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CHRIST IN THE FLESH

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 16, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 49.

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CHRIST IN THE FLESH.

By Mrs. M. E. Steward

BY MRS. M. E. STEWARD.
"EVERY spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God." 1 John 4:2, 3.
"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." John 1:14. Does not our text, "Jesus Christ is come in the flesh," mean more than this? The next verse reads, "Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world."
How did Christ come into the world at first? Please read Luke 1:26-38. None can ever solve this mystery; but this we know, the angel told Mary, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." The angel added, as though what he had said to her were almost more than her faith could grasp, "With God nothing shall be impossible." In submission and confidence, Mary said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word."
It is also by the Holy Spirit, the direct "power of the highest," that we receive Christ, which is being "born again." John 3:3-8; Eph. 2:10. Like Mary, the soul must not only submit to God, but it must be receptive before him, and its faith must grasp the work of spiritual regeneration. "If you believe the promise,—believe that you are forgiven and cleansed,—God supplies the fact."—Steps to Christ, p. 53.
So it is when Christ comes into the soul. He is in the promises, because he is the Word (John 1:1,14); and when you accept the Word, the life and spirit which are in the Word (John 6:63) beget a holy life in you, which is nothing less than "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Col. 1:27. "He that hath the Son hath life" (1 John 5:12), that is, the life of Christ, which is life eternal. Then can we say with Paul, "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."