Galatians 4:19 says, “My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you.” Philippians 1:20b-21a states, “Even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death. For to me, to live is Christ.” Ephesians 4:13 says, “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Verse 19 of chapter three says, “And to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.” These words show us God’s work in and purpose for His redeemed people.
If we really know the Bible, we should be able to see a particular matter in the Lord’s word, a matter that has never and will never come up in man’s mind. The matter that we are referring to is God’s eternal purpose. Although the truth of the Lord has already spread throughout the world, there are very few who really know this mysterious and marvelous matter revealed by God in His word. Today there are quite a number of Christians who have a pure heart, who are zealous, who have love and faith, who care for the things of the Lord, and who are willing to pay a price by sacrificing themselves and living for others. Yet among these Christians it is hard to find one who can meet God’s standard and who really knows the purpose ordained by God in eternity. May God grant us the grace that we may clearly see this purpose ordained by God in eternity.
What does God really desire? God desires to mingle Himself with man. We have to always bear in mind that God does not desire anything else; He desires only to mingle Himself with man. He wants to mingle with man to the extent that, while remaining the true God, He became a man, a real man. We are not saying that when He became a man, He was no longer God or ceased to be God. Rather, we are saying that He was God mingled with man and that He was both man and God simultaneously. He was the complete mingling of God with man. In God there was man, and in man there was God. The human nature was in God, and the divine nature was in man. In God there was the human element, and in man there was the divine element.
This is the purpose that God desires to accomplish. God’s purpose is to arrive at the stage where the human element is within Him and the divine element is within man. He comes to mingle with us to the point that He becomes man and we become God. This kind of speaking may shock you. How can we be God? We can be God because we are mingled with God. We are mingled with God to the extent that we can say, “Even though we are humans, we have God in us. We have His life, His nature, and His personality. Because He is in us, His personality becomes our personality, His nature becomes our nature, and His life becomes our life. Moreover, His image is our image, His glory is our glory, His holiness is our holiness, and His goodness is our goodness. Just what He is, so also we are, and right where He is, there also we are.
We all must see this. In fact, all the saved ones will see this sooner or later. The day will come (perhaps it will be in the kingdom or in the new heaven and new earth) when we will see that all those who serve God are exactly the same as the God whom they serve. Conversely, the God whom we will serve will be exactly the same as we who serve Him. He will be God, possessing the human element, and we will be humans, possessing the divine element. We use this simple word to explain the mysterious heart’s desire of God.
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