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Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:5, 9-11; 3:9; Gen. 3:15; Isa. 7:14; Gal. 4:4; 16, Matt. 1:20; Gen. 22:18; Gal. 3:16; Matt. 1:1; John 1:1-4a, 14, 16-17; Rom. 8:3; John 14:6a; 10:10b; 12:24; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17-18; John 20:22; Col. 3:4a; 1 Cor. 6:17; John 15:1, 5; Gal. 2:20a; Phil. 1:20-21a
I. God’s eternal good pleasure of His will:
А. As unveiled to the apostle Paul — Eph. 1:5, 9, 11.
B. To be one with man.
C. Becoming His eternal economy — v. 10; 3:9.
II. God’s promise to come to be the seed of man:
А. To be the seed of the woman — Gen. 3:15; Isa. 7:14; Gal. 4:4; 16, Matt. 1:20.
B. To be the seed of Abraham — Gen. 22:18; Gal. 3:16; Matt. 1:1.
III. The fulfillment of God’s good pleasure and promise:
А. The Word as the defined and explained God becoming flesh — John 1:1, 14a; Rom. 8:3.
B. To be a man, to be one with man so that man may be one with God.
C. Tabernacling among men, full of God’s grace and reality — John 1:14, 16-17.
IV. To bring God as life to man:
А. The life of God being in the incarnated Word — vv. 1-4a; 14:6a.
B. Coming to bring God’s life to man abundantly — 10:10b.
C. Dying to release the divine life — 12:24.
D. Becoming the life-giving Spirit in resurrection — 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17-18.
E. Entering into His believers to be their life — John 20:22; Col. 3:4a.
V. That He may be one with the believing people:
А. To be one spirit — 1 Cor. 6:17.
B. In the organic union of the divine life.
C. Making God and man one person, signified by the true vine — John 15:1:
1. The two coinhering — v. 5.
2. The first living in the second — Gal. 2:20a.
3. The second living in the first to manifest Him — Phil. 1:20-21a.
We have seen that God created man in a particular way. First, He created man in His image and according to His likeness (Gen. 1:26). This means that God created man in a living way, because His image and likeness are not lifeless, outward forms but are organic and full of life. Both God’s image and God’s likeness are organic. The image of God is what He is. What He is as the living God is living and organic. Likewise, since God’s likeness is the expression of what He is, His likeness also must be organic. Therefore, the man created by God was a living entity because this man was created in God’s image and according to God’s likeness, both of which are living and organic.
Second, God made a spirit for man (2:7). To make man in God’s image and likeness did not require any material, but to make a body, a frame, for man required some material. The material used by God to make man’s body was dust (v. 7a). Anything made of dust is lifeless because there is no life in dust. Thus, in itself man’s body, man’s frame, is lifeless. After forming man’s body from dust, God then made another part for man — the inmost part. This part is called the spirit (v. 7b).
God made a spirit in man with His own breath. God’s breath of life is the material with which God made a spirit within man. Proverbs 20:27 says, “The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah.” The word spirit in this verse is neshamah in Hebrew, the same word for breath in Genesis 2:7. Thus, the breath of life in Genesis 2:7 is the spirit of man in Proverbs 20:27. This is confirmed by Job 32:8, which says, “There is a spirit in man, / And the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.” The breath of the Almighty in the second clause is in apposition to a spirit in man in the first clause. Therefore, the breath of the Almighty is the spirit in man.
Something in man’s makeup is very close to God and is related to God. It is not God the Spirit or God’s life but God’s breath of life — something very close to life. It is not life, but it is the breath of life. God breathed this part of Himself into man’s body. The breath of God, after being breathed into man’s body, became man’s spirit. With this part man can contact God.
In order to substantiate anything we must use the proper organ. In our body we have many organs, including two ears for hearing, two eyes for seeing, a nose for smelling, and a tongue for tasting. In order to see colors, we must use the right organ. It is impossible to smell colors, but we can see colors. In order to contact God, we must use the proper organ — our spirit. God is Spirit (John 4:24). God cannot be realized by the mind. God is a spiritual entity, a spiritual reality. In order to realize Him we need to use the proper organ. Some people who are atheists say strongly that there is no God. During the day they may give lectures to people, stating strongly that there is no God. But at night when they go back home, something within checks with them, “Suppose there is a God. What would you do?” If we would turn from our thinking mind to our innermost part, our spirit, spontaneously we would say, “O God!” and God’s presence would be realized by us. Our spirit is an organ particularly made by God with His own breath of life. We do have such an organ that is crucially related to God. Because of this, in John 4:24 the Lord Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit [man’s spirit].”
Man was created by God as an entity with a frame, the outer part, and a spirit, the inmost organ. Hence, man was created as a complete person. But what was God’s purpose in making such a man? God created the heavens, the earth, and myriads of living things: the herbs, the trees, the fish in the water, the birds in the air, and the beasts, the cattle, and all kinds of creeping things on the earth (Gen. 1:11-25). In addition to all these things God made man in a very particular way — like God. Man was not made according to the “kind” of the herbs or the kind of the trees. Neither was man made according to the kind of the animals, the beasts, or the cattle. Man was made according to God’s kind.
Man cannot be God in His Godhead, but he can be God in His life and nature. We are what we are born of. Anything born of a dog is a dog. Likewise, if we were born of a monkey, we would surely be a monkey. God created man not according to a monkey’s kind or a dog’s kind but according to His kind, in His image and according to His likeness. Furthermore, the Bible tells us that the believers in Christ are God’s children (John 1:12-13; 1 John 3:1-2). The children of a man are also men. Because we are children of God, we are God in nature and in life but not in the Godhead, that is, not in God’s position or rank.
Although the man created by God was complete, having God’s image and likeness and God’s breath of life, man was still short of God Himself. Apparently, the created man was perfect; actually, he was not perfect because, although he was like God, he did not have God Himself. Thus, after the creation of man God did not tell man what to do. He did not regulate man or give him many commandments. He simply brought man into a garden and put him in front of a strange, peculiar, and particular tree called the tree of life (Gen. 2:8-9). Since the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was next to the tree of life, God warned man not to eat of it, lest he die (vv. 16-17). If he ate of that tree, he would receive death. On the other hand, if he ate of the tree of life, he would receive life. God’s warning to Adam indicates that God wanted man to take of the tree of life.
The Bible is God’s revelation, consisting of sixty-six books with hundreds of chapters. The Bible ends as it begins. It has a beginning, and it also has an ending. The end is exactly the same as the beginning. The Bible begins with God, man, and the tree of life in Genesis 1 and 2, and it ends with God, man, and the tree of life in Revelation 22.
The tree of life is revealed gradually throughout the entire Bible. Psalm 36:9 says, “With You [God] is the fountain of life.” God Himself is the fountain of life. The first chapter of the Gospel of John says, “In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was God...In Him was life” (vv. 1, 4). Later in this same Gospel, the Lord Jesus said that He is the life and that He is the true vine (14:6; 15:1). He is not a pine tree, shooting upward, but a vine tree, spreading forward to reach men. Eventually, at the end of the New Testament, the tree of life as a vine tree is there (Rev. 22:2). In the New Jerusalem the river of water of life flows through the city to water the entire city in every part, and the tree of life grows along the two sides of the river. Such a tree could not be a tall tree like a pine; it must be a vine. Because it is a vine, its fruit is accessible to everyone. This is very meaningful.
The tree of life at the beginning and end of the Bible is a figure of God Himself as life. God is abstract and mysterious. There is no word that can fully define Him. Hence, in His wisdom He presented us a figure of Himself — a tree that grows, spreads, and produces fruit good for food. The tree of life is a figure signifying God as life to man. This tree of life is the embodiment of God as life. God presented Himself to man in this way. After He created man, God had no intention to charge man to do anything. His intention was just to work Himself into man.
God created man with a body as an outward frame and with a spirit inside this body. But how could God enter into man? The way for God to enter into man was to bring man into a garden and put him before the tree of life. The tree of life is God Himself embodied in the form of a tree. In form and style it is a tree, but actually it is the very embodiment of the divine life. Eventually, this embodiment is Jesus Christ. When the Son of God came to the earth, He came as the embodiment of the Triune God (Col. 2:9; 1:19). The Triune God is life, and this life is embodied in the tree of life, which is a figure of Christ. Thus, when Christ came, He said that He is life (John 14:6) and that He is the vine tree (15:1), of which we can be a part (v. 5). If we put these two things together — life and the tree — we have the tree of life. Christ Himself is the tree of life.
After He completed His creation of man, God offered Himself to man in the form of a tree. Eating is the way for man to take this tree. This tree is not good for material or for making anything. This tree is good only for producing fruit for man to eat. As the tree of life, God cherishes and nourishes man. This tree of life is the Christ in whom we have believed. God presented this tree to all mankind through the preaching of the gospel, and we accepted it. Daily we are eating Him (6:57) as our tree of life. Our vine tree is Christ, and Christ is the embodiment of God as life (1 John 5:11-12). Thus, the Bible says that Christ is our life (Col. 3:4a). We live by Him, we live for Him, we express Him, and we magnify Him. This is what a Christian should be.
Before God created anything, He had a good pleasure within Him (Eph. 1:5, 9). This pleasure became His will, which eventually became His purpose. This purpose then became His economy through His counsel (vv. 9-11; 3:9). Through a council held among the three of the Trinity (Gen. 1:26), God made a counsel to create man and even to become a man. Hence, God created man according to His good pleasure. After creating everything, He looked on what He had made, including man, and said that it was very good (v. 31). God created man with a body and with a spirit and placed him before the tree of life. This was the first step. But man still did not have God. Thus, God had to take a further step, the step of becoming a man.
Do not think that it was easy for God to enter into man. He first created man, and then He waited. God is a God who is patience; therefore, He can be patient. After creating man, He waited four thousand years before He came to be a man. The first promise that He would come was given to Adam (3:15), and the second promise, two thousand years later, was given to Abraham (22:18). Still, He did not come; rather, He waited another two thousand years. Then one day, two thousand years ago, He came, not in the way of coming down from the third heaven and appearing suddenly as a man on the earth, but by entering into the womb of a human virgin. He was born there and remained in that womb for nine months (Matt. 1:20). Then He was delivered out of the womb of that virgin, and He became a child in the manger at Bethlehem (Luke 2:16). This child was called Mighty God and Eternal Father (Isa. 9:6). He was also called Emmanuel — God with us (Matt. 1:23). He is God with man, and He is a man.
After the first step of God’s creation of man, man became fallen (Gen. 3:1-6). Then God came in, not to condemn man or to curse man but to give man a promise that the seed of the woman would come to bruise the head of the damaging serpent (v. 15; Isa. 7:14; Gal. 4:4; 16, Matt. 1:20). That promise indicated that God Himself would come to be the seed of the woman.
After the promise given to Adam, God waited two thousand years until the time of Abraham. He then made a further promise to Abraham, saying, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 22:18; Gal. 3:16; Matt. 1:1). According to Galatians 3:14, the promise given to Abraham was that God Himself would come to be the seed of Abraham, and this seed would be a blessing to all the nations by becoming the all-inclusive Spirit for mankind to receive.
After His promise to Abraham, God waited another two thousand years before coming to be a man named Jesus Christ, who was also called Emmanuel — God with us. Through His incarnation He as the Word, the defined and explained God, became flesh (John 1:1, 14a; Rom. 8:3).
Since that time, two thousand years have passed. A total of six thousand years have passed since the creation of Adam: two thousand years from Adam to Abraham, two thousand years from Abraham until the day God became incarnated to be a man, and two thousand years from that day until today.
God created man with the desire that one day He would enter into man. The created man had His image, His likeness, and His breath of life as man’s spirit, but he did not have God. God created man for the purpose that He would enter into man to be one with man, to make man one with Him. This is the organic union. Today we have God in us. Therefore, we have an organic union with God.
After four thousand years God Himself became a man through a part of man, a virgin. Through this human virgin He picked up the likeness of man’s flesh (v. 3). As God who became a man, He has divinity, and He also has humanity. He is one person with divinity and humanity. He is both divine and human; He is both God and man. He is the complete God plus the perfect man. He is the God-man. As the God-man, He tabernacled among men, full of God’s grace and reality (John 1:14, 16-17).
The incarnation was to bring God as life to man. The life of God is in the incarnated Word (vv. 1-4a; 14:6a), and this incarnated Word came to bring God’s life to man abundantly (10:10b). Eventually, He died as a grain of wheat to release the divine life (12:24), and He became the life-giving Spirit in His resurrection (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17-18). As such a life-giving Spirit, He enters into His believers to be their life (John 20:22; Col. 3:4a).
The God-man Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s good pleasure and promise. However, this God-man was alone, by Himself. God’s desire is that this God-man would enter into us to be our life. God created man, including us, and He became a man. But now He wants to enter into our being. After being born to be a God-man, He lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years, traveling back and forth from Bethlehem to Nazareth and from Nazareth to Jerusalem. Then He was put on the cross to be killed, to be terminated. Afterward, He was resurrected, and in resurrection He as a God-man and the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. At the same time, in His resurrection He resurrected us and regenerated us (Eph. 2:6; 1 Pet. 1:3). In His resurrection He included us. When we were resurrected with Him, we all were regenerated. We were resurrected before we were born. This is God’s economy. At the time of our resurrection with Christ, we all received His divine and resurrected life into us. In resurrection He was born to be the firstborn Son of God (Acts 13:33), and we were born with Him to be the many sons of God (Rom. 8:29). It was in this way that He entered into His believers.
After entering into His believers to be their life, He ascended (Acts 1:9). From the heavens He poured Himself out as the consummated, compounded, all-inclusive Spirit upon His disciples (2:1-4). Through this the church was established and began to carry out His commission to disciple all the nations (Matt. 28:19).
Eventually, the church reached even China, where I was saved. At first, when I heard the gospel, I did not like it, and I would not believe. I did not like this “foreign religion.” But gradually, I believed, even against my wishes and against my will. After I believed, I began to be bothered, because something entered into me. This I cannot deny. This made me happy and even made me a different person. Today I am not merely a man; I am a God-filled man. I am a man who has God in him. Today I am living God, expressing God, and magnifying God. God is my life, and I am His expression.
After entering into His believing people, God becomes one spirit with them (1 Cor. 6:17) in the organic union of the divine life. In this organic union God and man are one person, signified by the true vine in John 15:1. In the organic union the vine and the branches coinhere; the vine abides in the branches, and the branches abide in the vine (v. 5). The first, the vine, lives in the second, the branches (Gal. 2:20a), and the second lives in the first to manifest Him (Phil. 1:20-21a).
We may think that the incarnation lasted for only nine months. However, the incarnation of God for Him to enter into man has been going on for two thousand years, from the first century to the twentieth century. One afternoon in April 1925, at the age of nineteen, I heard the wonderful gospel. As a result, I opened myself and received God into me. I became a different person. At that juncture God was incarnated into me. Although at times I even tried to deny that God was in me, I cannot deny that from the hour of my conversion God has been in me.
God is still going to be incarnated into many thousands of people. How fast could this take place? It depends on us. If we would go and disciple the nations quickly, God would be incarnated in a fast way. God’s incarnation is just to carry out God’s desire with His good pleasure to be one with man in the organic union. Through God’s incarnation man is in an organic union with the organic God.
God created man, and then He came to be a man in incarnation. After passing through the processes of human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and descension, He as the life-giving Spirit, who is the consummated, compound Spirit, entered into us. This is the completion of His incarnation. Now we are here in a completed union with God organically.
This is God’s creation, this is God’s incarnation, and this is our conversion. He created us six thousand years ago, He became us two thousand years ago, and He entered into us to be us today. Thus, we are a part of Him. We are His counterpart. A counterpart of God is just a part of God. What He is, we are. He is the Head, and we are the Body. We cannot say that the Head is God and that the Body is not God. The Body and the Head are one and the same.
To be a Christian is not only to be moral with a high standard of morality. To be a Christian is to be God, to be a part of God, to be a counterpart of God. As Christians, we should live God, express God, and manifest God by walking and doing everything in the Spirit and according to the Spirit. The very God whose counterpart we have become is the life-giving, compound, all-inclusive Spirit, who is the consummation, the totality, the aggregate, of the processed Triune God. Such a Spirit is the great blessing to all the nations on this earth in Jesus Christ.
