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Scripture Reading: John 1:1, 14, 16-18; 5:43a; 6:46; 7:29; 16:27b; 8:16, 29; 16:32; 14:9-11; 10:30; 6:57a; 5:30b, 36b; 10:37; 14:24b; 10:25b; 7:18; Luke 1:31-35; Matt. 1:18-23; 3:16-17; 12:28; Luke 4:14, 18-19; Acts 10:38; Heb. 9:14
Thus far we have covered three main items — the divine economy, the embodiment of God, and the flow of God. The embodiment of God and the flow of God are both for the divine economy. For God to dispense Himself into His chosen people, He needs to be embodied, and He also needs to flow out. In this chapter we want to go on further to see how God is embodied in Jesus. Jesus as the tree of life is God’s embodiment. Because God is Spirit (John 4:24a), He is mysterious and abstract. Before Christ’s incarnation there was no way for people to contact God. But in God’s wisdom He became embodied in a man by the name of Jesus. In the history of mankind there was a man among men who was God’s embodiment. If you touch that man, you touch God. If you receive that man, you receive God. If you have that man, you have God. God is no longer abstract but is embodied in the man Jesus. God is no more mysterious but manifested, no more invisible but now touchable. Our God today is the embodied God, the manifested God, the touchable God, and this touchable God is a man by the name of Jesus.
The main purpose of the Gospel of John is to show us the embodiment of God. It gives us a full record of how God has embodied Himself in this man, Jesus. John wrote his Gospel in a simple way, but all the points conveyed in it are marvelous, profound, and mysterious. Most of the verses in the Scripture Reading are not studied by many Bible readers or teachers. Many Christians have known John 3:16 from their youth. But how many know John 6:46 and 5:30? Many verses in the Gospel of John are neglected and missed, but we have to come to these verses to see the very embodiment of God in this man Jesus.
Christ’s incarnation was with the Father, and His human living was also with the Father. His incarnation refers to His birth, and His human living refers to His life while He was on this earth. Jesus as the embodiment of God was born to live on this earth, and His birth and His life on this earth were both for God’s dispensing in the divine economy. The divine dispensing is the main factor of Jesus’ birth and life on this earth.
In His birth Jesus brought the Father with Him. Many of us may have never realized that when Jesus came through incarnation, He came with the Father. The little babe born in the manger was with the Father. Furthermore, when Jesus was living on this earth, He was always with the Father. He was never alone. When He was traveling from village to village, from Judea to Samaria, from Samaria to Galilee, He was never alone, because the Father was always with Him. He was always traveling with the Father.
Jesus as the Son of God came in the name of the Father (5:43a). A person named Mr. Smith may have a large bank account. If I go to the bank in Mr. Smith’s name, the people at the bank will call me Mr. Smith. According to the bank account, Mr. Smith is there. But according to the actual person, I am there at the bank. I am there in Mr. Smith’s name. When the Son comes in the name of the Father, who comes? Isaiah 9:6 says that a Son is given to us whose name is called Eternal Father. Because I went to the bank in Mr. Smith’s name, my name is called Mr. Smith. Because the Son came in the name of the Father, His name is called Eternal Father. Do not forget John 5:43a, where the Lord Jesus said, “I have come in the name of My Father.”
John 1:1 tells us that the Word was God, and John 1:14 tells us that this Word became flesh. God became flesh, that is, a man, and this man is the embodiment of God. God is no longer mysterious. Now God is embodied because He became a man. We have to ask whether this God-man is the Son or the Father. We have to say that He is the Son with the Father. God became flesh, and this God is the Son with the Father. When God the Son became flesh, He became flesh with God the Father. God the Son with God the Father became flesh. We may have been told in the past that when the Son came to be born as a man, He left the Father on the throne in heaven. But the Bible tells us that when the Son came, He came with the Father.
John 6:46 says, “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except Him who is from God, He has seen the Father.” The Greek preposition for from in this verse is para, which means “along with” or “by the side of.” John Nelson Darby points out in his New Translation that the sense of para in this verse is “from with.” The Son came from with the Father. He came not only from the Father but also with the Father. John 7:29 says, “I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me.” In John 16:27 the Lord Jesus said, “I came forth from God.” Again, the word from in these verses is para, and its sense is from with. The Father sent the Son, and the Son came from the Father, but He also came with the Father.
John 6:46; 7:29 and 16:27 tell us that when the Son came from the Father, He came with the Father. When the Son came, He did not come alone; He did not leave the Father in the heavens. On the day that Jesus was in the house of Simon the leper and Mary poured the precious ointment on Him (Matt. 26:6-7), He was the Son with the Father. God was embodied in Jesus because Jesus was the Son with the Father. If He were merely the Son and left the Father in the heavens when He came, He would not be the embodiment of God. But the Son was there with the Father as the embodiment of the Father, as the embodiment of God. He is the Son, He is the Father, and He is God.
John 8:16 says, “Even if I do judge, My judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent Me.” The Lord was not alone, but He and the Father were always together. In verse 29 of the same chapter the Lord Jesus said, “He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone.” The Sender is with the sent One. In John 16:32 the Lord Jesus said, “Behold, an hour is coming, and has come, that you will be scattered each to his own place and will leave Me alone; yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.” Here are three verses telling us that the Lord Jesus was never alone while He was on this earth, because the Father was always with Him. When He was near the Sea of Galilee calling Peter and John, the Father was with Him. When He was talking with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, the Father was with Him. He always lived on this earth with the Father, and He even lived as the Father. He was never left alone.
One day Philip said to the Lord, “Show us the Father and it is sufficient for us” (14:8). Jesus’ reply to Philip was marvelous: “Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how is it that you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?” (vv. 9-10a). The Lord told Philip that if he saw Him, he saw the Father. This is because He was in the Father, and the Father was in Him; the Father was always with Him, and He was there in the name of His Father as the embodiment of God. He was not only the Son but also the Father. These matters are not merely doctrinal. The Son is the very embodiment of the Triune God as the tree of life for the Triune God to dispense Himself into all His children. Thus, when we have the Son, we have the Father (1 John 2:23), and we have the very Triune God.
In John 10:30 the Lord Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” This is the embodiment of the Triune God. In this embodiment is the Son and the Father, even the Triune God, because God wanted to dispense Himself into His chosen people. Without such an embodiment, God would be mysterious and abstract. No one could see Him or touch Him. But here is a man who is the embodiment of the Triune God. In this man is God the Son and God the Father. When we see this man, we see God; when we touch this man, we touch God; and now we can grasp God. We can grasp the mysterious, abstract, and invisible God! Now we have God! This God has been dispensed into us and will never leave us. Praise the Lord for the divine economy!
In John 6:57 the Lord told us that the living Father sent Him and that He lived because of the Father. While He was on the earth, the Son lived because of the Father. He lived on account of, through, and by the Father. If He were on the earth, and the Father were far away in the heavens, it would have been impossible for Him to live because of the Father. But since He came with the Father and was one with the Father, He could live because of the Father and by the Father. While Jesus was walking on this earth, He lived not just by Himself but always by the Father. Actually, He did not live His life; He lived the Father’s life.
John 5:30 says, “I can do nothing from Myself; as I hear, I judge, and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.” Jesus, the Son of God, never did anything from Himself, and He never sought His own will. He sought the Father’s will, and He did the Father’s work. This marvelous person is the Son with the Father. In 5:36 He said, “I have the testimony which is greater than that of John, for the works which the Father has given Me to finish, the works themselves which I do, testify concerning Me that the Father has sent Me.” Jesus was not doing His own work but the work which the Father had given Him to finish. John 10:37 says, “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me.” This meant that He always did the Father’s work. The Son never did His own work.
John 14:24 says, “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.” John 10:25 says, “Jesus answered them, I told you, and you do not believe. The works which I do in My Father’s name, these testify concerning Me.” Jesus not only came in the Father’s name, but He also did His works in the Father’s name. John 7:18 says, “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of Him who sent Him, this One is true, and unrighteousness is not in Him.” This verse tells us that the Son was always seeking the Father’s glory.
From all the verses that we have pointed out, we can see that the Son came in the Father’s name, came with the Father, and lived on this earth with the Father. He spoke the Father’s word, did the Father’s work, did the Father’s will, and sought the Father’s glory. He always did everything in the Father’s name, and the Father was always with Him. Furthermore, the Father is always in Him, and He is always in the Father, so He and the Father are one. This is the marvelous way that God embodied Himself in Jesus. The Son and the Father are one, but there is still a distinction between the Son and the Father. The Son and the Father are not separate since the Son came with the Father, the Son came in the Father’s name, and the Son and the Father mutually indwell each other. They are distinctively two, but these two are one. What the Bible reveals concerning the Son with the Father is different from traditional theology. In the Lord’s recovery we do not want to follow any traditional teaching, but we want to come back to the pure Word. All the verses we have covered reveal the truth that the Son came in the Father’s name, that He came with the Father, and that He is always one with the Father as the embodiment of the Triune God for the dispensing of God Himself into our being.
The Son became incarnated and lived a human life in order that God could dispense Himself into His chosen people. When the Son became incarnated to be the embodiment of God, He did so by the Spirit. Both the conception and the ministry of Jesus were by the Holy Spirit. On the one hand, God was incarnated. On the other hand, Jesus was conceived in a virgin’s womb and born by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18, 20). When Jesus was thirty years old, He came out to minister, to work for God (Luke 3:23). The Spirit descended upon Him to anoint Him and to empower Him. The Lord Jesus’ ministry for God was also by the Holy Spirit. God became a man that He might dispense Himself into man, and this God is triune — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. God and man became one. On the one hand, He is God, but on the other hand, He is also man. This is one of the most complicating matters in the New Testament. But we have to spend more time to enter into this marvelous mystery of the mingling of God with man for our experience and enjoyment of the Triune God in His dispensing.
The conception of any person is always by the father with the mother. But the conception of Jesus was not by a human father with a human mother but by the Holy Spirit with a human virgin. The Holy Spirit is God, so in the conception of Jesus both God and man were involved. This was the most extraordinary and special conception in all of history — a conception of God with man. In the human conception there is only one kind of essence — the human essence. But the conception of Jesus was of the divine essence and the human essence. Jesus was born of two elements — the divine element and the human element. Thus, He possessed two natures — the divine nature and the human nature. He was the complete God and the perfect man, a God-man. In Him God and man joined together and became one.
Up to the time that Jesus was born, there had never been such a person of two essences, elements, and natures to be both God and man. In Jesus you can see both God and man. God and man are not separate but are united, joined, and even mingled in the person of Jesus. God and man became one person — our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ. Many Christians only realize that a Savior was born to mankind but not that this child born in a manger was a person who was both God and man, having both the divine and human essences, elements, and natures. Isaiah 9:6 tells us that the child born to us is called Mighty God. According to Luke, Jesus went to Jerusalem with His parents when He was twelve years old (2:41-42). When we read this account, we must realize that this twelve-year-old boy was both God and man. His constitution, His composition, was of the divine and human elements.
When Jesus was thirty years old, He began to minister (3:23). In the Old Testament a priest had to be thirty years of age, the full age for God’s service (Num. 4:3, 35, 39, 43, 47). The Lord Jesus came out at the age of thirty to minister, to serve God, to preach the gospel, to carry out God’s economy. At the time of John the Baptist, God ordained that all the Israelites be baptized. Jesus as a man, as one of the Israelites, had to be baptized. He could not be an exception. After Jesus was baptized, three things happened: the heavens were opened, the Spirit of God descended upon Him like a dove, and the Father spoke concerning the Son, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight” (Matt. 3:16-17).
We have pointed out that the Son came with the Father and that the Father was even in the Son. But in Matthew 3 it is recorded that after the Son was baptized, the Father spoke from the heavens. The Son and Father are not separate but one, and the Son and Father mutually indwell one another. But in Matthew 3 the Son was on the earth and the Father was in the heavens. How can we reconcile these two matters? Furthermore, we saw that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit and that this Holy Spirit as the divine element was the constituent of Jesus. Jesus already had the Holy Spirit, yet the Spirit descended upon Him like a dove. How can we resolve this problem?
Before the Spirit of God descended and came upon Him, the Lord Jesus was born of the Spirit (Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:18, 20), proving that He already had the Spirit of God within Him. That was for His birth. Now, for His ministry, the Spirit of God descended upon Him. This was the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1; 42:1; and Psalm 45:7 to anoint the new King and introduce Him to His people.
His conception was for Him to exist. His ministry was for Him to work. Jesus was conceived and born of the Holy Spirit for His existence, but for Him to work to carry out God’s ministry, He needed an extraordinary qualification. The Holy Spirit He received at His conception was for His being, His existence, and became an element of His person. He needed the essence of the Holy Spirit in order to exist. The divine essence became the constitution of Jesus’ being. This is essential. For His work, for His ministry, He needed more of the Holy Spirit; He needed the divine power of the Holy Spirit, the divine equipment. This is economical. The essence is essential, and the power is economical. Essentially, the Holy Spirit as the essence of Jesus’ person can never be separated from Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in this sense never left Jesus. Economically, the Holy Spirit as the power came upon Him, not for Him to exist but to empower Him to work for God. This power may come, remain, or leave. When this power came, it did not add something to His being. When this power left, it did not mean that His being was damaged. We all need to learn these two aspects of the Spirit for Jesus’ person and work — the essential aspect and the economical aspect.
For our God to dispense Himself into us is not a simple thing. What Jesus experienced, we also need to experience. We all need to be born of the Holy Spirit. This is our regeneration, our new birth, that we may have the Holy Spirit within us. Essentially at our regeneration, we received the Holy Spirit, but economically we still need the Holy Spirit. While I am speaking, I need the Holy Spirit as my power economically. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is uniquely one and was accomplished upon the Body of Christ more than nineteen hundred years ago (1 Cor. 12:13). But the experiences of the baptism in the Holy Spirit are numerous and continually shared by all the members of the Body. Peter first received the baptism (Acts 1:5, 8; 2:4) and later experienced it again and again (4:8, 31). This is for God’s economy to dispense Himself into us.
The Son came through incarnation with the Father and was conceived and born of the Spirit. He is the embodiment of the Triune God for the dispensing of Himself into His people. When we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we do not enjoy the Son only, without the Father and without the Spirit. This is because the Son came to be embodied with the Father and by the Spirit. When we touch the Son, we touch the Father and the Spirit.
John 14:23 says, “Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.” Our concept may have been that when we love the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus comes to us alone. We may have never considered that the Lord Jesus comes to us with the Father. The Lord told us that when we love Him, the Father and He will come to abide with us. Whenever we say, “Lord Jesus,” the Father comes with the Son. The Father is always with the Son, so when we call on the Son and say, “Lord Jesus, I love You,” the Father comes. We all need to say, “Lord Jesus, I love You” to experience the Father coming with the Son to make an abode with us. Furthermore, when we call on the name of the Son, the Father comes, the Spirit follows, and the Son remains. We have all three, but the three are one. The three-one God is a marvelous mystery. Three are here as one for and in our experience.
