Let us speak of the Church. What is it? The Church means that the Lord
Lord exceeds that of that earlier time. The moment we are in the Spirit we immediately touch the Lord.
The prime work of the Holy Spirit is to transmit the resurrected Lord to us. He does not convey the Christ as recorded in the Gospels; He transmits the resurrected Christ. When people met the Lord while He was on earth they could only say how tall was His stature, how wise He was, and how old He looked. Some could say at one point in the Lord's earthly life that He was only twelve years old or that they had seen His brothers in the flesh. But now in the Holy Spirit we are no longer restricted by time and space, and what we touch is also the Christ who is beyond time and space.
2. The power of resurrection is in the Holy Spirit. The Lord transcends all restrictions. The Holy Spirit today comes to testify to the transcendent Christ. If someone declares that he knows the Holy Spirit and yet today he does not know the resurrected Christ who transcends all, he is one who has not known the Christ in the Holy Spirit. For the power of resurrection is in the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1.21 declares that the resurrected Christ is "far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." God has made the risen Lord to sit at His right hand and caused Him to transcend everything known and unknown to men. All that can be named has been surpassed by the Lord, not only in this world but also in that world to come. Resurrection breaks through all barriers. Normally only the everlasting transcends all. But God plans to allow the mortal to transcend also. The work of the Holy Spirit today is to reveal this resurrection power in us. We should recognize that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of resurrection. The Spirit who transcends all is the Holy Spirit.
Three—the Church 1. Resurrection power moves and is stored up in the Church. Let us speak of the Church. What is it? The Church means that the Lord is the Head and we are the Body. What, then, is the relationship between the Church and resurrection? What is the Church's relationship with the Holy Spirit? Ephesians 1.19-20 speaks of the exceeding greatness of the power which God wrought in Christ when He raised the Lord Jesus from the dead. Yet the Church is where this same power also works. Let us take note of the word "according" in verse 19: "what the exceeding greatness of his power to
us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ." In other words, the exceeding greatness of God's power which works in Christ works also in us the Church. The mighty power which the Church is now experiencing is the same as Christ had experienced. . The Church and Christ are not only the same in nature, they are the same in power. Otherwise, the Church is empty. The way by which God broke through all limitations in the Lord is the same way God will enable the Church to break through all barriers.
Therefore, the Church today should have the same power and enjoy the same liberty, uninhibited by anything, just as the risen Lord himself had. Otherwise, it cannot be considered the Church. The exceedingly great power of God works not just in Christ, it continues to work today also in the Church. The Church is the reservoir of the power of resurrection today. This is the Church. Nothing less is acceptable. The Church is the body of Christ; accordingly it should not fall short of this exceedingly great power.
This is followed by Ephesians 1.22-23 which states that God had not only raised Christ from the dead and made Him far above all, but also that God "put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church." Jesus is risen and glorified. He is no longer the humble Nazarene. He is the victorious Christ. All things today are subject to Him. While He was on earth He was the perfect man. He was Head, but not yet the glorified Head; for at that time the possibility of death had yet to be broken. Many Bible teachers try to find the Church in the four Gospels. But the Church cannot be found in the Gospels (see below) because the account therein is of a Jesus who was still restricted. Had the Church been related only to the earthly life of Jesus, she would be merely a limited institution. We think it is enough to possess the Lord's earthly power and authority, but God pronounces this to be insufficient. God led Christ through death and resurrection, and then through the coming of the Holy Spirit deposited that resurrection power in the Church.
Today the Church receives its supply of power in the ascended and glorified Christ. Therefore, there is no problem the Church cannot solve and no temptation the Church cannot overcome. For the power of the Church is the power of the resurrection of Christ—that which subdues all things under His feet. Her power is no less than the power which had been wrought in Christ.
When Christ was on earth, there was no Church. For then He had not been resurrected and everything was yet under restriction. After Christ was raised from the dead, had ascended up to heaven and poured out the Holy