To do good things for others apart from the Lord is to be in the circles of our natural concepts. There is yet another circle, separate and distinct from these, which we shall call “God in you.” It is not a concept; it is having God in us as our contents. This was the subject of our previous message. For this message we shall consider Christ as the mystery of God. Then the final message of this series will be on the church as the mystery of Christ.
As I have been preparing these messages, my heart has been aching. How much do the saints in the recovery have of God as their contents, of Christ as the mystery of God, and of the church as the mystery of Christ? Not very much. In Christianity these points have been much neglected.
If the fourteen Epistles of Paul were removed from the Bible, there would be a great lack. Even if we leave them in, yet remove from them these three points—God as our contents, Christ as God’s mystery, and the church as Christ’s mystery—Paul’s writings would be simply an empty shell.
Nonetheless, dear saints, these are the very points we have missed or neglected. In our daily life, how much attention do we pay to God as our contents? It is not a matter of whether we are defeated or victorious; whether we are common or holy; whether we celebrate birthdays or insist on being scriptural. The question is, Is God our contents? I do not celebrate my grandchildren’s birthdays; that saves us work, money, and effort, besides being in accordance with the Scriptures. But these are not the issue; the question is, Where is God? Is He our contents? Sometimes the thought has come to me to buy a present for one of my grandchildren. I would like to reward him for being such a good student and getting top honors. I have not done this, however; not because I wanted to be scriptural, but because God was not there. God is in me, but when I was considering buying my grandson a present, He became absent. I had a sense of His moving in me, but in a way of absenting Himself. There was no still small voice telling me not to do that; only God’s moving indicated that He was unhappy. Whatever we do, God must be our contents.
In the whole Old Testament there is no mention that God would be in His chosen people as their contents. The highest charge was that given to Abraham, when God said, “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect” (Gen. 17:1). The highest possibility was for Abraham to walk before God, to be in God’s presence. Abraham even had God pay him a visit in Genesis 18. God stayed with him for part of a day and even ate what Abraham prepared for Him. Have you realized, however, that God did not dwell in Abraham? He did not even dwell in Abraham’s tent. The best Abraham could enjoy was a temporary visit. Then God departed. Enoch “walked with God” (Gen. 5:24), but God did not make His home in him.
When we come to the New Testament, however, there is no such term as walking with God. It says instead, “Walk... according to spirit” (Rom. 8:4). The spirit in Romans 8 is a mingled person, God mingled with us. God as the Spirit is mingled with our spirit. It is according to this spirit that we must walk. Romans 8 tells us clearly that to walk according to spirit means to walk in God, in the Triune God. How is this possible? It is because the Triune God is in us.
John 14:23 says, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.” When the Father and the Son come, it is not to visit; it is to make an abode. Once this dear One comes, He never goes away; He stays forever. In this same chapter the Lord says that the Spirit of reality “abides with you and shall be in you” (v. 17); He will “be with you forever” (v. 16).
Here is something extraordinary. How could God as the divine Person—holy, righteous, glorious—come into a sinful human being who is fallen, corrupted, ruined? How could He enter into us and make us His home? Such a thing could not have happened in the Old Testament. The procedure which made this possible had not yet been carried out.
The New Testament opens with the birth of God into mankind. The first thing recorded is the incarnation. That God came to be born as a man is unbelievable! But it happened. From Isaiah 9:6 we know that the little child born in a manger in Bethlehem was the mighty God. What a wonder!
The very God grew up in a poor carpenter’s home. Here He passed through His childhood. We have an account of an episode when He was a child of twelve (Luke 2:41-52). For thirty years He lived there in that humble home. Then He came forth to minister. He thus sowed Himself into His followers. After three and a half years He went to the cross.
He was crucified to redeem us. As our substitute He died for us, shedding His blood for our redemption. By that death He bruised the head of the serpent; He crushed the Devil. His death released His inner, divine life. After accomplishing this work, He went into the tomb and into Hades. After three days He emerged from death and entered into resurrection.
In resurrection He took another form. No longer is He in the flesh; though He still has a physical body, it is a body in resurrection. Now in resurrection He has become a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). No doubt this is the Spirit of God. But before this process of incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection the Spirit of God had no way to impart life to man. Now He is able and ready to impart the divine life into God’s chosen people; thus He is indeed the life-giving Spirit.
Though this story has become familiar to us, it is not a simple one. God became incarnate. He was born as an infant, grew up as a child, then lived as a man, experiencing all kinds of sufferings and trials. At the cross He settled our problem with sin, with Satan, and with death. A flow of life came out of His crucified being. Then in resurrection He became this life-giving Spirit. John 7:39 says, “The Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” At that time crucifixion and resurrection had not yet been accomplished; once they were, the Spirit of God was able to impart life.
Who is this life-giving Spirit? Christ. God Himself. The traditional teaching on the Trinity cannot account for all these items. Christ cannot be separated from God, nor can He be separated from the Spirit. We have the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father is embodied in the Son, and the Son has become the life-giving Spirit. The way has been paved, the procedure fully carried out. Now He is ready. All that remains is for us to open and receive Him. He comes in at once.
We then have within us as our contents the very God who is the Creator and is now the dispensing Triune God. We are vessels containing the processed God. This is the mystery of Christ. Christ is the wrapping up of all the divine mysteries.
While human language is inadequate to express the things we have seen, I believe enough has been said to help you if you have a heart to see. Do not be held back by the shallow teachings. You must go on to see these deeper truths concerning God’s heart’s desire. Who is this indwelling God? He is the Father. He is Christ. He is the Spirit. The attempts of the theologians to systematize these truths are a failure. The reputable scholars admit that in our Christian experience Christ is identical to the Spirit. Yes, They are one; nonetheless, They are also two! Because this is a mystery, we cannot fully explain it; it corresponds, however, with our experience.