IN THAT DAY
Let us read verses 19 and 20: "Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you."
Here the Lord tells us about the purpose behind His putting off the flesh and coming as the Spirit. The goal of this is that the believers may know that "I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you," that a full and perfect union may be realized. This fact would come about only "in that day," the day that Christ in the Spirit came into us. Only in that day would we know the oneness of having Christ in the Father, us in Christ, and Christ in us.
This union moreover transmits to us everything that God did in Christ and everything that God is through Christ. All of His becomes all of ours. God and man, man and God, become fully mingled into one.
ONE SPIRIT WITH CHRIST
Christ died and rose for us. But if He had not come to us in the Holy Spirit, salvation could not be accomplished. Christ could not be joined to us. He would be like the old tutor of mine, only wishing that somehow He could get inside of me.
But now Christ has taken on a spiritual form. He can come freely into us. We have the possibility of receiving Him because He is now in the Spirit. The Bible also says that "he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17). Christ is in the Spirit. All of us also have a spirit. When our spirit receives this Christ who is in the Spirit into us, the two become one spirit. This is the gem of our faith. Without this, our belief is a common religion with no relevance to our life. Without this, there cannot be an inward salvation.
A CLOSER CHRIST
Read again John 16:7: "But I tell you the truth, It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you." Here the Lord is telling us the truth of His death. As long as He was in His flesh, the Comforter could not come. When there was the Christ in the flesh, there could never be the Christ in the Spirit. This is why His death was expedient for us.
When I was in Shanghai, a friend said, "It is too bad that Christ ascended up to the heavens. If He were still on earth today, I would definitely go and seek after Him no matter how far He was from me. How I wish I could be like the disciples of His day, who had the privilege of walking, living, and eating together with the Master." As I was listening, I looked intently into his eyes and said, "I would never wish to be like Peter and John and those others!" He asked, "What do you mean?" "Do you know," I said, "that the Christ whom I know is far closer to me than the One that Peter knew on earth? Everyone who has received Christ should be able to say that our Christ is not merely the Christ in the flesh whom Peter touched; our Christ is the Christ in the Spirit. Their Christ was One who could be separated from them. He could be with them one day and be gone the next. Our Christ, however, abides with us forever. Wherever we are, there He is also. I am not afraid even of going to hell, for if I go, God in me will go with me."
(The Normal Christian Faith, Chapter 11, by Watchman Nee)
