p. 6 (390) | THE INDWELLING CHRIST

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 22, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 25.

THE INDWELLING CHRIST.

When Jesus went away from earth, He promised His disciples, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Matt. 28:20.

This did not mean that He would be with a special number alone; that is, with those who saw Him ascend from Olivet, or who heard His voice as He uttered the promise. It was to all of His disciples; for “God is no respecter of persons.” Jesus said: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also that shall believe on Me through their word.” The “you” of the promise includes all believers in the Gospel of Christ.

The promise was not to that age or generation alone. It was to the end of the world or age, as long as the age-lasting Gospel would be preached. So long would Christ be with His true disciples, according to the promise. The promise is, therefore, to us if we bear the test of discipleship: “If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed.”

The promise is to the church of Christ. Our Lord uses the plural, “Lo, I am with you.” Through the apostle Paul He said: “Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them.” Again: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?” “Ye . . . are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.”

This last scripture reveals how the Lord dwells with His people, by His Spirit. Jesus promised, “I will not leave you comfortless [orphans]; I will come to you.” And in those wonderful chapters, John 14, 15, 16, we are told how Christ will dwell with His people, not by His personal presence, but by the Comforter, the Holy Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of Christ and of God. When Christ was personally here, He could be in but one place at a time; but His Spirit is everywhere present with His children, carrying with it the very presence of Christ. It is life and power flowing out from the great Fountain of Life, manifested in all the gifts, so beautifully and clearly set forth in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4. It is God dwelling in and manifesting His power in that church which has not rejected His commandments for the traditions of men, which has not set aside His living Word for the dead creeds of dead hands. Christ still walks among the candlesticks.

Not to the Church Alone.

But it is not to the church alone, as a body or congregation, that Christ comes by His Spirit. It does not dwell in the church as a man dwells among men. It dwells in the church by dwelling in those who compose the church. So Jesus promises: “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.” Of the Spirit He says: “He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”

This presence is Christ in us, dwelling in our hearts by faith (Eph. 3:17); not as a sentiment, or an emotion, or in theory, but as a life principle, moulding, purifying, re-forming, re-creating the character, so that the believer can truly say: “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.” Christ, when here, lived God’s life. God’s life was manifest in the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth, in order that Jesus might live God’s life in us; that the life that is in Him “might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”

This is the mystery, or secret of godliness, God manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16), triumphing over sin and sinful tendencies (Rom. 8:3), “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). This is Jesus Christ come in the flesh, not merely that He came nineteen centuries ago, but is come now, living in our flesh, living in me, if we but believe. 1 John 4:2-4.

This only is true confession of Christ; not confession in words only, but confession backed by a fruit-bearing life. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness [right-being, right-doing]; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Rom. 10:10. A belief that is satisfied short of a life of righteousness is spurious, and a confession that is not based on such a belief will profit nothing in the day of judgment, however it may deceive men or ourselves.

But the faith that lets Christ into the life, that takes His life for the life of sin, knows the mystery, the secret, of godliness, or piety, “because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” There is all victory in such faith—victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. Men may take advantage of us in worldly concerns, they may malign us, and abuse us, may persecute us, and even put us to death, but still we conquer, for in us is the life of Him who has power over death, and in whom we eternally triumph. “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Rom. 8:10, 11. Blessed life, the life of Christ! Blessed power that comes by that life! Blessed companionship in Him! And, blessed thought! it is free to all.