God was Incarnated in Christ to be the Individual Manifestation of God in the Flesh

God’s manifestation in the flesh was first in Christ as an individual expression of God in the flesh; the entire God was incarnated in Christ to be the individual manifestation of God in the flesh, and we can follow the incarnated Christ by living by the divine life today. Amen!

This week we come to the topic of, The Function of the Church (2) The Corporate Manifestation of God in the Flesh.

This is our last week on the topic of Living and Serving according to God’s Economy Concerning the Church.

God’s economy has a purpose, a goal, for Him to gain the church in this age; our living and service needs to be according to God’s economy with the goal of the church in view.

All our Christian life and service is not just for us to carry out some religious duties, to be spiritual, or to do work for God; it is for God to gain the church, the Body of Christ, for His corporate expression.

It is with the church and through the church that God can gain His expression for the fulfilment of His eternal purpose.

When we come to the matter of the church, what do we think is the function of the church?

We may think that the church has to preach the gospel, teach the Bible, worship God, and facilitate Christians to have their meetings.

This is a common concept of what the function of the church should be.

But according to 1 Tim. 3:15-16 we see the highest revelation and standard of the function of the church.

The function of the church is to be the house of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth, and the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh. Amen!

First, the church is the house of the living God, and it is also the pillar and base of the truth.

The third function of the church according to this portion in God’s word is to be the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh, the great mystery of godliness.

God desires to be manifested in the flesh.

He wants to be expressed in man and through man so that He may have a corporate expression in the universe.

The God who is invisible, abstract, and unapproachable desires to be expressed in man; the instrument for His expression is not the angels but man, humanity.

God has chosen humanity to be the means and instrument through whom He may gain an expression.

When we see this, we will be humbled by this matter, that sinful and small men like us have been chosen by God to be the means for His expression.

The glorious God who is unlimited, infinite, and eternal has chosen us, men who are finite, mortal, and temporal, to be the means for Him to have an expression. Praise the Lord!

This touches the very heart of God’s eternal economy.

God doesn’t want to remain in the heavens alone, rendering hope to the poor men and helping men to do this and that, or expecting some kind of religious worship from man.

God desires to gain humanity to be the very instrument into whom and through whom He may gain an expression. This is wonderful!

The Entire Triune God was Incarnated in Christ to be the Individual Manifestation of God in the Flesh

God’s desire is to be manifested in the flesh; therefore, He first became a man. God’s manifestation in the flesh was first in Christ, who is the individual expression of God in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16; Col. 2:9; John 1:1, 14).

The Gospel of John tells us the Word, who was God, became flesh.

The Word was God and the Word was with God, and the Word became flesh to tabernacle among us, bringing God to man and man to God.

The New Testament doesn’t say that only the Son of God was incarnated; it reveals that God was manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:15-16).

Many Bible readers that, when Christ was incarnated more than two thousand years ago, it was the Son of God who left the Father and the Spirit in the heavens to come down to the earth and be incarnated.

They understand that the Father sent the Son to come to the earth to become a man, so the second of the Divine Trinity came to represent God and be a man to accomplish the work of redemption.

This is not entirely correct, for when Christ came as the eternal Word to become flesh, it was actually the entire God who came to become a man.

It was not one-third of the Triune God who came to be a man; rather, the entire Triune God was incarnated in Christ to be the individual manifestation of God in the flesh.

Never before or even after was there such a man on the earth.

What happened two thousand years ago in Bethelem was unprecedented in history, for there was a human child there who was called the eternal Father.

He was the child given to us, the son given to us, and He was the mighty God, the eternal Father, the Prince of peace (Isa. 9:6).

He was not just the second of the Divine Trinity sent by the first of the Divine Trinity to do the work of redemption and then come back to heaven.

No; God put on humanity – the entire God was incarnated in the flesh.

And after He was crucified, resurrected, and ascended back to the heavens, He brought that humanity with Him into God!

This is inconceivable. Wow! God was manifested in the flesh not only as the Son but as the entire God – the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

In God’s economy, God became man; when He became man, the Son came with the Father by the Spirit to accomplish the work of redemption.

The One who became man was not just Jesus Christ, the Son of God, but He came with the Father and by the Spirit.

When He was on earth, He told people that, when they see Him, they see the Father, for the Father is with Him.

And He did all things by the Spirit, not in and by Himself.

The entire Triune God – and not only God the Son – was incarnated; hence, Christ in His incarnation was the entire God manifested in the flesh.

He was incarnated not only to accomplish God’s redemption but even more, to manifest God in the flesh.

In His ministry in the stage of incarnation, Christ brought the infinite God into the finite man, and in Christ, this God-man, the infinite God and the finite man became one (John 8:58; 7:6; 12:24).

Through incarnation the divine incorporation – God in His Divine Trinity coinhering mutually and working together as one – was brought into humanity (14:10-11).

Christ is the incorporation of the Triune God with the tripartite man.

You cannot separate the Father from the Son and the Spirit; they work together, they dwell in one another, and they do everything together as one.

The Father, the Son, and the Spirit coinhere as one incorporation, and through incarnation, this divine incorporation was brought into humanity.

When God became man, He included humanity in that incorporation.

Of course, humanity will never partake of God’s Godhead, but we can partake of God’s life, nature, expression, and function to be part of the enlarged divine-human incorporation.

Even today, the Spirit of Jesus still has the Lord’s humanity in Him; as the glorified God-man in the heavens, He has divinity, humanity, and all that He has experienced and partaken of by incarnation.

Praise the Lord for such a wonderful God-man, the incarnation of God, to be the individual manifestation of God in the flesh!

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to be God manifested in the flesh! Hallelujah, the entire Triune God was incarnated to be a man so that God may gain an individual manifestation of God in the flesh! We praise You, Lord Jesus, for stepping out of glory, out of eternity, into time, to be incarnated as a man. Thank You for coming not only to redeem us but to manifest God in the flesh. In You, the infinite God was brought into the finite man, and God and man became one. Hallelujah, the divine incorporation of the Triune God was brought into humanity to be the first God-man, the individual manifestation of God in the flesh! Praise the Lord, we have been included in the enlarged divine-human incorporation of the processed and consummated Triune God with the transformed and glorified tripartite man to be the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh! Wow, Hallelujah!

We need to Follow Jesus to Live by the Divine Life to Express God in the Flesh

When God was incarnated to be the individual manifestation of God in the flesh, He did not live by His human life, which was perfect and sinless, but by His divine life.

What stood out about the Lord Jesus is that He constantly denied Himself, put Himself on the cross, and lived by the divine life in His Spirit.

Christ appeared to people in the form of man (2 Cor. 5:16), yet He was God manifested in a man.

Christ expressed God in man to live the life of a God-man. He did not live by His human life but by His divine life.

He did not only teach us to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him, but He denied Himself, took up His cross, and expressed God instead of expressing Himself.

Here was a man who was both God and man, whose human life was perfect; yet He did not live by His human life but by the divine life.

He always put His human life on the cross and turned to the Father, fellowshipped with the Father, did the work of the Father, spoke the words of the Father, and sought the glory of the Father.

The others around Him did all kinds of things according to what they liked and wanted, but the Lord denied Himself and lived by the Father, expressing the divine attributes of God in the human virtues of man.

He was the first God-man, and we are the many God-men who are His duplication and continuation.

This One went through death and resurrection to become a life-giving Spirit, and as the Spirit, He is now in our spirit to live the same kind of life today.

Christ as the individual manifestation of God in the flesh is now being reproduced in us to be lived out in us in our daily living.

We need to follow Jesus, the incarnated God, to live by the divine life to express God in the flesh.

We should not live by what we are, what we have, and what we possess by birth; no matter how good and uplifted our humanity is, we need to deny ourselves and live by the divine life.

May we be those who follow Jesus today to live the life of a God-man not by the human life but by the divine life so that God may be expressed through us.

If we try to express God in and by our human life, no matter how good we may be and how righteous we may think we are, we can never express God.

It is only when we live by the divine life to follow Jesus that we can express God.

When we live by the divine life and not by our human life, God will be expressed and manifested in the flesh, and His divine attributes will become our human virtues.

May we realize that we believers in Christ are God-men, having the life of a God-man in us, and we should live by the divine life, not by our human life.

May we remain in the organic union with the Lord day by day and moment by moment so that we may live out Christ, not live out ourselves.

May we not express ourselves but express God in our daily living.

As we read the Gospels and pray to partake of the One who is described there, we eat His humanity and enjoy what He is; He is our pattern, the prototype for the God-man living.

Then, throughout the day, we need to exercise our spirit to remain one with the Lord, denying ourselves and living by His divine life in our spirit.

When we do not live by ourselves but by this another One in our spirit, we become His duplication and continuation as the manifestation of God in the flesh.

Lord Jesus, thank You for setting up a pattern of living the God-man life by denying Your human life to live by the divine life for the expression of God. We want to follow You, Lord Jesus, to live the same kind of life today. We open to You and we want to let You live in us. Manifest Yourself in us and through us. Be expressed through us. We want to live not by ourselves but by Christ, the One who lives in us. We want to live not by our human life but by the divine life so that the divine attributes of God may become our human virtues for the expression of God. Amen, Lord, make us part of the manifestation of God in the flesh as we exercise to deny ourselves and live by the divine life. Save us from expressing ourselves and bring us into Your corporate expression, Your manifestation in the flesh. Amen, Lord Jesus, live in us today! Keep us in our spirit, one with You, in all the details of our daily living so that You may be manifested in us!

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 the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1978, vol. 2, “Crucial Principles for the Christian Life and the Church Life,” pp. 618-620, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living and Serving According to God’s Economy Concerning the Church (2023 fall ITERO), week 9, entitled, The Function of the Church (2) The Corporate Manifestation of God in the Flesh.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – To Live Christ, a portion from, Life-Study of Colossians, Chapter 39.
  – Jesus Christ Manifested through Us Now, at His Return, and in New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Faith – “the life which I now life in the flesh I live in faith, the faith in the Son of God” – a portion from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The (Set 2) Vol. 24: The Overcoming Life, Chapter 6, by Watchman Nee.
  – 10 Divine Rights for Every Believer to Participate in, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – God – His manifestation, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Four Faces of Expressing Christ, via, Living to Him.
  – The full ministry of Christ – the accomplishments of Christ in the stage of His incarnation, a portion from, The Vital Groups, Chapter 12, by Witness Lee.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Mysterious Christ, marvelous! / God is manifest among us. / God infinite, in eternity, / Yet man in time, finite to be; / O Christ, mysterious, God in flesh, / Wond’rous news—God mingled with man! / As God yet man, He’d enter in, / Your blessed rich portion within. (Hymns #1403 stanza 5)
  – Thou art also called “Emmanuel”; / “God with us” Thou cam’st to be; / God in grace is wholly mingled / With our own humanity. / God in flesh is manifested, / Full of grace and truth therein; / We have seen in Thee God’s glory, / And in faith partake of Him. (Hymns #68 stanza 3)
  – How mysterious! Yet how real! / Such a man now lives in me. / Into all my heart He’s spreading— / He, my human life, to be. / Hallelujah! Hallelujah! / I will praise unceasingly. / Oh, what wonder! Oh, how glorious! / God in flesh is manifest. / We the members of His Body / His humanity express. / For the building of God’s dwelling / We His human life possess. (Hymns #1174 stanzas 4-5)