The mingling of God with man has a definite purpose. This purpose is that God might be expressed through a group of people who are coordinated and built up together as a corporate Body.
Ephesians 1:5 says, “Predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” The word predestinate means “foreordain.” God predestinated, or foreordained, us to be His sons. Sonship refers to the matter of expression. The title “Son of God” refers to the expression of God. In relation to this, John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” Since a son is the expression of his father, God’s predestinating us unto sonship, that is, His predestinating us to be sons of God, simply means that He foreordained us to be the expression of God.
Nevertheless, many Christians understand this verse in a very natural way. They consider that God has a beautiful home in the heavens with a golden street, pearl gates, and precious stones, and that we as His sons will inherit this magnificent home. However, this is not the scriptural meaning of sonship. Sonship is not a matter of inheriting some physical blessings from God but a matter of expressing God. For us to be sons of God means that we are the expression of God.
Furthermore, Hebrew 2:10 says, “It was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in leading many sons into glory, to make the Author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” This verse does not say that God is bringing many sons to the heavens, into beautiful heavenly mansions. It says that God is bringing many sons into glory. Glory is God Himself; it is God expressed, God manifested. We may compare this to electricity. Whenever a light shines, we see the glory of electricity, which is the shining of electricity. Glory is God shining, God manifested, God expressed. One day all the regenerated believers as the many sons of God, the expression of God, will be brought into glory, the manifestation of God (Col. 3:4). Nevertheless, what Christianity teaches today, and what many fundamental Christians believe, is that God is bringing many sinners into heavenly mansions. But God has not predestinated, or foreordained, us to inherit heavenly mansions; He has predestinated us to be His sons, that is, to be His expression. One day He will bring us, the many sons, into His glory. The purpose of God’s mingling Himself with us is that we might have the sonship, that we might become God’s expression.
Romans 8:29 says, “Those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.” If we read this verse carefully, we will realize that it does not say that God predestinated us to be saved from hell and brought to heaven, as is taught by fundamental Christianity today. Rather, it says that every saved one has been predestinated to be made the same as the Son of God, that is, to be conformed to the image of Christ so that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers. Nevertheless, our understanding of this verse may be that God has predestinated us sinners to go to a heavenly home so that Christ might have many companions.
Many Christian hymns refer to the saved ones passing through pearl gates, walking on a golden street, being with Christ forever, and going to a place where there will be no tears or darkness. Such hymns do not manifest any light but are full of the human thought and concept. They lack the divine revelation that God’s eternal purpose is to mingle Himself with us so that we will be conformed to the image of Christ to be the full expression of God Himself. The purpose of God’s mingling with us is to make us the real, genuine, full, perfect, and complete expression of Himself. This is the sonship. Prior to two thousand years ago, God had only one Son, one expression, but today God has many sons, and the only begotten Son has now become the firstborn Son. Therefore, God has thousands upon thousands, even millions, of sons as His expression. This is far more wonderful than a golden street and pearl gates.
God predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. Although as human beings we were created in the image of Christ (Gen. 1:26; cf. Col. 1:15a), we do not yet have the form of Christ or look like Christ. Therefore, we need to be conformed to Him. Formerly, we were like a photo or a picture of Christ without the reality of Christ. A photo of a person has the person’s image but not his reality. Christ intends to make us a living photo of Himself; hence, He has put Himself as the reality into us. Christ is within us for the purpose of conforming us to Himself. One day our thinking, loving, deciding, speaking, and doing will be full of Christ. We will be exactly the same as Christ is. Christ will fill us, saturate us, and permeate us.
There are three steps that Christ takes in order to conform us to Himself. According to John 3:3-7, the first step is that Christ regenerates us in our spirit at the time we receive Him as our Savior. According to 2 Corinthians 3:18, the second step is that from the time He regenerates us, Christ transforms us in our soul, which includes our mind, will, and emotion. Today the Lord, who is the Spirit, is constantly working to transform us, and we are being transformed into the image of Christ from glory to glory. Verse 17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” By the Spirit and with the freedom, the Lord continually works to transform us, that is, to transform our soul. This is confirmed by Romans 12:2, which says that we must be transformed by the renewing of the mind, the mind being the main part of the soul. We have been regenerated in our spirit, and we are now under the process of being transformed in our soul. Transformation is the growth of a Christian. The more we are transformed, changed, and renewed in our mind, will, and emotion, the more we grow in the divine life. The growth of a Christian is a transformation, a change in life, a change in the soul, that is, in the mind, will, and emotion. The consummation of our transformation is our being conformed to the image of Christ as God’s firstborn Son (Rom. 8:29).
The third step for Christ to conform us to Himself will occur when the Lord Jesus comes back. At that time our body will be changed, or transfigured. Philippians 3:20-21 says, “Our commonwealth exists in the heavens, from which also we eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transfigure the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory, according to His operation by which He is able even to subject all things to Himself.” The Lord Jesus will exercise His power and authority to transfigure the body of our humiliation into a glorious body. Then we will be wholly, absolutely, and thoroughly the same as He is. This is confirmed by 1 John 3:2, which says, “We know that if He is manifested, we will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is.” Today we may look the same as the worldly people, but at that time we will be thoroughly the same as He is.
Based on the aforementioned verses we can see that we have three parts—spirit, soul, and body—and that the Lord conforms us to Himself in three steps: first, He regenerates our spirit; second, He transforms our soul; and third, He transfigures our body to make us absolutely the same as the Son of God.
Today we do not look much like the Son of God because our transformation has not yet been completed. The process is still continuing. We may compare this to the process whereby a beautiful butterfly comes forth from an ugly worm. Within the ugly worm there is a life that continually transforms the worm. Hence, a process takes place in which the worm is transformed into a beautiful butterfly. We are the “ugly worm.” Often I have looked at myself and realized that I am just like an ugly worm. Although occasionally I may have a beautiful appearance and expression, a little part of the worm still remains. For example, even though we may love others in Christ, a small part of that love is ugly. The beautiful part of the love is in Christ, but there is still a “tail” of the “ugly worm” accompanying it, a little part that is of Adam. The reason for this is that we are still under the process of transformation.
We have pointed out that we have been regenerated in our spirit and are now under the process of transformation in our soul. Day by day we are being transformed by the renewing of our mind, emotion, and will. Furthermore, we are also waiting for the day when Christ will come to transfigure the body of our humiliation to conform it to the body of His glory by His subduing power. On that day we will be a “beautiful butterfly” without anything remaining of the “ugly worm.” We will be absolutely, thoroughly, and completely in Christ and will be full of Christ and mingled with Christ from center to circumference. This is the purpose of God’s mingling with us.
In these days may the Lord open our eyes to see all these things in a divine, heavenly way so that we may be delivered from every kind of human concept concerning the Christian life and conduct. The Triune God has mingled Himself with man. He is now a God-man and is living within us to mingle Himself with us in order to make us a part of His new creation. This new creation is simply the mingling of divinity with humanity, the mingling of God with man. This mingling is for the purpose of producing many sons for the corporate expression of God Himself. In order to accomplish this purpose, God has regenerated us in our spirit, He is transforming us in our soul, and He will transfigure us in our body. At that time we will be absolutely like Him, as He is.