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In the previous message we saw that the Lord Jesus is the Son of David and the Son of Abraham. Now we must go on to see that He is also Christ. The title Christ is emphasized in Matthew 1:16 to prove that Jesus is the very Christ, the Messiah, prophesied in the Old Testament.
Concerning Jesus’ being the Christ, John 1:41 says, “He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, We have found the Messiah (which translated means Christ).” Messiah is Hebrew; Christ is Greek. Christ is the anglicized form of the Greek word Christos. Both Messiah in Hebrew and Christos in Greek mean “the anointed One.” The term Messiah, the anointed One, is used in Daniel 9:26: “After the sixty-two weeks Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing.” This refers to Jesus Christ, who is the anointed One. Christ is God’s Anointed, the One appointed by God to accomplish God’s purpose, His eternal plan.
Jesus is the Christ for us to participate in His kingship (Rev. 20:4b, 6b). Our receiving the Lord Jesus as the King-Savior does not only bring us into the kingdom of God; it also brings us into the participation in Jesus’ kingship. In other words, our receiving the King-Savior makes us part of the King. We, then, become His co-kings. Even today, all believers who walk in the divine way are kings, and the divine authority is with them. With such believers there is something special — the divine kingship. Therefore, we may experience and enjoy Christ as the One who brings us into the participation in His kingship.
The Lord Jesus is Jehovah our Savior. Matthew 1:21 says, “She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.” The name Jesus includes the name Jehovah. Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Joshua (Num. 13:16), which means “Jehovah the Savior,” or “the salvation of Jehovah.” Therefore, Jesus is not only a man but also Jehovah, and not only Jehovah but Jehovah becoming our Savior, our salvation.
The Lord Jesus is God incarnate. It was through incarnation that He, Jehovah, became Jehovah our Savior. Jehovah means “I Am” (Exo. 3:14). Only God is the eternal One. From eternity past to eternity future, He is the I Am. Because the Lord Jesus is Jehovah incarnate, He could say of Himself, “Before Abraham came into being, I am” (John 8:58). Through incarnation Jehovah became our Savior.
As Jehovah our Savior the Lord Jesus saves us from our sins. He saves us from our sin and sins, from all the besetting sins in our daily life, from the evil power of Satan, from everything God condemns, and from all negative things. Day by day we may experience, enjoy, and even express Christ as our Savior and as our salvation, saving us from every sin, both small and great. Whenever we call upon Him to save us, He is Jehovah our Savior, Jehovah our salvation.
We may also experience and enjoy Christ as Emmanuel. “‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel,’ (which is translated, God with us)” (Matt. 1:23). In His humanity, Jesus, God incarnate, is Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus was the name given by God, whereas Emmanuel was the name called by man. Jesus the Savior is God with us. He is God incarnated to dwell among us (John 1:14). He is not only God but God with us. Without Him we cannot meet God, for He is God. Without Him we cannot find God, for He is God incarnate. Therefore, when we call on the Lord Jesus, we have the sense that God is with us.
Christ is the complete God becoming a perfect man. Hence, He is both the complete God and the perfect man, possessing genuine divinity and real humanity. As the almighty God, He has the capacity in His divinity and the capacity in His humanity to meet all of our need in every way. We need Him in His divine capacity that we may be divine as He is. We need Him in His humanity that we may be human as He is in the highest standard of humanity. Therefore, by Him, with Him, and in Him we can be not only a proper and uplifted man but also a God-man, a divine man, as He is. He is divine becoming human that we may be human becoming divine. He is now humanly divine to make us divinely human. In this way He, as the all-inclusive One, meets our need adequately and sufficiently in the most superior way.
Christ passed through the processes of incarnation and resurrection in order to dispense Himself into us. Through incarnation Christ could be Emmanuel outside of His believers, but this would fulfill only part of His intention in being with us. His being with us outwardly does not fulfill His purpose to dispense Himself into our being, so He had to go through another process. The second process was His death and resurrection. In resurrection His physical form became a spiritual form. Through death and resurrection, He as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). As the life-giving Spirit, He is Emmanuel, the presence of the Divine Trinity. This presence is always with us in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22), not only day by day but also moment by moment. To live with Christ, we need to be in His divine presence (Gal. 5:25a). The divine presence is the life-giving Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God. This presence is Emmanuel, who is the real, practical Jesus, the Triune God with the tripartite man.
We live with Christ as Emmanuel and walk by Christ as the life-giving Spirit. In order to walk by Christ as the life-giving Spirit, we must live with Christ as a person, who is Emmanuel. Today Emmanuel is the very life-giving Spirit, who is the consummated Triune God as His presence with us moment by moment. We have to realize that all day long we have another One with us. He is not only with us outwardly but also with us inwardly in our spirit every minute of the day. We do and say things one way when we are alone, but when we have someone else with us, we do and say things differently. We must ask ourselves, “Are we doing things in our own way, or are we doing things in another way because we realize that another One is with us?” If we realize that another One is with us, everything we do will change.
There are very few Christians who walk, live, speak, and do things with Emmanuel as another One with them. We have the doctrine of Emmanuel, but we have very little experience of Emmanuel. If we had more experience of Emmanuel, we would not do many of the things we do today, such as gossip. The presence of the Lord changes our life. We all must have the realization and sensation that the Lord Jesus, who is our Savior, is also Emmanuel. He is the Triune God with us, the tripartite men. We should not say or do anything in ourselves or by ourselves. We need to experience Emmanuel.
Living with Christ is not I living alone but with Christ living in me (Gal. 2:20). If you live every day and every moment by yourself, you are defeated. You must realize that you are no longer living alone, but Christ is living with you and in you. When you have this sensation, it will revolutionize your entire life.
To live with Christ, we still live, yet not by ourselves alone but by Christ living with us as Emmanuel. The name Emmanuel is first mentioned in Isaiah (7:14; 8:8). Many Christians address the Lord as Jesus and Christ, but few address the Lord as Emmanuel. We must learn to call our Lord, “Emmanuel.”
In His human living the Lord Jesus was a despised Nazarene. Matthew 2:23 says that Joseph “came and settled in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, He shall be called a Nazarene.” The title Nazarene may refer to the branch in Isaiah 11:1, which in Hebrew is netzer. The branch there, signifying Christ, is a sprout out of the stump of Jesse, the father of David. By the time Jesus was born, the throne of David had been overthrown. This means that the royal stem, stump, of David had been cut off. Now a new twig sprouted from the stump of Jesse and grew out of his roots. The sprouting and growing of this twig were in a situation of humiliation. Jesus was not born in a recognized and honored royal home, and He did not grow up in a renowned city such as Jerusalem. He was born in a poor home and grew up in a despised town. All this made Him a Nazarene, a branch — not a lofty branch of a stately tree but a seemingly insignificant sprout from the stump of Jesse.
Because the Lord Jesus was a despised Nazarene who was born in a poor home and raised up in a despised city, He could contact every kind of man. If He had been born as a king, few would have been able to approach Him. But He was born as a poor man, and He could and did approach every class of men, especially the poor and sick ones, such as the blind, the lepers, the sinners, and the tax collectors. He became their Friend to cherish them.
As the Nazarene, the Lord Jesus was the One rejected by the world (Matt. 2:13b, 21-22). The Lord Jesus truly was the Most High God and the genuine royal descendant of the great king David. According to His status in both His divinity and His humanity, He should have been highly regarded and greatly exalted. But due to the way He was born and the environment in which He was born, there was no sign that He should have been regarded and exalted. In addition, His physical appearance did not bear any beauty or form that could be attractive to human eyes. Furthermore, His way of living was not to make a show of Himself, and His way of working was quite peculiar to the human concept. In His lowly humanity, He concealed all the excellent aspects of both His divine and human status. Hence, He was absolutely rejected by the worldly people according to their worldly view.
As a Nazarene, the Lord Jesus was also the One despised by men. He was called Jesus of Nazareth, for He was a Nazarene. When Philip met Jesus, he knew that Jesus was the Messiah. Then Philip went to Nathanael and told him that he had met the Messiah and that He was the son of Joseph, a man from Nazareth. Immediately Nathanael said, “Can anything good be from Nazareth?” (John 1:45-46). Although Jesus was from Nazareth and was a Nazarene, He, the seed of David, had not been born in Nazareth but in Bethlehem. Because the Lord was raised in Nazareth, others did not consider Him as one born in Bethlehem. The Lord thus appeared as a Nazarene from Galilee (John 7:52), a town that was despised by the people at that time. As a despised Nazarene, the Lord Jesus was low in rank and position.
We need to experience Christ as a Nazarene, as the One rejected by the world and despised by men. If we experience Christ as such a One and walk in the way of the kingdom, we too will be rejected by the world and despised by others.
Christ is the Baptizer. Matthew 3:11b says, “He Himself will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.” The Lord’s baptism is either for eternal life in the Holy Spirit or for eternal perdition in fire. The Lord’s baptism in the Holy Spirit began the kingdom of the heavens, bringing His believers into the kingdom of the heavens, whereas His baptism in fire will terminate the kingdom of the heavens, putting the unbelievers into the lake of fire. Hence, the Lord’s baptism in the Holy Spirit, based on His redemption, is the beginning of the kingdom of the heavens, whereas His baptism in fire, based on His judgment, is its ending.
Another verse that speaks of Christ as the Baptizer is John 1:33. In this verse John the Baptist says, “He who sent me to baptize in water, He said to me, He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him, this is He who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.” Water signifies death and burial for the termination of the repenting people; the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life and resurrection for the germination of the terminated people. The Holy Spirit, into whom Christ baptized those who believed in Him, is the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9). Hence, to be baptized into the Holy Spirit is to be baptized into Christ (Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3), into the Triune God (Matt. 28:19), and even into the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13), which is joined to the Lord in one spirit (6:17).
As the Baptizer, Christ puts us into the Triune God. For this reason Matthew 28:19 speaks of the believers being baptized “into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Such a baptism is both essential and economical. The Lord Jesus is the One who is able to put us into the Triune God that we may have a new beginning, become a new being, and enter into a new sphere — the sphere of the Body.
Christ is the Baptizer to make us grains of wheat and then to gather us into His barn (Matt. 13:30b, 43). Matthew 3:12 says, “He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor and will gather His wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.” Those typified by wheat have life within. The Lord Jesus will baptize them in the Holy Spirit and gather them into His barn in heaven by rapture. Those typified by the chaff are without life. The Lord will baptize them in fire, putting them into the lake of fire.
For our experience and enjoyment, Christ is also God the Father’s beloved Son. Matthew 3:17 says, “Behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight.” This was the speaking of the Father as a testimony to the Lord Jesus as the Father’s beloved Son. Matthew 17:5 says, “Behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight. Hear Him!” This declaration of the Father to vindicate the Son was first given in 3:17 after Christ’s rising from baptism, which signified His resurrection from the dead. Later, in 17:5, the Father declared the same thing, this time to vindicate the Son in His transfiguration, which prefigures the coming kingdom. In each instance we see that Christ is the beloved Son of the Father, the Son of His love (Col. 1:13).
As God the Father’s beloved Son, Christ is the embodiment and expression of the Triune God. “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). The words the fullness of the Godhead refer to the entire Godhead, to the complete God, including the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Because the Godhead comprises the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, it would not be correct to say that the fullness of the Godhead includes only God the Son and not also God the Father and God the Spirit. Since the Godhead comprises the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, the fullness of the Godhead must be the fullness of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Therefore, as the One in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God.
The Son is God Himself expressed (Heb. 1:8). God the Father is hidden; God the Son is expressed. No one has ever seen God; the Son, as the Word of God (John 1:1; Rev. 19:13) and the speaking of God (Heb. 1:1-2), has declared Him in a full expression, explanation, and definition (John 1:18).
In His human living and in His work, Christ the Son expressed the Father (John 14:9). The Son came in the Father’s name (5:43), worked in the Father’s name (10:25), did the Father’s will (6:38), spoke the Father’s word (3:34a; 14:24; 7:16-17; 12:47-50), and sought the Father’s glory (7:18). He was one with the Father (10:30). He had no work, no will, no word, no glory, and no ambition for Himself. As such a one, Christ expressed only the Father. He did not express Himself. He was the Son, yet He expressed the Father.
Whenever we speak of the Son of God, we are immediately involved with the Father and the Spirit. According to the writings of Paul, to have the Son is to have both the Father and the Spirit. The Son is the embodiment and expression of the Triune God realized as the Spirit for our experience and enjoyment. Through incarnation, the Son of God became a man who was the last Adam, who through death and resurrection has become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor.15:45b). “The Lord is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:17). Therefore, the Son of God, the embodiment and expression of the Triune God, became a man and in resurrection this One is now the life-giving Spirit.
As God the Father’s beloved Son, Christ is the embodiment and expression of the Triune God for us to participate in the fullness of the Godhead to become God’s expression. John 1:16 says, “Of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” This indicates that in the beloved Son we participate in the fullness of the Godhead. This fullness is unlimited. The more we experience and enjoy this fullness, the more we realize that it is unlimited. As we participate in the fullness of the Godhead, we become the fullness of the Triune God, which is the expression of the processed Triune God.
Paul refers to this in Ephesians 3:19, where he speaks of the believers being “filled unto all the fullness of God.” The fullness of God is the expression of God. According to John 1:16, the fullness of God came with Christ, who is the embodiment of God’s fullness (Col. 2:9; 1:19). With Christ, the expression was an individual matter. This expression, therefore, needed to be enlarged, to be expanded from an individual matter to a corporate matter. The church today is to be the fullness, the expression, of the Triune God in a corporate way. In the church the Triune God is not expressed through an individual; He is expressed corporately through the Body. As we participate in the fullness of the Godhead embodied in the Son, we become the corporate fullness, the corporate expression, of the Triune God.
