God’s eternal intention and purpose is to work Himself into us and to have Christ wrought into our being. This is not to make us good men but God-men. God’s desire is to make us Christ-men—men who have been mingled with Christ to be one with Him. There is nothing more important or basic in the whole universe than this matter. Why did God forgive, justify, cleanse, wash, sanctify, redeem, and regenerate us? He did all these things so that He could work Christ into us. Why do we wash the cups that we use for drinking? We wash them so that we can fill them with water. Similarly, God justified, redeemed, and regenerated us so that He could work Christ into us and cause us to be filled, saturated, and mingled with Christ. I fear that although many believers have been redeemed and regenerated and have even experienced the baptism in the Spirit, they do not know the purpose of God. The purpose of God is that Christ would be mingled with us so that we would be filled, possessed, and saturated with Christ and by Christ.
The Bible reveals that man was created as a vessel to contain God. Second Corinthians 4:7 says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.” A vessel is different from an instrument. An instrument is a tool that can be used to accomplish some kind of work. A vessel is a container that is made to be filled with something. Man was made not to be God’s instrument but to be God’s vessel. We were made for the purpose of containing God. We are earthen vessels, and God Himself should be the treasure within us.
Since we were created to be vessels to contain God, we must ask how God comes into us and how we can receive Him. We do not receive God by thinking about Him with our mind or by touching Him with our hands. We receive God into us by means of our spiritual receiving organ. In God’s wisdom, when He created man, He created man with many different organs to receive many different things. God created us with ears that we may receive music and sound. God created us with eyes that we may receive colors and images. God created us with a nose that we may receive air and odors, and God created us with a mouth and a stomach that we may receive food and drink. These are some of the physical organs that God has given us for receiving the things in the physical realm. God also created us with psychological organs for receiving the things in the psychological realm. For example, the organ for receiving thoughts is the mind. The eye is an organ for receiving something in the physical realm, and the mind is an organ for receiving something in the psychological realm, but what is the proper organ for receiving God, who is Spirit (John 4:24)? We cannot receive God with our eyes or with our mind; neither of these organs is the proper organ. Instead, deep within our being, in our innermost part, God created an organ for us to receive Him. This organ is our human spirit. This organ was specifically created for us to receive God. Just as God created us with a stomach for the specific purpose of receiving food, God also created us with a spiritual organ for the specific purpose of receiving God, who is Spirit.
Many would say that our spiritual receiving organ is our heart, but this is not the case. We can love God with our heart, but we cannot receive God with our heart. Our spiritual receiving organ is our spirit. Suppose I had a book that I would like to give to you as a gift, and suppose you liked the book and even loved the book. What organ would you use to love the book? Surely you would use your heart. However, you would not be able to receive the book with your heart. If I were to give the book to you, you would have to receive it with your hand. Once you received it with your hand, you could receive the information contained in it with your eyes and your mind. Regardless of how much you loved the book, you would not be able to receive the book with your heart. This is also the case with food. We all love to eat food. We may love food with our heart, but we cannot use our heart to receive food into us. To receive food into us, we must use our hands, our mouth, and then our stomach. From these examples we can see that if we desire to receive something, we must use the right organ, and the right organ for receiving God into us is our human spirit.
John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit.” This verse clearly proves that we must receive God, who is Spirit, with our spirit. Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” The fact that the Spirit witnesses with our spirit proves that the Spirit has come into our spirit. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” This verse points out that in addition to witnessing together, the Spirit of God and our spirit are joined together to be one spirit. The Spirit and our spirit are mingled together to such an extent that in Romans 8 it is difficult to determine when Paul is speaking concerning the divine Spirit and when he is speaking concerning our human spirit (vv. 4, 9).
Second Corinthians 3:17 says, “And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” According to this verse the Lord Himself is the Spirit. John 1:14 tells us that the Word, Christ, became flesh. When Christ was on the earth before His death and resurrection, He was a man in the flesh. However, in His resurrection from the dead He was transfigured from the flesh to the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Today the Lord is the Spirit. Hence, when the Spirit comes into us, Christ Himself comes into us. This is not merely a doctrine or a teaching; this is a reality. Christ today is the Spirit dwelling within our spirit to be our life and everything.
Romans 8:9-10 shows us that both Christ and the Spirit are within us and that the two are actually one. These verses say, “But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.” From these verses we can see that the Spirit of God dwells within us, that we have the Spirit of Christ, and that Christ Himself is within us. Because the Spirit of God dwells in us, we have the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are not two Spirits; rather, they are one. Thus, if the Spirit of God dwells in us, we also have the Spirit of Christ. Moreover, because we have the Spirit of Christ, we have Christ Himself within us. The Spirit of Christ is Christ Himself. God is triune; He is three-one. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father (John 14:10). Thus, if we have the Spirit dwelling within us, we also have the Son dwelling within us, and if we have the Son dwelling within us, we also have the Father dwelling within us.