Scripture reading: John 17:23
One wonders how is this marriage between God and man going to be? What is it going to be like? Of course, when a man and a woman are married, we know what it is like. The Scripture says they should become “one flesh.” In their imperfections, sometimes, they are really divided. Thinking of this marriage as God would have it in perfection, what will it be like? In John 14:17 Jesus explains the entrance of the Spirit into the human body, the human being, and the soul. “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.” It is like saying they become “ONE FLESH” – God in man, dwelling in man, being part of man’s function. Therefore, man would have to be changed. His daily function, his mind operation, the operation of his soul, his very feelings have to be changed because there is an incorporation of God inside of the man. This man, who has received the baptism of the Holy Ghost in his spirit and whose soul the Holy Ghost is trying and striving to get into, cannot function like an ordinary man.
Judas, His brother, could not understand it. Verse 22, “Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” Think of two people sitting together and God is manifesting to one and not to the other. Verse 23, “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.” This “with him” could be translated “within him.” The human being cannot love God UNLESS he begins to hate some of the things of this world. Only then, the love of God begins to come into him. God is contrary to most of what is transpiring here in this life.
Jesus continues to explain to Judas. Verse 26, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, 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.” Jesus meant that man would have an inward tutor, the Holy Ghost, that would begin to teach him. When he hears something that is not of God, something inside of him says, “No, No!” There is a little “No No” spirit inside of him. If he continues to listen to that small voice then the voice becomes bigger, and he becomes surer of what the voice is saying. That is how God begins to direct the man from the inside.
John 17 shows us something more of this marriage that is taking place. In verse 23a Jesus describes it and He says, “I in them (that means Christ in us), and thou in me (the Father is in Christ, therefore we have Christ and the Father), that they may be made perfect in one.” One sign that must come forth from BEING ONE is being IN CHRIST. Christ in us is so that we will get IN CHRIST. We become one IN CHRIST. Verse 23b, “and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” The union then is no longer just a unity but a UNION. This union brings man into a oneness with God, because one person is in Christ, and the other person is in Christ.
The words “IN CHRIST” are specific. The man “in Christ” is not part of himself anymore, he is no longer part of his family, BUT HE IS PART OF GOD. It is like you being inside a person – you do not make the decisions, the person makes the decisions. If I am “in Christ,” wherever Christ goes, I go. When I have Christ in me, wherever I go, Christ has to go. If Christ says to you, “Do not go to such and such a place” and you go there, He cannot leave you because you went there. He is still in you but you took Him where He did not want to go. When you are “IN CHRIST,” He takes you where you do not want to go. He is the controlling factor in your life. He is the head, and you are only a part of the Body. The Body does not lead the head. It is the head that leads the Body.
The union of the marriage of Christ and the church is when Christ is the head. If Christ is your head and Christ is my head, and we are all functioning under the same head, then we must be united. There is no way that we can be separated. My right hand cannot be separated from my left hand when they both are being motivated and ordered by the same brain. So it is with every part of my body. God gave the beautiful body as a type of His great kingdom so that we would understand more perfectly what He requires.
(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 3, pages 48-50)
Thought for today: The man “in Christ” is not part of himself anymore, he is no longer part of his family BUT HE IS PART OF GOD.
Sonlight Devotional 