According to Psalm 36:8 and 9 and Ephesians 5:14, Christ is the light in the temple. In Psalm 36:8 and 9 we have the fatness, the pleasures, the life, and the light. When we enjoy the fatness of God’s house and drink of the river of His pleasures, we are brought to the fountain of life, and this life becomes the light (John 1:4) in which we see light. In the Lord’s light we see light. This is not some kind of natural light. This is Christ as the light in the temple.
We may enjoy Christ as light outside God’s house, the temple, the church. But we need to go into the house of God and there enjoy Christ as the inner light. Today Christ as this inner light is in our spirit. In the church we sense that we are under the Lord’s shining. However, this shining should not merely be outward; it should be a shining deep within our being. Actually, we are the temple, and Christ is the light in the inner chamber of this temple, our spirit. Christ is light and in our spirit we see this light.
As the fulfillment of Psalm 36:9b, Ephesians 5:14 says, “Christ shall shine on you.” Christ shines not only over us but also in us as the light of life (John 8:12).
Christ is also the dwelling place of God’s chosen people. Psalm 90:1 says, “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.” As the eternal God, Christ is our habitation. We may find in Him our everlasting home. To Him, a thousand years are but as yesterday when it is passed and as a watch in the night (v. 4). Such a One is the dwelling place of God’s people.
First John 2:24, the fulfillment of Psalm 90:1, says, “If that which you heard from the beginning abides in you, you will abide both in the Son and in the Father.” The Greek word translated “abide” means not only to remain or stay but also dwell. We may abide, dwell, in the Son with the Father, taking Him as our abode.
The same thought is in John 15:4, where the Lord says, “Abide in Me and I in you.” This verse speaks of a mutual abiding: we abide in the Lord, and the Lord abides in us. The Lord’s word in John 15:4 is based on John 14:23, where we have the mutual abode made by the appearing of the Father and the Son as the Spirit to the believer who loves Him. This abode is prepared by the visitation of the Triune God. His visitation makes us His abode, and it makes Him our abode. Eventually, He and we become a mutual abode. This is the reality of Christ as the dwelling place of God’s chosen people.
Proverbs 8:1 and 12 and 9:1 speak of wisdom, the reality of which is Christ. In Matthew 11:19 the Lord Jesus, referring to Himself says, “Wisdom has been justified by her works.” Wisdom is Christ (1 Cor. 1:24, 30). Whatever Christ did was done by the wisdom of God, which is Himself. This wisdom was justified, vindicated, by His wise deeds.
In Matthew 11:19 some authorities read “children” instead of “works” (see Luke 7:35). Being children is a matter of life. We are not students of wisdom caring merely for the knowledge of wisdom. We are children of wisdom caring for the life of wisdom. Because we have the life of Christ we have the life of wisdom. As children of wisdom, the believers in Christ justify Christ and His deeds and follow Him as their wisdom.
First Corinthians 1:24 says that Christ is “God’s wisdom.” In God’s economy the crucified Christ is God’s wisdom for planning and purposing.
In 1 Corinthians 1:30 Paul goes on to say that Christ has become “wisdom to us from God.” Once we believed into Christ and God put us in Him, Christ became wisdom to us in three vital matters: righteousness for our past, sanctification for our present, and redemption for our future. The words “to” and “from” indicate a transmission to us from God. In the way of a living, on-going transmission Christ should continually become wisdom to us from God.
According to 1 Corinthians 2:7 Christ is “God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom which has been hidden, which God predestined before the ages for our glory.” Unlike human, worldly wisdom, which is open and shallow, God’s wisdom is hidden and mysterious. As God’s wisdom, Christ is the hidden mystery (Col. 1:26-27) foreordained before the ages for our glory. In eternity God decided that Christ as His wisdom would be our glory. Now day by day Christ is becoming wisdom to us from God.