«　WEEK 4　DAY 2　»

　　John 14:17 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.

　　Gal. 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

　　The Triune God passed through the processes of incarnation and resurrection in order to dispense Himself into us. Through incarnation He could be Emmanuel outside of His believers, but this would fulfill only part of His intention in being with us. His being with us outwardly does not fulfill His purpose to dispense Himself into our being, so He had to go through another process. The second process was His death and resurrection. In resurrection His physical form became a spiritual form. Through death and resurrection, He as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). As the life-giving Spirit, He is Emmanuel, the presence of the Divine Trinity. This presence is always with us in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22), not only day by day but also moment by moment. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, “The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man,” p. 303)

　　Matthew is a book on Emmanuel—God incarnated to be with us. The practical Emmanuel is the Spirit of reality (John 14:16-20). When Peter and the other disciples heard the Lord’s word in Matthew 18:20 and 28:20, they may have wondered how the Lord would be with them….They may have considered that the Lord would continue to be with them physically, and this may have made them quite happy. But in John 14 the Lord Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever” (v. 16). Then in verses 17 and 18 the Lord indicated that He would become this Comforter.

　　In Matthew 28:20 the “I” is Emmanuel. In John 14 the “I” who will come in verse 18 is the Spirit of reality in verse 17. There is a progression in the divine revelation from the Gospel of Matthew to the Gospel of John. Today the Spirit of reality is Emmanuel. In Acts and the Epistles, the Spirit of reality is the very presence of the consummated Triune God in our spirit. He, the Triune God, is with us, the tripartite man, mainly in an inward way. The Triune God cannot complete His intention to dispense Himself into our being outside of us. Therefore, His being with us must be inward.

　　We have to realize that all day long we have another One with us. He is not only with us outwardly but also with us inwardly in our spirit every minute of the day. We do and say things one way when we are alone, but when we have someone else with us, we do and say things differently. If we had more experience of Emmanuel, we would not do many of the things we do today, such as gossip….We all must have the realization and sensation that the Lord Jesus, who is our Savior, is also Emmanuel. He is the Triune God with us, the tripartite men. We should not say or do anything in ourselves or by ourselves. We need to experience Emmanuel.

　　If you live every day and every moment by yourself, you are defeated. You must realize that you are no longer living alone, but Christ is living with you and in you. When you have this sensation, it will revolutionize your entire life.

　　To live with Christ, we still live, yet not by ourselves alone but by Christ living with us as Emmanuel. The name Emmanuel is first mentioned in Isaiah (7:14; 8:8). Many Christians address the Lord as Jesus and Christ, but few address the Lord as Emmanuel. We must learn to call our Lord “Emmanuel.” Emmanuel is our life and person, and we are His organ. As His organ, we live together with Him as one person. The Triune God lives together with the tripartite man. Our victory depends upon Emmanuel, the presence of Jesus. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, “The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man,” pp. 302-305)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, “The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man,” ch. 9; Life-study of Isaiah, msg. 8