Christ in Made Unto us Wisdom from God

Christ is Made Unto us Wisdom from God

Having dwelt on the fact of our being in Christ, let us now focus on the matter of Christ in us. How does it come about that Christ is in us? Christ in us hinges on resurrection. Because the Lord Jesus has been resurrected and dwells in the Holy Spirit—for He is not only a man but also a man in the Spirit—therefore, He is in us. The Lord Jesus has said, "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed" (John 6.53-56). But only as a man in the Spirit may He be received into us. Had He remained as He formerly was on earth, He could not be taken in by us.

Jesus being both God and man (when in creation), it is not that He is the 3rd Person of the Trinity, but that the Spirit of Jesus is now given so we live by the Spirit of Christ or in other words, live through Christ by the Spirit so that now we no longer live, but Christ lives in us by the Spirit. This is not really complicated if one is patient with these words.

Envision if you will, when Jesus is out of creation, He is spirit, but when in creation He is a man, whether in creation in the likeness of flesh (or at His return) or by the Spirit indwelling the believer today. In either case He is a man as well as God. Like a spaceman who goes into space, he must put on the clothing of the Spirit, for the Spirit is his life as well as the life of the Father. This Spirit (the 3rd Person of the Godhead) is like the shuttle itself. But once resurrected and raptured (raised) as Jesus is, like the liftoff of the shuttle, there is a further working of indwelling in space in which the God-man who is Christ clothes Himself with the Spirit to indwell the believer. This is like putting on the spacesuit itself and going outside the shuttle into the confines of space into the holy of holies (like man's spirit). Our being in Christ is like a drawer with many compartments. The compartments can be said to be like each of us who are in Christ whereas the drawer is Christ. Our in Christ is accomplished by the Spirit in us.

Let us realize that we eat the fruit of the tree of life, not the tree of life. A tree we can neither feed on nor take in. When the Lord Jesus was a man on earth He could be likened to the tree of life. Those who lived on earth at that time had no way to receive Him into themselves, just as today we cannot receive anyone into ourselves. If Jesus had not become the risen Lord but had simply continued on earth as before, He would forever be He, and we would forever be we, since there is absolutely no way to take Him in. Jesus of Nazareth, however holy and lovely He is, cannot be received into ourselves because He is a man. But today He not only is a man, He also has been raised from the dead and is now in the Spirit. Thus has He become the Lord who is receivable by us.

The Holy Spirit, it should be noted, is actually the Lord coming in another form (see John 14.16-20). Hence His name is also called "the Spirit of Jesus" (Acts 16.7) or "the Spirit of Christ" (Rom. 8.9). After the Lord Jesus is clothed with the Holy Spirit Christ becomes the Lord who can be received into us. Otherwise we would never be able to enjoy Him. In resurrection Christ is clothed with the Holy Spirit. When we receive the Holy Spirit we receive Christ, just as in receiving the Son we receive the Father. Just as in former days people seeing the Son also saw the Father, so now, as we know the Holy Spirit we likewise know the Son. The Lord Jesus is risen, He is clothed with the Holy Spirit; we may therefore receive Him into us, taking Him as our life. Whoever accepts the Lord Jesus, and no matter how clear or unclear he is, is given this experience by God.

God puts us in Christ—this is the first thing; He then makes Christ our wisdom—this is the second thing. These two actions are not accomplished by us. We cannot by ourselves enter into Christ or cause Christ to come into us. God alone can do both.