What do we call this flow when it comes down into man? It is the incarnation. By incarnation God has been brought into man. When a child was born in Bethlehem to the human race, something very extraordinary happened. Isaiah 9:6 says “For a child is born to us, / A son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.” A child was born in a manger, yet His name is called Mighty God. It is by this incarnation that God has been brought into man. In the four Gospels there was a man working on this earth having God in Him as His very content. This is a wonder and a mystery. At that time this wonder was a secret to the people, because apparently this was simply a man, Jesus. However, there was something within Him that was different from men, that is, God. By His incarnation God brought Himself into man.
Later Christ resurrected and ascended, and by the resurrection and ascension man was brought into God. Therefore, after the ascension there is a man in the heavens. At the time Stephen was stoned to death, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Son of Man at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55-56). That man in the heavens was not only in heaven but also in God. Stephen saw a man in God. By the incarnation there was a man on this earth with God in Him. God came into man and walked on this earth. At that time someone could point to Him and say that there is God in a man. By His resurrection and ascension, however, there is now a man in God. This is wonderful! God has been brought into man, and man has been brought into God.
Psalm 68:18 first says, “You have ascended on high,” and then it says, “You have led captive those taken captive.” When did Christ defeat all His foes? Hebrews 2:14 tells us that through death He destroyed him—the devil—who has the power of death. By His death Christ defeated all the foes. Then by His resurrection He disarmed them. After this, while He was ascending to the heavens, He was leading a train of defeated foes. Do you realize this? Christ has disarmed and captured all the capturing power, and He has defeated all the foes. He has solved all the problems in the heavens and on the earth.
Christ went not only to the heavens but to the Father Himself. The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus came from the Father and was going to the Father (13:1, 3; 14:12). He came from the Father to bring God into man, and then He went to the Father to bring man into God. Psalm 68:18 says that Christ received gifts among, in, or as, man. Christ is a man. In this man, as man, representing man, for man, and on behalf of man He went back to the Father to receive the gifts. These gifts are all the members.
Do not merely take my word. You must read the clear word of God. Ephesians 4:8 says, “Therefore the Scripture says, ‘Having ascended to the height, He led captive those taken captive and gave gifts to men.’” Verses 9 and 10 are a parenthesis, so verse 8 is followed by verse 11, which says, “And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers.” Here Christ did not give speaking in tongues, healing, wonders, power, and miracles. Rather, He gave persons as gifts for the perfecting of the saints. The gifts are not only the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. Not only are the arm and the shoulder gifts to the body; even the little finger is a gift to the body. The gifts are the members.
According to Psalm 68, Christ ascended on high, having defeated and disarmed the foes by His death and resurrection. By His incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension, Christ accomplished everything both negatively and positively. On the negative side, He solved all the problems, defeated all the foes, and led them as a train of defeated foes to show His victory to the whole universe. On the positive side, He brought God into man and man into God. Everything is now accomplished. At the time of His ascension, He was ready as a man, in man, and on behalf of man to receive the gifts back from the Father, the source. These gifts are the members of His Body.