In the evening of the Lord Jesus’ resurrection, He came into the midst of the disciples and breathed Himself into them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (20:22). This was an extremely great matter. From that time on, the Lord Jesus dwelt in His disciples. He was not bound by time or space; for instance, the Lord was able to enter into the midst of the disciples even though the doors were shut (v. 19), and after He talked with the two disciples who were going to Emmaus and reclined at table with them, He suddenly disappeared from them (Luke 24:30-31). Thus, we must see that from the day of the Lord Jesus’ resurrection, His presence with the disciples progressed from being merely outward to being inward, from being visible to being invisible, and from being limited by time and space to being outside of time and space.
In John 20 the Lord breathed into the disciples (v. 22). This fulfilled what He had spoken earlier: “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (14:20). This was also the fulfillment of what He had prayed to the Father concerning being in the disciples—“that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me” (17:23). The Gospel of John mentions several “in”s. Chapter fourteen verse 10 reveals that the Father is in the Lord. When Philip asked the Lord, “Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us” (v. 8), the Lord answered, “Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me?” (v. 9). Outwardly the Lord was a Nazarene, but inwardly He was the Father. God was in Him. Not only was the Father in the Lord, but in verse 20 we see that on the day of resurrection the disciples would know that the Lord was also in the Father. The Lord is in the Father, we are in the Lord, and the Lord is also in us. On the day of resurrection, the disciples saw and realized these three “in”s. These three “in”s tell us that God, we, and Christ are mingled as one entity.
When the Lord came to the earth, He entered, with God, into man in order to be united with man as one. Hence, Romans 8 clearly reveals that Christ’s being in man is not only God’s being in man but also the Spirit of God’s being in man (vv. 9-10). Then Ephesians 3 shows us that Christ makes His home in our hearts through faith that we may be filled unto all the fullness of God (vv. 17-19). When all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in us bodily, we will be one with God completely. God’s purpose in us is to work Himself into us. We have to ask God to open our eyes that one day we would see this. This is the first vision in the Bible, and this is also the first vision concerning the relationship between God and us.
God created us as His vessels so that He could put Himself into us. God also redeemed us for the purpose of working Himself into us. Suppose a house is built for us. If the inside of the house is not too messy, we can simply move in, but if it is messy, then we must put things in order before we can move in. If man had not fallen or been corrupted, God could have simply moved into him, but because man became corrupted and fallen, he needed redemption. Redemption was the clearing procedure God used to make us clean and tidy so that He could come live in us. God was also gracious to us in causing us to believe in Him and be saved so that He could enter into us. Our confessing, repenting, keeping morning watch, reading the Bible, praying, listening to messages, and attending special edifying meetings are for the purpose of allowing God to come into us further. We need to see this great vision.