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.
The 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.
Posted by Don on January 25, 2023
