OUR NEED FOR CHRIST,
THE EMBODIMENT OF THE TRIUNE GOD,
TO BE BUILT INTO OUR BEING
We have pointed out that Job was mistaken in seeking to build up his integrity and perfection. Eventually, Job learned that what he needed was God. With Job, however, we cannot see the building. We need to realize, therefore, that it is not adequate simply to take God as our life and life supply. We today may say that Christ is everything to us: our life, our breath, our food and drink, our clothing, and our abode. Yet even to have Christ in all these aspects still is not adequate. We need Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God, to be built into our being, to be constituted into us. This is what Christ is doing today.
Philippians 3:7-11 speaks of pursuing Christ and gaining Christ. When I was a youth I heard that we should pursue Christ and gain Him. Later I discovered that it is not adequate even to pursue and gain Christ. We need the Christ who is dwelling in our spirit to build Himself into our heart, making our heart, with our humanity, His home.
Are you pursuing Christ? Are you gaining Christ? It is wonderful to be a person who is pursuing and gaining Christ, but this is not adequate. John 14 and Ephesians 3 both reveal that Christ comes into us not just to dwell, or abide, in us but especially for the purpose of making a home for Himself in our inner being. This is building.
GOD’S ECONOMY AND GOAL
ACCORDING TO HIS HEART’S DESIRE
BEING TO BUILD HIMSELF INTO MAN
AND TO BUILD MAN INTO HIM
Genesis 2 reveals the tree of life with a river and precious materials of gold, bdellium, and onyx stone. These materials are for building, for after this, God built a woman, Eve. This corresponds to the entire Bible. Christ came into us as the Spirit to be life to us. On the one hand, He is working within us to transform us into precious stones; on the other hand, He is building with Himself (divinity) and with us (humanity) to produce a home, a dwelling place. Eventually, this dwelling place, which is a mutual abode, will issue in the New Jerusalem.
This view of God’s building in the Bible indicates that God’s economy and goal according to His heart’s desire are just to build Himself into man and to build man into Him. We have seen that Athanasius said, "He [Christ] was made man that we might be made God." This means that as God’s children we are "baby gods," having the life and nature of God but not the Godhead. However, not even this is God’s goal. God in Christ is within us to build Himself into our being and to build us into His being. He builds His divinity into our humanity and builds our humanity into His divinity in order to mingle and blend His divinity with our humanity into one entity. This is like the meal offering: fine flour mingled with oil for the satisfaction of both God and man.
(Life-Study of 1 & 2 Samuel, Chapter 28, by Witness Lee)
