We are Married to Christ to Bear fruit to God by Living in the Joined Spirit to Express God

Praise the Lord, our old man is crucified with Christ so that we may live one spirit with the Lord, we were buried and married to Christ to bring forth fruit to God, and when we live in the joined spirit we fulfill the purpose of God! Hallelujah!

It is so encouraging to see the intrinsic significance of Boaz being a type of Christ and Ruth being a type of the church – the old husband being crucified and we being joined to Christ as our new Husband!

We are set free from the old man, and we can enter into and remain in the organic union with the Lord.

This shouldn’t merely be something of knowledge or doctrine to us; we need to experience the Lord by remaining in the joined spirit with Him, so that we may live a life for the fulfillment of His purpose!

What Paul opens to us in Rom. 7 is the way for us to enter into the experience of our identification with Christ.

We have been cut off from the old man through faith and baptism, and our old man has been crucified with Christ; now we need to live in the organic union with the Lord by living in the joined spirit so that we may live in the reality of the Body of Christ.

By this joined spirit, the Lord’s Spirit in our spirit, we can be one spirit with the Lord, and in this joined spirit we have the reality of the Body of Christ.

The Body of Christ is a matter of the organic union; the Body is realized when we live one spirit with the Lord.

The Body of Christ as the corporate expression of God is not a matter of organisation or outward arrangement; it is a matter of being joined to the Lord as one spirit and living in the mingled spirit.

Whenever we experience, enjoy, and live in the joined spirit, we are in the reality of the Body of Christ – we are in the fulfillment of the union typified by Boaz and Ruth of Christ and the church!

When we live in the mingled spirit, our spirit joined to the Lord as the Spirit in our spirit, we live in the reality of the Body of Christ for the fulfillment and consummation of God’s eternal economy that ultimately will consummate to be the New Jerusalem!

Hallelujah, today we can live in the organic union with the Lord to be part of the eternal, divine-human loving pair, Christ and the church, the Spirit and the bride!

Our Old Man was Buried and in our New Man, we’re Married to the Lord to Bear Fruit to God!

In Rom. 7:4 we see a funeral and a wedding; on one hand, our old man was buried, and on the other hand, in our new man we were married.

According to our old status, in our old man we were made dead, for we were crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6); according to our new status, in our new man, we were married to Christ.

Christ has been raised from the dead, and we are now married to Him to bear fruit to God!

We have been made dead to the law through the body of Christ so that we may be joined to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit to God.

The first “you” in this verse became dead to the law through the body of Christ; the second “you” has been joined to Christ.

Here we have a funeral, a burial, and also a marriage, a joining.

Rom. 6:6 confirms this, saying that our old man has been crucified with Christ in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves.

Our old man has been crucified with Christ; this is the old us. Now in the new man, we no longer serve sin as slaves.

Gal. 2:19 further says that we through law have died to the law that we may live to God.

Our old man, our old husband, has been crucified with Christ, so that we may be joined to Christ; this joining indicates that, in our new status as a wife, we have an organic union in person, name, life, and existence with Christ in His resurrection.

Now that our old man has been crucified with Christ, we can be joined to another; we can be organically joined to the Lord, and we are – we are joined to Him in our spirit!

In our experience day by day we can tell the Lord, Lord Jesus, I love You; I open to receive You! When we do this, we are brought to Christ and united with Him.

This sounds so simple, but it implies a lot; it implies the death of the old man (the old husband) and the joining to Christ in spirit, our new Husband.

When we open to the Lord and tell Him that we love Him and open to receive Him, this implies that He became our kinsman by putting on blood and flesh, and Him being crucified for us and with us so that our old man may be buried and we would be joined to Christ as our Husband. Hallelujah!

As the regenerated man and the wife to Christ, everything we do and are is now related to God, and God is brought forth by us as the fruit, the overflow, of our life. Hallelujah!

Previously, we used to bear fruit to death (Rom. 7:5), but now we bear fruit to God by living Christ!

When we were married to the old man, our old husband, everything we did was death and unto death, and everything around us was death.

But now, after the old man has been crucified and buried, we are married to Christ, our new Husband, and we can bear fruit to God!

To bear fruit to God means that God is brought forth; it doesn’t mean that we do something for God or that we bear some fruit to be given to God, but that we bear God forth.

Through our organic union with Christ, we bring forth God as our fruit; Christ is brought forth, produced, in us and through us.

The union of God and man through the burial of the old man and being married to Christ in spirit is that God is brought forth! Hallelujah!

Through this union with Him, God is brought forth through us, and this is for His satisfaction and expression!

Hallelujah, our old man has been crucified with Christ so that we may be joined to Christ, the resurrected One, for us to bear fruit to God! Praise the Lord, our old man is dead and buried and in our regenerated man we are joined to Christ! Amen, Lord, we treasure our organic union with You: You are our Husband and we are Your wife. We take You as our Husband, our life, and our Head. Keep us in the organic union with You today so that we may bear fruit to God. Amen, Lord, may Christ be brought forth in us! May God be expressed and manifested through us today!

Living in the Joined Spirit to Live out the Body of Christ and be the Corporate Expression of Christ

Our Christian life is a matter of living in the organic union of God and man.

As believers in Christ, we are now joined to the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit; through repentance and faith in Christ, we are cut off from the old man and joined to Christ in our spirit to be one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17).

Our spirit is a “joined spirit”, for in our spirit we are joined to the Lord as one spirit.

We are now married to Christ, our new Husband; the old husband died, the old man is crucified, and we are now set free to be joined to Christ. The new Husband is the Spirit, Christ as the Spirit.

This is why Rev. 22:17 says, The Spirit and the Bride say, Come!

The One to whom we are joined is the Spirit in our spirit; the two spirits are joined together to bring forth this union.

As a result of this organic union with the Lord in spirit, we can live in the joined spirit today!

All the aspects of God’s salvation are real to us and are experienced by us in this joined spirit.

We should have our whole being turned to and set on this joined spirit (Rom. 8:6); when our mind is set on the flesh, we experience death, but when the mind is set on the joined spirit, we enjoy life and peace.

We should also live and walk according to this joined spirit (Rom. 8:4).

When we thus live in this joined spirit, we can live out the Body of Christ to become the corporate expression of Christ for the glory of the Triune God (Eph. 1:23; 3:21; 1 Cor. 10:31; 1 Pet. 4:11; Rev. 21:10-11).

We are joined to Christ as our Husband, and He is our life, our person, and our Head.

We need to take Christ as our Head, our person, and our life; we have been terminated in the old man, and we are joined to Him as one spirit.

We have been fully called out of everything else and called into Him; when we believe into Him and put our trust in Him, He becomes everything to us. Hallelujah!

Our service to God shouldn’t be in the oldness of letter but in newness of spirit!

We need to serve in newness of spirit, that is, serve in the newness and freshness of our joined spirit, living and serving in the mingling of God and man!

God in Christ as the Spirit dwells in our regenerated spirit and is joined to our spirit as one spirit; He not only is in us but is joined to our spirit to become one spirit with us.

We need to exercise to turn our whole being to this joined spirit, set our mind on the spirit, and live and walk according to the joined spirit.

In our speaking to others, in our general daily walk, and in all the things we do and say, we need to be in the joined spirit.

When we speak to our family members, when we talk to our boss, when we relate to others, and when we go places, we need to live in the joined spirit.

All our daily life with all its activities and things need to be in the mingled spirit, the spirit joined to the Spirit.

When we live in the joined spirit, walk according to this spirit, and do all things in the spirit, we will live out the Body of Christ and will be His corporate expression (Eph. 1:23).

Lord Jesus, we set our mind on the joined spirit so that we may enjoy and experience life and peace! Hallelujah, we are joined to the Lord as one spirit, and the Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God! Amen, Lord, we choose to set our mind on the spirit and to walk according to the joined spirit. May our doing, walking, and speaking be according to the joined spirit. May our daily living be in and according to the spirit so that we may live out the reality of the Body of Christ and become Christ’s corporate expression on the earth! Amen, Lord, keep us in the organic union with You today!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Romans (pp. 146-149), by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 11, Boaz and Ruth Typifying Christ and the Church.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – O Lord, Thou art the Spirit now / Who in my spirit makes His home; / He mingles with my spirit too, / And both one spirit thus become. / Lord, teach me how to exercise / My spirit now to contact Thee, / That in Thy Spirit I may walk / And live by Thy reality. (Hymns #493)
  – I am crucified with Christ / And it is no longer I who liveth, / 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 and gave Himself up for me. / And now I’m walking by the Spirit / Step by step, day by day, / O Lord, I love You. / You’re the precious One to me. / As I do this and that / Lord, remind me where You’re at; / You’re in my spirit, / Dispensing grace to me. (Song on, I am crucified with Christ)
  – Now as the new, regenerated man, / We do two things, according to God’s plan: / Bear fruit to God and serve in spirit new / So God becomes the fruit of all we do, / And all we are. (Hymns #1140)