(tm) The Process.
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Christ in you is the goal toward which the Christian discipleship leads and also is the means by which the goal is attained. Jesus is the Way to the truth and the life, as well as the Truth and the Life.
Christ in you is a phrase that can be stated simply and understood easily. It can be understood easily in a general sense, not including all the intricate details of the manner in which God brings about this experience in the believer’s life.
Although we will be setting forth a description of some of the factors involved in the creating of Christ in us, an understanding of them is not sufficient to enable us to bring about the abiding of Christ in us. It is the Holy Spirit of God who, like Eliezer of Damascus, brings the Bride to the Son and Heir (Genesis, Chapter 24).
A young Christian starts out joyously on a shining highway, commencing his or her pilgrimage to the land of promise. After a season of happiness and confidence, the new disciple may find himself groping and stumbling through a desolate wilderness.
At this point of trouble and uncertainty the goal of Christ in you may seem far off and unrelated to the numerous and varied burdens that now must be borne. The joyous Gospel walk has turned into a struggle through a swamp of doubts and frustrations.
If the Christian does not give up and turn back he begins to learn the many lessons that God teaches in the wilderness. The path begins to be visible again from time to time. Christ in you develops from a mental concept into a personal experience of Divine Life.
It is not God’s intention that the Scriptures be used only as the basis for a confession of doctrinal belief. Rather, the Scriptures are the Divine testimony that can bring us to a personal experience of Christ in us. It is God who is working in us both to give the desire for, and also to bring about the accomplishment of, His will concerning us (Philippians 2:13).
Christ in us is the fullness of resurrection life and glory. The power of the Father brings us from Egypt (which symbolizes bondage to the world spirit, to Satan, and to our fleshly nature) all the way to the land of Canaan (which typifies the complete redemption of our spirit, soul, and body, the full abiding in us of the Presence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and spiritual rulership over the material creation). Canaan is resurrection ground.
Notice that the goal of our Christian pilgrimage is not Heaven, although Heaven most assuredly is a real place. Rather, the goal of our journey is the fullness of Christ. The Presence and knowledge of Christ are created in us as the Holy Spirit leads us into areas with which He is familiar but we are unfamiliar.
We are moving toward eternal participation and residence in the holy city, the new Jerusalem, the Temple of God among men. We are pressing toward the experience of the fullness of the Presence of the Godhead. We must fasten our eyes on the true goal of the Christian discipleship, which is the possession of Christ. "O that I may know Him!" Paul cried.
It is as though Christ at first were with the believer and then, after a season of travail, appears in him (John 16:12-22). The natural strength of the believer has begun to be broken and the Life of Christ in him is playing a role of ever-increasing importance in determining his deeds, words, and thoughts (Galatians 2:20).
Although Christ at this hour is preparing His triumphant appearance and entry into the earth followed by His armies, as described in the second chapter of Joel, the third chapter of Habakkuk, and the nineteenth chapter of Revelation, He also, in the days in which we are living, is being formed in His saints. The Day star, the forerunner of the great Day of the Lord, now is rising in the heart of each disciple who, by his godly life and hope of salvation, is hastening the coming of the Day of Christ.
As faith is increasing in the saints Christ is being formed in their heart. As Christ is being formed in their heart, faith is increasing more and more. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:18).
The process of forming Christ in the disciples is complicated and there are many different experiences along the way. In the Scriptures, God has provided a number of illustrations and doctrines to help us progress successfully through the transition from natural life to spiritual life (I Corinthians 15:45,46).
The Holy Spirit helps us understand the process of change and the background activities: the rebellion of spirits and their eternal judgment; the resistance maintained by Satan; and the immediate availability of the Presence, power, and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ to everyone who asks and is willing to receive. We learn to live in and by the holy body and blood of Christ.
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