All posts tagged death of Christ

The death of Christ took care of many problems, including sins sin, the devil, the world, and the old man. Positively, through His death the new man was created (Eph. 2:15).

Newness of Life for New Jerusalem

The death and resurrection of Jesus, and our participation in them (Rom. 6:3-6), are the beginning of our journey to New Jerusalem. Romans 6:4 says, “We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of New Jerusalemthe Father, so also we might walk in newness of life.” This is the life of New Jerusalem.

We walk in “newness of life” because we have received the resurrected Jesus Christ as our new life. This life is different from the life we have from our natural birth. This new and different life brings forth a new living. This is a living originating from our spirit, the deepest part of our being.

Romans 7:6 tells us that “we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter.” The “oldness of letter” is a living according to outward regulations, written or not, whether from our culture, our society, or some other source.

In contrast, the “newness of spirit” originates from Christ living in our spirit. “If Christ is in you…the spirit is life” (Rom. 8:10). Our living is complicated by the remaining presence of our natural human life, but we are gradually being renewed from that. The goal is the newness of New Jerusalem.

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by Don on May 3, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on May 3, 2024

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/05/03/newness-of-life-for-new-jerusalem/

New Heaven, New Earth, New Jerusalem

The conclusion and the summit of the Bible is New Jerusalem in the new creation which is composed of the new heaven and the new earth (Rev. 21:1-2). In a few posts we will look at newness in the New Testament.

In Matthew 9:17 (and Mark 2, Luke 5) the Lord Jesus spoke about “new wine” which should be put into “fresh wineskins.” The Lord is the new wine and human beings are the containers, “vessels of mercy” to containNew Jerusalem Him. To be qualified to receive Him, we must be fresh, that is, born again into the new creation. Perhaps New Jerusalem could be considered the eternal, corporate fresh wineskin containing God in Christ as the new wine.

In Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22 the Lord initiated His supper with the bread and wine as symbols of “the new covenant.” This new covenant was brought forth by His death and resurrection. Through these we have been redeemed from the old creation and regenerated into the new creation.

His death and resurrection, and our participation in them (Rom. 6:3-6), are the beginning of our journey to New Jerusalem. His glorious coming will bring us into the initial stage of New Jerusalem in the kingdom age for our rejoicing with Him until we enter into the eternal fullness of the new creation.

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by Don on April 29, 2024  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on April 29, 2024

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2024/04/29/new-heaven-new-earth-new-jerusalem/

Christ Living in Us Brings Us into New Jerusalem

“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.”  (Gal. 2:20)

New JerusalemWhen you say, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me,” you also stay in the wound, the death, of Christ. At the same time, Christ secretes His resurrection life around you, making you a pearl for His expression. When you deny yourself by staying in His death and live by taking your Redeemer as your life, Christ as the lamp is shining from within you, and based upon His redemptive death, He is secreting His divine life over you to make you a pearl. This is our expression of Christ in His person and with His work of death and resurrection.*

Our feelings and thinking might not match Galatians 2:20, but we should still declare this verse with our spirit of faith exercised (2 Cor. 4:13), standing with the spiritual fact rather than with our feelings. The facts of this verse are “in faith” not in feelings. This faith is “the faith of the Son of God” and it has become our faith.

The more we experience Galatians 2:20, the more we are in the reality of New Jerusalem.

* From chapter 44, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986

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by Don on November 27, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on November 27, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/11/27/christ-living-in-us-brings-us-into-new-jerusalem-44-2-1/

Enter New Jerusalem through the Death and Resurrection of Christ Jesus

Revelation 21:21’s description of New Jerusalem is “the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was, respectively, of one pearl.”

In the lamp the person of the Son is shining and expressing the Triune God, but in the pearls (v. 21) we see the Son’s work of death and resurrection. We have seen that pearls are produced by oysters in the waters of death. When the oyster is wounded by a particle of sand, it secretes its life-juice around the sand and makes it a precious pearl. The oyster’s wound typifies the death of Christ, and the life secretion of the oyster signifies the secretion of Christ’s resurrection life. His person is in the lamp, and His work is in the pearl.*

New JerusalemThe pearls portray the Lord’s work of death and resurrection, and we are united with Him in this. Romans 6:3-4 tells us, “all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death. We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life.”

Our baptism into Christ Jesus is a step of our entering into New Jerusalem.

Walking in the newness of life is to be in His resurrection. This is to “walk according to the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16). This walk is for today and for New Jerusalem.

* From chapter 44, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986

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by Don on November 24, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on November 24, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/11/24/enter-new-jerusalem-through-the-death-and-resurrection-of-christ-jesus-44-1-5/

Live in Christ’s Death and Resurrection to be Constituted into New Jerusalem

New JerusalemRomans 6:3-6 speaks about our inclusion in the death and resurrection of Christ. Verse 5: “If we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection.” The subjective experience of His death and resurrection decreases our natural life and increases His element within us.

The reality of the death and resurrection of christ is in the Spirit, who dwells in our spirit (Rom. 8:9-10). To stay in the death of Christ and to be brought into His resurrection is to live and have our daily walk in spirit.

The divine nature was given to us by God, but pearls are produced through the secretion of Christ’s resurrection life from the time that we entered into Christ. When we stay in the death of Christ, Christ’s resurrection life secretes itself over us, making all of us pearls….When you stay, remain, and abide in Christ’s death, then it is no longer you who live but Christ who lives in you. His living and moving in you is the secretion of His resurrection life over you to make you a pearl.*

This is what Paul describes in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me…” Christ wants to live in us to impart more of Himself into us every day in order to prepare us for New Jerusalem.

* From chapter 40, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

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by Don on August 23, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on August 23, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/08/23/live-in-christs-death-and-resurrection-to-be-constituted-into-new-jerusalem/

Blood for Redemption; Water for Regeneration

After Jesus died on the cross, “one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water” (John 19:34).

New JerusalemThe producing of the believers as the pearls by Christ in His redemptive work is allegorized in the blood and water that came out of His side (John 19:34). When He was dying on the cross, a soldier pierced His side, and immediately there came out blood and water. Blood and water are two allegories to describe the redemptive work of Christ. Blood is for redemption, and water is for regeneration. We need redemption because we are sinful, and we need regeneration, which is the initiation of the secretion of Christ’s resurrection life, because we are merely human and do not have the divine life.*

In New Jerusalem the river of water of life flows out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. This Lamb is Jesus Christ. In New Jerusalem there will be no further need for the blood because all sin and lawlessness will have been removed, but the Lamb will be there to remind us eternally that we were redeemed by Him.

The river of living water is for our eternal supply. This is the continuation of the present “secretion” of life which began with our regeneration, our being born again, born of the Spirit (John 3:6), making our deadened spirit (Eph. 2:1) alive. That was the beginning of our progress into the fullness of New Jerusalem.

* From chapter 33, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

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by Don on February 8, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on February 8, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/02/08/blood-for-redemption-water-for-regeneration/

Remain in the Death of Christ to Receive More of His Life for a Fuller Entrance into New Jerusalem

New JerusalemThe quote below says, “the more we are made pearls, the more we are in the New Jerusalem.” We are made pearls by staying in the death of Christ so that His resurrection life can be added into us, can grow in us.

Romans 6 has us in the death of Christ and in the newness of His resurrection life. Romans 7 adds the newness of Spirit. “The Spirit gives life” (John 6:63). This newness is continually new—it includes a mutual growth. We grow up into Christ in all things (Eph. 4:15) and He grows in us. We grow into New Jerusalem.

The pearls are the gates, and this point of the allegory means that the more we are made pearls, the more we are in the New Jerusalem. When we believed in the Lord Jesus, we were regenerated, and this was the initiation of our entering into the New Jerusalem….As we stay in the Lord’s death and enjoy His life-secreting resurrection, there is a further entering into the New Jerusalem. Our experience of the Lord’s death and resurrection becomes our entry into the New Jerusalem. We can enjoy being in the New Jerusalem to a great extent by staying in the death of Christ to enjoy His secretion of Himself as the resurrection life-sap around us.

As we are experiencing this further entering into New Jerusalem we participate in the present building up of the Body of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-12 says that the Head, Christ, gave gifts to His Body. The function of these gifted members of His Bodys is “for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.”

The more that resurrection life flows to and through us, the more we are perfected for the building up and the more we enter New Jerusalem.

* From chapter 33, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

Graphic courtesy of pixabay.com.

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by Don on February 3, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on February 3, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/02/03/remain-in-the-death-of-christ-to-receive-more-of-his-life-for-a-fuller-entrance-into-new-jerusalem/

Enjoy the Life-Secreting Resurrection of Christ

New Jerusalem is a city fully in resurrection. At the time it comes down out of heaven (Rev. 21:1-2) there is a new heaven and a new earth, for the old creation has been totally terminated (Rev. 20). This is the completion of God’s eternal plan!

New JerusalemWhat a mercy! We wounded Him, and He will not let us go. Because of His great love with which He loved us, His wound caused by us became our prison. His desire is to imprison us in His death so that we might enjoy His life-secreting resurrection….After you believed that the Lord died for you and that He is in resurrection, you enjoyed staying with Him. When you aspired to be in the Lord, you were abiding in His death, and within you there was a life secretion. Even though you had not heard this fellowship, you did have this kind of experience.*

This death and resurrection is portrayed by the oyster and the pearl it produces. This also presents our entrance into New Jerusalem—through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Second Corinthians 4:7-18 speaks much about the experience of the death of Christ in difficult outward circumstances and at the same time the inner working of resurrection. This is “this treasure [Christ] in earthen vessels [us].” The death of Christ nullifies our natural effort so that the resurrection power of the treasure is released.

Lord, grant us to cooperate with you for more experience of Your death and resurrection.

* From chapter 33, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

Bible verses quoted in these posts are from The Holy Bible, Recovery Version, published and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim CA, 2003. The text of this Bible is at text.recoveryversion.bible; this too is © by LSM.

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by Don on February 1, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on February 1, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/02/01/enjoy-the-life-secreting-resurrection-of-christ/

In the Likeness of His Death to be in the Likeness of His Resurrection

New JerusalemIn the death of Christ we live in the newness of His resurrection life. This is Romans 6, especially verse 4, “We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life.”

Verse 5 continues, “For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection.” New Jerusalem will fully manifest His resurrection and we are growing into it now.

The wound signifies the death of Christ in which we sinners who wounded Christ are captured, kept, and imprisoned. The only place that one can be a normal, proper Christian is in the wound, the death, of Christ. We all need to say, “Lord, I have no choice; my unique residence today is Your death.” Hallelujah for the death of Christ! This death is our rest, our residence, our home, and our unique place of protection….His death has to be our daily dwelling place, and His resurrection should be our daily experience. We should be one with Him all the time in His death and resurrection. Our oneness with Him is in the Spirit.*

The facts are in Romans 6 but we also need a desire to experience what Christ has accomplished. This is expressed in Philippians 3:10, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”

To be conformed to His death is to give up everything of the old creation so that we live entirely in the new creation, on the way to the fulness of New Jerusalem.

* From chapter 33, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

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by Don on January 30, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on January 30, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/01/30/in-the-likeness-of-his-death-to-be-in-the-likeness-of-his-resurrection/

Stay in the Death of Christ, Walk in Newness of Life

Romans 6:2-5 speaks abut our being baptized into the death of Christ, remaining there, and also entering into newness of life in His resurrection. This prepares us for New Jerusalem.

The reality of the death of Jesus Christ is the Spirit. He “through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God” (Heb. 9:14). The reality of His resurrection life is also the Spirit (Rom. 8:2).

New JerusalemYou may have been a Christian for many years, and yet you have never been told that you need to remain in the death of Christ. You may have been remaining in your kind of endeavor to behave properly. This means that you have been a wanderer. You have been homeless with no place to stay. However, if you stay in the death of Christ, you do not need to try to be nice. Not many of us realize that the Lord’s all-inclusive death should be our residence, our home, in which we must stay.*

We need to take Paul’s course of action to count all things loss to know Christ and His excellency and to be found in Him having His righteousness (Phil. 3:7-9) in order to “know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (3:10).

To attain to New Jerusalem we definitely need the experience portrayed by the oyster—abiding in the death of Christ while His life secretion brings us fully into the newness of His life.

* From chapter 33, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

Graphic courtesy of pixabay.com.

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by Don on January 27, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on January 27, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/01/27/stay-in-the-death-of-christ-walk-in-newness-of-life/

Victory in the Death of Christ

In New Jerusalem the twelve gates are twelve pearls (Rev. 21:21). These pearls are a spiritual sign portraying the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is the real “oyster” who produced these pearls.

New JerusalemThe oyster’s wound is an inward wound caused by a little rock. This rock can remain in this wound or, we may say, in this death. In like manner, we can remain in Christ’s death. Where are you staying today?…Every moment we need to stay in the all-inclusive death of Christ. The reason we lose our temper is because we move out of the death of Christ….As long as you remain and stay in the death of Christ, you will never lose your temper. Where can you get the victory over sin, over your temperament, over the world, and over Satan? There is victory only in the death of Christ.*

Romans 6:2-5 is about our being in the death of Christ and partaking of His resurrection. “We who have died to sin, how shall we still live in it? Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life. For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection.”

Our victory is not by our effort; victory is only in the Victorious One! We were baptized into His death and our old man, our fallen, natural man, remains there. This brings us in the new creation into “newness of life,” to “be in the likeness of His resurrection.”

“Newness of life” is the newness of New Jerusalem. Let us remain here.

* From chapter 33, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

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by Don on January 25, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on January 25, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/01/25/victory-in-the-death-of-christ/

Jesus Christ is our Entrance into New Jerusalem

“The twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was, respectively, of one pearl.”

Revelation 21:21 tells us that the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem are twelve pearls. A pearl is not created or manufactured but produced by an oyster….The oyster depicts Christ as the living One coming into the death waters, being wounded by us, and secreting His life over us to make us precious pearls for the building of God’s eternal habitation and expression. That the twelve gates of the holy city are twelve pearls signifies that regeneration through the death-overcoming and life-secreting Christ is the entrance into the city.*

New JerusalemGod has eternal wisdom and He created oysters for a purpose—not merely to produce physical pearls but to be a portrait of what Jesus Christ brought forth in His death and resurrection.

In this picture, He is our entrance into New Jerusalem and we are now hidden in Him (Col. 3:3), covered by His life secretion and enjoying His life now. When He is manifested in glory, we “also will be manifested with Him in glory” (3:4).

This corporate manifestation in glory—Jesus Christ with the members of His Body—is the initial stage of New Jerusalem in the kingdom age. This manifestation will be expanded to fulness in New Jerusalem in eternity.

* From chapter 33, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

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by Don on January 23, 2023  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on January 23, 2023

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2023/01/23/jesus-christ-is-our-entrance-into-new-jerusalem-2/

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