OUR BEING IN THE LORD AND IN THE FATHER,
AND THE LORD AND THE FATHER BEING IN US
When the Lord Jesus told the disciples He was going to die, they were disappointed. But He went on to speak to them further and further. Just before His death, He spoke a long message to them comprised of three chapters, John 14—16. In these three chapters the central thought is in verse 20 of chapter fourteen: "In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you." That day refers to the day of the Lord’s resurrection (John 20:19). On the day of the Lord’s resurrection the disciples would know three "ins": I am in the Father, you in Me, and I in you.
The Lord Jesus had already told the disciples that He was in the Father and that the Father was in Him (14:10-11). He furthermore told them that He and the Father were one (John 10:30). It was through His resurrection that the disciples entered into the same reality of the Father being in them, of them being in the Father, and of them and the Father being one. On that day the disciples would know that the Lord was in His Father and that they were in Him. Since the Lord was in the Father and they are now in Him, they are in the Father also. As long as they are in Him, they are in the Father because He is in the Father. To be in the Lord is to be in the Father. When the Lord gets in us ("I in you"), the Father gets in us. He is in us, so the Father is also in us (John 14:23). In John 14:20 the Lord says that we shall know this "in that day." We are already at "that day," so we all have to declare that we know this wonderful fact. We all have to declare that we are in the Lord and in the Father, and that the Lord and the Father are in us. This means that the Lord, we, and the Father indwell one another and are mingled together.
We are in the Lord, in the Father, and also in resurrection. When we are in resurrection, we are in the Lord and in the Father, and the Lord and the Father are in us. Resurrection is a person, and this person is Jesus Christ, the Son of God (John 11:25). The Lord Jesus told Martha that He was the resurrection and the life. He is not only life but also resurrection to us. This should not merely be a doctrine to us, but we must see a vision that in resurrection we are in the Lord and in the Father, and the Lord and the Father are in us.
RESURRECTED WITH CHRIST AND
REGENERATED IN HIS RESURRECTION
Ephesians 2:6 says, "And raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus." We the believers were raised up together with Christ. When Christ resurrected, we all were raised up. Actually, we were resurrected in Christ before we were born, about two thousand years ago. In God’s eyes we all were fallen in Adam six thousand years ago, and in God’s eyes we all were resurrected in Christ two thousand years ago. This is not according to human mathematics, but this is God’s way of calculation. Because this resurrection is life dispensing, 1 Peter 1:3 tells us that we were regenerated "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead." According to God’s way of calculation, we were regenerated, born again, before we were born. Before we experienced our first birth, we were reborn. This is God’s mathematics. When we were raised up together with Christ, we were regenerated with the divine life. When we were resurrected with Christ, the divine life was dispensed into us, so we were regenerated in Christ’s resurrection. This shows us again that resurrection is life dispensing.
(The Divine Economy, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee)
