We have seen that God took two steps in order to work Himself into us to be our life. He became flesh, and He became the life-giving Spirit. Jesus was the last Adam in the flesh, but through death and resurrection He was made the life-giving Spirit. He became flesh for our redemption, and He became the life-giving Spirit to impart His life into us.
Christianity stresses very much the part of redemption, but they miss the main goal of life. We have heard many messages about redemption in Christianity, but we have never heard that Jesus as the last Adam was made the life-giving Spirit in order to impart Himself into us as life. We had sin, but we did not have life. So Jesus was made flesh to take away our sin, and He became the life-giving Spirit to impart to us His life.
Altogether, the Lord took seven steps in seven stages. There was the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension, the baptism, the indwelling, and the advent. The incarnation means the mingling of God with man. The crucifixion means the termination of all the old creation. The resurrection means the germination of new life with a new start in the new creation. The ascension means that Jesus as a man was inaugurated into the new position of King of kings and Lord of lords to be the Head over all things. Then on the day of Pentecost and at the house of Cornelius, He came as the Baptizer to put all His people into Himself. Following this, He began to indwell all His members for transformation. By His transformation we will be made mature and He will come back. The advent will mean the transfiguration of our physical body. Then we all will be fully, wholly, and thoroughly the same as He is, both inwardly and outwardly. Hallelujah! This will be the New Jerusalem, which is a consummate expression of all that God has been working out in these seven steps.
In this message we must see something more concerning the relationship between the indwelling and the baptism. These stages are closely related to one another. The baptism was to put us into Him, and the indwelling is to put Him into us. Baptism means that we are in Christ, and the indwelling means that Christ is in us. Many times in the New Testament we have these two phrases, “in Christ” and “Christ in us.” We were baptized into Christ, and then Christ came into us.
Of the four Gospels, the first is Matthew and the last is John. This is quite meaningful. Why was the Gospel of John not first, and why was Matthew not last? This would be like putting the head under the feet, and the feet on the neck. It wouldn’t fit. To have Matthew first and John last is really fitting. But many Christians have not seen the preciousness of these two books.
No other books in the Bible reveal as much of the Triune God as these two books. The name of the Triune God is clearly revealed in Matthew. There is not one verse in the Old Testament that tells us so clearly about the Trinity as Matthew 28:19. Of course Genesis and Isaiah give us some hint, because they both use the pronoun “us” for God. But Matthew twenty-eight makes it so clear and definite: “Baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
However, we should realize that this clear word did not come until the Lord Jesus was resurrected. This is in the very last part of the last chapter of the book. Chapter one tells us that Jesus was born of a virgin, and His name was called Emmanuel, God with us. He was just a little, despised man, but He was God with us. After living for some thirty-three years, He was crucified, buried, and resurrected. Then He became the life-giving Spirit, who is the all-inclusive realization, reality, and embodiment of the Triune God. He came back to His disciples as such a One, One who includes the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Then He told them, “Go ye therefore, and disciple all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19).
In chapter one we have Emmanuel, but in the last chapter, God with us becomes the Triune God. We could never be baptized into Emmanuel. He was just a little man called Jesus. We could never get into Him. John the Baptist prophesied in Matthew three that He is the One who will baptize us in the Holy Spirit. But where is the Holy Spirit? It was not until His resurrection that He came back in another wonderful form. He was made the life-giving Spirit, and He came back in such a wonderful way. He had a body which you could touch, yet He came through closed doors! Then He told the disciples to go and disciple the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Triune God. When He was in the flesh as a man, He could not put people into Himself. But after He was resurrected, He was made the life-giving Spirit. He was no more simply the man, Jesus. He was now the ultimate, all-inclusive, realization, reality, and embodiment of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
After speaking of putting people into the Triune God, the Lord told His disciples that He would be with them unto the completion of the age. We are baptized into the Triune God, yet Jesus is with us. So who is Jesus? Jesus is just the Triune God. The proper interpretation of this verse has been completely missed by Christianity.