We have seen Christ is the wonderful One with six major steps. The six steps are incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, baptism, and advent or second coming. Incarnation is the mingling of divinity with humanity, crucifixion is the termination of all negative things, resurrection is the germination of all positive things, ascension is the inauguration of Christ, baptism is the putting of us all into Christ for the formation of the Body, and the advent is the Lord’s return to this earth.
The past messages have cleared the confused ground. Now we must go on. We have seen the six major steps of Christ, but we must realize that six in the Bible is not a good number. The number of the anti-Christ is six hundred and sixty-six. So for Christ to have only six steps is not so good. There must be one more, and it is between the baptism and the advent. This step covers a long period of time. The baptism is already accomplished, and we are waiting for His coming back. In between, there is a long period. During this period, Christ is the indweller. This is the seventh step, His indwelling.
In the baptism, Christ was the baptizer. Immediately after the baptism, He is the indweller. After He baptizes us into Himself, He comes to dwell within us. Hallelujah! Our Christ is not only our Redeemer and our Baptizer, but also our Indweller. By baptizing, He puts us into Himself, and by indwelling, He comes to stay within us. So now we are in Him, and He is in us.
In eternity past God had a purpose. Then in time He became incarnated to be a wonderful man. This man lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years. He passed through and tasted every part of human living. After this He went to the cross to redeem us back to God and to terminate all the negative things. By that work He became our Redeemer. Then He went into the tomb to rest. He kept the real Sabbath. Just as God rested on the seventh day following the six days of creation, so in the same principle Christ finished His redeeming work and rested in the tomb. After the rest, He awoke in resurrection.
It was in His resurrection that Christ became another form. Now He was not only in a physical form, but also a spiritual. Our human mentality cannot comprehend it. On the day of resurrection His disciples were frightened and locked themselves in a room. They feared the persecuting of the Jews. Even though they heard from Mary that she had seen the Lord, they did not know what to do. Then Jesus suddenly was there in the room. In a sense they were happy, but in another sense they did not know how He got there. Was Jesus there with a physical body or not? They could see Him, yet the door was not opened. This is too wonderful to understand. Then the Lord did a very unusual thing. He did not give the disciples any teaching. All He did was to breathe into them and say, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” Then He disappeared. He was suddenly there, and He was suddenly gone. After the resurrection, Christ became not only the wonderful One, but also the mysterious One. He is so wonderful, yet so mysterious.
Then in John 21, Peter was tested. They had nothing to live on, so Peter said that he was going fishing. Then all the others followed. They were fishing experts from their youth, yet they caught nothing after fishing all night. Then in the morning, Jesus was there. They could not stay away from Jesus. It does not say that Jesus came, but that Jesus was there. Wherever we go, Jesus is there. Jesus then told them to cast the net on the right side of the ship, and they caught a number of fish. This story tells us of a present Jesus. This is a Jesus that is always present with us, regardless of where we go or what we do. Today’s Jesus is a present Jesus, a constant Jesus, an instant Jesus, a ready Jesus, and an available Jesus. He is not only real and living, but also constant, instant, present, ready, and available. Praise the Lord that we have such a Jesus.