Many wonderful things took place in Christ’s resurrection; He was not just made alive by God but He also became the life-giving Spirit, He was begotten by God to be the Firstborn Son of God, and He regenerated the many believers to be the many sons of God (see 1 Cor. 15:45; Rom. 8:29).
In a wonderful yet mysterious way in Christ’s resurrection He was glorified by releasing the divine life from within Himself and imparting it into many people who believe into Him, with the result that these believers are incorporated with and into the Triune God to become a divine-human incorporation.
The Lord Jesus mentions this mysterious incorporation of God with man when He spoke of “the Father’s house” in John 14, “I am the vine, you are the branches” in John 15, and the child born of the travailing woman in John 16.
The issue of Christ’s glorification in His resurrection is the divine-human incorporation of the consummated Triune God with the redeemed and regenerated man, and this incorporation can be seen in the Father and the Son making their abode in the loving believer, in the believers’ faithful abiding as branches in Christ as the vine, and in the one new man that is born by the Spirit and accomplishes God’s eternal plan.
The gospel of John is truly mysterious; however, even though there are so many mysteries revealed in this gospel, the Lord still said that He had so much to tell His disciples but they couldn’t bear it, but when the Spirit of reality comes, He will reveal these things to them. From Romans to Revelation the Spirit of reality unveiled to the believers the mysterious incorporation of God with man in three main aspects: the Father’s house, the Son’s vine, and the Spirit’s child (the new man).
In this article we want to see the functions of these three aspects of the universal incorporation of the consummated God with the regenerated believers. Why does God desire to have a house and what is its function? Why a “vine” and what is the function of the vine? Why a “new child” / a “new man” and what is his function?
May the Lord enlighten us to see in His word how the entire New Testament from Romans to Revelation shows us the divine-human incorporation of God with man in three main aspects, each with their specific functions.
The Function of the Father’s House: God’s Rest, Satisfaction, and Manifestation
What is the function of the Father’s house in John 14? God Himself is both the Creator and the Owner of the entire universe, but what He desires is a home in which He can dwell, be at rest, and be satisfied. The Father’s house in the believers is for the processed and consummated Triune God to have a mutual abode with the redeemed and regenerated believers in Christ.
This house is also for Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God, to make His home in the hearts of His believers, who have been strengthened into their inner man by the Father, according to the riches of His glory, with power through His Spirit unto the fullness, the full expression, of the processed Triune God (see Eph. 3:16-21).
The Father’s house – the church today – is for the Triune God (who is invisible and mysterious) to have a household that is visible and solid, tangible, a household constituted of the children of God, the species of God, with His divine life for their growth in life and for His rest, satisfaction and manifestation (Eph. 2:19).
Today the Father’s house is the church (1 Tim. 3:15), and the church is Christ Himself because every member of the church is Christ (1 Cor. 12:12; Col. 3:10-11).
Finally, the function of the Father’s house is that God would have a kingdom on the earth composed of the believers in Christ as the citizens (John 3:3, 5; Rev. 1:4, 6; Eph. 2:19; Matt. 16:18-19; Acts 1:3). This kingdom is today the church life for the believers’ exercise and equipping in the divine authority (Rom. 14:17; Rev. 1:9; Acts 14:22; Matt. 18:18), and it will be the kingdom of Christ in the coming kingdom age for the overcoming saints to reign together with Christ over all the nations (Rev. 11:15; 2 Pet. 1:11; Rev. 20:4, 6; 2:26).
Wow, the Father’s house is really for the Father’s rest, satisfaction, and delight in and with man, and it is for His full expression through man!
Praise You Lord for bringing us in the Father’s house, the place of Your rest, delight, and satisfaction. Lord, make Your home deep down in our heart day by day until we become the mutual abode of God with man, the Father’s house in reality. Grow in us in the divine life and equip us with Your divine authority in this age so that in the next age we would be Your overcomers reigning with Christ over the nations. We love You, Lord: come and make Your abode with us today!
The Function of the Son’s True Vine: Christ’s Multiplication, Spreading, and Multiplication
What is the function of the Son’s true vine in John 15? The Father as the husbandman is everything to the vine, taking an all-inclusive care of every aspect related to this vine, so that the vine would grow, increase, and spread all over the earth for the Lord’s multiplication, spreading, and glorification!
The vine is a sign of the Son: Christ is the true vine, and we as the many believers in Christ are the branches in the vine; we are one with Christ, grafted in Him, and we are His continuation and duplication on earth today. Through Christ as the vine and the many believers as the branches in the vine, the Triune God can have an organism in the Son for His multiplication, spreading, and glorification in His divine life (John 15:1-8, 16).
When we as believers in Christ abide in Christ as the vine, taking Him as our source, life, supply, and everything, and allow Him to flow in and out of us with all His riches, we will bear fruit by abiding in Christ; the result is that the Son increases and is multiplied, and the Father is glorified.
Whenever we faithfully abide in Christ as the vine (John 15:4-5, 16), we bear fruit in a normal way and the Lord Jesus increases on earth for the glory of the Father. All we need to do is to abide in Christ, receive the rich life-supply from Him, and allow Him to flow in us and out of us unto others to bear fruit in us for the increase of Christ and the glorification of the Father!
Lord Jesus, keep us abiding in You as the vine. Lord, we allow You to flow in us as the rich life-sap of the universal vine; flow in and flow out in a normal way so that we may bear fruit for Your increase and the Father’s glorification. Lord, we want to be fruit-bearing branches that faithfully abide in the organic vine for the Father’s glory and the Son’s increase as the Spirit flows in us and out of us unto fruit-bearing!
The Function of the Spirit’s Child: the One New Man Carrying out God’s Eternal Economy
What is the function of the new child born of the Spirit in John 16? This new child born of the Spirit (see John 16:13-15, 21) becomes the corporate new man as the increased Christ (Col. 3:10-11; John 3:30).
All the genuine believers in Christ, no matter what their race, nationality, or background is, have been made part of the one new man by Christ on the cross; in His body on the cross Christ crucified and destroyed any difference and separation, and now in His resurrection we all are one in Christ. Even more, Christ is all to us and He is all – we are becoming Christ! As the Body of Christ we have Christ as our life, but as the one new man, we all take Christ as our person!
The function of the one new man is to carry out God’s eternal economy; the new man fulfills the purpose for which God created man (Gen. 1:26). This new man is first Christ Himself and, corporately, the new man is Christ with all His believers who take Him as their person to live Christ and work together with Him one with Him. The function of the new man is to carry out God’s eternal economy through the move and work of the life-giving Spirit in building up the Body of Christ for the consummation of the New Jerusalem.
These three things is what Romans through Revelations speaks about: the universal incorporation of the consummated God with the regenerated believers as the Father’s house for His rest, satisfaction, and manifestation, the Son’s vine for His multiplication, spreading, and glorification, and the new man for the carrying out of God’s eternal economy.
What the New Testament reveals to us that God needs – and He is working to obtain today – a house for His rest, satisfaction, and manifestation; He needs a tree for His spreading, multiplication, and glorification, and He needs a corporate new man to carry out His eternal economy.
The Father’s house, the Son’s vine, and the Spirit’s new man are the three aspects of the divine-human incorporation as the issue of Christ’s resurrection, His glorification. Wow!
Lord, unveil us to see that You need a house for Your rest, satisfaction, and manifestation. May we realise that You need a vine tree for Your multiplication, spreading, and glorification, and You need a corporate new man to carry out Your eternal economy. Lord, gain Your house, Your vine tree, and Your new man in reality today on the earth. Make Your home in us, keep us abiding in You, and keep us taking You as our person for the one new man so that You may gain Your rest and satisfaction, multiplication and glorification, and thus accomplish Your economy!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. James Lee’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Issue of Christ Being Glorified by the Father with the Divine Glory, ch. 6 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Resurrection and Ascension, week 1 / msg 1, The Vision and Experience of Christ in His Resurrection (1) – The Universal Incorporation of the Consummated Triune God with the Regenerated Believers in the Resurrection of Christ.
- Hymns to strengthen the burden in this article:
# God’s Spirit is of Christ today, / The Spirit of reality, / He dwells in me with Christ as life / To make this Christ so real to me. (Hymns #243)
# We in faith were regenerated; / God and man thus incorporated. / This took place through Christ’s resurrection. / For His divine, glorious multiplication. / Three aspects of incorporation: / Father’s house for His satisfaction, / The true vine for His multiplication, / Child of the Spirit, for His move on earth. (Song on the Issue of Christ’s Glorification)
About aGodMan
The functions of the Father’s house, the true vine, and the new man are the contents of the New Testament in its twenty-two Epistles from Romans to Revelation….The Lord told the disciples in John 16 that He had many things to reveal to the disciples, but they could not bear them until the Spirit of reality would come to unveil all these things to them. This prophecy was fulfilled, and the Spirit’s unveiling is recorded in the twenty-two Epistles. The contents of these Epistles are a revelation of the unique universal incorporation of the consummated God with the regenerated believers in three aspects with various functions. God needs a house for His rest, satisfaction, and manifestation; He needs a tree for His multiplication, spreading, and glorification; and He needs a man to carry out His eternal economy. (Witness Lee, The Issue of Christ Being Glorified by the Father with the Divine Glory, pp. 49-51)