In the two preceding messages we covered the objective aspect of the Man-Savior’s resurrection. With this message we come to the subjective aspect of His resurrection.
The first point related to the subjective aspect of the Man-Savior’s resurrection is that Christ’s resurrection was His transfiguration into the life-giving Spirit in order to enter into His believers (1 Cor. 15:45b; John 14:16-20). Christ’s resurrection as His transfiguration is a difficult matter to explain, for this involves the Divine Trinity.
God is triune. Traditional teachings concerning the Trinity have given the impression that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—the three of the divine Godhead—are separate. According to this understanding, when the Son came to earth, the Father was left on the throne in heaven. We know from the Gospel of John that when the Son was about to die, He told His disciples that He would ask the Father to send the Spirit, who came on the day of Pentecost. However, it is supposed by some that when the Spirit came on Pentecost, the Son remained with the Father on the throne. Therefore, according to this teaching, which is very superficial, and far from being accurate, when the Son came as a man, He left the Father on the throne. The Son then lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years, died, resurrected, and ascended to the heavens. Following this, the Father sent the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came, He left both the Father and the Son in the heavens. This kind of teaching gives a very wrong impression concerning the Triune God.
The New Testament reveals that when the Son came, He came with the Father. Concerning this, John 8:29 says, “He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone.” When the Son was on earth, He was not alone, for the Father was always with Him: “I am not alone, because the Father is with Me” (John 16:32). The Lord Jesus even told His disciples that He was in the Father and that the Father was in Him: “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me” (John 14:11a). The Son’s being in the Father and the Father’s being in the Son is a matter of coinherence, a word we need to know for the expression of the deeper truth regarding the Triune God revealed in the Scriptures.
Since the Son came with the Father and the Father was even in the Son, it is not correct to say that the Son left the Father on the throne in heaven when He came to earth. Actually, it is heretical to teach that the Son came without the Father. In the Gospel of John we see that the Son was sent “from with” the Father, that is, not only from the Father but also with the Father. In John 6:46 the Lord Jesus said, “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except Him who is from God, He has seen the Father.” The Greek preposition translated “from” in this verse is para, by the side of. The sense here is from with. The Lord Jesus is not only from the Father, but also with the Father. We have the same thought in John 7:29; 16:27; and 17:8. Because the Son was sent from with the Father, the Father came when the Son came. Moreover, when the Son was on earth, the Father was not only with Him but also in Him, even as the Son was in the Father.
Furthermore, the Holy Spirit was involved in the conceiving of the Lord Jesus. Hence, the birth of Christ was directly of the Holy Spirit, for His mother, Mary, was “with child of the Holy Spirit,” for that which was begotten in her was of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18, 20). Then at the age of thirty, when the Man-Savior came forth to minister, the Spirit descended upon Him (Luke 3:22). In His ministry the Lord preached the gospel by the Spirit. In Luke 4:18 we are told that He read these words from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor....” The Son’s preaching was the Spirit’s work. The Son never did anything by Himself. He even cast out demons by the Spirit of God (Matt. 12:28).