Jesus Christ has defeated death, hell and the grave. The Body of Christ represents His victory. That Body comes out of His resurrection, and exists because of His resurrection. The Body partakes of His resurrection. “God has put all things under the feet of Jesus Christ, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is His body, the fullness of him that fills all in all. Ephesians 1:22-23 We are joined to Christ and His Body in order to arrive at the fullness of life in Christ. It is the Body that grows up, that is built up, and builds itself up. “God has established ministry for the perfecting of the saints, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”. Ephesians 4:13

Individually, we each have our relationship with the Lord, but we are promised that we shall reach the full measure of Christ as a member of His Body. We can come into His fullness, but it will require the others, His Church. The body of Christ is a great reality. We have been made one with Him so that we may declare Him, reveal Him and make Him accessible to others. Paul indicates that there is a communicability of experience – we receive grace due to the fact that we are joined to the Lord and others believers in one body - His body. Every aspect of our life can ultimately be conditioned by our being in Christ. Joined to the body of Christ, we can intentionally diminish the desire to express our individual existence and natural personality in a manner that separates us from the Body. Instead we seek to become a manifestation of the personality of Jesus Christ, who is the head of that body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all.

The concept of the body of Christ is not a type of symbolic representation but an actual entity to whom Jesus Christ relates to as His own - and desires that we as individual members, relate in like manner. “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. (We enter into a new relationship in Him.) This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:29-32

“Being in Christ” as a state of existence, takes on the same quality as physical existence in one’s natural body. Paul points out the importance of the personal individual existence of each member: "If the whole body were an eye... If the whole were hearing..." 1 Corinthians 12:17. The distinctiveness of each member is not destroyed. Each part of the body has a specific form and a distinct function. This is true physically - it is true spiritually. We must not confuse individualism with individuality. Individualism is self-centered activity, but individuality (uniqueness and calling) is of great importance.

The body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12 The members of Christ function as Christ. We are one spirit, joined to the Lord. The Body of Christ is the joining of renewed lives indwelt by the Holy Spirit. It is not just the coming together of so many physical bodies and calling them the Church. It is what we are together in the spirit that makes us the Church. We are able to express Christ in this world. “Therefore, speaking the truth in love, that you may grow up into Him in all things, who is the head, even Christ: (He is Lord and Savior) From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:15-16 We receive a return based on our investment of time and effort.

It is always about transformation. It is about equipping oneself in Christ. The body edifies itself in love. The body works together for the good. Our transformation is an outcome of the resolution of the challenges pertaining to His appearing. We are engaged in a process of applying His death and resurrection to our lives. This causes us to manifest His nature. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-19

We are engaged in the process of reconciliation, which is an adjustment to God’s intent. The challenges with which we are presented are intended to bring us to a revelation of Christ’s power that transcends nature yet works in the Body. His appearing in us is regarded as a process. It means that Jesus Christ is being revealed in us through the reconciliation process of God that is effective for the laying down of one’s life. As we experience His power of adjustment – we adjust. Reconciliation is accomplished in your body in conjunction with His Spirit – your body has been made His Body.