The relationship God desires to have with man is that He and man be grafted together and thus become one in an organic union; this is possible because man was created in God’s image and likeness, so the human life resembles the divine life. Wow, Hallelujah!
The desire of God’s heart, as revealed in the Bible, is not merely to create man so that many human beings would worship Him and stay away from His enemy.
What God desires is not that many people worship Him and fear Him, and they do what He tells them to do and stay away from what He tells them not to do.
What God really desires in His heart, according to what the Bible reveals, is that He wants to be one with man and He wants man to be one with Him.
He wants to be man’s life and everything, and He wants to dispense Himself into man in the way of life so that man would be organically one with God.
There’s a central line that goes throughout the Bible, from the beginning of the Bible to the end; this central line is that God and man would be one.
And God will obtain what He is after; in Rev. 22:17 we see that the Spirit and the bride say in oneness, Come!
In other words, though it was mainly God who spoke in Gen. 1 at the beginning of the Bible, it is God with man in oneness that speak at the end of the Bible. Hallelujah!
For this union to happen, however, something had to take place, for the infinite, unapproachable God had to be somehow related to man.
So God Himself became a man; when the Lord Jesus came, He was the embodiment of God, and through incarnation, God was brought into man.
This is the first half of the story. The second half is that, through His resurrection, man was brought into God.
It is incomprehensible how can the infinite God became a man, but this happened; in incarnation, the infinite God and the finite man were joined and mingled together, and when people saw Jesus, they saw the infinite God being expressed through a finite man.
It is even more incomprehensible how can it be for man to be brought into God, but this is what the Lord Jesus did through His resurrection.
In His resurrection, Christ didn’t leave His humanity in the grave but brought it into God.
Now there is a Man in the glory, a man in God, a God-man; Jesus Christ is the first God-man, the prototype, the pioneer, and He opened the way for us all to enter in and be the many God-men. Wow!
When we became a believer by opening to the Lord and receiving His life, we became God-men, for we were reborn with the divine life.
Christ has become us, and we are now in the process of becoming the same as He is. Hallelujah!
God and Man can be Grafted Together and become One in an Organic Union
![But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them and became a fellow partaker of the root of fatness of the olive tree, Do not boast against the branches; but if you boast, [remember that it is] not you [who] bear the root, but the root you. Rom. 11:17-18](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/But-if-some-of-the-branches-were-broken-off-and-you-being-a-wild-olive-tree-were-grafted-in.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them and became a fellow partaker of the root of fatness of the olive tree, Do not boast against the branches; but if you boast, [remember that it is] not you [who] bear the root, but the root you. Rom. 11:17-18")
One of the most mysterious yet intimate relationships that God wants to have with man is that He and man be grafted together and thus become one in an organic union (Rom. 6:3-5; John 15:4-5).
This is the kind of oneness that Bible reveals to be on God’s heart.
In nature, there is such a process of grafting. We may not be botanists, but we may understand that two plants are grafted together, one poorer branch can be grafted into one richer tree to bring forth fruit.
If you put together two stones, they will never become one organic entity, even one hundred years later.
But if you put together two pieces of flesh or two similar plants, there will be a grafting taking place.
For example, when a burnt patient is brought to the hospital, the doctor can take skin from a different part of the body to repair or graft the burned parts of the skin, and eventually, a new piece of flesh grows in the burnt part.
Similarly, in the plant world there’s grafting; for example, grapefruit is a hybrid fruit between pomelo and orange, which are brought together to produce grapefruits.
The farmers do this quite often. This is all to portray to us a spiritual reality, that is, that we can be grafted into Christ.
The relationship that God wants to have with man is that God and man can be grafted together and become one in an organic union.
We are like a wild, uncultivated olive tree, but through our faith and baptism, we were grafted into Christ.
Through grafting, two lives are joined together to become one, having one life and one living.
We participate in this grafting by believing; then, through baptism, we were cut off from the world and put into Christ.
We were buried with Christ to be one with Him, and just as He was raised, we also are raised with Him to walk in newness of life.
We were baptized into Christ’s death and now through Christ’s resurrection, we may walk in newness of life.
Yes, we were joined to the Lord by faith into Him, but even more, we were put into an organic union with Him.
Through His death, we were cut from the old source and joined to Him, and now in resurrection, we live a different kind of life – we grow into His likeness and we live in newness of life.
We don’t grow into this by ourselves but together with Him.
![Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life. For if we have grown together with [Him] in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be [in][ the] [likeness] of His resurrection. Rom. 6:3-5](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Or-are-you-ignorant-that-all-of-us-who-have-been-baptized-into-Christ-Jesus-have-been-baptized-into-His-death-1.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life. For if we have grown together with [Him] in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be [in][ the] [likeness] of His resurrection. Rom. 6:3-5")
Baptism is not a ceremony for us to join “Christianity”, neither is it a ritual by which we join the church.
The spiritual reality of baptism is that we are one with the Lord organically, experiencing His death in spirit and growing with Him in the likeness of His resurrection.
By believing into Christ and being baptised we didn’t just adopt Christianity nor did we become a member of a certain religious organization.
Rather, we entered into an organic union with the Lord, and now we grow together with Him in His likeness, in the likeness of His death and His resurrection.
In Romans we see the illustration of us being vessels containing God as our content, our treasure.
Also, we see that we are married to the Lord, and just as the husband and wife have different minds, emotions, wills, personalities, characters, and dispositions are joined to form one unit, so we’re joined to the Lord.
Furthermore, the illustration of grafting shows how two lives are joined organically and then grow together organically, bearing fruit as one.
It is amazing to see that we believers in Christ were grafted into Christ, we were joined to Him in spirit, and now we are organically one with the Lord in spirit. Hallelujah!
Thank You, dear Lord, for not only coming to regenerate us with the divine life but also to make us organically one with the Lord through grafting us into You! Hallelujah, God and man can be grafted together and thus become one in an organic union! We just want to abide in this organic union into which we have entered through death and resurrection. Amen, Lord, we want to grow with You in the likeness of Your death and in the likeness of Your resurrection, living in newness of life. Keep us in the organic union in our spirit today, dear Lord. We open to You, we receive Your divine dispensing, and we live because of what we receive from You. Flow in us, flow through us, and bear fruit in us for Your glory.
The Grafted Life is not an Exchanged Life but the Mingling of the Human Life with the Divine Life
![Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life. For if we have grown together with [Him] in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be [in][ the] [likeness] of His resurrection. Rom. 6:3-5](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/And-God-said-Let-Us-make-man-in-Our-image-according-to-Our-likeness-and-let-them-have-dominion-1.jpg?resize=750%2C750&ssl=1 "Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life. For if we have grown together with [Him] in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be [in][ the] [likeness] of His resurrection. Rom. 6:3-5")
Some Christians think that, since our life is so poor, fallen, and flawed, when we are regenerated and are joined to the Lord, He throws our life away and completely replaces it with His life.
In their concept, we Christians have an exchanged life – they give up their bad, old, natural life, and God gives them His divine life.
They recognize that their human life is so terrible, full of sin, weakness, and defects, so they surrender their life to Jesus, and they hand over their dirty life to God.
Now they think that they will live Jesus’ life of happiness, victory, and joy, and their human life is put aside.
![For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree and were grafted contrary to nature into the cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural [branches] be grafted into their own olive tree! Rom. 11:24](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/For-if-you-were-cut-off-from-what-is-by-nature-a-wild-olive-tree-and-were-grafted-contrary-to-nature-into-the-cultivated-olive-tree.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree and were grafted contrary to nature into the cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural [branches] be grafted into their own olive tree! Rom. 11:24")
However, the principle we see in grafting is different, for the grafted life is not an exchanged life but it is the mingling of the human life with the divine life (1 Cor. 6:17).
God doesn’t want to exchange with you, so that you are wiped out and only God is there; He wants to get into us and join in with us in our weakness and weak state.
He simply wants to come where we are to be joined to us. This is very different from us merely handing over ourselves, our poor life, and letting Him live.
He doesn’t want to take over and live without us cooperating with Him. He wants to live in us and with us a grafted life, not an exchanged life.
Having an exchanged life is a religious thought; God’s thought is that all genuine Christians live a grafted life.
And the reason this is possible is that our life and the divine life are compatible.
In grafting, two similar lives are joined together and then grow together organically (Rom. 11:24).
You cannot graft two unrelated species of plants together; you cannot graft a banana tree with a vine tree, for instance.
They both bear fruit, but they are not similar, they are not of the same family. In order for a graft to take place, the plants both have to be of the same species.
There needs to be something similar between the two lives so that they can be joined and grow organically.
Because our human life was made in the image of God and according to the likeness of God, it can be joined to the divine life (Gen. 1:26).
When God created man, He created man in His image and with His likeness.
The purpose is that one day this man would be grafted with God. Wow!
After man was created by God, God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (which became man’s spirit), and man became a living soul.
We now have something in us, the spirit formed by Jehova’s breath, something that is quite similar to what He is.
Our human life resembles the divine life; therefore, the divine life and the human life can be grafted together and live together.
The divine life cannot be grafted with the dog life, because they are not similar and there’s no resemblance whatsoever between these lives.
Only human life was made in the image of God, so our human life can be joined with the divine life.
A. B. Simpson wrote in a hymn that the poor tree is grafted into a good tree to gain a richer, sweeter life (Hymns 482).
The life of the poor tree doesn’t disappear; rather, this grafted branch grows together as one unit with the life of the rich, sweet tree.
This is not an exchanged life but a grafted life. And, according to the natural law ordained by God, the poor life is affected and enriched by the richer life, not vice-versa.
In other words, since we were grafted into Christ, we now can grow in Him and with Him, and His life enriches our life and transforms our life.
The rich divine life will swallow up all the defects of our poor life and will transform it.
When we were grafted into Christ, He starts to flow in us, and our defects are swallowed up, but our life is not eliminated.
As He swallows our defects, he uplifts our mind, emotion, will, and all our virtues.
Our humanity is uplifted as we live the grafted life, a life in the organic union with the Lord.
His divine life flows in us and, as we open to Him, He flows even more, adding the rich nutrients and uplifting elements to all our inner parts, and we are transformed and uplifted inwardly. Hallelujah!
Praise You, God, for creating us in Your image and according to Your likeness so that God and man can be grafted and be one organically! Hallelujah, we human beings have our human life made in the image of God and according to His likeness, and we can be joined to the divine life! Wow, Lord, we open to You and we receive Your rich, sweet, uplifting, and transforming divine dispensing. We are not here having an exchanged life in which we exchange our poor life to Your rich life; we are here living a grafted life! Amen, Lord, we open to Your flowing within us to swallow up our defects and uplift our humanity! We open to the flow of life to uplift, enrich, and transform our inner being so that God may be expressed through us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message, and portions from, Life-study of the Romans (pp. 660-662), by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Taking the Way of Enjoying Christ as the Tree of Life (2022 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 4, entitled, Grafted into Christ to Become Part of the Tree of Life.
- Hymns on this topic:
– This the secret nature hideth, / Harvest grows from buried grain; / A poor tree with better grafted, / Richer, sweeter life doth gain. / This the secret of the holy, / Not our holiness, but Him; / O Lord! empty us and fill us, / With Thy fulness to the brim. (Hymns #482)
– Growing in Christ; no more shall be named / Things of which now I’m truly ashamed, / Fruit unto holiness will I bear, / Life evermore, the end I shall share. / Glory be to God! (Hymns #483)
– By His mercy, we’re selected, / Ours a glorious destiny. / Not by running, nor by willing, / But through God’s own sovereignty. / Once we were wild olive branches, / Now the root and fat partake, / Grafted in, rejoice together, / Growing for the kingdom’s sake. (Hymns #1203)
About aGodMan
In order for one kind of life to be grafted to another, the two lives must be very similar. For example, it is not possible to graft a branch from a banana tree to a peach tree. However, it is possible to graft some branches from a poorer peach tree to a healthy, productive peach tree, for the lives of these two trees are very close to each other. We may apply this principle to the dispensation of the divine life into man. The divine life cannot be grafted with the life of a dog because there is no resemblance whatever between these lives. But because our human life was made in the image of God and according to the likeness of God, it can be joined to the divine life. Although our human life is not the divine life, it resembles the divine life. Therefore, these lives can easily be grafted together and then grow together organically. In the line of Hymns, #482 by A. B. Simpson, the poor tree is grafted to a better tree to gain a richer, sweeter life. The life of the poor tree does not disappear. Rather, it grows together as one unit along with the life of the rich, sweet tree. Once again we see that this is not an exchanged life, but a grafted life. Life-study of Romans, pp. 660-662, by Witness Lee
Dear brother, as wild olive trees with defects and shortcomings – yet with a human life which resembles the divine life – we have been grafted into the olive tree Christ to be one with Him in an organic union, with His life swallowing up these negative things to uplift our mind, emotion and will – our very humanity through such a grafted life to live and express Him!
Praise the Lord this is not an exhanged life but a grafted life!