«　WEEK 1　DAY 3　»

　　John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.

　　2 Tim. 4:22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

　　God became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace. This shows that grace is the incarnated God. If God remained in Himself, He could not become grace. If God was merely God and was not incarnated to become a man, He could not be grace. Hence, in the Old Testament the word grace is used very little, because at that time God had not become flesh and could not become grace. In the New Testament, however, God became flesh, and when He became flesh, He became grace.

　　He is the God-man; He is God yet man, and man yet God. God and man became one in Him. This Emmanuel, the incarnated God, is grace for man’s enjoyment (John 1:1, 14)… First, God as the Father was embodied in the Son, and then the Son was realized as the life-giving Spirit. This Spirit enters into us as grace for our enjoyment.

　　Grace is the embodiment of God, who became a God-man with divinity and humanity, passed through human living, died, resurrected, and entered into ascension. Now He has become the life-giving Spirit and is dwelling in us today. Therefore,… the Lord being with our spirit equals grace being with us [cf. 2 Tim. 4:22]. The Lord as grace is for us to receive and enjoy as our supply and experience. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Law and Grace of God in His Economy,” pp. 300, 307)

　　The incarnated God is triune—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matt. 28:19). The Father as the source is embodied and expressed in the Son (John 14:8-11). God the Father is hidden, and God the Son is manifested among men. The Lord Jesus did many things and spoke many words on earth. Eventually, He was betrayed, arrested, and crucified on the cross…He died and was buried; on the third day He resurrected from the dead. On the day after the Sabbath… some sisters went to Jesus’ tomb and were weeping there. Jesus appeared to them in resurrection, telling them, “Go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God” (John 20:17). In the evening of that day He again appeared to the disciples and breathed into them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22). In His incarnation He as God was transformed to become a man. In His resurrection He as God in the flesh was transformed again to become the life-giving Spirit. The Father as the source is embodied and expressed in the Son; the Son is realized as the Spirit and abides in the believers (14:16-20). Now He is qualified to be our grace. Such a transformed One is grace.

　　The Spirit is in the believers as their life and life supply—first, to be the living water of life for them to drink (7:37-39); second, to be the bread of life for them to eat (6:63); and third, to be the breath of life for them to breathe in (20:22). The Spirit also becomes the divine grace enjoyed by them. Such a processed and consummated Triune God is the grace enjoyed by all the believers in God’s New Testament economy, even for eternity (Rev. 22:21).

　　The Gospel of John tells us that the Word, who was in the beginning, became flesh in time that divinity and humanity may be united and mingled together into a God-man. This God-man does not care about right or wrong or about good or evil. All He cares about is that you receive the grace that He brought.

　　Christ is my life and my person—He lives and I also live; He moves and I also move; it is not I but He who takes the initiative. I am His counterpart; I am a part of His Body. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 2, “The Law and Grace of God in His Economy,” pp. 322-327)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of John, msg. 3; Life-study of Galatians, msg. 11