with the divine life. If we are going to know what it is to be saved in His life, we have to be saved from these negative items.
(The Crucial Revelation of Life in the Scriptures, Chapter 14, by Witness Lee)
