Christ as the Word of God speaks for God through His incarnation as the tabernacle of God, coming to us full of grace and reality to make God real to us and for us to enjoy His riches for our enjoyment.
Amen, Christ as the Word of God expresses God, manifests God, and explains God, and when we come to Christ in His word, we can see God, we can enjoy God, and God is made real to us!
God does everything by means of His word, and the word of God is Christ.
When God spoke, things came into being. He spoke and created the old creation, and by His living speaking in His Son, He brings forth the new creation.
If we look at the wonderful creation, we see God’s divine characteristics and His divine power being expressed and manifested. If we look at the majestic mountains and all the forests and trees, we are simply amazed at how wonderful all creation is.
We look at the beach with the sand, the flowers and plants, and all the things of God’s creation express His divine characteristics.
There is light in the universe, and everything is bright; this shows that our God is light and He likes things in the light.
There’s beauty and order in the universe, and everything is according to its kind; this shows that God loves beauty and order, He is a God of beauty and order, and He does things in a particular way.
If we look at ourselves, our human body, we are simply amazed at how detailed and wonderful God made us.
The more we study God’s creation the more we are amazed at our God, the creator.
He created all things by means of Christ as the Word of God, and all things came into being through Him.
Even more, He sustains all things, for all things cohere in Him. If we take Christ out of the universe, the whole universe collapses. Oh, Lord!
God arranged and prepared the universe for mankind.
He actually became a man to come to be with man and be one with man, and He wants man to be one with Him.
Because God has an enemy, He wants man not only to express Him but also to represent Him with His authority to deal with His enemy.
Today we as believers in Christ are being brought back to God’s original purpose.
As we read the Bible and turn our heart to the Lord, we behold Christ and we are infused with Him to shine Him forth, and we are entrusted with His authority to deal with His enemy. Praise the Lord!
As we allow the Lord to speak to us and shine on us, we become a new creation and, as we allow Him to shine through us to others, they also receive God’s life to become the new creation. Praise the Lord!
Christ as the Word of God Speaks for God through His Incarnation as the Tabernacle of God
John 1:14 says that Christ as the Word of God became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace and reality, and the disciples beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father.
Christ as the Word of God did not just express God through the creation of all things but even more, He became flesh.
In His incarnation, Christ as the Word of God speaks for God as the tabernacle of God with man.
This is truly amazing: the Creator of the universe and the means by which everything was created became one of His creatures – He became a man (Col. 1:15).
God came into man, divinity was mingled with humanity, and the divine nature came into the human nature.
Here was a person who was not just man but also God; He had both God’s life and man’s life, God’s nature and man’s nature, and God’s gene and man’s gene.
He was a God-man, the tabernacle of God. Christ brought God into man and expressed in His human living God in the divine attributes through His human virtues.
This is a new kind of being, not just God and not just man – a God-man.
God tabernacled in man; He dwelt in man and man dwelt in God.
As He lived a human life on earth in His incarnation and human living, Christ as the Word of God spoke for God as the tabernacle of God.
What others saw when they met Jesus was a man, even a man that did not have an attractive form necessarily, but in this man God lived, and God was expressed.
Before His incarnation, God was mysterious, invisible, intangible, and untouchable; through Christ becoming man, He became solid, real, visible, and touchable.
When Christ was on earth, man could see God, touch God, hear God, and know God, for here was a man as the tabernacle of God.
People saw Him and touched Him, and they saw the tabernacle of God among them – God tabernacling among them.
On one hand, He was the tabernacle of God; on the other hand, He was the temple of God (John 2:22-21).
He is the building of God and man. God’s building is a God-man – God built into man and man built into God.
Because God became man to be the tabernacle of God, we can enter into God.
The deep thought of the Gospel of John is that we can contact God and enter into God to enjoy the riches contained in God.
All things were created in Him and through Him, and all things were created unto Him (Col. 1:15-17).
He was the active instrument by which all things were created.
Now this active instrument came Himself to be a man, that is, He became a creature by mingling Himself with man.
Jesus Christ came in His incarnation to be the tabernacle of God; God was dwelling in Him, God was living in Him, and God was expressed through Him.
In the Old Testament, there was the tabernacle of God, the movable house of God travelling with the people of God through the wilderness, and it was in the tabernacle that God revealed Himself and here His people served Him.
But when Christ came, He was the tabernacle of God, and people could see God in Him.
One day the Lord took three of His closest disciples on the mountain and was transfigured before them (Matt. 17:2; 2 Pet. 1:17-18).
The very God of glory who indwelt Him came out of the tabernacle temporarily, for the God of glory concealed in and by His flesh was manifested there on the mountain.
May we come to the Lord in His word again and again and allow Him to speak to us, shine on us, and dwell in us.
We are now His enlargement, His continuation, and His duplication.
As the church, we are the temple of God, and we can enjoy Christ’s speaking to express God as the tabernacle of God in His incarnation.
Lord Jesus, thank You for becoming a man to bring God into man and join God and man as one. Hallelujah, Christ as the Word of God speaks for God in His incarnation as the tabernacle of God! Amen, Lord, we appreciate You and we love You in Your incarnation and in Your human living. Thank You for coming out of eternity and into time to be joined to man and mingled with man as one. Hallelujah, the Word of God became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we can see His glory being expressed in His human living! Praise the Lord, today God can be contacted, touched, and seen in Jesus Christ, the tabernacle of God! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to come to Your word and receive Your fresh and instant shining. Shine on us. Fill us with Yourself. Mingle Yourself with us. Make us the same as You are so that we may be the God-men today who express God in every way. May You dwell in us and be expressed through us today.
Christ is the Tabernacle of God, Full of Grace and Reality for our Enjoyment
When Christ as the Word of God became incarnate, He not only brought God into humanity but also became a tabernacle to God as God’s habitation on earth among men, being full of grace and reality. Amen!
The law was given through Moses and made demands on man according to what God is (John 1:17).
However, grace came through Jesus Christ, and grace supplies us with what God is in order to meet what God demands. Hallelujah for grace!
On the one hand, God has certain demands and requirements from us; on the other hand, He has become grace to us to meet those demands.
Of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace (v. 16).
When Christ came to be the incarnated Word of God, He did not just work for God, teach others, and make miracles, but He was enjoyed by those around Him.
He didn’t declare God to His disciples merely by teaching them but by expressing God for others to enjoy God in His living, speaking, and working.
He simply looked at people and captured them, for His presence was so enjoyable and so charming!
When He was with the needy sinners and sick ones, they were captured by Him and flocked to Him, for they enjoyed God’s presence when they were with Him.
He is full of grace. Grace is not merely unmerited favor; grace is God in Christ to be our enjoyment.
It is quite difficult to define what grace is, but as we read John 1 we see that grace is God in Christ with all that He is as the fullness for our enjoyment.
Whatever we need, God in Christ is grace to us for our enjoyment.
He is our rest, our comfort, our power, our strength, our light, our life, our righteousness, our holiness, and all the other divine attributes.
When we come to Christ, we enjoy God as grace for our enjoyment.
When we simply contact the Lord, he as the tabernacle of God is full of grace and reality for our enjoyment and realization of what God is to us.
As we remain with the Lord in His presence in our time with Him, we enjoy the fullness of all that He is.
The fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily for our enjoyment.
Amen, the more we enjoy God, the more we know Him.
When Christ became flesh to be the tabernacle of God, He became the embodiment of the Triune God.
Christ brought God into man and made God contactable, touchable, receivable, experienceable, enterable, and enjoyable. Amen!
God today is enjoyable by being incarnated in Christ as the tabernacle of God. Christ is God with us (Matt. 1:23), and He makes God real to us. He is full of grace and reality.
Grace is God enjoyed by us in Christ, the Son of God. Reality is God realized by us in Christ.
Christ is with us today; as He told Paul when he was being persecuted, He Himself is with us (Acts 18:10).
Wherever we are, God is with us in Christ.
Whatever we are doing, God is right there with us, in our spirit, for He was embodied in Christ as the Word of God and came into us as the life-giving Spirit, even the Spirit of reality, to be enjoyed and realized by us.
We have His presence with us, whether we sense it or not, and we can enjoy Him as our moment-by-moment supply and salvation.
Christ as the tabernacle of God is with us and His presence is with us in our spirit.
Just as God was with Joseph, being his secret of contentment (Gen. 32:2, 21), so He is with us today.
The incarnation of God’s only begotten Son is also for declaring (explaining) God to man in the Word, in life, in light, in grace, and in reality.
The Word is God expressed, explained, and defined so that man may understand God.
Life is God imparted so that man may receive God.
Light is God shining so that man may be enlightened to partake of God.
Grace is God enjoyed by man so that man may share His riches. Reality is God realized by man so that man may apprehend and know God.
Today we can enjoy grace and reality by coming to the Lord Jesus as the tabernacle of God, for when He came, grace came, and He was full of grace and reality.
Day by day we need to contact the Lord in our spirit and prayerfully consider His word and muse on it, and we will enjoy God.
Furthermore, God is made real to us as we contact Christ and enjoy Him.
All that God is as life, light, comfort, rest, patience, humility, rest, and so many other things are made real to us in spirit as we enjoy Christ.
Praise the Lord, we can enjoy Christ as the tabernacle of God, the One who is full of grace and reality! Hallelujah, when Christ came, grace came! Amen, Lord, we open to You to enjoy You! We exercise our spirit to contact you and enjoy grace upon grace! Wow, of His fullness we all can receive grace upon grace! Amen, Lord, we want to keep enjoying You today as grace. You are grace for us to partake of all that God is in Christ for our enjoyment. Thank You for being the tabernacle of God with man to bring God to man, make God real to man, and make God enjoyable to man. Wow, Christ brought God into man and made God contactable and touchable! Hallelujah, our God is receivable and experienceable! Amen, our God is enterable and enjoyable in Christ as the One full of grace and reality! We exercise our spirit, dear Lord, to enjoy You as grace and to realize all that God is to us. Be our life, light, comfort, rest, patience, humility, and joy. Be everything to us today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-Study of John, msg. 3, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2024 July Semiannual Training), week 6, Christ as the Word of God.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– The ministry of Christ in the stage of incarnation, article by John Campbell in, Affirmation and Critique.
– The law as a type of Christ, a portion from, Life-Study of Hebrews, Chapter 63.
– Behold the Tabernacle of God is with Men, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– The Triune God revealed in the Word, a portion from, The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, Chapter 25, by Witness Lee.
– What is the Significance of Incarnation? More via, The Hearing of Faith.
– The revelation and experience of the “journeying” Triune God, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
– New Jerusalem is the Living Tabernacle of God, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– Using the Recovery Version to Present the Genuine Christian Faith Concerning Who is Jesus Christ, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– The Word becoming flesh and tabernacling among us, a portion from, The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
– Concerning Allegorizing the Bible, via, Shepherding Words.
– The ark signifying Christ as the building of God and man, a portion from, The Building of God, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
– Psalm 68: Travels with the Triune God, via, Living to Him. - Hymns on this topic:
– Dear Lord, Thou art the Word of God, / Thou art God’s very Son; / Thou art His holy image true, / And with Him ever one…In Thee the grace of God subsists, / God we enjoy in Thee; / His truth in Thee is also found, / His full reality. / In Thee God’s fulness we receive, / Which fills from grace to grace; / In Thee with God we’re mingled here, / Till one in every phase. (Hymns #56 stanzas 1, 5-6)
– The image of the Father God, / Lord, we behold in Thee; / The fulness of the Godhead true / In Thee dwells bodily. / Lord, Thou art God’s eternal Word / With life divine in Thee; / In Thee His grace we all receive / With His reality. (Hymns #57 stanzas 1-2)
– Thou art the Word, e’en God Himself, / With God in the beginning; / Incarnate in the flesh with us, / And God to us defining. / Thou art the tabernacle true, / In Thee we see God’s glory; / For God Thou art the temple too, / In Thee is God’s full story. / Thou art the only Son of God, / The Father e’er declaring, / That we may have the life divine. / God’s very nature sharing. (Hymns #187 stanzas 2-4)
