In this message, we must come to the Gospel of John. The Gospel of Matthew is at the beginning of the Gospels, and the Gospel of John is at the end. Apparently they are quite different from one another. Matthew says that Jesus is the King, and John says that Jesus is the Son of God and even God Himself. It seems that these two Gospels are very different, but they are nearly the same in two points. Both of them tell us that Jesus eventually will be with us. “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matt. 1:23). Here Matthew tells us that Jesus is God with us. Then John says: “And the Word [who was God] became flesh, and tabernacled among us” (John 1:14 ASV). To be among us equals to be with us. The first chapter of Matthew tells us that this One is going to be with us, and the first chapter of John tells us that this One is going to be among us. In this point, these two books are the same.
This is not all. Matthew chapter one tells us that Jesus is the very God. His name is not only called Jesus, but Emmanuel, which means God with us. And John chapter one tells us that Jesus as God was made flesh. So we can see that these two books are alike. Both tell us something of the incarnation of this wonderful Person.
Many Christians believe that the incarnation of Jesus was mainly that He might be our redeemer. Jesus indeed was incarnated as a man in order to be our redeemer. But not many Christians pay much attention to the fact that Jesus was incarnated to be with us. His incarnation was not only for Him to redeem us, but also that He might be with us. A Savior that redeems us and then leaves us is not Jesus. Jesus came with the purpose of being with us. Emmanuel means God with us.
Then in John 14, Jesus tells us that the Spirit of reality not only dwells with us, but shall be in us. “Even the Spirit of reality; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:17).
I may be with you while I am giving this message, but I could never be in you. The only way for me to be in you is for you to eat me. Praise the Lord, Jesus came to be with us, and even the more, to be in us. But the way for Him to be in us is by being killed, “cooked,” and then eaten. Jesus was killed, was “cooked,” and now He is the processed Jesus, good for eating. When we eat Him He gets into us.
Before this process, He was with Peter, John, and so many of the disciples. But He could not get into them until He was killed, and resurrected. Then He breathed Himself into them. At that time He became the Spirit of reality. Now He was no more simply God in the flesh, but the Spirit of reality.
In order for Jesus to get into us, He has taken two steps. The first was to become flesh, and the second was to become the life-giving Spirit. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). This is a wonderful verse, but there is nothing in it for us. But praise the Lord for verse 14! “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” The Word became flesh to tabernacle among us. This was Jesus with the blood and flesh. If He had no blood, there would be no redemption. Our Jesus as the Word became flesh with blood. This is why in the same chapter there is another verse: “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). This flesh is the Lamb of God with the blood for our redemption.
After three and one half years with the disciples as the Word become flesh, He told them that He was going to leave them. That really troubled them. They wanted Him to stay with them. But He told them that if He did not go and die, He would not be so profitable to them. In order to make Himself more profitable to them, He had to go and die.
But, praise the Lord, He said that His going was not His leaving. Instead, His going was His coming. Now He was with them, but He could not be in them. Therefore, He had to take a further step that He could be in them. That step was death and resurrection. Through death and resurrection, He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). The first step was for Him to become flesh, and the second was for Him to become the life-giving Spirit. As God, He became flesh. Then as flesh, through death and resurrection, He became the life-giving Spirit.
Most Christians today have not seen that Jesus took the second step to become the life-giving Spirit. A good number of Christians even today are still opposing us because we say that the Bible teaches this matter. They say that Jesus is the Son of God, He is not the Spirit. But whatever they may say, 1 Corinthians 15:45 tells us that the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.
In several places, after I shared that Jesus today is the life-giving Spirit, some dear ones asked me if I believed in the Triune God. I told them that I believed in the Triune God more than they did, but they need to know that Jesus today is the life-giving Spirit. It is so clearly revealed that Jesus through His death and resurrection has become the Spirit of reality. The Lord took two steps in order to dispense Himself into man. As God He became flesh. Then, through death and resurrection, He became the life-giving Spirit. Now as the Spirit of reality He is not only with us, but also in us. The Spirit of reality dwells in us!
Matthew, in the last verse of his Gospel, tells us that the Lord Jesus will be with us forever. “And lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the completion of the age” (Matt. 28:20 Gk). Now we see how the two Gospels of John and Matthew are the same. They both tell us that this wonderful Person is with us and within us.