THE LIVING OF THE DIVINE LIFE THROUGH THE HUMAN LIFE
The fifth thing that the New Testament shows us is the living of Jesus. Since the beginning of human history, there has never been such a living as the one lived out by this bountiful One, the living of the divine life through a human with the human nature. The daily living, the daily walk, of Jesus was wonderful. On the one hand, such a living conquers all the enemies of God, and on the other hand, it expresses God, manifesting Him in a full way. Thus, this living is the very reality of the kingdom of God.
When we read the four Gospels, we should have a deep impression of the living of this Man, a living of the divine life through a human being. He was a genuine man, yet He lived not by Himself but by God as life (John 6:57). Therefore, He possessed the power and authority to conquer and subdue all of God’s enemies. At the same time He was able to express God, manifesting Him in His full glory. Such a living of the bountiful One was the reality of the kingdom of God.
THE IMPARTATION OF GOD’S DIVINE LIFE
The sixth main item revealed in the New Testament is the impartation of God’s life by the Lord’s death and resurrection (John 19:34; 20:22). By Christ’s living of the divine life through the human nature, He conquered the enemies of God and expressed God in full glory. In order for such a life and living to be ours, He had to pass through death and enter into resurrection. By His death and resurrection He imparted Himself into us as life in order to meet all our needs and fulfill the requirements of the kingdom.
The requirements of the kingdom can be fulfilled only by Christ Himself as life to us. The first three Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—give us the requirements of the kingdom. The Gospel of John supplies us with the life which fulfills the kingdom’s requirements. The kingdom is a matter of requirements, while life is the fulfillment. The first three Gospels show us what the kingdom requires, while the last Gospel tells us how life fulfills the requirements of the kingdom. This life can be ours only through Christ’s death and resurrection.
MAN BEING BROUGHT INTO GOD
After the Lord’s resurrection, the disciples were filled with the Spirit as breath within (John 20:22), and after His ascension, they were filled with the Spirit as power, as the rushing violent wind without (Acts 2:1-4). The breath is for life, and the rushing wind is for power. At this point, man was brought into God. By incarnation God was brought into man, and by resurrection and ascension man was brought into God. The Lord’s coming in incarnation brought God into man, and His going through death, resurrection, and ascension brought man into God. This is the seventh main item revealed in the New Testament.
By His incarnation, Christ brought God from heaven into man on the earth. At that time, there was a man on the earth with God in Him. However, man was not yet in God. Not until Christ died, resurrected, and ascended did Christ bring man into God. Therefore, today in heaven there is a man in God. In incarnation Christ brought God into man on the earth; in His resurrection and ascension He brought man into God in the heavens. What God desired to have was accomplished, for there was then a real mingling of God and man. God is in man and man is in God. God came into man by incarnation, and man is brought into God by Christ’s resurrection and ascension.
On this earth there was a man with God in Him, but there had never been a man in the heavens in God until Christ died, resurrected, and ascended. By His incarnation He brought His divine nature into man, and by His resurrection and ascension He brought the human nature into God. Now, God is in man and man is in God. God is in us on the earth, and we are in God in the heavens. We are hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). Through the Son of God, the Father is in us on the earth, and through Christ, we are in God in the heavens.
(General Sketch of the New Testament in the Light of Christ and the Church, A - Part 1: The Gospels and the Acts, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee)
