John 14:16-20 reveals that the Christ in resurrection now lives in us. In verses 16 and 17 the Lord Jesus says, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever; even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.” According to verse 16, the Lord Jesus will ask the Father to give the disciples another Comforter. The Son was the first Comforter. Therefore, the first Comforter asked the Father to send another Comforter, the Spirit of reality, who will be in us. Then in verse 18 the Lord goes on to say, “I will not leave you orphans; I am coming to you.” When taken together with verse 17, this indicates “He” who is the Spirit of reality in verse 17 becomes the “I” who is the Lord Himself in verse 18. This indicates that after His resurrection the Lord became the Spirit of reality. Then, referring to the day of His resurrection, the Lord says in John 14:20, “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” Here the Lord clearly says “I in you,” revealing that He Himself will be in us.
As the Lord lives in us, He does not cease to be in the Father. On the one hand, in John 14:20 He says, “I am in My Father;” on the other hand, He says, “I in you.” The Lord certainly is not saying, “When I come into you, I shall cease to be in the Father.” On the contrary, here the Lord seems to be saying, “When I come into you, I shall come into you with the Father. Not only am I in the Father, but the Father also is in Me. Therefore, when I am in you, the Father who is in Me is also in you.”
This understanding of verse 20 is proved by the Lord’s word in verse 23: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.” Here the Father and the Son making an abode with us is equal to the phrase “I in you” in verse 20. Who is in us? The “I” who is in us is not only the Son, but the Son with the Father. But what about the Spirit? In John 14:26 the Lord Jesus speaks of “the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name.” The Son came in the Father’s name (John 5:43) because the Son and the Father are one (John 10:30). Now we see that the Spirit is sent in the Son’s name because the Spirit and the Son also are one (2 Cor. 3:17). This is the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—reaching us as the Spirit. Hence, when the Spirit comes, the Son and the Father also come.
When we put these verses together, we see that the One who is within us is not simple. No doubt, this One is the Son, but this is the Son in whom the Father is, and also the Son who is coming with the Spirit. Therefore, eventually we see that “I” in John 14:20 is the Triune God.
In John 14:19 the Lord Jesus says, “Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you shall live also.” If the Lord had remained in the tomb, He would not have lived, and the disciples would not have seen Him again. But this verse indicates that because He lives we shall see Him. He said that He would rise up and live and that we also shall live. What does this mean? In order to understand this verse, we need to study the entire New Testament. The Lord’s word, “You behold Me; because I live, you shall live also,” means, “I shall live in you to make you live.” Here the Lord Jesus is telling us that after His resurrection He would live in us.
At this point let me ask you a question: have you seen the Lord Jesus? Some might answer this question by saying that they have seen the Lord Jesus in the saints, the believers. One who answers the question in this way does not have the proper understanding of John 14:19. The Lord does not say in this verse, “You behold Me because you see Me in other believers.” Rather, the Lord’s word indicates that we see Him because He lives in us. We live because He lives. This means that we live because He lives in us to make us live.
In answer to the question concerning whether we have seen the Lord, we should say, “I have seen the Lord because He lives in me.” For example, a brother sees his wife because she lives with him. But the One we now see not only lives with us—He lives in us. Every moment He lives in us. Because He lives in us, we may see Him.
The chorus of the well-known hymn, “He lives,” goes like this:
He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus
lives today!
He walks with me and talks with
me along life’s narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
He lives within my heart.
This is a good hymn, and I appreciate it. The chorus says that we know Christ lives because He walks with us and talks with us. However, this is not as good as saying that we know Christ lives because He lives within our heart. In answer to the question, “How do you know Christ lives?” the chorus of this hymn answers, “He lives within my heart!” We know that the Lord lives not simply because He walks with us and talks with us, but because He lives in us.
How do you know Christ lives? You should answer this question by saying, “I know He lives because He lives in me” Likewise, if we are asked if we have seen the Lord Jesus, we should say, “Yes, I have seen the Lord, for He lives in me. Even while you are asking me this question, He lives in me. Because He lives in me, I see Him. Even now as I am speaking, I can see Him. While I am speaking to you, He is speaking to me. I am simply a transmitter speaking whatever He speaks to me.”
The Lord’s word, “Because I live, you shall live also,” certainly was fully fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. When Peter stood up with the eleven, that was Christ in resurrection. Peter’s speaking was also Christ in resurrection. If someone had asked Peter where Christ is, he might have said, “Christ is here. Don’t you see me? If you see me, you see Christ because He lives in me.”