Ⅰ
To live in the Divine Trinity is to abide in Him, to remain in Him, to dwell in Him as our home; to live with the Divine Trinity is for Him to abide in us so that we may have His presence, His person, with us for our enjoyment—John 15:4:
A
The abiding Spirit, the indwelling Spirit, is the element and sphere of the mutual abiding, the mutual indwelling, of us and the Triune God—1 John 4:13, 16b.
B
We need to have a bird’s-eye view of the entire revelation of the New Testament—one-fourth of the New Testament is concerning our living in the Triune God, whereas three-fourths of the New Testament is concerning our living with the Triune God.
Ⅱ
To live with the Divine Trinity is to live with Christ as Emmanuel—“’‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel’ (which is translated, God with us)”—Matt. 1:23:
A
God’s intention is to dispense Himself as life (Rom. 8:2, 6, 10-11) into us, the tripartite men—into our spirit, soul, and body—to make us His sons (vv. 14-15, 19, 23, 29, 17) for the constituting of the Body of Christ (12:4-5) so that we may become the New Jerusalem as the city of life (Rev. 22:1-2).
B
In order for us to experience the dispensing of the Triune God as life into our being, we need to be those who are living with Christ as Emmanuel; Matthew is a book on Emmanuel—God incarnated to be with us—1:21-23.
C
The presence of Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us:
１
He is with us in our gatherings—18:20.
２
He is with us all the days—28:20.
３
He is with us in our spirit—2 Tim. 4:22:
ａ
Today our spirit is the land of Immanuel—Isa. 8:7-8.
ｂ
Because God is with us, the enemy can never take over the land of Immanuel—v. 10; cf. 1 John 5:4; John 3:6.
Morning Nourishment
John 15:4 Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.1 John 4:13 In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, that He has given to us of His Spirit.
Matt. 1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel” (which is translated, God with us).
To live in the Divine Trinity is to dwell in Him as our home. To live in Him is to abide in Him, to remain in Him….Whether or not He would abide in us depends upon our abiding in Him. To live in Christ, to abide in Christ, is the first part of our enjoyment of the Triune God….The second part of our enjoyment… is conveyed by the Lord’s word concerning His abiding in us. His abiding in us brings His presence to us, so we live with Him. To live in Him puts us into the position of the enjoyment of the Lord. To live with Him is the enjoyment itself. To live with the Divine Trinity is to enjoy the Divine Trinity.
We need to have a bird’s-eye view of the entire revelation of the New Testament…that one-fourth of the New Testament is concerning our living in the Triune God, whereas three-fourths is concerning our living with the Triune God. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” pp. 355-356)
Today’s Reading
The Spirit, whom God has given to dwell in us (James 4:5; Rom. 8:9,11), is the witness in our spirit (Rom. 8:16), witnessing that we dwell in God and God in us. The abiding Spirit, that is, the indwelling Spirit, is the element and sphere of the mutual abiding, the mutual indwelling, of us and God. By Him we are assured that we and God are one, that we abide in each other, indwelling each other mutually. This is evidenced by our living, a living in which we love one another habitually with His love (1 John 4:12). (1 John 4:13, footnote 1)Jesus is nothing less than God with us. This is our experience. God told us that His name is Jesus. But as we receive Him and experience Him, we say that Jesus is God with us. When we experience Jesus, He is Emmanuel, God with us…. If we would experience [Jesus], we would immediately say, “This is God! This is not God far away from me, or God in the heavens, but God with me.”…Jesus is our salvation. After we experience this salvation, we say, “This is God with us to be our salvation.” Jesus is our patience. But when we experience Him as our patience, we say, “This patience is God with me.” Jesus is the way and the truth, but when we experience Him as the way and the truth, we say, “This way and this truth are just God with me.”
Whenever we are gathered together into the name of Jesus, He is with us (Matt. 18:20)….This is Emmanuel, God with us. The presence of Jesus in our meetings is actually God with us. Jesus is with us all the days, even “until the consummation of the age” (28:20). “All the days” includes today. Do not forget about today. Many Christians think that Jesus is present all the days, except today. But Jesus is with us now, today! Jesus is not only among us; He is in our spirit. Second Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit.” This Jesus who is with our spirit is Emmanuel, God with us.
According to Isaiah 8:7-8, the enemy may try to take over the land of Immanuel. Do not think this word is only for the children of Israel. Today our spirit is the land of Immanuel. Thus, we ourselves are the land of Immanuel. The enemy, Satan, with all his army will do everything he can to take over this land of Immanuel, that is, to take over our spirit and our being. Isaiah 8:10 tells us that because God is with us, the enemy can never take over the land of Immanuel…. Perhaps during the past week Satan tried twenty-one times to take you over, but he failed every time. You are still here because of Emmanuel, because of God with us. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 75-77)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1988, vol. 1, “Living in and with the Divine Trinity,” chs. 8, 10; Life-study of Matthew, msg. 6