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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 15:45b; John 14:16-20; 12:24b; 1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 1:20-23
In the two preceding messages we covered the objective aspect of the Man-Savior’s resurrection. With this message we come to the subjective aspect of His resurrection.
The first point related to the subjective aspect of the Man-Savior’s resurrection is that Christ’s resurrection was His transfiguration into the life-giving Spirit in order to enter into His believers (1 Cor. 15:45b; John 14:16-20). Christ’s resurrection as His transfiguration is a difficult matter to explain, for this involves the Divine Trinity.
God is triune. Traditional teachings concerning the Trinity have given the impression that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — the three of the divine Godhead — are separate. According to this understanding, when the Son came to earth, the Father was left on the throne in heaven. We know from the Gospel of John that when the Son was about to die, He told His disciples that He would ask the Father to send the Spirit, who came on the day of Pentecost. However, it is supposed by some that when the Spirit came on Pentecost, the Son remained with the Father on the throne. Therefore, according to this teaching, which is very superficial, and far from being accurate, when the Son came as a man, He left the Father on the throne. The Son then lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years, died, resurrected, and ascended to the heavens. Following this, the Father sent the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came, He left both the Father and the Son in the heavens. This kind of teaching gives a very wrong impression concerning the Triune God.
The New Testament reveals that when the Son came, He came with the Father. Concerning this, John 8:29 says, “He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone.” When the Son was on earth, He was not alone, for the Father was always with Him: “I am not alone, because the Father is with Me” (John 16:32). The Lord Jesus even told His disciples that He was in the Father and that the Father was in Him: “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me” (John 14:11a). The Son’s being in the Father and the Father’s being in the Son is a matter of coinherence, a word we need to know for the expression of the deeper truth regarding the Triune God revealed in the Scriptures.
Since the Son came with the Father and the Father was even in the Son, it is not correct to say that the Son left the Father on the throne in heaven when He came to earth. Actually, it is heretical to teach that the Son came without the Father. In the Gospel of John we see that the Son was sent “from with” the Father, that is, not only from the Father but also with the Father. In John 6:46 the Lord Jesus said, “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except Him who is from God, He has seen the Father.” The Greek preposition translated “from” in this verse is para, by the side of. The sense here is from with. The Lord Jesus is not only from the Father, but also with the Father. We have the same thought in John 7:29; 16:27 and 17:8. Because the Son was sent from with the Father, the Father came when the Son came. Moreover, when the Son was on earth, the Father was not only with Him but also in Him, even as the Son was in the Father.
Furthermore, the Holy Spirit was involved in the conceiving of the Lord Jesus. Hence, the birth of Christ was directly of the Holy Spirit, for His mother, Mary, was “with child of the Holy Spirit,” for that which was begotten in her was of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18, 20). Then at the age of thirty, when the Man-Savior came forth to minister, the Spirit descended upon Him (Luke 3:22). In His ministry the Lord preached the gospel by the Spirit. In Luke 4:18 we are told that He read these words from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor....” The Son’s preaching was the Spirit’s work. The Son never did anything by Himself. He even cast out demons by the Spirit of God (Matt. 12:28).
If we put together all these verses concerning the Son, the Father, and the Spirit, we see that when Jesus Christ was on earth He was the Triune God. Not only was the Son there, but the Father and the Spirit were there as well. Hence, He is the embodiment of the Godhead (Col. 2:9). Therefore, we should abandon the thought that only the Son came to earth leaving the Father and the Spirit in the heavens. What we teach concerning the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is based on the pure word of the Bible, and the Bible cannot be defeated.
In John 14:8, Philip, our representative, said, “Lord, show us the Father and it suffices us.” Surprised by this request, the Lord replied, “Am I 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? The words which I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself; but the Father who abides in Me, He does His works” (vv. 9-10). Here the Lord seems to be saying, “Why do you ask Me to show you the Father? Do you not know that if you see Me, you see the Father? You see the Father when you see Me because I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me. Do not think that I am separate from the Father, or that the Father is far away from Me. This is a mistaken concept. Because I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, wherever I am, there the Father is also.”
Philip was silenced by the Lord’s answer. This gave Him the opportunity to speak further. In John 14:16-17 He went on to say, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever; even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.” When the Lord spoke these words, He was among the disciples, but He was not yet in them. He seemed to be telling them, “Now I am among you and with you. But the intention of the Triune God is in that He would enter into you. It is not adequate that I be with you — I need to be in you.” Therefore, He said that He would ask the Father to give them another Comforter, the Spirit of reality, who would be in them.
At this point some might say, “Have you not told us that since the Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son, the Son and the Father cannot be regarded as separate? But in John 14:16 the Son says that He would ask the Father to give them another Comforter. Does this not indicate that the Son and the Father are separate?” No, this does not indicate that the Son and the Father are separate. We have already seen that the Lord Himself said that He is in the Father and that the Father is in Him. This is a matter of coinherence. Therefore, what we have in the Son’s asking of the Father is not separation but coinherence.
It is significant that in John 14:16 the Lord speaks of another Comforter. The word “another” indicates that the Lord, the One speaking, is a Comforter. If He were not a Comforter, then He would not have said that He would ask the Father to send another Comforter. If we read verses 16 through 20 carefully, we shall see that, eventually, the second Comforter is actually the first Comforter as the Spirit. In verse 17 the Lord says that the Spirit of reality will be in the disciples. But then in verse 18 He continues, “I will not leave you orphans; I am coming to you.” The “He” who is the Spirit of reality in verse 17 now becomes the “I,” the Lord Himself in verse 18. This indicates that after His resurrection the Lord became the Spirit of reality, as confirmed by 1 Corinthians 15:45b. Furthermore, the Lord speaks of another Comforter in verse 16 and then says in verse 20, “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” Here the Lord again reveals that He Himself would be in the disciples as the Spirit.
If some of us had been present when the Lord spoke these words, we might have argued with the Lord Jesus and said, “Lord, we do not know what you are talking about. You have just said that You would ask the Father to send another Comforter, the Spirit of reality, who would be in us. Why do You now say that You will be in us?” If anyone present had tried to argue with Him in this way, He might have said, “You must realize that the very Comforter whom I have called another Comforter is actually I Myself in resurrection. I have told you that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. It is the same with Me and the Spirit. The Spirit is in Me, and I am in the Spirit. When I come, the Father comes; and when the Spirit comes, I come.”
The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one God, the Triune God. The word “triune” means three-one. Hence, God is the three-one God. Because He is triune, three-one, we should not think that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit can be separated. We need to always remember that the Three — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — are one. However, while They are one, They are three at the same time.
In Christ’s resurrection the Spirit came as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. When the Son came in incarnation, He came with the Father and by the Spirit. After coming in incarnation, the Son took a further step to go through death and enter into resurrection. This is the process which we call the Man-Savior’s transfiguration. By going through this process of transfiguration, the Son, who came in incarnation with the Father and by the Spirit, became the Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. We should not think that when the Spirit came He came alone, leaving the Son and the Father on the throne in heaven. No, when the Spirit came He came as the consummation of the Triune God. This means that when the Spirit came, the Son and Father came with Him also. The three — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — came together as the Spirit.
Furthermore, when God came through incarnation, something was added to Him — the element of humanity. Before the incarnation, the Son of God was merely divine; He did not have the human nature. But when He came through incarnation, humanity was added to Him. In this way He became a God-man, a Person both divine and human.
This God-man experienced human living on earth for thirty-three and a half years. Then He went to the cross and died an all-inclusive death. We have seen that the Man-Savior died as One with a sevenfold status. His death was the death of the Lamb of God, a serpent in form, a grain of wheat, the last Adam, the Firstborn of all creation, a man in the likeness of the flesh of sin, and the Peacemaker. Because of the Lord’s sevenfold status in His death, it was an all-inclusive death.
After this God-man passed through His all-inclusive death, He entered into resurrection. His resurrection was His transfiguration — the transfiguration into the life-giving Spirit to enter into His believers. This transfiguration included a number of elements: humanity, human living, and Christ’s all-inclusive death. All these elements were brought into the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit who became the consummation of the Triune God. Just as the incarnation added humanity to God, so the Man-Savior’s resurrection brought all these elements into the life-giving Spirit.
Some may argue that nothing can be added to God. But I would ask you to look at what is portrayed in the New Testament. When God became a man, was not humanity added to Him? Incarnation was a process that brought God into humanity and added humanity to God. In like manner, resurrection as the Man-Savior’s transfiguration was also a process that brought the elements of humanity, human living, and the all-inclusive death of the God-man with His sevenfold status into the life-giving Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God.
