When God works Himself into us, He makes us His children as His sons. According to the Greek, in the New Testament there is only one place-2 Corinthians 6:18-that says we are God’s sons and daughters. There are many places, however, that say we are God’s children (John 1:12; Acts 13:33; Rom. 8:16; Gal. 4:28; Phil. 2:15; 1 John 3:1-2, 10). Logically, only sons are sons; daughters are not sons. Strictly speaking, God has sons only; He does not have daughters. We are all His children. As such, we must exercise to be led by His Spirit continually that we may grow in life and arrive at the stage of being His sons (Rom. 8:14). Sisters, when you live and act in spirit, you are sons of God. Ultimately, when we are fully matured, we become God’s legal heirs to receive our inheritance (v. 17).
By being born of God we have our Father God’s life and nature (John 17:2; 2 Pet. 1:4) to become His house. Both in Greek and in Chinese, the word house has two denotations. On the one hand, it denotes the family, the household (Eph. 2:19); on the other hand, it denotes a habitation, a dwelling place (v. 22). On the one hand, we are God’s household as members of God’s house, God’s family; on the other hand, we are God’s dwelling place on earth, and we have God dwelling in our spirit. God obtains a dwelling place for His rest within us.
We must realize that if there were not a group of people who allowed God to work Himself into them, God would become homeless. In the Old Testament time, God sighed through the prophet, saying, “Heaven is My throne, / And the earth the footstool for My feet. / Where then is the house that you will build for Me, / And where is the place of My rest?” (Isa. 66:1). Neither heaven nor earth is God’s house. It is true that some passages in the Bible say that God’s dwelling place is in heaven (1 Kings 8:39; 2 Chron. 6:21; Isa. 26:21; 63:15), but heaven is only His temporary dwelling place, His temporary tabernacle. Why does God still dwell in His heavenly tabernacle? It is because the building of His dwelling place has not yet been completed. Therefore, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, God voices His longing for a dwelling place. At the most He only has a throne and footstool; He does not have a home. He is longing to have a home as His dwelling place. As one who knew God’s desire, David wrote a psalm to God, saying, “I shall not go into the tent of my house; / I shall not go up onto the couch of my bed; / I shall not give sleep to my eyes, / Slumber to my eyelids; / Until I find a place for Jehovah, / A tabernacle for the Mighty One of Jacob” (Psa. 132:3-5). David desired to find a resting place for God; only then could he have peace deep within. It is the same in the New Testament-God’s house has yet to be completed. Therefore, in John 14 the Lord Jesus said that He had to go to build an abode (vv. 2, 23). This means that through His death and resurrection (that is, His going and coming) He would bring man into God that man may be prepared to become God’s dwelling place. This dwelling place is the church, the unique habitation of God, the living habitation built by God with His redeemed people.
God works Himself into us that we may have an organic union with the Divine Trinity in Christ to become the members of Christ that constitute His Body as the corporate expression of the Triune God in Christ. We need at least thirty Scripture passages to explain this matter. I intentionally omitted the Bible references pertaining to “in Christ,” “Divine Trinity,” and “organic union” because I want you to study and find them. In our organic union with the Divine Trinity we become the members of Christ; that is, we become His bone and His flesh (Eph. 5:30-32). Collectively, as members of Christ we are constituted into one Body as a corporate expression of the Triune God in Christ.
We, the regenerated believers, can become God’s house and God’s dwelling place because firstly we have been chosen by God in Christ (1:4). That we are in Christ refers not only to a change in our position in our being transferred by God out of Adam into Christ (1 Cor. 1:30; 4:15; 2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 8:1). It also refers to the daily subjective and continual experience in our regenerated spirit; that is, through our organic union with the Divine Trinity we share His life and His nature and have one living and one move with Him.
The believers are joined to God the Father by repenting unto Him (Acts 2:38; 26:18), by being baptized into Him (Matt. 28:19b), and by being born of Him to become His children (John 1:12-13; James 1:18; 1 John 3:1). The believers are joined to God the Son by being identified with Him in His death (Rom. 6:3b, 6a; Gal. 2:20a; Col. 2:20a), in His burial (Rom. 6:4a; Col. 2:12a), in His being made alive (Eph. 2:5; Col. 2:13b), in His resurrection (Eph. 2:6a; Rom. 6:4b; Col. 2:12b; 3:1a), and in His ascension (Eph. 2:6b). On the one hand, the believers are joined to God the Spirit by receiving Him essentially as the Holy Spirit (John 20:22), the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), for their existence, their being, their life, and their living; on the other hand, they are joined to God the Spirit by being baptized into Him economically to receive Him as the Spirit of power (Acts 1:8a; Luke 24:49b) for their spiritual work and function that they may witness for the Lord and spread forth His gospel. Hence, the believers need to be joined to God the Spirit essentially as the Spirit of life and also economically as the Spirit of power. The union we have with the Divine Trinity in different aspects is as organic as the grafting of a branch to the tree.
We are a wild olive tree (Rom. 11:17-24), and the Divine Trinity is the cultivated olive tree. Originally, the two-He and we-are two different trees, each having its own life. But now these two trees are grafted together so that two lives have become one life. This enables us to continually enjoy the riches of the Divine Trinity. As a result, we become the members of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 5:30), the branches of the true vine (John 15:1, 5) to constitute His Body, which is the church. Ephesians 1:22b-23 says, “The church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” The church as the Body of Christ is an organism constituted with all those who have been regenerated by God with the divine life to be the fullness of Christ for His expression. Since Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God, when He is expressed, the Triune God is also expressed. Eventually, the church becomes the corporate expression of the Triune God in Christ. This is the economy of God.
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