ABIDING AND MINGLING
We can abide in Him, making Him our dwelling place. He can abide in us, making us His abode. What is this mutual abiding? It is a mingling.
The word mingled is used a number of times in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers in referring to the mingling of the fine flour with oil in the preparation of the offerings. The meal offering was made of unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil (Lev. 2:4). Fine flour signifies the humanity of Christ; the oil is related to His divinity. Christ as the meal offering presented to God was a mingling of humanity with divinity.
BY THE SPIRIT
When we abide in Christ and let Him abide in us, we are mingled together. How is it possible for one to abide in another? It would be impossible, except that He is the Spirit and we have a spirit. These two spirits are joined in one. The human spirit is joined to the divine Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). Some would make a distinction between being joined and being mingled. The Bible says He is the water for us to drink (John 7:37-39; 1 Cor. 10:4). Suppose we pour some milk into a glass of water. Are the two liquids joined yet not mingled? Can they help being mingled? It is illogical to make a distinction between these two words. We are mingled with Christ because He is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17) and we have a spirit. One day these two spirits came together. When this happened, they could not help but be mingled together.
“And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.…Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit” (1 John 3:24b; 4:13). In both these verses John tells us that we know we are abiding in Him and He in us because of the Spirit. By ourselves we are unable to abide, but by the Spirit we do abide in Him and have Him abiding in us.
In our previous message we said that we live Christ firstly by fellowship. Now we come to the second way. We live Christ by our mutual abiding with God. To abide is to remain in the mingled spirit. Within us is our spirit, mingled with the divine Spirit. It is here we must remain. This part of us must become our home. Here also we must allow God to make His home. We both live here. As long as we both have our dwelling place in this mingled spirit, spontaneously we are living Christ. Spontaneously there is fellowship. We two are one in this flowing life.
If this is our mutual abode, Christ is lived out in our speaking. He is lived out in whatever we do. He is lived out even in the attitudes we express. In loving our wife, we express Him. If we are humble, our humility is Christ lived out.
To live Christ is the issue of our abiding in Him and His abiding in us. We both make home in the same place, the mingled spirit. He and we are mingled as one spirit. This mingled spirit is our joint abode. This is what makes us joyful, living, and uplifted. We are in the mingled spirit, and this is our home!
(The Mending Ministry of John, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee)
