We have a Standing in God and in the Body of Christ by Living in our Spirit today

As believers in Christ, we all have a place in God and a place in the Body of Christ, and now we should live in the place prepared for us through the death and resurrection of Christ; we have a standing in God and in the Body of Christ, and we are in God and God is in us – we should live in the mingling of God and man!

Our God is not only the Creator of all things, the One who sustains all things, and the One who gives life and breath to everything and everyone.

He is also a God who wants to incorporate man into Himself in His economy so that He may obtain a corporate expression in this universe.

For this, God became a man, lived a perfect human life, died an all-inclusive and all-terminating death on the cross, and was resurrected to become a life-giving Spirit to propagate Himself into those who believe into Him.

All those who believe into the Lord Jesus receive Him as their life and become children of God, born of God with His life and nature, and they are members of the Body of Christ.

As members of the Body of Christ, all believers in Christ are the many abodes in the Father’s house, as seen in John 14:1-2. Hallelujah!

Christ came through incarnation and went to the Father through death and resurrection to prepare a place for us so that, where He is, we also may be.

What is this place? John 14:20 clearly says, In that day you will know that I am in My Father and you in Me and I in you.

The place Christ has prepared for us through His death and resurrection – His coming and His going – is the Body of Christ, the enlarged God-man to be the corporate expression of God, the mutual dwelling place of God and man. This is astounding!

Christ didn’t go through His death and resurrection to build us a heavenly mansion or some sort of golden city in the heavens where each one of us can have everything that our heart desires.

This is a natural way of interpreting the Scripture, without using the Scripture to interpret itself.

If we use the Bible to interpret what the Bible says, having the divine view in doing this, we will realize that God wants to bring us into Himself. Wow!

We will never be part of the Godhead to be an object of worship – no, this will never happen!

However, we are brought into the Triune God to be one with God, even to be part of the Father’s house as the many abodes in this house, the many members of the Body of Christ.

This is truly a wonderful yet mysterious matter, for it is spiritual and intrinsic, not visible for us to see it, touch it, or feel it.

However, in the spiritual realm, this is our reality!

The Standing in God is Enlarged to be the Standing in the Body of Christ where we Live today

The Gospel of John, a gospel of life, shows us God’s intention concerning man from the point of view of the divine life.

Christ came to be our life, He came for us to have life abundantly, He gave us His life, and He went through a process to become a life-giving Spirit to breathe Himself into us.

As a result of us receiving Him as life, we become the many abodes in the Father’s house (John 14:1-2), the many branches in the Son’s vine (15:1-5), and part of the new man born of the Holy Spirit (ch. 16).

Christ went to the Father through death and resurrection to prepare a place for us so that we may have a standing in God.

Through His death He dealt with every obstacle and negative matter, and in His resurrection He prepared a place for us to be in God.

The Lord’s redemption was not so that we may go to heaven, where He prepared a place for us; rather, it was for Him to prepare a place for us in God, a standing in God.

Before our repentance and faith in Christ, we had no standing in God; however, through faith in Christ, we have a standing in God, and we can enter into God to enjoy all His riches.

The Lord Jesus redeemed us to bring us into God, for us to have a standing in God. Hallelujah!

The standing in God, being enlarged, becomes the standing in the Body of Christ (Rom. 12:4-5; Eph. 5:30; 1 Cor. 12:27).

In verse after verse in the New Testament we see that we are the Body of Christ, the many members of Christ, having Him as the Head and life; we are even the Christ, the corporate Christ.

Through our repentance and faith in Christ, through our believing into the Lord Jesus, we have a standing in God, and this standing is enlarged to be the standing in the Body of Christ. Amen!

Anyone who doesn’t have a standing in God, a place in God, does not have a place in the Body of Christ, which is the Father’s house, the dwelling place of God (Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22).

Many people may call themselves Christians and may attend Christian gatherings, but unless they repent and believe into the Lord Jesus, they have no place in God, for they have no standing in God.

However, all the genuine believers in Christ have a standing in God, and they also have a standing in the enlarged God, the Body of Christ.

By being in God we become members of the Body of Christ to be the many abodes in the Father’s house.

We all have a standing in God and we all have a standing in the Body of Christ.

This is not just something positional or objective but also something dispositional and subjective.

We need to be in God in our experience in order to be in the Body of Christ.

We may meet with the saints outwardly, but unless we are in our mingled spirit to be in God subjectively, we have no standing in God or in the Body of Christ.

As believers in Christ, we all have a place in God and a place in the Body; now, we should live in the place prepared for us through the death and resurrection of Christ (John 14:2-3, 20; 1 Cor. 12:27).

This is our Christian life and church life; it is a life of abiding in the Lord and letting Him abide in us.

We need to remain in the Lord by exercising our spirit and living according to our spirit.

He is in us and we are in Him; this is a fact, and nothing can negate or break this.

However, in our daily experience, we need to be in God by being in our mingled spirit.

The Lord Jesus went through a long process in order to prepare a place for us in God and in the Body of Christ; He passed through death and resurrection for us to have a standing in God and a standing in the Body of Christ.

By His death and resurrection, we have been brought into God; now we need to live in God, that is, live in the mutual dwelling place of God and man.

In John 14 we see that we need to live in the Father’s house by enjoying the Lord in His word, and in John 15 we see that we need to abide in Him as the vine for Him to abide in us. Hallelujah!

Lord Jesus, thank You for accomplishing redemption so that we may have a place in God! Hallelujah, through faith in Christ, we have a standing in God! Praise the Lord, we sinners can be saved and have a place in God, a standing in God, for us to be in God Himself! Wow, Lord, we thank You and we praise You for everything that You have done for us to be one of the many abodes in the Father’s house. Hallelujah, we believers in Christ all have a place in God and a place in the Body, and now we should live in the place prepared for us through Christ’s death and resurrection! Amen, Lord, we want to live in our mingled spirit today so that we may abide in You and You may abide in us. We want to abide in You, dear Lord, and be in You in all things. May all the things of our daily living today be in God. May we subjectively remain in the Lord, abide in the Lord, by contacting Him moment by moment so that we may have a standing in God and a standing in the Body of Christ!

The Lord brought God into Man and Man into God for the Building of His Habitation

John 14 is a wonderful yet very mysterious chapter, for here the Lord spoke of Him going and then coming to bring us to the place where He is.

First, He said that in His Father’s house, there are many abodes, and He is going to prepare a place for us.

And if He goes to prepare a place for us, He is coming again and will receive us to Himself, so that we may be where He is (vv. 2-3).

Many Christians interpret this that the Lord went to the heavens and now He’s preparing a place for us to be there, in the heavens with Him.

However, if we read v. 20 in the same chapter, the Lord said that in that day we will know that the Son is in the Father, we are in Christ, and Christ is in us.

The Lord’s going to prepare a place for us refers to His going through His death; He had to prepare this place because there were many obstacles and problems.

Through His death, the Lord took care of all the problems and terminated everything and everyone that is evil, and through His resurrection, He returned to bring us into Himself.

Through His incarnation, the Lord’s first coming, He brought God into man (John 1:14); then, through His death and resurrection, He brought man into God.

The Lord’s coming brought God into man and His going brought man into God (John 1:14; 10:10; 14:2-3).

In John 14 in particular, as the Lord was with the disciples and opened His heart to them, He told them that He was going to the Father to prepare a place for them.

His going was through His death and resurrection, and His going was actually His coming.

He said He is going, and then He is coming; His going was for His coming, and His going through death was followed by His coming in His resurrection.

How can God bring man into God? He brought God into man through incarnation, but He could bring man into God only through death and resurrection.

God could get into man only by Christ resurrecting to become a life-giving Spirit and making a way for man to enter into God. Amen!

The Lord Jesus wanted to not just gain a group of followers who agree with His teaching and obey God; He wanted to enter into man.

For this, He became flesh, and then through death and resurrection, He became a life-giving Spirit.

Now as the life-giving Spirit He came in His resurrection and breathed into His disciples the Holy Spirit (20:19-22). Wow!

Through death Christ dealt with all the problems, and in resurrection, He came to bring us to the place prepared for us: in God Himself.

Hallelujah, through faith in Jesus Christ, we have a standing in God and we also have a standing in the Body of Christ!

Now we are not only on this earth; by faith in Christ, we are in God!

Where is the Lord today? He said that we will be in the same place where He is; where is the Lord today? In John 17:20-21 we see that the Lord Jesus is in God the Father, and we are also in God. Wow!

Since the Lord Jesus is in the Father, He also brings us into the Father.

We need to see this wonderful fact: we are in God! By being in Christ, we are in God the Father.

This is the kind of oneness that God wants to have with us; this is the glorification of God the Father in the Son through the church.

Before His resurrection, Christ was in God the Father, but we were not; through His resurrection, we all were brought in God the Father, and just as the Lord Jesus is in the Father, so we are in the Father.

He is the way for us to get into the Father (John 14:6), and He prepared a place for us to be in God.

We simply need to exercise our spirit and be in Christ, for He brought God into man and man into God for the building up of God’s habitation, which we are! Praise the Lord!

Lord Jesus, thank You for being incarnated to bring God into man. Thank You for going through death and resurrection to bring man into God! Hallelujah, by Christ’s coming and going, God was brought into man and man is brought into God! What an amazing fact! By His coming and going, Christ builds up the house of God by building God into man and man into God. Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit of faith today to apprehend this wonderful truth. We want to remain in the building of God and man. We want to remain in the habitation of God with man, the mutual dwelling place of God and man. Thank You for opening the way for us to have a standing in God and in the Body of Christ. We want to remain in our mingled spirit today so that we may be in God. Hallelujah, today we know that the Father is in the Son, Christ is in us, and we are in Christ! Amen, Lord, build Yourself more into us and build us more into Yourself today for the mutual dwelling place of God and man!

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 Minoru Chen in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of John, pp. 346-349, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2024 July Semiannual Training), week 11, In the Father’s House—Living in the Place Prepared for Us through the Death and Resurrection of Christ.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The building of God into man and man into God, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – The Body of Christ, a portion from, The Basic Revelation in the Holy Scriptures, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
  – What is our understanding concerning the truths of the Triune God, God’s salvation in life, and the ground of the church, and why do they matter? More via, Living to Him.
  – Bringing God into man and man into God, a portion from, The Building of God, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
  – What Does It Mean to Be Born Again? More via, Bibles for America blog.
  – The church being the Body of Christ as the expression of Christ, a portion from, Five Great Mysteries in the Bible, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – The Building Up of the Body of Christ, Message 1: Through the Gifts, Perfecting of the Saints, video by brother Lee via, LSM YouTube.
  – Heaven, Earth, and God’s Dwelling Place in Man, article via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – What is the Body of Christ? More via, The Hearing of Faith.
  – Eternity past, eternity future, and the bridge of time, Nuggets and Gems from the Bible.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – God ordained us unto sonship, / Ere creation’s work was done, / To conform us by His Spirit / To the image of His Son; / That His only dear Begotten / Might become the firstborn One, / And by Him with many brethren / His expression full be won. (Hymns #741 stanza 1)
  – From death He resurrected and became / The living Spirit to give life to us. / When we believe and call upon His name; / This living Spirit comes to dwell in us. / By this the very Triune God is now / The living Spirit mingling deep within. / Our spirit joins in oneness; this is how / We are one spirit evermore with Him. (Hymns #1195 stanzas 6-7)
  – In the flesh by incarnation, / Into man He God hath brought; / By His death and resurrection, / Into God He man hath brought; / God and man together mingled, / In Himself is fully wrought. (Hymns #277 stanza 3)