Message Seven

The All-inclusive Christ
in His Four Stages according to
God¡¯s New Testament Economy
(3)
In the Stages of His Resurrection and Ascension

Scripture Reading: Isa. 53:10c-12a;
1 Cor. 15:45b; Col. 1:18; Acts
13:33; John 12:24;
Eph. 4:8-12; 2 Cor.
5:17; Gal. 6:15

Isa. 53:10c-12a  He will see a seed, He will extend His days, / And the pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in His hand. 11He will see the fruit of the travail of His soul, / And He will be satisfied; / By the knowledge of Him, the righteous One, My Servant, will make the / many righteous, / And He will bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will divide to Him a portion with the Great, / And He will divide the spoil with the Strong;

1 Cor. 15:45b  the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

Col. 1:18  And He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things;

Acts 13:33  That God has fully fulfilled this promise to us their children in raising up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ¡°You are My Son; this day have I begotten You.¡±

John 12:24  Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Eph. 4:8-12  Therefore the Scripture says, ¡°Having ascended to the height, He led captive those taken captive and gave gifts to men.¡± 9(Now this, ¡°He ascended,¡± what is it except that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10He who descended, He is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens that He might fill all things.) 11And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, 12For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ,

2 Cor. 5:17  So then if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, they have become new.

Gal. 6:15  For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation is what matters.

                  I.    Isaiah 53 speaks of the all-inclusive Christ in the stage of His resurrection¡ªvv. 10c-11b:

Isa. 53:10c-11b  He will see a seed, He will extend His days, / And the pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in His hand. 11He will see the fruit of the travail of His soul, / And He will be satisfied;

                          A.    The seed and the issue mentioned in Isaiah 53:10c-11b imply a great deal¡ªthe various items concerning the produce of Christ¡¯s resurrection revealed in the New Testament:

                                      1.    In His resurrection, as the processed Christ, the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit¡ª1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17.

1 Cor. 15:45b  the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

2 Cor. 3:17  And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

                                      2.    In His resurrection Christ, as the preeminent One, the One who has the first place in all things, became the Firstborn from the dead and the Head of the Body¡ªCol. 1:18; Rev. 1:5a.

Col. 1:18  And He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things;

Rev. 1:5a  And from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth.

                                      3.    In His resurrection Christ as the God-man, in His humanity, was begotten of God to be the firstborn Son of God¡ªActs 13:33; Rom. 1:3-4; 8:29.

Acts 13:33  That God has fully fulfilled this promise to us their children in raising up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ¡°You are My Son; this day have I begotten You.¡±

Rom. 1:3-4  Concerning His Son, who came out of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4Who was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord;

Rom. 8:29  Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers;

                                      4.    In His resurrection Christ as the resurrection life regenerated all His believers¡ª1 Pet. 1:3.

1 Pet. 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

                                      5.    In His resurrection Christ, as the one grain of wheat, produced many grains; the many grains as the increase of Christ are the components of the one bread¡ªthe church, the Body of Christ¡ªJohn 12:24; 1 Cor. 10:17; Eph. 1:22-23.

John 12:24  Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

1 Cor. 10:17  Seeing that there is one bread, we who are many are one Body; for we all partake of the one bread.

Eph. 1:22-23  And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, 23Which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.

                           B.    Through His life-releasing death and with His life-imparting resurrection, Christ produced a corporate seed as the issue of the travail of His soul, whom He saw in His resurrection and was satisfied¡ªIsa. 53:10c-11b:

Isa. 53:10c-11b  He will see a seed, He will extend His days, / And the pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in His hand. 11He will see the fruit of the travail of His soul, / And He will be satisfied;

                                      1.    As the resurrected Life-giver, the Lord Jesus produced a seed for the building up of His Body as His continuation for Jehovah¡¯s pleasure and Christ¡¯s satisfaction:

                                                a.    The thought of a life-giver is implied in the seed, which is produced by life.

                                                b.    Christ as the Servant of Jehovah is the Life-giver so that He can produce a seed¡ªv. 10b:

Isa. 53:10b  He will see a seed, He will extend His days,

                                                         1)    In resurrection He produced a seed for His satisfaction and for the Father¡¯s pleasure.
                                                         2)    The seed produced by Christ in His resurrection is His believers for the building up of His Body as His continuation¡ªEph. 4:16.

Eph. 4:16  Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.

                                                c.    The corporate seed implies all the many grains, all the members of Christ¡¯s Body, all Christ¡¯s brothers, and all the sons of God¡ªJohn 20:17; Heb. 2:10.

John 20:17  Jesus said to her, Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.

Heb. 2:10  For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in leading many sons into glory, to make the Author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

                                                d.    The Father is pleased with the Body of Christ, which is constituted with the seed brought forth by Christ as the life-giving Spirit¡ª1 Cor. 12:12-13; 15:45b.

1 Cor. 12:12-13  For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ. 13For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.

1 Cor. 15:45b  the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

                                                e.    Christ has extended His days by producing a seed to build up His Body, and this Body is still extending¡ªIsa. 53:10c-11:

Isa. 53:10c-11  He will see a seed, He will extend His days, / And the pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in His hand. 11He will see the fruit of the travail of His soul, / And He will be satisfied; / By the knowledge of Him, the righteous One, My Servant, will make the / many righteous, / And He will bear their iniquities.

                                                         1)    This seed is Christ¡¯s continuation for the extension of His days¡ªRev. 1:18a.

Rev. 1:18a  And the living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am living forever and ever;

                                                         2)    Because Christ continues to live by living in us, we are the extension of His days¡ªJohn 14:19; Gal. 2:20.

John 14:19  Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live.

Gal. 2:20  I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

                                      2.    This seed is for the pleasure of Jehovah, which will prosper in the hand of the resurrected Christ¡ªEph. 1:5, 9; Phil. 2:13; Isa. 53:10c.

Eph. 1:5  Predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

Eph. 1:9  Making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself,

Phil. 2:13  For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.

Isa. 53:10c  He will see a seed, He will extend His days, / And the pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in His hand.

                                      3.    The resurrected Christ, the righteous One, will make the many righteous (v. 11b; Acts 13:39); this is not merely to justify us objectively but to make us righteous subjectively (2 Cor. 5:21) by living within us as the resurrection life.

Isa. 53:11b  By the knowledge of Him, the righteous One, My Servant, will make the / many righteous, / And He will bear their iniquities.

Acts 13:39  And from all the things from which you were not able to be justified by the law of Moses, in this One everyone who believes is justified.

2 Cor. 5:21  Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

                                      4.    Christ will see the issue of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; this issue refers to the many who are justified (made righteous) by knowing Christ, for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ¡ªIsa. 53:11; Rom. 12:4-5.

Isa. 53:11  He will see the fruit of the travail of His soul, / And He will be satisfied; / By the knowledge of Him, the righteous One, My Servant, will make the / many righteous, / And He will bear their iniquities.

Rom. 12:4-5  For just as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, 5So we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

                II.    Isaiah 53 speaks of the all-inclusive Christ in the stage of His ascension¡ªv. 12a:

Isa. 53:12a  Therefore I will divide to Him a portion with the Great, / And He will divide the spoil with the Strong;

                          A.    In Christ¡¯s ascension there was a demonstration of Christ¡¯s victory by the sharing of the spoil, the captives, taken in Christ¡¯s victory¡ªv. 12a:

                                      1.    The word spoil in Isaiah 53:12a opens a wide window to us, enabling us to see the invisible scene of a war¡ªCol. 2:15; 1 Pet. 3:18; Acts 2:24; Rev. 1:18:

Col. 2:15  Stripping off the rulers and the authorities, He made a display of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

1 Pet. 3:18  For Christ also has suffered once for sins, the Righteous on behalf of the unrighteous, that He might bring you to God, on the one hand being put to death in the flesh, but on the other, made alive in the Spirit;

Acts 2:24  Whom God has raised up, having loosed the pangs of death, since it was not possible for Him to be held by it.

Rev. 1:18  And the living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am living forever and ever; and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

                                                a.    Spoil indicates that there was a war, for spoil signifies prey, and prey denotes captives taken in war¡ªEph. 4:8.

Eph. 4:8  Therefore the Scripture says, ¡°Having ascended to the height, He led captive those taken captive and gave gifts to men.¡±

                                                b.    Spoil indicates that a war was fought and someone won that war, and the winner got the spoil, the prey, the captives.

                                      2.    Christ won the war and then divided the spoil with the Great and the Strong¡ªIsa. 53:12a:

Isa. 53:12a  Therefore I will divide to Him a portion with the Great, / And He will divide the spoil with the Strong;

                                                a.    The Great and the Strong refer to God; in the whole universe only God is great and only God is strong.

                                                b.    As the Great, God received the honor from Christ¡¯s ascension, and as  the Strong, He gained the victory.

                                                c.    God the Father was the Great and the Strong, and God the Son was the Fighter:

                                                         1)    Christ fought the battle on the cross and in His resurrection, and by winning the battle He captured all Satan¡¯s captives as the spoil¡ªCol. 2:15; Acts 2:24; Rev. 1:18.

Col. 2:15  Stripping off the rulers and the authorities, He made a display of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Acts 2:24  Whom God has raised up, having loosed the pangs of death, since it was not possible for Him to be held by it.

Rev. 1:18  And the living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am living forever and ever; and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

                                                         2)    In His ascension Christ, the Fighter, and God, the Great and the Strong, shared the spoil with each other.

                                      3.    Ephesians 4:8-12 reveals that when Christ ascended to the heavens, He led a procession of captives, who were originally the captives of Satan, bringing them to the heavens and presenting them to the Father.

Eph. 4:8-12  Therefore the Scripture says, ¡°Having ascended to the height, He led captive those taken captive and gave gifts to men.¡± 9(Now this, ¡°He ascended,¡± what is it except that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10He who descended, He is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens that He might fill all things.) 11And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, 12For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ,

                           B.    Christ¡¯s ascension consummates in the accomplishment of the work of God for His new creation¡ª2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Rev. 21:2:

2 Cor. 5:17  So then if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, they have become new.

Gal. 6:15  For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation is what matters.

Rev. 21:2  And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

                                      1.    God is producing His new creation out of His old creation¡ª2 Cor. 5:17:

2 Cor. 5:17  So then if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, they have become new.

                                                a.    The new creation is the old creation transformed by the divine life, and thus it has God within it as its life, nature, constitution, appearance, and expression¡ªGal. 6:15; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rev. 4:2-3; 21:2, 9-11.

Gal. 6:15  For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation is what matters.

2 Cor. 3:18  But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.

Rev. 4:2-3  Immediately I was in spirit; and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne there was One sitting; 3And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the throne like an emerald in appearance.

Rev. 21:2  And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Rev. 21:9-11  And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, Come here; I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. 10And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 11Having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.

                                                b.    The new creation is created altogether in Christ, by Christ, through Christ, and with Christ¡ª2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 3:17.

2 Cor. 5:17  So then if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, they have become new.

Eph. 3:17  That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

                                                c.    The continuing work of constituting the new creation is being carried out in the heavens in Christ¡¯s heavenly ministry¡ªHeb. 8:1-2.

Heb. 8:1-2  Now in the things which are being said the chief point is this: We have such a High Priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2A Minister of the holy places, even of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.

                                      2.    The work of God for His new creation is to complete the constitution of the New Jerusalem to be God¡¯s corporate expression and the saints¡¯ blessing for eternity¡ªRev. 21:2, 9-11; 22:3-5, 14, 17.

Rev. 21:2  And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Rev. 21:9-11  And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, Come here; I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. 10And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 11Having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.

Rev. 22:3-5  And there will no longer be a curse. And the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His slaves will serve Him; 4And they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5And night will be no more; and they have no need of the light of a lamp and of the light of the sun, for the Lord God will shine upon them; and they will reign forever and ever.

Rev. 22:14  Blessed are those who wash their robes that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city.

Rev. 22:17  And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come! And let him who is thirsty come; let him who wills take the water of life freely.