The unique material of God’s holy building is the humanity of Jesus: for God’s building, we need to be human not by our natural humanity but by the humanity of Jesus, the resurrected humanity, the uplifted humanity of Jesus.
The way the Lord Jesus lived was like no other man on earth. He didn’t just do God’s work and spoke God’s words, but His human living was so aromatic, so fragrant and so uplifted. The humanity the Lord Jesus lived was a resurrected humanity, for His human life was in resurrection.
If we read the Gospels we see how the Lord lived a life that was human but in resurrection. He daily put Himself to death, rejecting Himself to take the Father’s will and way, and He lived the divine life in the human life.
He didn’t just heal the sick, raise the dead, taught people, and made disciples, but He lived out a resurrected humanity, a new kind of humanity which the world has never seen. Jesus lived in His humanity, but He didn’t live a life of His humanity, but rather, His living was a humanity in resurrection.
He had a sinless and perfect humanity, but He still didn’t live by His humanity but brought it to the cross to be resurrected, and lived a resurrected humanity. The day came when the Lord brought His humanity to the cross, crucified it, brought it into resurrection, ascension, and enthronement.
Now there’s a Man in the glory, a Man on the throne, and this One has a resurrected, uplifted, divinely enriched humanity, which is ours to partake and live out for the building up of the holy building oF God. The essence of the Lord’s humanity is ours in spirit.
We don’t need to cultivate our humanity apart from the Lord but rather turn to our spirit, eat Jesus, enjoy His humanity, and be filled with His humanity; then, our living will be the expression of the resurrected humanity of Jesus for the building up of the church.
We need to put off the old man – our old way of living, our old manner of life, and our natural life, and put on the new man – the new way of living in the church, which is living Christ, being Jesusly human, for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
Through Christ’s Redemption we are Brought back to the Proper Humanity, a Resurrected Humanity
The expression, the son of man, is seen again and again in the book of Ezekiel; what we also see is that the One on the throne looks like a man.
The One on the throne in the universe has the glory of God but the appearance of a man. This means that we as men should look like men and live like men, not seeking to be so spiritual that we are angel-like.
The Lord’s redemption brought us back to a proper humanity, which is an uplifted, resurrected humanity. This humanity is the humanity of Jesus. In His salvation the Lord wants to make us proper human beings who live not by their human natural life but they deny it and live out the humanity of Jesus, a resurrected humanity.
We all should bear the face of a man. We are created as man, but we were corrupted, poisoned, and damaged by the fall; therefore, we need the Lord’s redemption (Titus 2:14; Eph. 1:7).
Christ died for us – He gave Himself up for us that He might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify to Himself a particular people as His unique possession, zealous of good works.
Through Christ’s redemption, we are brought back to the proper humanity, the humanity that can be used by God for His building, which is an uplifted, resurrected humanity (1 Pet. 1:18; Col. 1:4).
What Christ terminated on the cross was our old man, our fallen humanity; our old man has been crucified with Christ. Then, He resurrected the God-created humanity to uplift it and bring it into resurrection and thus make it suitable for God’s building.
In Christ’s resurrection God regenerated our redeemed, God-created humanity, and the divine element uplifted the regenerated humanity (1 Pet. 1:3; John 20:17).
In His resurrection Christ was designated the firstborn Son of God in His humanity, that is, the man Jesus Christ was designated the Son of God, even the firstborn Son of God – meaning that many sons are to follow.
At the same time we, the believers in Christ, were all regenerated in His resurrection, and our humanity was uplifted and resurrected.
Our God-created humanity was uplifted, resurrected, and brought into resurrection, and now this process of uplifting and resurrecting our humanity continues our whole life.
Until we meet the Lord, we are in a lifelong process of having our God-created humanity uplifted by Him, and daily we are learning to live not by our natural humanity but by the resurrected humanity, the humanity of Jesus in our spirit.
After being regenerated to be a new man, we still have our humanity, but it is a resurrected humanity, a regenerated humanity (Eph. 4:24). Hallelujah, we have a resurrected humanity, an uplifted humanity, a regenerated humanity, the humanity of Jesus in our spirit!
Our old man has been terminated on the cross with Christ, and we are in resurrection with Him; the humanity of Jesus is now our portion to partake of, enjoy, and live out.
Thank You Lord for Your redemption which brought us back to the proper humanity – an uplifted, resurrected humanity. Thank You for terminating our old man, our fallen humanity, on the cross, and for resurrecting and uplifting our God-created humanity in resurrection. Lord, cause us to see that we have a new humanity, the humanity of Jesus, in our spirit. Cause us to realize that our Christian life should be a living out of the humanity of Jesus and not our natural humanity. We want to live a life that contributes to the building up of the church as Your holy building.
Living out the Uplifted, Resurrected Humanity of Jesus for God’s Building
The humanity that we now have for God’s building is nothing else but the uplifted, resurrected humanity of Jesus (see Rom. 1:4; 8:29; Eph. 2:5-6, 21-22).
Hallelujah, we have the humanity of Jesus! Without it, we are hopeless. God’s salvation is not only for our spirit – which He regenerates with His life, for our soul – which He transforms with His nature, and for our body – which He will transfigure by His life; His salvation is for our humanity also.
The God-created humanity part of our being was resurrected and uplifted with Christ in His resurrection, and when we are regenerated by God, we are in the process of having a new humanity and living out a new humanity.
We need to have a clear vision concerning the old man and the new man: the old man – our old, fallen humanity – has been terminated in Christ’s crucifixion, and our God-created humanity has been germinated, regenerated, through Christ’s resurrection.
Our daily living should be no longer by our old humanity but by the humanity of Jesus, the resurrected humanity in our spirit.
Paul lived in such a way, and he testified of these two aspects in Gal. 2:20. Here he says that it is no longer him who lives (the old man was put to death) but Christ who lives; yet the life he now lives in the flesh (which is a life in the new I, the new man) he lives in faith, that is, Christ lives and is manifested in him.
In our spirit we have a new humanity, a resurrected humanity, a regenerated humanity, and we need to live by this new humanity for the building of God. Living in the old man and expressing our self, no matter how moral, ethical, and good it is, is not suitable for God’s building but it is rather rejected by Him.
Only the humanity of Jesus is suitable for God’s building, and we need to be those who live out such a humanity.
Based on the first chapter of Ezekiel, where we see the normal Christian experience of Christ as the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum, the issue is that we bear the face of a man.
We shouldn’t desire to be like the angels or spiritual in a strange way, having a certain way of walking, talking, or behaving, for the more Godlike we are, the more human we will be. The more we take Christ as our life (Col. 3:4), the more we will bear the face of a man, being human in a Jesusly way.
The more we experience Christ and grow in life, the more we become proper husbands, wives, parents, children, and employees (see Eph. 5:22-6:9; Col. 3:18-4:1).
God’s salvation causes us to be proper men for His manifestation, for His move, and for His administration. The more God we become – the more we are being deified – the more man we will be, for God – the One on the throne – has the appearance of the son of man.
May the Lord gain such ones in all the local churches, those who live by the resurrected humanity of Jesus for the building up of the church!
Thank You Lord, we have the humanity of Jesus – the uplifted, resurrected humanity of Jesus, the only humanity that is suitable for God’s holy building. May our experience be like that of the apostle Paul – no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live I live in faith! Lord, we want to let You live in us the same kind of life You lived when on earth, a life for God’s building. Make us human in a Jesusly way, proper human beings for Your manifestation, move, and administration.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Proverbs, msgs. 6, 8 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Ezekiel (2), msg. 6 (week 18 in the HWMR), The Son of Man and the Humanity of Jesus for God’s Building.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Now I share Thy human life, Lord, / Filled with Thy humanity, / All of Thy complete obedience / Is available to me. (Hymns #474)
# Christ is the pattern for our human living. / His perfect life is filling us. / Christ is the pattern for our human living, / The fine and balanced humanity of Jesus! (Song on Christ as a genuine man)
# Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me, / For my very life art Thou; / Thee I take to all my problems / As the full solution now. / Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through me, / In all things Thy will be done; / I but a transparent vessel / To make visible the Son. (Hymns #403)
About aGodMan
Because this is a difficult matter for believers to understand, we need to have a clear vision concerning the old man and the new man. On the one hand, our old, fallen humanity has been terminated in Christ’s crucifixion; on the other hand, our God-created humanity has been germinated, regenerated, through Christ’s resurrection….The humanity which we have today is not the old, terminated, fallen humanity but the new, germinated, uplifted humanity.
If we pay attention only to [the first] part of Galatians 2:20, we may think that Paul is saying that his humanity has been altogether terminated, for he says, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives.” But where and in whom does Christ live? Paul answers this question when he says, “Christ…lives in me.” Furthermore, Paul immediately goes on to say, “And the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith.” First, Paul declares, “I am crucified;…it is no longer I who live,” but then he says, “I live.” The crucified “I” is the old “I.” The “I” who lives is the new, regenerated “I,” the regenerated humanity. (Life-study of Proverbs, pp. 41-42, by Witness Lee)
Praise the Lord! Amen!
Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify to Himself a particular people as His unique possession, zealous of good works (Titus2:14). Through the Lord’s redemption we are brought back to the proper humanity. We should be human not by our natural humanity but by the humanity of the Lord Jesus. As believers in Christ, we are the new man. Christ crucified, terminated, the fallen old man, but He regenerated, germinated, our God-created humanity with God’s life. After we have been regenerated to be a new man, we still have our humanity, but it is a resurrected, regenerated humanity. The more we have of Christ as our life (Col.3:4),the more we will bear the face of a proper human beings. God’s salvation causes us to be proper men for His manifestation, move, and administration. Praise the Lord!
アーメン主に感謝します
[Amen, Lord!]
こんばんは,主に感謝します!ア一メン
[amen, thank You Lord!]
AMEN. …