Five Operations of the Holy Spirit Part 35
When we start out on our pilgrimage we are holding on to God's hand. After a while we discover that somehow God has worked it around so that He is holding on to our hand. The switch from our grasp to His grasp takes place as the Holy Spirit brings us into trials that are too difficult for us, into waters that are too deep for us.
We finally arrive at the place where we possess a righteousness that springs from the faith God has created in us. We have undergone complicated processes of redemption that have brought us to the new creation God desires.
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed unto his death; (Philippians 3:10)
"That I may gain Christ." "That I may know him." Isn't this a remarkable attitude for a man as far along in Christ as the Apostle Paul? His attitude puts us to the test. Are we pressing toward Christ with such fervency each day?
We can come to know Christ in a greater way than we do at this time. We can come to know the power of His resurrection as we are brought down to helplessness in ourselves. The resurrection power flows in us in proportion to our personal weakness.
Our sufferings, as we are crucified through the infinite wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit, are well understood by Christ. They are part of His sufferings. Every time we suffer rejection, humiliation, pain, loss of status, loss of what normally would be given to us, Jesus feels that suffering. In all our afflictions He is afflicted. He knows.
There is a fellowship among people who have suffered throughout the same set of circumstances, such as the survivors in a lifeboat. There is a camaraderie among soldiers during the time of war.
The rejection and humiliation of Christ continues to this day throughout the earth and we enter the fellowship of that rejection and humiliation. We must press on in order to enter the fellowship of His sufferings.
"Being conformed unto his death." We cannot be conformed to the death of Christ in one evening. A period of time is required. The Holy Spirit leads us into an ever-deepening crucifixion and we begin to gain some understanding of the true nature of the death of Christ.
Not only was there the physical suffering of His trial and crucifixion, and then the unimaginable burden of our sins that cut Him off momentarily from the fellowship of the Father; but throughout His ministry there occurred the continual perversity and harassment by high-ranking Jewish teachers and leaders whom He was antagonizing.
Christ left His place of prayer each morning to meet Satan-inspired Pharisees and scribes who were examining His every word, hoping to trap Him in a misstatement. He was brought from weakness to weakness until crucifixion, the final weakness, had killed his flesh. Christ was crucified through weakness.
We are destined to be conformed to His death. Being conformed to Christ's death is not pleasant, and anyone who believes it to be pleasant has never undergone any part of the process.
There is no other way to win Christ, to come to know Christ. We must follow Him into the fellowship of His sufferings, for the fellowship of His sufferings is the only source of the power of His resurrection. As we die, and God resurrects us back from the dead, in that measure we are alive eternally.
No human is alive eternally except the one whom God has raised from the dead. When God brings us from the dead we will never die again. The resurrection of our mortal body will happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The resurrection of our inner man is taking place now as we press on to know the Lord Jesus in an ever greater way. The Holy Spirit is inviting us to press forward until we win Christ.
If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of [from] the dead. (Philippians 3:11)
The resurrection of the dead must be sought after. The resurrection of the dead is the "excellency of the knowledge of Christ my Lord." It is the winning of Christ, the "righteousness that is of God by faith." It is perfection—the full grasping of that for which we have been grasped by Christ.
The first resurrection from the dead is the "prize of the high calling of God in Christ."
The Holy Spirit inspires us to press toward the resurrection that is out from among the dead:
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: . . . . (Philippians 3:12)
The resurrection of the dead is perfection. If Paul had not arrived at the resurrection by the time of the writing of the letter to the Philippian Christians, neither have we arrived at the resurrection that is from among the dead. Let us press on.
. . . but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ. (Philippians 3:12) The Lord Jesus Christ has grasped us for transformation into His image, for union with Himself, for the fullness of authority and power over the nations of the earth as His kings and priests. We have been grasped for inheriting all the works of God. Our task now is to match that exceedingly high calling with a corresponding diligence. We are to "sell all" and follow Christ with an undivided allegiance.
His will and purpose must come first in our life or we will fall short of His calling. The Holy Spirit helps by drawing us and inspiring us each day to set out once more on our quest for the fullness of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must follow on, follow on, follow on without letup day or night throughout every moment of our life. Christ desires our complete attention at all times.