Part 8
Christ in You
Let us go back to the beginning.
You will remember at the creation that Christ breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life and “man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7.
When Adam sinned, he lost the presence of Christ, and in this loss, the light that covered him disappeared. No longer was man a blending of humanity with divinity; the human race was only human.
However if humanity was to be redeemed, there must be a union of the human with the divine, for “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” John 3:5. Therefore Christ united His divinity with humanity, not in exchanging His divine nature for a human one, but in clothing His divinity with humanity.
In this act, divinity “was manifested” in human flesh, uniting for ever the human and the divine. 1 John 1:2.
“That is to say, Jesus Christ joined himself to humanity, and identified himself with humanity and became humanity; and he became we, and we were there in him. It means that Jesus Christ in himself joined humanity and divinity to all eternity, and is today our representative in heaven, still bearing our human nature, and there is a divine-human man in heaven today – Jesus Christ.” 63
Even for one soul to be saved, the union of the human and the divine was necessary. No other being in the universe could fulfil this miracle except the Son of the living God; angels could not achieve it, nor holy beings from other worlds. Christ alone was able to represent the Deity.
“He who had been in the presence of the Father from the beginning, He who was the express image of the invisible God, was alone sufficient to accomplish this work. No verbal description could reveal God to the world. Through a life of purity, a life of perfect trust and submission to the will of God, a life of humiliation such as even the highest seraph in heaven would have shrunk from, God Himself must be revealed to humanity.” 64
At the conception through Mary, the divine life of the Son of God blended with humanity, and at Bethlehem He was manifested in human flesh.
Later in His life, the glory could not be contained, and at times divinity flashed through humanity, putting to silence those who refused to acknowledge Him as the Son of the Most High. Christ’s own personal glory escaped through the guise of the flesh.
“The truth, obscured as it was by a veil of humiliation, spoke to every heart with unmistakable evidence. This led to the words of Christ, ‘Ye know who I am’. Men and devils were compelled, by the shining forth of His glory, to confess, ‘Truly, this is the Son of God’. Thus God was revealed; thus Christ was glorified.” 65
During His life on earth, the divine-human Son kept His Father’s commandments, not by His own power, but by the Spirit of His Father, for “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself…” 2 Corinthians 5:19.
Jesus said, “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” John 14:10. 5:19. 10:37.38.
“Jesus rested upon the wisdom and strength of His heavenly Father. He declares, ‘The Lord God will help Me; therefore shall I not be confounded…. Behold the Lord God will help Me.’ Christ’s humanity was united with divinity; He was fitted for the conflict by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And He came to make us partakers of the divine nature.” 66
Our Saviour never trusted in Himself. “I can of mine own self do nothing”, he said. John 5:30. His trust was always in His Father. His dependence was upon the grace of God, and not upon His own divine nature.
“Though He (Christ) … placed Himself entirely at the same disadvantage as are all mankind – made in all points like us and so ‘in all points tempted like as we are’ – yet not a single tendency or inclination of the flesh was ever allowed the slightest recognition, even in thought; every one of them was effectually killed at the root by the power of God, which through divine faith, He brought to humanity.” 67
In this glorious victory, Christ truly became the last Adam, the second Representative of the human race. On every point in which our first father failed, Christ succeeded. By faith in God, He received the power to resist the temptation to sin.
By this our Saviour condemned sin in human flesh.
“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” Romans 8:3.
Sadly, sinful men could only tolerate this perfect life a few short years, and in their endeavour to hide their own sins, the Jewish leaders condemned Jesus to die. Little did they realise that the Son of God came to this earth for the purpose of laying down His life, and so while carrying out their evil devices, the Pharisees unwittingly fulfilled God’s plans.
(Jesus not only condemned sin in the flesh by refusing to participate in it, but He also condemned it in the flesh by destroying that flesh on the cross. We are not judged morally guilty for being born with a fallen nature, but salvation would never be available had Jesus not condemned sin in the flesh through both obedience and death of that flesh)
Upon Calvary, Jesus Christ surrendered His life, and made it possible for every soul to say, in full assurance of Christian faith, ‘He loved me’, ‘He gave himself for me’, ‘I am crucified with Christ’. Galatians 2:20.
“Thus this verse is a beautiful and solid foundation of Christian faith for every soul in the world…. For any soul to say, ‘I am crucified with Christ’, is not speaking at a venture. It is not believing something on a guess. It is not saying a thing of which there is no certainty.
Every soul in this world can say in all truth and all sincerity, ‘I am crucified with Christ.’ It is but the acceptance of a fact, the acceptance of a thing that is already done, for this word is the statement of a fact.
It is a fact that Jesus Christ was crucified. And when He was crucified we also were crucified, for He was one of us. His name is Immanuel, which is “God with us", not God with Him, but “God with us”… And when He was crucified, then who was it but “us” that was crucified?
This is the mighty truth announced in this text. Jesus Christ was “us”. He was of the same flesh and blood with us. He was of our very nature. He was in all points like us. “It behoved him to be made in all points like unto his brethren”. He emptied Himself, and was made in the likeness of men. He was “the last Adam”, and precisely as the first Adam was ourselves, so Christ, the last Adam, was ourselves…
As the first Adam was in himself the whole human race, so the last Adam was in himself the whole human race, and so when the last Adam was crucified, the whole human race – the old, sinful human race – was crucified with Him. And so it is written, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin….
In this blessed fact of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, which was accomplished for every human soul, there is not only laid the foundation of faith for every soul, but in it there is given the gift of faith to every soul. And thus the cross of Christ is not only the wisdom of God displayed from God to us, but it is the very power of God manifested to deliver us from all sin and bring us to God.
O sinner, brother, sister, believe it. Oh, receive it. Surrender to this mighty truth. Say it: say it in full assurance of faith and say it forever. “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Say it, for it is the truth, the very truth and wisdom and power of God, which saves the soul from all sin.” 68
Praise God for this wonderful truth.
Let us consider our chart again.
Everything that took place for our salvation is outside of us, and shown to be above the line. What God did for us ‘in Christ’ is our salvation, however it is not the sum total of our salvation. We can claim the righteous life lived by Christ as our own, but this in itself does not make us fit for heaven.
‘In Adam’ DEATH ‘In Christ’
Perfect obedience – Holy Life
Perfect sacrifice -- Satisfied Justice
We ‘lived and died’ in Christ
______________________________________________________________________
All humanity is without power to obey
and is unfit for heaven
“The Bible does not teach us that God calls us righteous simply because Jesus of Nazareth was righteous eighteen hundred years ago. It says that by His obedience we are made righteous….
He is alive today, as much as when He was in Judea….. “He ever liveth”…. And He lives in the hearts of those who believe on Him. Therefore, it is Christ’s present obedience in believers that makes them righteous. They can of themselves do nothing, and so God in His love does it in them. He is the whole story: ‘I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…..” 69
This means that when we accept Christ as our Saviour, the One who lived the perfect life indwells us by His Spirit, and just as in Adam we were made partakers of a sinful nature, even so in Christ we shall be made partakers of the divine nature.
“When a man believes in Jesus as his personal Saviour, and accepts of his righteousness by faith, he becomes a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust; and he escapes from corruption through the indwelling of the holy Spirit.
Without divine nature, without the influence of the Spirit of God, man cannot work out his own salvation. Said Christ, ‘Without me ye can do nothing’.” 70
The Father and Jesus Christ accept the faith of the believer,
and in response the Father gives His Spirit through Christ to dwell within.
________________________________________________________________________________
When faith ascends, the human becomes a partaker of the divine nature.
When the soul surrenders itself to Christ,
a new power takes possession of the heart.
A change is wrought which man can never accomplish for himself.
“Genuine faith appropriates the righteousness of Christ, and the sinner is made an overcomer with Christ; for he is made a partaker of the divine nature, and thus divinity and humanity are combined.” 71
As a branch is grafted onto a tree, so the Christian in becoming a partaker of the divine nature, he absorbs the elements of the life of Christ.
“Abiding in Christ means a constant receiving of His Spirit, a life of unreserved surrender to His service. As the vine branch constantly draws the sap from the living vine, so are we to cling to Jesus and receive from Him by faith the strength and perfection of His own character….” 72
When a sinner accepts Jesus Christ as His Saviour, the Redeemer once again breathes into his nostrils the breath of life, and spiritual life begins to flow forth; the dead soul now lives by the power of the Creator.
Christ demonstrated this truth before He returned to heaven. He said to His disciples, “ “Peace be unto you; as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost…” ” John 20:21.22.
This He will do for every one of His children.
And it is because of the actual presence of the divine power of Christ’s Spirit that we can have victory over sin.
“It is impossible for us, of ourselves, to escape from the pit of sin in which we are sunken. Our hearts are evil, and we can not change them…. There must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness.” 73
When assailed by temptation, the Bible clearly reveals that we must submit to God, giving Him our will, but unless He gives us His divine power, we cannot flee the devil. It is not human willpower that resists the temptation. It is divine power that gives us the victory, and that victory is God’s Spirit, given to us through Christ.
In other words, God dwelt in human flesh almost two thousand years ago, gaining the victory over sin. This victory that Christ wrought out in human flesh is for everyone in human flesh who today believes in Jesus.
“For by the Holy Spirit, the very presence of Christ Himself comes to the believer, for it is His constant desire to ‘grant you, according the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith’…
Thus the deliverance from the guilt of sin and from the power of sin which holds the believer in triumph over all the desires, the tendencies and inclinations of his sinful flesh, through the power of the Spirit of God – this is wrought today by the personal presence of Christ Jesus in human flesh in the believer, precisely as it was wrought by the personal presence of Christ in human flesh eighteen hundred and seventy years ago.
Christ is ever the same – ‘the same yesterday and today and forever’…. The gospel of Christ today is the same that it was eighteen hundred and seventy years ago. (Written 1901) Then it was ‘God manifest in the flesh’, and today it is the same, “God manifest in the same flesh, the flesh of sinful men, human flesh, just as human nature is.
That gospel is ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory” – Christ in you just as you are, sins, sinfulness, and all; for He gave Himself for our sins and for our sinfulness. And you, just as you are, Christ has bought and God “hath made us accepted” in Him. He has received you just as you are and the gospel, ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’, brings you under the reign of the grace of God, and through the Spirit of God makes you so subject to the power of Christ and of God, that ‘the fruit of the Spirit’ appears in you instead of ‘the works of the flesh’.” 74
“The Holy Spirit, which proceeds from the only-begotten Son of God, binds the human agent, body, soul, and spirit, to the perfect, divine-human nature of Christ…. Through faith human nature is assimilated with Christ’s nature.” 75
We are “changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:17.18.
“Christ abides in the heart, the whole nature is transformed. Christ’s Spirit, His love, softens the heart, subdues the soul, and raises the thoughts and desires toward God and heaven.” 76
If our works do not display the fruits of the divine Spirit, we must be warned that we are being motivated by a false spirit -- the spirit of the great deceiver.
Today is the day of decision, for we are living in the days when the mystery of God is to be finished – ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’, ‘God manifest in the flesh’.
“To what heights of holiness he (the Christian) may attain! No matter how much Satan may war against him, assaulting him where the flesh is weakest, he may abide under the shadow of the Almighty, and be filled with the fullness of God’s strength. The One stronger than Satan may dwell in his heart continually; and so, looking at Satan’s assaults as from a strong fortress, he may say, ‘Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us’.” 77
God’s work in human flesh, or God manifested in human flesh, in you and me, is to be finished. We are to be perfected in Jesus Christ. By the Spirit we are to come “unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:13.
“It is by virtue of this union that we are to come forth from the grave – not merely as a manifestation of the power of Christ, but because, through faith, His life has become ours.
Those who see Christ in His true character, and receive Him into the heart, have everlasting life. It is through the Spirit that Christ dwells in us; and the Spirit of God, received into the heart by faith, is the beginning of eternal life.” 78
Maranatha – Come Lord Jesus.
Bibliography
Patriarchs and Prophets p49.
Review & Herald. Mar 3. 1874.
The Desire of Ages p49.
1 Selected Messages p252.
Ibid. p254.
Ibid. p256.
Patriarchs and Prophets p67.
The Divine-Human Family. W.W. Prescott p12.
Youth’s Instructor. Jun 26. 1900.
Signs of the Times. Jun 6. 1895.
In Heavenly Places p42.
Ibid p42.
The Glad Tidings p14.
1 Selected Messages p343.
Manus. 36. 1890.
Of ourselves we can do nothing to save ourselves from certain death. God had to separate Himself from planet earth, and were it not for Christ, we would all be doomed.
The Desire of Ages p203.
1 Selected Messages p308.
Ibid p254. Also look at Faith & Works p64.65.
The Mount of Blessings p12.
5 Testimonies p199.200.
The Divine-Human Family. W.W. Prescott p7.
As a baby, Christ is called ‘that holy thing’. The inspired record says He did not possess sinful passions or evil propensities as we do, and that His nature recoiled from evil. His human nature, though weakened through four thousand years, was none-the-less free of the corruption that pervades human nature, untainted from His first entrance into the human race, having always an inclination to do right. He did no sin, knew no sin, and in him was no sin. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. ST Jan 16. 1896. See also MLT323. SD 23. 2T202. DA266. 5BC 1116.7. 1128. 1131. ST Jun 9. 1908. ST May 29. 1901. 7BC 907. 912. 925. 4T 528.
The Divine-Human Family p12.
The Youth’s Instructor. Oct 13.1898.
The Desire of Ages p25.26.
Review & Herald. A.T. Jones. Nov 10. 1896.
Ibid. A.T. Jones. Oct 29. 1896.
The Gospel in Creation. E.J. Waggoner p44.45.
General Conference Bulletin. 1895. E.J., Waggoner p661.
Steps to Christ p46.47.
3 Selected Messages p360.
Steps to Christ p47.
5 Testimonies p513.
Mind, Character and Personality p432.
Steps to Christ p48.
Ibid p64.
The Upward Look p132.
With Christ in the School of Prayer. Andrew Murray p47.
Healing your Heart of Painful Emotions. David Seamands p61.
Maranatha p58.
Christ’s Object Lessons p331.
Christian Perfection. A.T. Jones. Review & Herald. Jul 18. 1899.
The Present Truth. E.J. Waggoner. Aug 11. 1892.
Testimonies to Ministers p456.
5 Testimonies p235.
4 Testimonies p529.
1 Selected Messages p344.
Faith and Works p23.24.
1 Selected Messages p331.
Ibid p394.
Review & Herald. Aug 19. 1890. 3 Selected Messages p190.
Christ and His Righteousness. E.J. Waggoner p75.76.
Christ’s Object Lessons p310.
Ibid p311.307.
1 Selected Messages p396.397.
Faith and Works p107.108. Colossians 2:10.
Christ’s Object Lessons p312.
1 Selected Messages p26.27.
Faith and Works p20.22.24.
1 Selected Messages p314.
Sons and Daughters of God p120.
The Divine-Human Family .W.W. Prescott p7.
Review & Herald. Jun 25. 1895.
Signs of the Times. May 10. 1899.
The Desire of Ages p123.
Review & Herald. A.T. Jones. Oct 2. 1900.
Ibid. A.T. Jones. Oct 24. 1899.
Signs of theTimes. E.J. Waggoner. Mar 12. 1896.
Review and Herald. Oct 25. 1892.
1 Selected Messages p263.264.
The Desire of Ages p676.
Steps to Christ p18.
Review & Herald. A.T. Jones. Oct 2. 1900.
1 Selected Messages p251.
Steps to Christ p73.74.
Signs of the Times. E.J. Waggoner. Jan 21. 1889.
The Desire of Ages p388.
I am sorry the numbers do not come out in Bibliographies. You will have to count and hope it comes to the right reference.
Christ our Representative