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Scripture Reading: Psa. 27:4; 43:4; 1 John 2:27-28
The Bible unveils that throughout the ages God has been doing one thing in man: He has been mingling Himself with man. The human concept is that God wants man to worship and serve Him. He is seen as the sovereign One far away in the heavens, and men on earth are expected to worship and serve Him. This is man’s concept. The Bible, however, shows that God does not require such things from us. Rather, God wants to mingle Himself with us. He wants to work His entire being into us to the extent that He becomes our constitution. He wants to enter into us to be our content. He wants to be our life and our nature. He wants to be the love in our emotion, the thoughts in our mind, and the decisions and deliberations in our will. He even wants to be our ability and discernment. In brief, God wants to enter into us to be everything to us. We should simply be a vessel in the hands of God for His expression.
This divine intention is seen in the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is unique among the human race. Outwardly, He was a man, a perfect man. In every aspect He was a complete man. But God was inside this man. Inwardly, He was filled with God, and God was expressed through Him. When He was on the earth, those who followed Him often asked, “Who is this man?” He was hungry, and He was thirsty. He was tired and even exhausted. He was confined to a body the same as we. But if we look deeper, we will find that within this man there was unfathomable wisdom, unlimited power, immeasurable life, and eternal discernment. Hardly anyone could answer this question when He was on the earth, but we know who He is today. He is God mingled with man. He is God entering into man, becoming man’s life and nature and being expressed through man. The Lord Jesus manifests God’s eternal intention for man.
Brothers and sisters, we must realize that unless God is mingled with us in our worship and service, they are not worth anything before God. The real worship rendered to God is one in which God is mingled with the worshipper. This also applies to service. Real service to God is one in which the serving one is mingled with God. When we are going to preach the gospel, we need to remember that the Lord, who is mingled with us, should be the one preaching the gospel. This is the only preaching that counts. When we are praying, the Lord must be the one who is praying through us, that is, praying by mingling Himself with us. Only such prayers are real prayers. If we are on earth, praying to a God who is far away in heaven, and we have nothing in common with Him, our prayers are not real but are merely a religious petition. In the genuine prayer that God desires, He enters into us, mingles with us, and prays through us. Every genuine prayer is a dual prayer; outwardly, we are praying, but inwardly, God is praying. Outwardly, we petition, but inwardly, He is petitioning. Outwardly, we are speaking, but inwardly, the Holy Spirit is speaking. Only this kind of dual prayer is genuine.
This applies to prayer as well as to preaching the gospel. If only I am speaking and the Lord is not, my preaching is worthless; it is merely human oration. The real preaching and release of the Lord’s message is one in which the Lord in His humanity speaks through us. Outwardly, we are speaking, but it is the Lord speaking from within. Outwardly, it seems as if we are the source of the speaking, but the Lord is the source of the speaking. This speaking is a dual speaking, and only this kind of speaking has value.
This principle applies not only to our praying and preaching but also to the entire realm of our Christian life. When it is said that a man has a dual character, it often is spoken in a derogatory way; nevertheless, this is a very fitting description of the Christian life. The real Christian life should be a dual life. If we are living as an individual person, we are not living like a Christian; we are merely living like a human being. As genuine Christians, it seems as if we are the ones living, but inwardly God is living through us. Every Christian should be like Jesus of Nazareth; we should be God manifested in the flesh. Outwardly, we are men, but inwardly, we are God. The entire Christian life should be one in which God is mingled with man.
God’s children need to see this basic issue: God does not desire worship or service from man; neither does He desire to do things for man or man to do things for Him. He only desires that every part of our being would be filled with His element by His mingling of Himself with us and becoming the constituent of our being. When we are filled with God’s element, we will enjoy Him and know Him to the uttermost. Only when we allow Him to fill us and become every part of our being can we truly know Him as He desires to be known. This knowledge is not in doctrine, mental understanding, or intellectual apprehension. We can know Him deep in our being as the One whom we taste in our living and practical experience. This is to enjoy God.
Let us now consider the way to enjoy God. How can God become every part of our being? How can we practically enjoy God in our daily living? We thank the Lord that He prepared the way for us long ago. In order for us to enjoy God and receive Him as the constituent of our inner being, He has taken four steps.
In the first step God created man with a human spirit. Even though we have spoken of this matter often in the past, for the sake of the new ones we need to repeat this point.
God created everyone with a stomach so that we can enjoy our food. If we did not have a stomach, there would not be a place for us to receive the food we eat, and it would be impossible for us to enjoy our food. The function of our stomach is to enjoy the food we eat. Similarly, in order for us to receive and enjoy God, He created us with a spirit. The spirit within us is for receiving God and enjoying Him.
A poor man may think that he needs only clothes, food, a dwelling place, and transportation. As long as he can eat, is clothed, lives comfortably, and is mobile, he is satisfied. After being satisfied with these things, however, he will discover that there is another need within him. He may realize that he needs entertainment in his psychological being and then engage in different kinds of amusement, such as music, literature, or other diversions. After he has possessed these things and has tasted of their enjoyment, he will become keenly aware of yet another need deep in his being. This need is not physical or psychological; it originates from his spirit.
When a man is very rich, he thinks about worshipping God, and when a man is in pain or dire conditions, he also thinks about worshipping God, because when he is rich or in pain, he discovers that he has a need in his spirit. When man enjoys life because of his riches, tasting every blessing and every good thing that life can afford, he discovers that he still has a need in his spirit. When he is neither poor nor rich and neither in pain nor in joy, he feels no need to worship God. When he is not concerned with himself, he is not concerned with God. However, when he suffers greatly, experiences extreme poverty, or is sick to the point of dying, he begins to think about God. On the contrary, a person who is extremely rich and happy and who experiences all the blessings there are under heaven may ask himself, “What is the point of all these indulgences? These things do not satisfy me.” He then begins to seek after God and to look for ways to worship Him. This principle holds true among all the races of human society, whether they are civilized or barbaric, refined or vulgar.
One will never see a dog, cat, or monkey worshipping God when it is desperate. Even when animals are at the height of their excitement or suffering, they will not turn to God or worship God. They have no need to worship God, because they do not have a spirit. Man is different. There is a spirit within man, and this spirit has a need. A nonchalant man does not feel the need in his spirit. But when he is brought to extreme circumstances, either extreme elation or extreme desperation, the need in his spirit is made manifest. He feels a deep need within him, a need that no person, thing, or matter on earth can satisfy. Nothing physical can satisfy this need. It is at such times that man thinks of worshipping God. There is a spirit within man, and God created man with this spirit in order that he could receive and enjoy Him.
The difference between man and all other creatures is that he has a spirit within him. It is no wonder the sages of old said that man is the spirit of all things. Only man has a spirit. Hence, of all the things in creation, only man possesses a spirit. Man is certainly the highest of all creation. Apart from God’s life, man’s life is the highest life, because there is a spirit within him. Man’s spirit is an organ, prepared by God for him to receive and enjoy God.
The daily salvation of a Christian is a matter of his spirit. Whether he is rich or poor, suffering or joyful, every Christian can testify of the same experience. When he opens to God and fellowships with Him, he finds joy and satisfaction in his spirit, but when he does not open to God or fellowship with Him in his spirit, he feels that something is missing or lacking, and he is unhappy. We feel this way because we have not absorbed God. If we would spend some time every day to pray before the Lord, that is, to stop our mind, exercise our spirit, and fellowship with Him by contacting Him, absorbing Him, and opening ourselves to be filled with Him, we will experience unspeakable satisfaction, freshness, and relief.
If we remain in a room with closed windows for a long time, we will feel that the room is stuffy and soon want to go outside and breathe fresh air for five minutes. After breathing deeply we will feel relieved, refreshed, uplifted, and satisfied. As children of God who fellowship with Him, we can each testify of such experiences. When we spend a little time to be with God every day, when we stop our thoughts and exercise our spirit to fellowship with Him, absorb Him, and be filled with Him, we sense indescribable sweetness, freshness, freedom, and satisfaction. This feeling proves that we have eaten and have drunk a satisfying portion of God.
We all should have had this experience. It is doubtful whether we are genuine Christians if we have never tasted the sweetness of God. Perhaps we are nominal Christians who have merely touched something of Christianity. We must see that God can be tasted; He is edible and drinkable. We can absorb God and enjoy Him. Sometimes as we are absorbing God in the morning, we need to say, “I will be very busy today, so I want to spend a little more time to absorb You and keep You within me throughout the day.” We can have such an experience in our spirit. God has created us with a spirit, and this spirit is the deepest part of our being. It is the organ for us to receive God and the means for us to enjoy Him. This is the first step that God has taken for us.
In the second step God Himself became a man at the appointed time. This is the story of incarnation. When the Lord Jesus came to the earth, God was fully mingled with man. In six thousand years of human history there has been one unique man. He was truly a man, and every part within Him was God. The Lord Jesus was a man, yet He was God. The difference between the Lord Jesus and us is that every part within us is man, but every part within Him was God. The Savior we believe in and have received is not merely God, and He is not simply man. He is God mingled with man. Within every part of the man from Nazareth, Jesus our Savior, was God. Everything of God was mingled with this man in a full and undiminished way.
Our Savior is a wonderful person, and God demonstrated His eternal purpose in Him. God’s eternal purpose is to mingle Himself with man to be man’s element and his enjoyment. In order to accomplish this, when He saves man, He mingles Himself with man. Our Savior is the very One in whom God is mingled with man.
This may sound strange in the ears of a new believer, but gradually he will understand. In order for God to become our enjoyment, He not only created us with a spirit to receive Him, but at the appointed time He also came into man to be fully mingled with man, thus becoming man’s Savior. When we receive Him as our Savior, a mingling work is carried out in us.
In the third step our Savior, who was both God and man, died on the cross. He accomplished two main things on the cross. First, the Lord shed His blood to deal with everything that prevents God from mingling Himself with us. In other words, His blood dealt with every barrier between God and us; He dealt with everything that frustrates us from contacting God or from touching Him, and everything that disqualifies us from standing boldly before Him.
If we want to contact the Lord and fellowship with Him, we must see the significance of the blood. God is altogether righteous, and we are altogether unrighteous. We need the blood so that we can fellowship with the righteous God. Whenever filthy and dirty men, such as we, want to fellowship with God, who is absolutely holy, the blood is needed. Without the blood shed on the cross, we would not dare come to God or even speak of contacting Him. It would be impossible for us to come near Him. We would die in His light; we would fall before His holiness. But now the blood shed on the cross has cleansed us. All our unrighteousnesses, filth, sins, trespasses, mistakes, and offenses against God, as well as all that is incompatible between us and God, have been removed by the cleansing of the blood. The blood has solved all our problems. Now we can come boldly to God through the blood. We can joyfully contact God under the blood. We can even remain in His presence and live in His countenance. As sinners who are unrighteous, unholy, and filthy, we can now contact the holy God and live in Him, and He can live in us and fellowship with us. All of this is possible through the cleansing of the blood shed on the cross.
The Epistle of 1 John, a book on fellowship between man and God, begins by saying that God’s life has entered into man and enables man to fellowship with God. God is light and He is righteous, but man is evil and in darkness. How can we fellowship with God? According to 1 John 1:7, we can fellowship through the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of God’s Son cleanses us from every sin. Through the blood we can fellowship with God, but apart from the blood there is no possibility of fellowship. In order for there to be fellowship between God and us, there is not only the need of life but also the need of the blood. The first aspect of the cross provides the blood, which removes all the barriers between us and God.
The second aspect of the cross is that it terminates the old creation. Through the death of the cross, our flesh, our self, and our old nature have been terminated. On the surface, it seems as if the only barrier to our fellowship with God is sin. As such, we are thankful to the Lord that His blood cleanses us from every sin and enables us to fellowship with Him. However, there is still a hidden problem in our being, which is the problem of the flesh, the self, the natural man, and the old creation. These frustrate our being mingled with God.
For example, a brother who is cleansed by the blood can boldly come to God and fellowship with Him. However, when he comes before God, he may be full of the self, full of his own views, his own thoughts, and his own desires. Everything about him is full of the self. This makes it difficult for him to fellowship with God. Although his sins are washed by the blood, his self remains intact. The death of the cross needs to be applied in this situation. The cross not only gives us the blood, but it also puts us to death. The blood of the cross takes away our sins, but the crucifixion of the cross deals with the self. It deals with our old man. This is the third step.
In the fourth step, after our Lord was crucified on the cross, He resurrected from the dead and became the Spirit. Very few people understand fully the meaning of the Lord becoming the Spirit. We need to see that in resurrection He became the Spirit. In so doing, He brought the perfect man into God. We have said that in incarnation the Lord Jesus brought God into man. Now in resurrection He brought man into God. If there were only incarnation, the mingling of God and man would be only half accomplished. God entered into man, but man had not yet entered into God. However, after the Lord Jesus’ resurrection the mingling of God and man was complete; God had entered into man, and man had entered into God. In incarnation the Lord Jesus brought God into man. In resurrection He brought man into God. Today in this universe the man Jesus is sitting on the throne. He is God who has become a man, and He is also man who has entered into God. This wonderful Savior is God mingled with man and man mingled with God. As this One, He is the Spirit. This word may be somewhat difficult for new believers. I hope that they will try their best to understand it. Gradually, they will apprehend this in their practical experience.
Our Savior today is the Spirit. He is beyond time and space. He is everywhere. No matter where we are, as long as we open our heart and our spirit, and we touch Him, His Spirit will come into us, and we will have “spirit-to-spirit” fellowship. His Spirit will touch our spirit, and our spirit will receive His Spirit. The Spirit does not only include divinity; there is also incarnation, the effectiveness of the blood shed on the cross to deal with man’s sins, the killing of the cross that solves the problem of the flesh and the self, and resurrection that brings man into God. This Spirit includes so much. When we believe into Him and open our spirit to contact Him, He enters into us. When He enters into us, we enjoy and absorb God.
We have taken a brief look at these four steps. God created us with a spirit for the purpose of receiving Him. He also came in the flesh to be mingled with us. Furthermore, He was crucified on the cross. On the cross He shed His blood to remove the barrier of sin between Him and us, and He dealt with the self and the old creation. Finally, He resurrected and brought humanity into divinity, thus fully mingling God with man. God has taken these four steps to become our enjoyment.
