Our natural state is set forth in Ephesians 2:11And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; (Ephesians 2:1) as “dead in trespasses and sins.” The next verse, however, goes on to speak of walking in those trespasses and sins, but that is because the death there spoken of is death towards God. Those who are dead Godward are very much alive to “the course of this world” and “the prince of the power of the air,” who operates in the “children of disobedience.” To be dead towards God is entirely consistent with being alive towards the world and the devil: indeed, the one springs out of the other. This is the fact that underlies the solemn statement made in Romans 3:1111There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (Romans 3:11), that “there is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God.” To the natural man there is nothing that is desirable in God. In one word, he is dead towards God.
Once these solemn facts lay hold of us, we realize that our only hope is in God taking the initiative with us in His sovereign mercy. God then must act. But how must He act? Will reformation, education or instruction meet our case? By no means: There can be nothing until He quickens, for quickening simply means the giving of life. The very word translated “quicken” in the New Testament is one compounded from the noun “life” and the verb “to make” — “to make to live.”
The Spirit Gives Life
Now it is a striking fact that Ezekiel 36, which shows the corruption and moral filth in which Israel lay and prophesies as to the new birth which consequently must be theirs, is followed by the vision of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37. This sets forth the death towards God, in which Israel lies as a nation, and it prophesies concerning God’s work of quickening, which must touch them before they enter into millennial blessedness. They will be brought up by Him out of the graves among the nations where they lie. There will be a national resurrection, and, says the Lord, “Ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it” (Ezek. 37:1414And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord. (Ezekiel 37:14)). Once they are quickened, they will understand and they will at once seek the Lord.
The “wind” (or “breath”) of verse 9 seems to be identified with “My Spirit” of verse 14; indeed, the same Hebrew word is translated “wind,” “breath” or “spirit,” according to the context. It is interesting to compare these verses with John 3:88The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8). There the blowing of the wind is connected with the Spirit’s action in new birth. Here it is connected with His action in quickening. This should show us how closely new birth and quickening are connected one with the other and that they must not be divided from each other, though they should be distinguished and separately considered, as they are in Ezekiel 368But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come. (Ezekiel 36:8) and 37.
Quickening and Power
Now if John 3 answers to Ezekiel 36, John 5 answers to Ezekiel 37. This latter chapter opens with the cure of the impotent man. It was as though a fresh stream of life entered his powerless limbs, and he took up his bed and walked. When challenged as to this miracle, the Lord Jesus proceeded to speak of far greater works than this which were His to do — the quickening of whom He will and the raising of all men. The former is a limited work. Those among the spiritually dead who hear the voice of the Son of God — and only those — shall spiritually live. The latter is universal. All in the graves shall hear His voice and come forth in two classes, to life and to judgment, respectively. This will take place at different times, as we learn from other scriptures.
In verse 21 of this marvelous chapter in John, quickening is attributed to both the Father and the Son, whereas in the next verse the work of judgment is said to lie wholly in the hands of the Son. The Son, and the Son alone, came forth into this world to suffer and be set at naught. To Him alone, then, shall the majesty and honor of executing judgment belong. In the giving of life, however, the Son acts according to His own will equally with the Father and in fullest accord with the Father. Equally with the Father is He the Source of life, for verse 26 is evidently parallel with verse 21 in its sense. As 1 Corinthians 15:4545And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45) says, “The last Adam ... a quickening Spirit.”
Verses 24-25 give us the way in which the Son acts in life-giving power at the present moment. He quickens by means of His Word. There are those who really hear His Word; that is, they hear in it “the voice of the Son of God,” and consequently they believe on the Father who sent Him, and they live. Quickening is not presented here as a work of the Son altogether apart from the use of means. Were it so presented, we should read, “They that live shall hear.” But what we read is, “They that hear shall live.” Life is indeed His gift, but it reaches us in the hearing of His voice in His Word.
The Father and the Son
In the light of this chapter, we believe we may speak of quickening as the most deep-seated and fundamental aspect of God’s work in us. Such is its importance that the Father and the Son act together as to it in a special way. A wrong use is sometimes made of our Lord’s statements in verses 19 and 30: “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do,” and, “I can of Mine own self do nothing.” These words do not mean that He disclaimed all power, just as a mere prophet might have done. They expressed, in the first place, the fact that, in becoming Man, the Son had taken the place of dependent service, acting wholly by the Spirit in subjection to the Father. This thought seems especially prominent in verse 30. But in the second place, they also emphasized the fact that His essential place in the unity of the Godhead was such that it was impossible that He should act apart from the Father. This thought seems more prominent in verse 19.
From this inner and more hidden aspect of things it was as though He said, “I am so essentially one with the Father that it is in the nature of things impossible that I should act apart from Him.” It was really the strongest possible affirmation of His essential Deity. The Father and the Son must ever act together, as the end of verse 19 says. Thus did the Lord accept the charge of “making Himself equal with God,” and not only accept it but amplify the thought of it. So both the Father and the Son act together in life-giving power.
The Spirit of God
In John 6:6363It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63), we discover that the Spirit of God also quickens. The first occurrence of the word “Spirit” in that verse should evidently be printed with a capital; the second occurrence of the word is rightly printed without a capital. Comparison may be made with verse 6 of chapter 3, where the distinction is rightly made. The very words of the Lord are spirit and life, but it is the Spirit Himself who quickens. We may say, therefore, that the whole fullness of the Godhead — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — is involved in the work of giving life to such as ourselves.
One further thing has to be noted. We meet with it both in Ephesians 2:55Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) (Ephesians 2:5) and Colossians 2:1313And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; (Colossians 2:13) — we have been quickened “together with Christ.” Being “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:11And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; (Ephesians 2:1)) and “dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh” (Col. 2:1313And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; (Colossians 2:13)), nothing short of quickening would meet our case. Quickening was thus a necessity, but there was no necessity that we should be quickened together with Christ: That is the fruit of the counsels of God in grace.
F. B. Hole (adapted)