If we love the Lord, we will keep His commandments (14:15, 21, 23). In 14:21 the Lord said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” If we keep the Lord’s commandments, we shall be loved by the Father and the Son, and the Son will manifest Himself to us. Tell me, according to your experience, when the Lord spoke the word “no” to you and you obeyed Him, what was the result? You found yourself immediately in the presence of the Lord. But if we do not care for that little word “no,” we shall lose His presence. Whenever we listen to His speaking and keep His commandments, His presence is immediately intensified and becomes so sweet, precious, watering, strengthening, enlightening, and nourishing. This is the manifestation of the indwelling Christ.
Does it sound illogical to say that the indwelling Christ will be manifested? You may ask, “Since He indwells me, He is already here. Why do you say that He will manifest Himself?” Because the indwelling Christ quite often disappears. Although He indwells you, whether or not He appears or disappears from your inner sense depends on whether or not you listen to His words. All of the brothers and sisters, whether they are young or old, have some experience of this. Once when I was feeling a little lonely, I said to myself, “I would like to go to see Brother John and talk to him.” But the indwelling Christ said no. Then I said, “How about if I go to see Brother Francis?” When the indwelling One again said no, I asked, “What shall I do?” The Lord said, “Stay with Me.” Who is this “Me”? He is the indwelling Christ. If at such a time I say, “Amen, Lord,” the presence of the indwelling Lord will shine and be so sweet and strengthening. He will bring in a great deal of light. But, if when I heard Him say no, I did not care for His word and I still went to see the brothers, His presence would disappear, the darkness within me would be prevailing, I would lose my direction, and there would be no peace.
We all must learn one thing, that obeying the Lord’s commandments depends upon our love toward Him. If you love the Lord, you will say amen when He says no. If you mean business in saying amen, you will have His manifestation. The Lord will manifest Himself to whoever loves Him and keeps His commandments. This does not mean that before the Lord manifests Himself to us He is in the third heaven. No, He is within us, but because of our disobedience His presence disappears, light becomes darkness, strength becomes weakness, and life becomes death.
In the whole Gospel of John there are only two requirements: the first is to believe in Him, and the second is to love Him. To believe in Him is to receive Him, and to love Him is to enjoy Him. We all have believed in Him. This means that we all have received Him. But the problem today is whether or not we love Him. Although you have received the Lord Jesus and He is now within you, you may not love Him. We need to be a lover of the Lord Jesus all day long. This is why the most significant aspect of the miniature of the church life in chapter twelve is the love that poured the ointment upon the Lord. We all must love Him. His presence is always related to our love toward Him. The more we love Him, the more we enjoy His presence. What is His presence? It is simply the enjoyment of Himself. As long as we have His presence, we enjoy Him. The more we love Him, the more we shall have His presence. The more we are in His presence, the more we shall enjoy all that He is to us. We need only to love Him. Knowing means nothing; only loving counts. How we all need to love Him! I have been loving Him for fifty years, and today I feel that He is more lovable than ever. No one is as lovely as He is. Song of Songs says that He is altogether lovely (5:16). The Lord’s recovery is a recovery of loving the Lord Jesus. If we do not love Him, we are finished with His recovery.
The Father and the Son as the Spirit come to the believer. You may ask, “Are They not here already?” Yes, They are here but They are not appearing. Their coming is Their appearing. When the Lord says that the Father and Son will come to the believer, this does not mean that They are far away from the lover of Jesus. They are here with the lover of Jesus, but They have not appeared. Their coming is Their appearing.