Following this sanctifying work, we were justified through the redemption of Christ (Acts 13:39; Rom. 3:24). After repenting, we did not know much about Christ, but we began to treasure Him, to appreciate Him. We began to have a good feeling about Him, even though no one had said much about Him to us. We had such an inner feeling. Spontaneously some of us might have said, "I love Jesus. Jesus is very good." This is a sign that we have believed in Him and that He has redeemed us. God the Father justified us, and this justification implies reconciliation. It also implies God's willing acceptance. We have been brought into peace with our God. Our sins have been forgiven, and all our sinfulness has been washed away. We have been forgiven, washed, reconciled, justified, and accepted through Christ's redemption.
We were also born of God through the regeneration of the Spirit with the divine life (John 1:12-13; 3:6b, 15). Following God's forgiveness, God's washing, God's reconciliation, God's justification, and God's willing acceptance of us through Jesus' redemption, the Holy Spirit enlivened our dead spirit. Then we were born of God.
Furthermore, we were sealed with the Spirit (Eph. 1:13). The Spirit was put upon us as a living seal. This was our initial experience of the Triune God. We can even say that this was our enrollment into the experience of the Triune God.
Now we want to see what it means to live in the Divine Trinity. Outside of the divine revelation of the Bible, there is no religion or philosophy that says that we can live in another person. But the Bible reveals that we can live in the Triune God. What a wonder and an honor it is to be those who can live in the Triune God! To live in the Triune God is miraculous. In the entire universe there is such a miracle that we can live in the Triune God.
To live in the Divine Trinity is to abide in Christ as the true vine (John 15:5). Christ likened Himself to a vine tree. The illustration of a vine tree gives us the proper understanding of what it means to be in Him. The branches are abiding in the vine tree. This means that the branches are living in the tree. To live in the Triune God is just like the branches abiding in a vine tree. It is wonderful that Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God is a vine tree. Jesus is not a pine tree but a vine tree spreading and growing over the entire earth. His fruit is so available to us because He is the vine tree.
This vine tree has many branches. All the branches are the completion of the tree. Without its branches, a vine tree would not be a complete tree. This tree with all its branches is an organism to express its inner life and to fulfill its purpose. God with His divine life needs some expression, and He has a purpose. Because of this He needs an organism to express His life and to fulfill His purpose. Christ is this organism, the vine tree, and now we are abiding in Him.
The Greek word for "abide" means not only to remain or to stay but also to have your home, or to make your home. In John 14 the same word is used as a noun. The Lord told us that in His Father's house there were many abodes (v. 2) and that He would come to make an abode with His lovers (v. 23). An abode is a dwelling place. Therefore, to abide is to dwell in a home. To live in Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God means that we take Christ as our dwelling place for our daily life. As long as the branches abide in the tree, they have their daily life in the tree because they are living there. Now we should understand the real denotation of living in the Triune God. To live in the Triune God is to have Him as our dwelling place, as our home, for our daily life. The vine tree with its branches is the very organism of the Triune God. Thus, to live in the Triune God is to abide in Christ as God's organism.