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Scripture Reading: 1 Thes. 1:1; 2:12; 3:12; 4:7; 5:23-24; 2 Thes. 1:3, 5, 10; 2:13-14, 16; Col. 3:10-11; Rev. 1:11-12
We have emphasized the fact that in 1:1 Paul says that the church is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We have considered what it means for the church to be in God the Father and also the significance of the church being in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, although we have emphasized the Father, the Lord, and Jesus, we have not explained fully what it means for the church to be in Christ.
When the name Jesus is used in the New Testament, it primarily refers to the Lord in His experiences on earth from His incarnation to His resurrection. Jesus is the name of the Lord with respect to His humanity. Hence, this name denotes His life experiences and the things He passed through before His resurrection. Christ is a divine title that mainly denotes the Lord’s experience, position, life, and actions after His resurrection. This title refers to what the Lord is after His resurrection.
The life of the Lord Jesus Christ may be divided into two sections: the section before His resurrection, and the section after His resurrection. Resurrection, therefore, is a dividing line, a boundary line, of the Lord’s life and experience.
The four Gospels may be regarded as biographies of the Lord Jesus. These biographies tell His life story between His incarnation and resurrection. This period of time is, for the most part, represented by the name Jesus. If we speak of Jesus according to the biblical use of this name, we mainly refer to His experience between incarnation and resurrection. After resurrection the life of the Lord Jesus is altogether in another sphere.
Today, however, many Christians are not clear in their understanding concerning Jesus and Christ. Some believers, especially those in Pentecostalism, say “Praise Jesus!” According to the Bible, it is better to say “Praise the Lord.” It is much more common for Christians today to say “Praise the Lord” than it was twenty years ago, when the Lord’s recovery came to this country. This may be due to the influence of the recovery. In any case, it is more fitting to say “Praise the Lord” than to say “Praise Jesus.”
According to the New Testament, the title Lord applies to the entire life and ministry of Jesus Christ. This means that the title Lord is an all-inclusive title. But the name Jesus refers to the Lord in His humanity and to His human life prior to resurrection. Christ, as we have seen, refers to the resurrected Christ in ascension.
The Christ in whom many of today’s Christians believe is a Christ far away in the third heaven. But our Christ is not only the resurrected and ascended Christ in heaven; He is also the One who has descended and entered into our spirit. Hallelujah, Christ is now in our spirit!
In John 14 the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples regarding His going and His coming. In John 14:1 He said, “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.” In the next verse the Lord spoke about the many abodes in the Father’s house and about going to prepare a place for them. In verse 3 He said, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, that where I am you also may be.” Here the Lord Jesus seemed to be saying, “Do not be troubled by the fact that I am going. Apparently I am leaving you. But actually My going is for My coming. After I go, I shall come back again.” The Lord Jesus was not saying that He was going to heaven. Rather, He was going to the cross and then to the tomb and to Hades. Then in resurrection He would come back to the disciples.
Nearly all Christians take the Lord’s word in John 14 to refer to His second coming. This understanding is not accurate. In John 14:18 the Lord Jesus said to the disciples, “I will not leave you orphans; I am coming to you.” If the Lord’s coming in John 14 were His second coming, the disciples certainly would have been orphans. If the Lord Jesus were only in the heavens today, we all would be orphans. When the Lord said, “I am coming to you,” He was speaking of His coming in another form. This coming was fulfilled on the day of His resurrection in John 20:19-22. After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus came back to His disciples to be with them forever, so that they were not left orphans.
The Lord’s coming in John 14 refers to His coming in another form. The Lord first came in the form of the flesh. When He spoke to the disciples in John 14, He was still in that form. But in this chapter He seems to be saying, “I am now in the flesh. But I am going to the cross, where I shall be slain. Afterward, I shall be buried in a tomb. Then I shall rise up from among the dead and come again in another form. When I am in that form, I shall come back to you.” And the Lord did come back in this form on the day of His resurrection.
Chapter twenty of John describes how the Lord came to His disciples on the day of His resurrection. John 20:19 says, “When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, Peace be to you.” The Lord Jesus appeared in a splendid, excellent way, in a way beyond human ability to understand. The Jews were opposing the disciples and trying their best to destroy them. Therefore, the disciples were afraid and met behind closed doors. Perhaps they were groaning and wondering what to do. Suddenly the Lord Jesus appeared and said, “Peace be to you.” This One who appeared to them was not Jesus in the flesh — He was Christ the Lord.
According to verse 21, the Lord said to them, “Peace be to you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” Then, as we see in verse 22, the Lord breathed into the disciples the holy pneuma, the Holy Spirit: “And when He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” The Lord Jesus in His resurrection is now the pneuma, the Spirit. He appeared to the disciples in the form of pneuma, and He told them to receive the holy pneuma, the holy breath. In the Greek language the word pneuma means both Spirit and breath. Hallelujah, Christ in resurrection is the breath, the pneuma, the Spirit! After the disciples received Him as the holy pneuma, He began to live in them.
We also have received the Lord Jesus Christ as the holy breath, the holy pneuma, the life-giving Spirit, and now He is actually in us. I believe that if we have a proper realization of Christ in us, we shall be very excited, even beside ourselves with joy. The fact that we may not be at all excited about this may indicate that we do not realize that Christ is in us.
Where is Christ today? The answer is that Christ is on the throne in heaven and also living in us. Oh, we should be able to declare with a strong release of the spirit that Christ is in us. Our Christ today is the One who lives in us! In a very real sense, our Christ is different from the Christ in whom many Christians believe, for they have a Christ merely in heaven, but we have both the Christ in heaven and the Christ who dwells in our spirit.
I have been condemned and falsely accused of preaching another Christ. I do not preach a Christ different from the One revealed in the Bible. But, in a certain sense, I preach a Christ who is somewhat different from the One in whom many Christians believe, for the Christ I preach is both in the heavens and in me, whereas many Christians have a Christ only in heaven. Rather than enjoy the indwelling Christ today, they are waiting to die and to meet Christ in heaven. The Christ I preach is the Christ revealed in the Scriptures. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord in an all-inclusive sense. For Him to be the Lord means that He is both Jesus and Christ.
In the foregoing message we pointed out that to be in Christ is to be in His death, the death which terminates all negative things: sin, the world, the old creation, the old man, the flesh, the self, and Satan. When the Lord Jesus was crucified, He terminated all these negative things. This all-inclusive termination brings in resurrection. In the Bible there is a strong principle that death ushers us into resurrection. If there is no death, there can be no resurrection.
In resurrection Jesus is the Christ. Hallelujah, His crucifixion is still effective! Praise Him that He has been resurrected and that in resurrection He has become the Christ. Now as believers we are in Christ; we have entered into an organic union with Him.
Some Christian teachers speak of being in Jesus. This expression is not accurate. We can be in Christ, but we cannot be in Jesus. When the Lord was Jesus in the flesh, no one could be in Him. But after He was crucified and resurrected and had become the Spirit, we could be in Him. By the Spirit, with the Spirit, through the Spirit, and in the Spirit, we can be in Christ. Christ is the heavenly, spiritual air, and we are now in Him.
The word Christ is an anglicized form of the Greek word christos. This Greek word is an equivalent to the Hebrew word for Messiah, meaning the anointed One. For the Lord Jesus to be the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed One, means that God’s Spirit was poured upon Him. Today our Christ is not only the anointed One, but is also the anointing One. He Himself has become the life-giving Spirit. In resurrection Christ is both the anointed One and, as the anointing Spirit, the anointing One.
In experience we can know that Christ today is the anointing One. Suppose someone is suffering and is deeply sorrowful and depressed. According to his feeling, life is not worth living. Then he hears the gospel and learns of God’s love for him. He hears how the Lord Jesus died for him, has been resurrected, and is waiting for him to receive Him by calling, “O Lord Jesus.” Then he says, “Lord Jesus, I thank You.” He finds that his sorrow has gone away. Within he has the sense of being watered. This watering is the Lord’s anointing that results in peace, in rest, and in the sense of being loved by the Lord and being cared for by Him. This is the experience of Christ as the anointing One.
When we call on the Lord’s name, the Person of the Lord comes to us. Just as a person responds when we call his name, so the Lord Jesus Himself responds when we call His name. The Lord’s name is Jesus Christ, and His Person is the Spirit. For this reason, when we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, it is the Spirit who comes.
Our concept may be that the Lord is only in the third heaven. Therefore, when we call on Him, we may be surprised that He comes so quickly. Actually, as the Spirit He is already within us. Our intention may be to say, “Lord Jesus Christ, You are in heaven.” But before we have finished saying the Lord’s name, He has already responded. The Lord can respond so quickly to our calling on Him because in resurrection He is now the life-giving Spirit.
In Genesis 1 we have God, and in the four Gospels we have a record of the life of Jesus on earth. But today for our experience we have the Lord Jesus Christ as the Spirit. The moment we begin to call on His name, He comes to us from within us. This is Christ in resurrection.
The church is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The title Christ in 1 Thessalonians 1:1 denotes all the riches of resurrection. If the Lord were only Jesus and not Christ, we could not be in Him. But because He is the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be in Him and we are in Him right now. Where are we? We are in the Lord Jesus Christ. The name Jesus implies that everything we are in the old creation and in the fall has been terminated, and the title Christ implies that we are no longer in ourselves, in the old creation, in sin and death, in the world, and in Satan. Instead, we are in resurrection, in the Spirit, and in righteousness, holiness, power, strength, and might. Because we are in Christ, we are even on the throne with Him. Oh, how marvelous it is to be in Christ.
To be in the Lord Jesus Christ means on the one hand that we are terminated and are no longer in the old creation. On the other hand, it means that by being in Christ we are in resurrection. To be in Christ is to be in resurrection, in the Spirit, in power, in strength, and in authority. However, because of the influence of traditional Christianity, we may not realize the significance of being in Christ. As a result, there may be a shortage of the experience of resurrection, strength, and authority.
Do you realize that because you are in Christ you are on the throne? Not only are you in power, might, strength, and authority, but you are also on the throne. After His resurrection Christ went to the heavens to be enthroned, and in Him we also are on the throne. Sometimes we need to say to Satan, “Satan, don’t you see where I am? I am in Christ on the throne!”
Religion has deprived us, even robbed us, of the enjoyment of what we have in Christ. It has caused us in experience to be poor, pitiful. Therefore, we need to be impressed with the fact that to be in Christ is to be in resurrection, in the Spirit, in power, and on the throne. The church in Christ is the church in resurrection, in authority, and on the throne.
Before we go on to see that to be in Christ is also to be in the kingdom and glory, we need to emphasize the crucial matter of life. To be in Christ is to be in life, even in resurrection life. If we neglect life, we shall miss everything. Apart from life, there is no way to enter into the kingdom or the glory. The church today is in resurrection life, and this resurrection life is accomplishing many things for us.
I have learned much about life by observing how things grow in my garden at home. I am amazed how a tiny plant grows in life. This is a picture, an illustration, of how we are growing in resurrection life. Because we are in resurrection life, something within us is growing. The word growing implies a great deal. It includes transformation, blossoming, fruitfulness, and maturity. Some of the plants in my garden were rather uncomely before they had adequate growth. But by growing they have been transformed and have become beautiful. They have blossomed, they have borne fruit, and they have become mature. This matter of growth with all it implies is also included in the thought of the church being in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is indeed a tragedy that, under the influence of religion, so many Christians have been distracted from growing in resurrection life. Instead of paying attention to life and the growth of life, they pursue knowledge and try to improve themselves. There is no need for us to endeavor to improve ourselves, for we are in resurrection life. This resurrection life is the resurrected Christ, and this Christ in resurrection is the life-giving Spirit. The church today is in Christ, the One who in His resurrection has become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit.
