Even earlier the Lord was talking with His disciples on one occasion and told them He would be going away. This news troubled them. In answer to Thomas’ question, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the reality, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (see John 14:1-6). At this point Philip asked that they be shown the Father; the disciples would be satisfied if the Lord would do this for them. The Lord replied, in effect, “What do you mean, ‘Show us the Father’? I’ve been with you for three years or so. Why do you ask to see the Father?” Then He said, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words which I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself; but the Father Who abides in Me, He does His works” (v. 10).
Notice, however, that the Lord does not say that He is the Father. When I would read John 14, sometimes I would ask the Lord, “Lord, why didn’t You just plainly say, ‘I am the Father’?” His reply to Philip seems so roundabout. If He had directly said He was the Father, it would have prevented much theological debating all these centuries! But the Lord is not that simple! Nor is the Trinity that simple!
Suppose some of you say, “Brother Lee, show us Witness Lee. Then we’ll be satisfied.” I would reply, “What! I’ve been speaking to you all this time, and you still want me to show you Witness Lee! Don’t you know that Brother Lee is in Witness Lee, and Witness Lee is in Brother Lee? When you see the one, you see the other.” Yet I will not come out and say that Brother Lee is Witness Lee. To do so would mean that I could be easily explained!
Later on in this same chapter, the Lord says, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter...the Spirit of reality” (John 14:16-17). Yet in the very next verse He says that He Himself is coming (v. 18). One verse indicates that it is the Spirit who is coming, and the next verse declares that the Lord is coming.
This confusing way of talking continues with regard to who it is who will be in the disciples. Verse 17 says that the Spirit of reality “shall be in you,” whereas in verse 20 the Lord says, “In that day you shall know that I am...in you.” The Spirit’s indwelling the disciples meant the Lord’s indwelling of them. Yet the Lord does not openly say that He is the Spirit or that the Spirit is simply Himself. He chooses to talk in this mysterious way, making us wonder whether there are Two in us, the Spirit and Himself, or only One.
Paul, the great apostle who received the revelation concerning this mystery, refers to Christ in the flesh as the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45). Our forefather Adam was the first Adam. The last Adam, Paul says, became a life-giving Spirit. In the same book he says, “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17). He further tells Timothy, “The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit” (2 Tim. 4:22). From these verses it is clear that the Lord must be the Spirit and also that we must have a spirit. Otherwise, how could we be one spirit with Him, and how could He be with our spirit?
“Christ in you” (Col. 1:27) is another word of Paul’s. Is he speaking figuratively? How could we possibly contain Christ? However mysterious it sounds, it is a fact that Christ is in us; we can testify to this mysterious reality. He is like the electricity that makes the lamps give light; we cannot explain how it works, but we experience its benefits.
In Galatians 2:20 Paul goes a step further. “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Christ is not only within us; He is living in us. Paul is describing his experience. Can we also testify that Christ lives in us? Does having Christ live in us seem like a strange way of talking, or is this our reality?
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