In His ascension
Christ is
the divine High Priest:
Christ’s divinity
constitutes Him
a High Priest
who is living,
full of life,
and able to continue
His priesthood
perpetually.
Christ has been constituted
the divine High Priest
according to the powerful element
of an indestructible life
—the divine, eternal, uncreated,
resurrection life
that has passed through
death and Hades;
because of this indestructible life,
the divine priesthood
is the presence of life
and the absence of death.
If we would experience and enjoy
the ascended Christ
as the divine High Priest,
we need to pass through
the realm of Christ’s earthly ministry
and enter into
the mystical realm
of Christ’s heavenly ministry;
furthermore,
the ascended Christ
with His divine priesthood
must become subjectively objective
to us
in our experience.
As the divine High Priest
with an indestructible life,
the ascended Christ
is able to save us
to the uttermost:
To be saved to the uttermost
is to be saved
completely, entirely, perfectly,
for all time and eternity,
and to the end;
hence,
His salvation
reaches to the uttermost.
The divine priesthood
is the saving power
of the indestructible life;
the divine life
with all its riches
as our supply
will bring us
into Christ’s perfection and glorification;
to be saved to the uttermost
is to be brought
into Christ’s perfection.
The ascended Christ
can save us
to the uttermost
because He is living
not only in the heavens
but also in us;
while He is living
in the heavens,
He is transmitting Himself
into us.
Christ in His divine priesthood
saves us
from death
and the issues, the by-products, of death:
Sin caused
a tremendous result
—death;
the issue of sin
is death.
According to
the broadest understanding in the Bible
of death,
death includes
vanity, corruption,
sighing, groaning,
and decay.
Because of the issues of death,
we need the salvation
that comes
through the divine priesthood.
The ascended Christ
is able to save us
from the by-products of death
and bring us
into His perfection;
this is
the saving
of the divine priesthood
of the ascended Christ,
the saving
to the uttermost.
Christ saves
to the uttermost
those
who come forward
to God
through Him;
when we come forward to God
through Christ, our divine High Priest,
He saves us
in the power of His resurrection
and by the law of the Spirit of life.
As the divine High Priest,
the ascended Christ
is interceding for us,
and we need to respond
to His intercession:
God has appointed Christ
to take care of us,
and He is now taking care of us
by interceding for us:
Christ died for us,
He was resurrected,
and today in His ascension
He is interceding for us
and caring for us.
In Romans 8:34
Christ intercedes
for us
to be glorified,
and in Hebrews 7:25
Christ intercedes
for us
to be saved
to the uttermost;
being saved to the uttermost
is the equivalent
of glorification.
Christ undertakes our case
by interceding for us;
He appears before God
on our behalf,
praying for us
that we may be saved
and brought fully into
God’s eternal purpose.
Our divine High Priest
intercedes for us constantly,
knowing how easy
it is
for us
to fall and,
once we have fallen,
to remain in our fallen state;
eventually,
His intercession
will overcome,
subdue,
and save us.
The intercession of
Christ as the divine High Priest
requires our response:
We need to become
on earth
the reflection of Christ’s intercession
in His heavenly ministry,
praying the prayers of
the interceding Christ.
The purpose of
our living with Christ
is to be one with Him
in His intercession
for the churches:
To seek the things
which are above
means that we
correspond to
Christ’s heavenly ministry.
When we seek the things
which are above,
we respond to
Christ’s heavenly ministry
and reflect it.
Through our prayer,
Christ, the Head,
is given a way
to carry out His economy
through His Body.
As Christ is interceding,
we, the Body,
are working on earth,
responding to His intercession
and reflecting
what He is doing.
Between Christ in heaven
and us on earth,
there is
a divine transmission,
a heavenly current:
The more we receive this transmission,
the more we will respond to
the intercession of the ascended Christ
as the divine High Priest.
If we continuously receive
the divine transmission,
experiencing the transaction
between the ascended Christ and us,
we will respond to
Christ’s interceding,
and the Lord
will have a way
to move
on earth
for the fulfillment
of God’s eternal purpose.
If we seek the things
which are above
and have one life
and one living
with Christ,
we will be wholly occupied with
the Lord’s enterprise:
Our heart
will be with Him in heaven,
where He is interceding
for the churches,
supplying the saints,
and administrating God’s government.
We should aspire
to be one with the Lord
in His heavenly ministry
and to have a heart
that is one with His heart,
and we should long
to be one
with the ascended Christ
in His intercession.
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7 replies on “The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Ascension (2) Christ as the Divine High Priest Interceding for Us”
Prophecy note, 29 March 2015
We need to
simply rest
in Christ’s intercession,
trust
in Christ’s intercession,
and enjoy Christ’s intercession.
Be assured
that our divine High Priest
is continually interceding for us.
Many times
we have been saved
by His intercession.
We have
a perpetual, constant, and eternal Intercessor.
Sooner or later
His intercession
will overcome,
subdue,
and save us.
We all
will be completely subdued
and saved
by His intercession.
Although we may forget
that we
have called upon His name,
He
will never forget it.
He is interceding for us,
and He will save us
to the uttermost.
We need to keep
coming forward to God.
Morning and evening,
day and night,
we should come forward to Him,
saying to Him,
“I am open to You.
You are rich.
I need You.
I want to stay
open to You
all the time.”
When we set our mind
on the things above
during our times of prayer,
we become
a reflection of
Christ’s ministry in the heavens.
Through our prayer,
Christ, the Head,
is given a way
to carry out His administration
through His Body.
When we pray,
we are a heavenly ambassador on earth
with the extension of God’s kingdom.
However,
when we are gossiping,
we are
not a heavenly ambassador at all.
Only when we pray
do we become
an ambassador
of the heavenly kingdom
on earth
in a practical way.
If in our prayer
we are willing to forget
insignificant matters
and care for
the things above,
we shall become conscious
of the traffic
between us and Christ in heaven.
We shall sense a current
flowing back and forth
between Him and us.
By means of this kind of prayer,
the divine riches
are transfused into us.
This enables us
to be one
with others
and to be right
with everyone.
Day 6
Paul admonished the Colossian believers
to seek the things
which are above
because they had been distracted
to earthly things,
to the elements of the world
such as Judaism, Gnosticism,
mysticism, and asceticism.
As long as they were distracted
by these things,
they could have nothing
to do with the things above.
This was the reason
Paul charged them
to forget Judaism, Greek philosophy,
Gnosticism, mysticism,
and any kind of culture
and to seek the things above
and set their mind on them.
The things above
do not include
any religion, philosophy, or culture.
Instead,
they include
Christ’s priesthood, ministry, and administration
with all His activities.
It is crucial
for us
to realize
that Christ is
our Head
and that we are
the members of His Body.
Christ and we together
form a universal man.
As the One in heaven,
He is the Head,
and as those on earth,
we are the Body.
As the Head is working in heaven
by interceding, ministering, and administrating,
we, the Body,
are working on earth
responding to the heavenly ministry of Christ
and reflecting
what He is doing in heaven.
What a tremendous matter
this is!
Instead of caring for
earthly religion, worldly philosophy,
and the other elements of the world,
we should seek
the things above
and set our mind
on them.
If we turn to the heavenly Christ
with all His activities
and set our mind on these things,
the renewing of the new man
will take place automatically.
Between Christ in heaven
and us on earth
there is
a divine transmission, a heavenly current.
If we are receiving this transmission,
we shall respond to
Christ’s work in heaven.
However,
if in our experience
we are not continuously connected to Him
or if we allow insulation to build up
between us and Him,
the transmission
will cease.
It is most pitiful
that among many genuine Christians today
the connection with the heavenly Christ
in their experience
has been severed.
They are genuine Christians,
but they do not experience
the divine current,
and there is
no fellowship
between them and the Lord.
We hope
that the situation among us
will be absolutely different
from this.
If we seek the things above
and have one living with Christ,
we shall be wholly occupied
with the enterprise of our Master.
Our heart
will be with Him in heaven,
where He is interceding
for the churches,
supplying the saints,
and administrating God’s government.
This will be
our concern, our desire.
If we take Christ as life
and seek the things which are above
in such a way,
the lustful members
will be put to death,
the evil elements in the fallen soul
will be put away,
and the old man
will be put off.
Furthermore,
we shall automatically put on
the new man.
To us,
Colossians should not be
only a book of doctrine
but should be
a book of experience.
Although the Christ revealed in this book
is profound, extensive, and all-inclusive,
we can still experience Him.
We can enjoy Him
as our daily necessities,
take Him as our life,
and live together with Him.
Furthermore,
we can seek the things
which are above
and set our mind on them.
Do you not aspire
to be one with the Lord in the heavenlies
and to have a heart
that is one with His heart?
Do you not long
to be one with Him
in His priesthood, ministry, and administration?
I would encourage
all the young people
especially to care for God’s purpose
by seeking the things
which are above
and living together with Christ.
It is wonderful
to enjoy Christ
as the reality of our daily necessities,
but it is even more wonderful
to take Him
as our life
and live together with Him.
I can testify
that the more we live Christ
and take His concern as our concern,
the happier
we are.
Day 5
For centuries,
Christ has tried
without adequate success
to get a people
to respond to
His ministry in the heavens.
By His mercy and grace,
there is
on earth today
a group of people
in the Lord’s recovery
responding to Christ’s heavenly ministry.
Let us be those
who tell the Lord
that we are one with Him
in this ministry.
Day and night,
we need to respond to the Christ
who is above all.
When I respond to the Lord,
saying,
“Amen, Lord,”
I have the conviction deep within
that Christ is interceding
and ministering,
that He is transmitting His riches
into me
and infusing me
with the element of God.
Because of this transmission and infusion,
I am filled and stirred
for the Lord’s interests.
I have the full assurance
that many of the saints
in the local churches
are experiencing the transfusion
of the riches of Christ.
Because we have
such a transfusion,
we do not need
ethics, culture, or religion.
We simply need
more and more oneness with Christ
in His heavenly ministry.
Praise Him
for His intercession,
for His ministry,
and for the traffic
between heaven and earth!
We need to be impressed with the fact
that the Christ
who is in heaven
is very busy.
Consider how many local churches
He takes care of
throughout the world.
Christ’s ministry in heaven
is all for the goal of
building up the Body
and forming His bride.
However,
Christ’s ministry in heaven
requires our response.
We need to become
on earth
the very reflection
of that heavenly ministry.
We all need to care for
the Lord’s interests.
While He is praying in heaven,
we respond
in prayer
on earth.
Thus,
we experience the transmission
between Christ and us,
a transmission
that will make us
happy and full of joy.
Christ works in the heavens,
and we work on earth.
In this way,
we not only enjoy Christ
as the reality of our necessities,
but we also take Him
as our life
and have
one living with Him.
Our living with Christ
is not aimless;
it has
a definite purpose.
This purpose
is to be one with Christ
in His intercession
for the churches,
in His ministry of
the heavenly life supply
to the saints,
and in His administration of
God’s government.
Instead of being cut off
from the heavenly Christ,
in our experience
we need to continually receive
the divine transmission.
Day and night,
we should be infused with
a supply from heaven,
and experience the transaction
between the heavenly Christ and us.
We should continually respond to
Christ’s interceding,
ministering,
and executing of
God’s administration.
To seek the things above
means that we
correspond to
Christ’s heavenly ministry.
When we seek the things above,
we respond to the Lord’s heavenly ministry
and reflect it.
Our experience
testifies of this.
If in our prayer
we are willing to forget
insignificant matters
and care for
the things above,
we shall become conscious of the traffic
between us and Christ in heaven.
We shall sense a current flowing
back and forth
between Him and us.
By means of this kind of prayer,
the divine riches
are transfused into us.
This enables us
to be one with others
and to be right with everyone.
When we set our mind
on the things above
during our times of prayer,
we become a reflection of
Christ’s ministry in the heavens.
Through our prayer,
Christ, the Head,
is given a way
to carry out His administration
through His Body.
When we pray,
we are a heavenly ambassador on earth
with the extension of God’s kingdom.
However,
when we are gossiping,
we are
not a heavenly ambassador at all.
Only when we pray
do we become an ambassador
of the heavenly kingdom
on earth
in a practical way.
Day 4
Christ is
not idle.
He is interceding,
ministering,
and executing God’s administration.
We on earth
should respond to
Christ’s activities in heaven.
Although Christ
in His earthly ministry
fully accomplished redemption
for our salvation,
He has not yet completed
the building up of His Body.
For the building up of the Body,
His ministry in heaven
is necessary.
It is
not the desire of Christ
simply to have
a large group of saved people;
He wants the saved ones
to be built up together
as His Body.
Christ desires
a Body, a building, a bride.
In order to have the Body built up,
Christ must carry on
the work of His heavenly ministry.
Hebrews 7:25
indicates that Christ
is able to save us
to the uttermost
because He is always living
to intercede for us.
As our High Priest,
Christ undertakes our case
by interceding for us.
He appears before God
on our behalf,
praying for us
that we may be saved
and brought fully into
God’s eternal purpose.
He intercedes for us constantly,
knowing how easy
it is
for us
to fall
and, once we have fallen,
to remain in our fallen state.
Truly
we are saved
by His intercession.
God has appointed Christ
to take care of us,
and He is
now caring for us
by interceding for us.
He is interceding for us,
and He will save us
to the uttermost.
Hebrews 7:26 says,
“Such a High Priest
was also fitting to us,
holy, guileless, undefiled,
separated from sinners
and having become higher
than the heavens.”
As the One
who is holy, guileless, undefiled,
and separated from sinners,
Christ is
the perfect One,
and He surely befits us.
Moreover,
in His ascension
He has passed through
the heavens.
Now He is not only in heaven
but is also higher
than the heavens,
far above all the heavens.
Because our High Priest
is higher than the heavens,
He is able to rescue us
and save us
to the uttermost.
Only two verses in the Bible,
Hebrews 7:25 and Romans 8:34,
tell us
that Christ is interceding for us,
and these two verses
correspond to each other.
According to Romans 8,
Christ is interceding
not merely for poor sinners
to be justified
but for the believers
to be glorified.
This corresponds to
the interceding in Hebrews 7:25,
where we are told
that Christ intercedes for us
that we may be saved
to the uttermost.
Being saved to the uttermost
is the equivalent of glorification.
To be glorified
is to have our being
completely saturated
with Christ’s divine priesthood.
When our whole being
has been saturated and permeated with
His divine priesthood,
that will be
our glorification,
the last step
of God’s salvation.
At that time
we will enjoy full sonship,
which will be consummated
by the redemption of our body.
Christ is able to save us
because He intercedes for us.
He appears before God
on our behalf,
praying for us
that we may be saved
and brought fully
into God’s eternal purpose.
We need to simply rest
in His intercession,
trust in it,
and enjoy it.
Be assured
that our divine High Priest
is continually interceding for us.
Many times
we have been saved
by His intercession.
We have
a perpetual, constant, and eternal Intercessor.
Sooner or later
His intercession will overcome,
subdue,
and save us.
We all
will be completely subdued and saved
by His intercession.
Although we may forget
that we have called upon His name,
He will never forget it.
He is interceding for us,
and He will save us
to the uttermost.
We need to keep
coming forward to God.
Morning and evening,
day and night,
we should come forward to Him,
saying to Him,
“I am open to You.
You are rich.
I need You.
I want to stay
open to You
all the time.”
Day 3
We will receive mercy
and find grace
at the throne of grace
for timely help.
We will be delivered and saved
to the uttermost.
This is the work
of our divine High Priest.
Because He has
this kind of priesthood,
He is able to save us
to the uttermost.
If we are not saved
to the uttermost,
it does not mean
that He is not able to save.
Rather,
it means
that we
were not willing to be saved.
We have
no excuse.
If we
are willing to be saved,
surely He will save us
to the uttermost.
According to the Scriptures,
there are
three aspects
of the priesthood:
the aspect of the Aaronic priesthood,
the aspect of the kingly priesthood,
and the aspect of the divine priesthood.
The Aaronic aspect of the priesthood
is for offering sacrifices to God
for our sins.
Hence,
the Aaronic priesthood
is mainly concerned with
the sin offering.
The kingly aspect of the priesthood
is for ministering the processed God to us
as our life supply.
The aspect of the divine priesthood
is for saving us
to the uttermost.
Offering solves
the problem of sin,
ministering imparts the processed God to us
as our daily supply,
and saving rescues us
to the uttermost.
The saving of the divine priesthood
rescues us especially from
death and all the environment of death.
Although sin is over,
it caused a tremendous result
—death [Rom. 5:12].
We should not understand death
according to the narrow view
of our human concept.
According to
the broadest understanding of death
in the Bible,
death includes
vanity, corruption,
sighing, groaning,
and decay.
Everything is decaying.
We may have a strong body,
but before too long
it begins to decay.
In Romans 5
we have
sin and death;
in Romans 8
we have
vanity, corruption, bondage,
groaning, and decay.
The whole universe
has been polluted by death,
which is the result of the sin
that came in
through Adam, the head of the old creation.
Romans 8:22 says
that the whole creation
is groaning.
Every person
is groaning deep within.
Since people want to escape
from this groaning,
they partake of worldly entertainments.
Even after indulging in these entertainments,
they find
that the inward groaning
is still there.
This groaning
is one of
the issues of death.
When others come to our home,
there should be
praising, reality, building up, and growth,
not groaning, vanity, corruption, and decay.
To be saved
from these issues of death
is what it means
to be saved
to the uttermost.
This is
more than the saving of the Savior
—it is
the saving
of the divine priesthood.
The Son of God
was incarnated,
lived on earth,
passed through death,
was resurrected,
and has been fully perfected forever.
In Christ,
the perfected Son of God,
the One
who has been resurrected and uplifted,
there is
no groaning.
Within Him
there is
no vanity, bondage,
corruption, or decay.
He is
absolutely free
from these things.
To be saved
from remembering others’ mistakes
is to be saved
to the uttermost.
We may forgive others
and yet still remember
their mistakes.
When God forgives us,
He forgets (Heb. 8:12);
hence,
to forgive
is to forget.
If our forgiving
does not equal forgetting,
we are not saved
to the uttermost.
If we have truly forgiven someone,
we should also forget the offense.
We need to be saved
to the uttermost
in our forgiving of others
and from all our daily troubles.
When we come forward to God
through Christ, our High Priest,
He saves us
in the power of His resurrection
and by the law of the Spirit of life.
Day 2
Is Christ objective to us?
Yes,
He is,
in fact, objective.
Nevertheless,
in experience,
He is subjectively objective
to us.
In fact,
He is objective
because He is
there in heaven.
But we do not need to go to heaven
in order to experience Him.
While we are on earth today,
we may experience
in our spirit
the Christ
who is in heaven.
Christ is objective,
but our experience of Christ
is subjective.
We have
the subjective experience
of the objective Christ.
How can the objective Christ
be transmitted
into our subjective experience?
By the heavenly ladder
that joins us to heaven
and brings heaven to us.
How can the objective electricity
far away in the power plant
become the subjective application
of electricity
in our homes?
By the wires
that carry the current of electricity
from the power plant
to our homes.
In fact,
the electricity
is objectively
in the power plant,
but in application,
it is subjectively present
in our homes.
In like manner,
we can subjectively experience
the objective Christ.
While we are on earth,
we can experience the Christ
who is in heaven.
This is wonderful.
Day by day,
I experience the very Christ
who is in heaven.
Though He is objective,
in my experience
He is subjective.
Hebrews 7:25 tells us
that Christ “is able to save
to the uttermost
those
who come forward to God
through Him,
since He lives always
to intercede for them.”
Here the expression to the uttermost
means “completely, entirely, perfectly,
to the end, and for eternity.”
This indicates
that Christ as our High Priest
is able to save
to the fullest extent,
that is,
to save
in every kind of
situation and condition.
Verse 25 tells us
that Christ is able to save
to the uttermost.
Because He lives forever
without any change,
Christ is able to save us
to the uttermost
in extent,
in time,
and in space.
Hence,
His salvation
reaches to the uttermost.
As our Forerunner,
Christ has already entered
into that complete perfection,
and we also will be brought there.
We will be saved
to the uttermost. To
be saved to the uttermost
is to be brought into
Christ’s complete perfection
where there is
no vanity, corruption, bondage,
groaning, decay, or sighing.
To save us in this way
is the ministry
of the divine priesthood.
Christ’s kingly priesthood
is for ministry,
and His divine priesthood
is for saving.
He is able to save
to the uttermost
because He
not only is living
but also is the indestructible life.
Nothing can destroy Him.
Although we may have the heart
to save others,
we can easily be destroyed
and terminated.
But Christ can save us
to the uttermost
because His priesthood
is composed of
an indestructible life.
Regardless of our situation
or the condition
in which we may find ourselves,
we have the divine priesthood
to take care of us.
This divine priesthood
is the saving power
of the indestructible life.
The work of
the divine High Priest
is mainly to save us
to the uttermost.
The divine priesthood
is constituted with
the indestructible life;
thus,
it is able to save us
to the uttermost
from all the by-products of death
into Christ’s perfection.
Christ’s eternal salvation
is not merely an objective redemption
to solve our problem of sin
on the negative side
but also a subjective salvation
to save us
into His perfection and glorification
on the positive side.
Such an eternal salvation
is not limited by time and space
but is all-embracing
with the divine element and nature.
Christ can save us
to the uttermost
because He is living
not only in the heavens
but also within us.
While He is living
in the heavens,
He is transmitting Himself
into us.
He is living in the heavens
to intercede for us
and take care of our case,
but the reality of this
is transmitted
into our spirit
by His Spirit.
We must learn
to see this heavenly vision
and enjoy our High Priest.
Day 1
In His ascension,
Christ “has passed through the heavens” (Heb. 4:14).
Now He is
not only in heaven (9:24)
but also “higher than the heavens,”
“far above all the heavens” (7:26, Eph. 4:10).
None of our troubles
is higher than the heavens.
Because our High Priest
is higher than the heavens,
He is able to rescue us
and save us
to the uttermost.
Christ’s priesthood
is divine.
For Him
to be divine
is a matter of constituent,
a matter of His having
the necessary, basic element
that constitutes Him
our High Priest.
Christ’s divinity
constitutes Him
a High Priest
who is living
and full of life
so that He may be able to continue
His priesthood perpetually.
With Christ
as the divine High Priest
there is
no death,
for He
has conquered, subdued, and swallowed death.
Wherever He is,
there is life.
Having passed through
incarnation, human living,
crucifixion, and resurrection,
Christ is fully equipped
and qualified
to be our High Priest.
In this High Priest
there is
not only no sin
but absolutely no death.
Christ has not been constituted
the High Priest
according to the law of letters
but according to the power of
an indestructible life.
Therefore,
as our High Priest Christ
takes care of us
with His indestructible life.
In His indestructible, eternal life
we participate and enjoy Him
as our High Priest.
Nothing can dissolve this life.
It is an endless life,
being the eternal, divine, uncreated,
resurrection life
that has passed through
the test of death and Hades.
It is
by such a life
that Christ ministers today
as our High Priest.
Hence,
He is able to save us
to the uttermost.
Christ as our High Priest
is the living Son
of God Himself.
As the powerful One,
Christ is simultaneously
both in heaven and in our spirit.
Between these two ends,
heaven and our spirit,
there is the traffic
on the heavenly ladder
because His priesthood
is continually flowing
from the throne
into our spirit.
It does not flow with knowledge
but with the power
of an indestructible life.
In Christ, our High Priest,
not only is there
no worldliness or sin,
but there is
absolutely no death.
Death has been completely swallowed up
by His divine life.
Christ lives forever.
Death cannot prevent Him
from continuing
as the High Priest.
Because of the issues of death,
we need the divine priesthood,
which is
the presence of life
and the absence of death.
We need to pass through
the physical realm of
Christ’s earthly ministry
and enter into something higher
—the mystical realm of
Christ’s heavenly ministry.
In the mystical realm of
His heavenly ministry,
Christ is
the life-giving Spirit
from His resurrection,
in which He became
the life-giving Spirit,
through eternity.
We must be reminded
all the time
that Christ accomplishes
God’s organic salvation
not by Himself
as the Christ in the flesh
but by Himself
as the life-giving Spirit.
We also have to remember
that all the items of
God’s organic salvation
are carried out
not by Christ’s earthly ministry
judicially and objectively
but by His heavenly ministry
organically and subjectively.
There is
a great difference
between Christ’s earthly ministry
and His heavenly ministry.
Today
we are not being saved
judicially and objectively
by the earthly ministry of
Christ in the flesh.
We are being saved
organically and subjectively
through the heavenly ministry of
the Christ
who is the life-giving Spirit.
To experience this organic salvation,
we all
need to enter into
the mystical realm of
Christ’s heavenly ministry.