The Indwelling Christ

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 23, 1896

The Indwelling Christ

The Indwelling Christ.—When Jesus went away from earth, he promised his disciples, “Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world.” Matt. 28:20.

Not to a Special Number.—This did not mean that he would be with a special number alone, that is, to those who saw him ascend from Olivet, or who heard his voice as he uttered the promise. It was to all 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 included all believers in the Gospel of Christ.

Not to a Special Age.—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. Just as long as that Christ would be with his true disciples, granting them of the “all power,” according to the promise. The promise of Christ’s presence is, therefore, for this generation, and for us if we are his, if we bear the test of discipleship. “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.”

Dwelling in the Church.—The promise is to the church of Christ. He uses the plural, “Lo, I am with you.” Through the apostle Paul he said: “For 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.” And still again the apostle speaks of the Christian church, “Ye . . . are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus 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 an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

“If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.”

By the Spirit.—This last scripture also reveals how the Lord dwells with his people, namely, by his Spirit. Jesus promised, “I will not leave you comfortless [or orphans], I will come to you.” In those wonderful chapters, the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth chapters of John, we are told how Christ will dwell with his people, not by his personal presence, but as he could not dwell with them by his personal presence, he would send the Comforter, the Holy Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, elsewhere called the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God. When Christ was personally here, he could be in but one place at one time; but the Spirit is everywhere present with his people. It is life and power flowing out from the great Fountain of Life, manifested in all the various gifts, so beautifully 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 creeds of those who are dead. 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 of God by dwelling in the members who make up 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.” It 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, molding, reforming, recreating the character, so that the believer will say: “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in 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 he might live God’s life in us, in order that the life that is in him “might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” 2 Cor. 4:11.

The Mystery of God.—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). As elsewhere expressed: “To whom [the saints] 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.” Col. 1:27. This is Jesus Christ come in the flesh, not merely that he came two thousand years ago, but is come now in our flesh, Christ living in me. See 1 John 4:2-4. This only is true confession of Christ. It is not confession in mere words, it is backed by a fruit-bearing life. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness [unto right doing]; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Rom. 10:10. A belief that stops

short of doing righteousness is spurious, and a confession that is not based upon 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 that 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.