The special thought to which attention is called in this reading is the idea that an indwelling Christ is the Life and Power of the gospel, and the Life and Power of our experience in the gospel.
To many minds this is simply a theoretical idea, something that is talked about; but to have Jesus Christ abiding in us and dwelling in us as our Life and Power, as our Wisdom, as our Righteousness, as our all and in all, is an experience which many do not enter into; but the Scriptures teach distinctly that our hope is in this experience. The gospel is set forth as being Christ in you, the hope of glory !
Note: Some Scripture references have been added in italics, to the original article.
CHRIST is the central thought of the gospel (Glad Tidings); for it is “the gospel of God . . . concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” An indwelling Christ is the power and Life of the gospel.
“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation.” “We preach Christ crucified : . . . Christ the power of God.” “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is Life because of righteousness.” Romans 1:16, 8:10
And Christ said, “Abide in Me and I in you . . . . for without Me ye can do nothing.” And just as He was departing from His disciples in His bodily presence, He made this promise, “Lo, I Am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
It seems very important that we should understand God’s plan for us
in this idea of an indwelling Saviour, that we may be able to cooperate more intelligently with God (Jehovah, Yehuwah) in His plan and work, and that we may be able to realize more fully the greatness of the Blessing which is bestowed upon us in the gift of Jesus Christ.
“I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He (The Father) may abide with you forever.”This was Christ’s Word to His disciples just before He departed from the world. He was going away, but there would be another Comforter that would abide with them forever, “. . . even the Spirit of Truth; 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.”
“Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?”In the preceding verse is recorded this promise: “I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.”Not simply some power and life, not something else, but He would manifest Himself unto them. Then Judas made the inquiry, “How is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My Words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.”
“These things I have spoken unto you, being yet present with you [or abiding with you]. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost (Spirit), Whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:16-26
The special thought to which attention is called in this reading is the idea that
an indwelling Christ is the Life and Power of the gospel, and the Life and Power of our experience in the gospel. To many minds this is simply a theoretical idea, something that is talked about; but to have Jesus Christ abiding in us and dwelling in us as our Life and Power, as our Wisdom, as our Righteousness, as our all and in all, is an experience which many do not enter into; but the Scriptures teach distinctly that our hope is in this experience. The gospel is set forth as being Christ in you, the hope of glory !
Paul’s experience in the gospel was this: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.
“For we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the Power of GOD, and the Wisdom of GOD !
. . . For of Him (by GOD) are ye in Christ Jesus, Who of (by) GOD is made unto us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption (deliverance, salvation, atonement). That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory (boast) in the Lord (Adoni – Sovereign King) !” I Corinthians 1:23-31
“In His days Judah shall be saved (rescued, delivered, set free), and Israel shall dwell safely (ref: Luke 1:74-75): and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS !”
Jeremiah 23:5-6 & 33:14-16
There is no success in the Christian life outside of this experience; this is the secret of piety (devotion, zeal, sacred, holiness); this is the mystery of godliness, and this experience has been made possible for us by the Life and work, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the flesh. ref: I Timothy 3:16.
Christ’s work for us was not completed when He was here.
He lived His life in the flesh, was crucified, was raised from the dead, and ascended on high, in order that He may live that same Life in us! . . . .
In order that the example which He set before us in His own Life might become an experience in our lives. But when He went away He did not leave us, He did not give up His work for us. It was expedient that He should go away, “for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you,” and the work which was wrought in Christ in the flesh during His earthly career, is the very work which He desires, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to work in us during our earthly career.
Christ thus completely identified Himself with our flesh when He was here, and thus connected Himself with our humanity, that He might identify Himself with each one of us, and might live in us and work in us to the glory of His name !
It may help us to understand this if we know something of Christ’s experience in the flesh, because He was our example, and what God wrought in Him, He desires to work in us through Christ.
“For it is GOD which worketh in you both to will, and to do of His good pleasure !” Philippians 2:13
“Let this mind (Spirit) be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus . . . !” Philippians 2:5
“Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ !” Philippians 1:6
He came, and submitted Himself to God’s mind and will and working in the flesh, in order to set an example, and open the way to the possibility of the same thing in us. We do not live up to the privileges God has provided for us. We take too narrow a view of His plan concerning us. We have become so accustomed to the great power of sin, and to the conquest of sin over us, that we are not fully awake to the great power of Christ, and His conquest (Victory) over sin !
“Thanks be to GOD which giveth us the victory through our Lord (Adoni – Sovereign King) Jesus Christ !”
I Corinthians 15:57
“Sing O daughter of Zion; Shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The LORD (Jehovah, Yehuwah) hath taken away thy judgments, He hath cast out thine enemy: the King of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst (heart) of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more !” Zephaniah 3:14-15
“Awake, awake; put on the Strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments . . . . Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for your flesh . . . . O Jerusalem, the holy city . . . the city and people which are called by Thy Name . . . for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean !
Romans 13:14, Daniel 9:19
. . . . And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a Word is this! For with authority and power He commendeth the unclean spirits, and they come out !” Luke 4:36
Shake thyself from the dust; Arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus saith the LORD (Jehovah, Yehuwah), Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be Redeemed without money!” Isaiah 52:1-3, ref: I Peter 1:18-19
For “the LORD thy God (Elohim) in the midst (heart) of thee is Mighty . . . . For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government (empire, to prevail, to have power) shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God . . . . He will save (deliver, rescue, set free, get victory)! He will rejoice over thee (you) with joy; He will rest (engrave, carve, build) in His love, He will joy over thee with singing !”
Zephaniah 3:14-17, Isaiah 9:6
“Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for Great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee !”
Isaiah 12:1-6
While we are made to realize the power of sin, we are to believe also in the power of Christ to give us the victory over sin !
We should believe because of what God has done for us in Christ, and what He purposes to do for us in Christ; because the work of Christ was not simply to do something for us back there, but that He should be able to give Himself to us here, and to live in us here, and to work in us here.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (creation): old things are passed away; Behold, all things are become new !” II Corinthians 5:17
It is true that when Christ was here, He could have wrought works in His Own power which we cannot do, but it is also true that He did not work His works in His Own power, but became wholly an example unto us in allowing God’s power through the Spirit to rest upon Him, and to work through Him.
This is the testimony which Nicodemus bore to the work of Christ: “There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that Thou art a Teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with Him.” John 3: 1-2. Christ, referring to the works which He had wrought, presents it in this way:
“Believest thou not that I Am inthe Father, and the Father in Me? The Words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.
Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me.”Christ’s life was simply the Life of the indwelling Father, not His Own; the works that He wrought were not His Own works, but the works of the Father that dwelt in Him. “The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.” John 14:10
“For GOD is a Spirit; and they that worship (serve) Him must worship Him in Spirit, and in Truth !”
John 4:24
“Sanctify them through Thy Truth: Thy Word is Truth (Verily So)!” John 17:17
“For the Words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are Life !” John 6:63
In Peter’s talk to Cornelius and his company, he told them “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; Who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.” Acts 10:38. These are the works that He did; for God was with Him !
Nicodemus said, “We know that Thou art a Teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with Him;” and Christ Himself said, “The Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.” God was with Him as His indwelling Life and Power !
How this experience was accomplished is made plain by the scripture, “For He Whom God has sent speaketh the Words of God; for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.” The Spirit was not given by measure; it was the fulness of the indwelling Father. John 3:34 (ref: Proverbs 8:22).
“For it pleased the Father that in Him (Christ) should all fulness dwell.” Colossians 1:19. “For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead (Divinity, Deity) bodily.” Colossians 2:9. That is to say, God was in Christ, working in Him, reconciling the world unto Himself (II Corinthians 5:19), and He dwelt in Him in His fulness by giving the Spirit to Him without measure !
That was the Father dwelling in Him, and the Father dwelling in Him was the working power in Him. Not
that Christ had no power of Himself, and could not have worked Himself, but we must keep before our minds continually that Christ voluntarily took a position that His Own character did not require Him to take, in order to help us out of the position that we are in, where we cannot help ourselves. He consented to this experience of living wholly by the life of another, keeping His Own self in abeyance (expectancy of an inheritance pending), in order that Another’s Self might appear in Him, to be an example for us, and further, in order that this experience might be possible for us.
There is a wonderful mystery about the incarnation
of Christ, that His experience in the flesh should be our experience in the flesh by His dwelling in us. And when He came to identify Himself with flesh, and to dwell in flesh, it was not simply to dwell in flesh in Galilee, but everywhere where flesh would submit itself to His indwelling. (ref: John 17:20-23).
This is why Christ identifies Himself so closely with His followers, because it is He Himself in His followers. This is not to be regarded as a shadowy experience, beyond our daily life. This is to be our daily life, and we are to rise above the idea that the power to live is in ourselves, and that we have to depend upon our own might.
To set forth the example of Christ without the power of Christ is of little avail.
God has not left us simply with Christ’s Life before us as an example, but Christ came in the flesh, came to live the life of righte-ousness, identifying Himself with human flesh, in order that He might through all time identify Himself complete-ly with His followers, and that He might live in them, to be life and power and wisdom and righteousness to them.
The Life that Christ lived in Judea is the Life which we are to lay hold of by faith in the Promises of God !
“Whereby are given unto us, exceeding great and precious Promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature . . . !” II Peter 1:4
Now the giving of the Holy Spirit is the giving of Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit is the Presence of Christ in us (Colossians 1:27, II Corinthians 3:17), and the power of the Holy Spirit is the power of Christ in us, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the indwelling of Christ in us, for the Holy Spirit is Christ’s actual representative ! Ephesians 3:16-18.
Let us read of the Promises of the giving of the Holy Spirit and their fulfillment, that we may see what it means to us. “And behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in Jerusalem until ye be endued with (or clothed with) power from on high.” “And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power . . . .
But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost (Spirit) is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses (John 5:36, 10:25) unto Me, both in Jerusalem and in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” Acts 1:7-8.
They were to be endued with, or clothed with, power from on high, and the Promise is, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you !” Now observe how this works out in experience, “But put ye on [or be clothed with] the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” Romans 13:14. Be clothed with power from on high, and be clothed with Jesus Christ, Who is the power of God. (Galatians 3:27, Romans 6:3). Paul in writing to the Ephesians, speaks of this power.
“And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places (heavens).”
Ephesians 1:19-20
“Thus saith the LORD (Jehovah, Yehuwah), The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: where is the house that ye build unto Me? and where is the place of My Rest (abode, permanent dwelling) ? . . . But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, trembleth at My Word !”
Isaiah 66:1-2 & Acts 7:48-49
“What ? Know ye not . . . that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ! . . . for ye are the temple of the Living God; as GOD hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God (Elohim – Mighty One), and they shall be My people !”
I Corinthians 3:16, 6:19 & II Cor. 6:16
“For ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now (but) if any man have not the Spirit of Christ (The Anointed One, Anointing), he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, then the body is dead because of sin . . . for I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live . . . but the Spirit is Life, because of righteousness . . . yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the Life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of GOD, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me . . . . for the just (justified, declared innocent, righteous) shall live by faith !” Romans 8:9-10, Galatians 2:20, Romans 1:16-17
What power was that? “For Christ hath also once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened (brought to Life) by the Spirit.” I Peter 3:18. In Ephesians we read about the exceeding greatness of the power by which Christ was raised from the dead, and here we learn what that mighty power was. He was quickened by the Spirit.
So we read again in the Epistle to the Romans: “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal [death-doomed] bodies, by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Romans 8:11
That is, Christ was made alive by the power of the Spirit; we are to be made alive by the power of the Spirit (Romans 6:4); and then that same Spirit by Whose power Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, and by Whose power we are made alive from the dead, dwells in us with the same life-giving power. That is God dwelling in us by His own representative, the Holy Spirit. That is, the indwelling Saviour, and the measure of His mighty power, is shown by the power that raised Him from the dead.
So Paul writes further in his Epistle to the Ephesians: “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the Power that worketh in us.” What was the power that worked in Christ ?
God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost, and the indwelling Father by His Holy Spirit was the power that wrought in Him (John 14:10). What is the power that is to work in us? – It is the power of the same Spirit of Christ which works in us. But Christ is the power of God, and the indwelling Spirit is the representative of God dwelling in each one of us, not simply dwelling in flesh and being among us, but dwelling in flesh by being in us.
If that power dwells in us, we have the victory over our enemies, for He that is for us is more than all they that can be against us! (II Kings 6:16). Let us grasp the thought that Christ does dwell in our hearts by the Holy Spirit; that the Holy Spirit, the “other Comforter“, is with us to abide with us.
“ For greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world !” I John 4:4
“. . . the spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience.” Ephesians 2:2
Again we read: “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out (accomplish) your own Salvation (deliverance, freedom, healing) with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13. It was God Who wrought in Christ by His Holy Spirit. By Christ’s work for us, He made it possible for that Spirit to be poured out on us, that God in Christ by the gift of the Holy Spirit should work in us also by His own mighty power, exactly as He worked in Christ. Yet we are told that we are to work out our own Salvation, because His mighty power is always with us with our consent. Not that we are to use the power. The power is to use us, but the power does not mold us contrary to our will.
The power is God’s; the responsibility is ours. God continually exalts the man whom He has made in His own image, by never over-riding his will in this matter.
“If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land !” Isaiah 1:19
“O taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusteth in Him !” Psalm 34:8
“That the Blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through faith !” Galatians 3:14
Read again in the Epistle to the Colossians: “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Where-unto I also labor, according to His working, which worketh in me mightily.” That is Christ in you, the hope of glory. The Holy Spirit is given to us to continue the work which Christ began when He was on earth. The Holy Spirit is the actual representative of Christ on earth, and as the actual representative (Presence) of Christ, It dwells in us, and is the power of God through Christ to work out God’s plan concerning us.
You will see how clear this is made by further Scripture: “I am come in My Father’s name, and ye receive Me not;” “I have manifested Thy name to the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me; and they have kept Thy Word.” “I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (ref: Exodus 23:21)
Christ came in His Father’s name to declare His name, and being One in Whom was the name of God, was the complete representative of God in the world, and His work was to represent the character of God.
“Behold I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him, and obey His voice . . . for My name is in Him.” Exodus 23:20-21.
“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost (Spirit), Whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:27. All that it meant to have Christ come in His Father’s name, to manifest His Father’s name (Exodus 33-34) as One in Whom the Father’s name was (ref: Revelation 14:1-5), it means to have the Holy Ghost come in Christ’s name, to declare His name, to manifest His name (character), to represent Him; and just as Christ was on the earth as the representative of the Father, so the Holy Spirit is in the earth (in us) to represent Christ.
In representing Christ It is representing God, because it is God in Christ, and because it is Christ’s will to do His Father’s will continually. It is not a separate interest, but the Holy Spirit comes to represent Christ and to do continually His work, which was to represent His Father.
“ (ekh-awd – united, joined in thought and purpose); as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be One in Us: so that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me !”
John 17:21
So the work to be done now is the same as the work then, – to bring the character of God back to the earth, and to show the character of God in human flesh; and that work is to go on in us that the character of God may be represented to the world in us by His indwelling Spirit, just as it was represented in Christ Jesus. And Christ’s work of giving Himself, the sacrifice of Himself for us, is going forward now . . . .
And in giving us the Holy Spirit continually, He is giving Himself, because He says, “I will love him and will manifest myself to him.” “Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more, but ye see Me; because I live ye shall live also. In that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.” John 14:20
That complete union by which we, and Christ, and the Father are brought into union of Life is accom-plished by the Spirit. The Spirit which is to be sent is the Spirit of Truth, and it is the Spirit of Life in Jesus Christ, and it is the Spirit of God. That is what binds God the Father and Christ His son and their followers together in One. It is more than can be done by that sort of persuasion which brings one mind into harmony with another; it is not merely agreement in sentiment, but union of Life. And that union of life is by the power of the Holy Spirit.
“For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. For this cause (reason) shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church (congregation) !” Ephesians 5:30-32
This was Christ’s prayer: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on Me through their word. That they may all be One, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.” John 17:21
And that is made possible by the interflow of Life between Them. So Christ was in the Father, and the Father in Him by this interflow of Life, and His desire is, “as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us.”
The testimony to the Divinity of the character of Christ, to the work of Jesus Christ on earth, is in the lives of His followers. The convincing power of the Christian life is what is done for the followers of Jesus Christ, is what Christ does in His followers. That is what makes real to the world the claims of Christianity.
Christ is the One Who mediates between God and us.
By His taking our human flesh and standing between humanity and Divinity as a union of humanity and Divinity, He becomes the Way, the channel through which God dwells in us by His Holy Spirit. God dwells in Christ by His Holy Spirit, and Christ by taking humanity, connected humanity with Divinity in Himself, so that when we become connected with Christ, we become connected with a humanity in which dwells Divinity. With this connection between us and Christ, that Divine power can dwell in us. Christ came in the flesh in order that there might be Divine power for us. When man sinned, he cut himself off from this power, but Christ’s work was to make it possible that that Divine power might come again to him.
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive !”I Corinthians 15:22
Do not be afraid of believing that Christ means exactly what He says, and that everything set forth in the Scriptures is for each one of us personally.
It does not avail for us to see that Christ intended it for us, but it is necessary for us to grasp it as ours by living faith. When we see that it is God’s plan, we are to believe that it is so, rejoice and be glad, and give thanks that it is so, and grasp that very power and Life by faith in the Promises of God; and we are to submit oursel-ves to the power and work of God. This experience will take out of our lives all cheapness and commonness, all lightness and trifling.
It will bring a new dignity into our lives, when we really believe that Jesus Christ actually lives in us and that it is His power that works in us to work out the character of God. That life means something. If we constantly look to Him, then we may believe that it is God that is working in us, and so our lives may be to His glory in representing the character of Christ, and representing the character of God in Christ in the daily experience of our lives.
The words which we speak will not be our own words, the works which we work will not be our own works. Jesus Christ will work in us, glorifying His own name continually. That is the work of the Holy Spirit as shown in the life of Jesus Christ ! “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God?” I Corinthians 6:19
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” When the Spirit of God dwells in us, we are the temple of God, because it is God dwelling in us by His Spirit. “And ye are not your own.” I Corinthians 3:16. Our bodies are not our own with which to express our own character, but our bodies are for the Holy Spirit to use with which to work out and express God’s character. “Ye are not your own.” The body is not ours to use; it is God’s to use by the Holy Spirit !
“And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the Living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” II Corinthians 6:16.
God wants to dwell in us. Shall we refuse Him admittance, and set up idols in His place? “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” This is the same thing which is set forth by the prophet Isaiah:
“For thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, Whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive [to give new life to] the spirit of the humble, and to revive [to give new life to] the heart of the contrite ones.” Isaiah 57:15
It is God’s eternal purpose in Jesus Christ that this should be so !
But let us read the Scripture further: “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is Life because of righteousness.”
Romans 8:9-10.
By reading that verse carefully, it becomes evident that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ are made identical. When the Spirit of God dwells in us, that is the Spirit of Christ, it is Christ Himself in us. “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal [death-doomed] bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Romans 8:11
Note: “In the beginning was the Word . . . . In Him was Life; and the Life was the Light of men . . . and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten (the Only One brought into being) of the Father, full of Grace and Truth !” John 1:1-14.
“Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat (food) which endureth unto everlasting life !
. . . For the Bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth Life unto the world. And Jesus said unto them, I Am the Bread (shewbread, raised bread, bread of Countenance) of Life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst !” John 6:27-35
“It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeded out of the mouth of Almighty God !” Matthew 4:4, Deuteronomy 8-9
As that Spirit gave life to Christ Who was dead, so that Spirit coming upon us, will Quicken us and give us new life, and raise us up to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. “Therefore brethren [observe the conclusion], we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after (by or for) the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die, but if ye through the Spirit do mortify (put to death) the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Romans 8:12-13
“For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death !”
Romans 8:2
That is to say, the Holy Spirit, Christ dwelling in us, is to be the power that overcomes these evil traits, these evil habits in us, and puts to death these deeds of the body.
The same thought is brought out in another scripture: “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Galatians 5:24. God has given us His Spirit, and the power of Christ is to work in us. If we live after the flesh we shall surely die, but if we live after the Spirit . . . The Words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are Life ! . . . we shall put to death the deeds of the flesh; we shall live, but it is Christ living in us ! ref: Romans 6:3-14, Colossians 2:11-13
We are now in the time of the Latter Rain,
and we are told to pray for the Spirit of God, for the power of the Spirit. This means the fulness of the indwelling Christ. The image of God, as shown in Jesus Christ, is to be perfected in those that are prepared for translation just before the second coming of Christ to receive His Own (ref: I Thessalonians 4:13-17, I Corinthians 15:51-55, John 11:23-26 & Revelation 20:4-6), who bear fully His image. There must be at that time the fulness of the indwelling Christ, and Christ must be all and in all. He must be all there is in every one. There must be none of self. This means the complete death of self, and the fulness of the indwelling Saviour.
We read this in another way: “Arise, shine; for thy Light is come, and the glory of the LORD (Jehovah, Yehuwah) is risen upon thee.”Isaiah 60:1. “The people which sat in darkness saw great Light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, Light is sprung up.” Isaiah 9:2, Matthew 4:16, Luke 1:79
“For Almighty God, Who commanded the Light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light (the revelation, revealing) of the knowledge (knowing) of the glory of Jehovah in the face of Jesus Christ !” II Corinthians 4:6
“The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make His Face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up His Countenance upon thee, and give thee Peace (Shalom) !” Numbers 6:23-27
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid !” “ For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things !” John 14:27 & I John 3:20
“Arise, shine; for thy Light is come.” Who is our Light? – Christ is our Light ! The glory of the LORD is risen upon us in the giving of His Spirit. That makes us a light that we may shine. We cannot rise and give light unless we have light. Christ is our Light, and wherever He is, the people who sit in darkness will see great Light.
As the Spirit of Christ comes upon us in this time of the Latter Rain, the people will see great Light, because we will have the Light of the Spirit of Christ. The experience we need is the power of the indwelling Christ. The LORD is not seeking for those who are merely wealthy, talented, or educated. God is seeking for those who are willing to be instruments in His hands, to show forth the power and glory of His name!
He can take each company of believers and make them a power, if they will every one submit wholly to Him. God will give us a power in our assemblies; He will make even the synagogue of Satan acknowledge that God is with us (ref: Revelation 3:9). When we are willing to take the humble position that it is all of Christ and none of self, when we are fully submitted to Christ that He may work in us, then He will manifest His power, and that is what He desires to do.
Shall we, who believe in the power of God, allow the enemy to triumph over us ? The enemy is working to hinder God’s work, to counteract what God has accomplished. Shall we allow him to triumph over us?
Jesus Christ is not dead. He is a living Saviour !
And He desires to be an indwelling Saviour in every one of us, to show forth the praises and the glory of His name. God wants us to advance in the Truth . . . . Thy Word is Truth (Verily So) ! . . . that every one may see that there is something to this message besides simply a difference in theory; that it is the power of God that is working in Truth; that this people are not simply a people who have a different theory, but that they are the people of God.
That is what will win souls to the Truth. Many people can see that the seventh day is the Sabbath, but there must be the power of God to win them to the Truth. What we need is that same power, or we shall give up the Truth !
There is nothing but the power of God
always working out the Truth (His Living Word) in us which is able to keep us. Having merely stepped out to obey the Truth does not keep us in the love of God. Past exper-ience will never answer for the present. We must continue day by day to have the experience of the power of God with us. That is the only thing which will keep us, but the power of Christ can do this, and that is the blessedness of the Gospel.
Let Jesus come into our hearts, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, taking complete control, bringing every thought into captivity, and then we shall glorify Him continually.
W. W. PRESCOTT. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 636.1}