What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery. Part 10. The indwelling of Jesus Christ as the Shekinah glory. Joh 14:19-20; 17:22-27; Col 1:25-26

GRACE BIBLE CHURCH
Robert R. McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary.
The Tree of Life from the week ending 04/03/05
What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery. Part 10.
The indwelling of Jesus Christ as the Shekinah glory.

In our study of the baptism of the Spirit we have noted that it was the sign of the beginning of the Church-age. We also noted the baptism of the Spirit with regard to the principle of adoption and abiding in Christ. We now continue with the last phrase in JOH 14:20, "In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you."

There are two guarantees of divine blessing on the Church-age believer: the sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of the blessing and the security from God and the indwelling of Jesus Christ in every Church-age believer which is one of the most neglected doctrines of all the mystery doctrines. All three members of the trinity indwell the body of every believer. God the Father indwells the believer in such passages as EPH 4:4-6, There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. God the Son and God the Holy Spirit also indwell the body of every believer.

The indwelling of Christ as the Shekinah glory is a guarantee that God has provided for you, in eternity past, your very own plan complete with escrow blessings. The word Shekinah is derived from the Hebrew noun SHAKAN meaning to dwell. Shekinah was coined by rabbis who developed the word to speak of God as dwelling among His people. It was used to express the invisible presence of God with Israel. The Hebrew word for Glory is KABODH, used for the visible manifestations of Jesus Christ as a Theophany. Shekinah represents the invisibility of Christ, the God of Israel, actually indwelling three sacred buildings during the age of Israel: the Tabernacle, Solomon's Temple, and Zerubbabel's Temple. Glory represents the visible manifestation in Theophanic form and there are basically six aspects of the indwelling of Christ:

1. The prophecies of the indwelling of Christ, JOH 14:19-20.

2. The verification of the indwelling of Christ, JOH 17:22-26, "And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known Thee, yet I have known Thee; and these have known that Thou didst send Me; and I have made Thy name known to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them, and I in them."

3. The indwelling of Christ as related to the PPOG for the Church-age and how that relates to our escrow blessings,COL 1:25-29.

4. The indwelling of Christ as related to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, ROM 8:9-11, 1JO 3:23-24, 2CO 6:16.

5. The indwelling of Christ related to the baptism of the Spirit, GAL 2:20.

6. The indwelling of Jesus Christ as a test of your faith or doctrine, 2CO 13:2-6. You are indwelt by the person of Christ for a very specific and definite purpose.

Back in JOH 14:19, "After a little while the world will behold Me no more;"
The world had been seeing the Messiah for 3 years during His public ministry, and others had contact with Him for 30 years prior to that. Before this time TLJC also appeared throughout human history in other visible forms such as the Angel of Jehovah or the Angel of the Lord usually for the purpose of communicating doctrine. There was rarely a generation of O.T. times when Jesus Christ did not appear; remember He is the only visible member of the Godhead. Our Lord appeared as a man when He wrestled with Jacob (GEN 32:24). The Lord also appeared to Abraham as a man to announce that Sarah was going to become pregnant (Gen 18).

There are also inanimate Theophanies of our Lord such as the cloud over the tent or the tabernacle, which was the visible sign that Jesus Christ was dwelling inside of the Holy of Holies as the Shekinah glory. There was also the burning bush, and the pillar of fire at night. These manifestations were to teach, instruct, guide and direct the people of God. Once in history during the dispensation of Israel, TLJC actually dwelt inside of sacred buildings, and this never happened before or since. Then there is the fact that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, in JOH 1:14, He tablenacled or He tented before us.

The Greek word here is skenoo which is close to the Hebrew shachan from which we get Shekinah.

Again, JOH 14:19, "After a little while the world will behold Me no more, but you {will} behold Me;[or you will see me] Because I live you shall live also.

Our Lord was speaking at this time as the God-man making a statement about His resurrection, ascension, and session. He is talking to the disciples who would be the first to go into the Church-age, and they and all that would follow would live in the same power system with the same divine assets as the humanity of Christ. This is the prophecy of how they would see Him again and also a hint as to the purpose of the indwelling of Christ.

JOH 14:20, "In that day [referring to the Church-age, the dispensation of the Royal Family of God], you shall come to know,"

In His humanity, TLJC is seated at the right hand of the Father, but His deity is omnipresent. To be aware of the fact that you are indwelt by Christ as well as the Holy Spirit should make dynamic changes in your life. Not all at once perhaps, but slowly and surely.

So we have a statement about the deity of Christ in JOH 14:20, "In that day you shall know that I am in My Father." Next we go from the deity of Christ to the baptism of the Spirit which is unique to the Church-age, "And you in Me." Then we come to our subject, the indwelling of Christ, "And I in you."

The people who heard this magnificent prophecy could see the man, the humanity of Christ, but they could not see the glory, His deity which was hidden from them. Jesus Christ as God dwelt with His people Israel in a unique way, invisible; they did not see Him. However, they saw the sign of His presence.

GAL 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.

COL 1:27, to whom God willed to make known what is the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the confidence of the glory.

To realize these passages in your life and live in them is what it means to glorify God or have the glory within be manifested without. You are truly fulfilling such passages like MAT 5:14, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do {men} light a lamp, and put it under the peck measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Today, people cannot see the humanity of Christ in you, but they can see the glory of God being revealed through you. In this great prophecy as the God-man standing before them, there would be no Theophanies any longer since Jesus Christ came in the flesh; instead there are Christophanies which are manifestations of the humanity of Christ in resurrection body. TLJC is at the right hand of the Father where we can't see Him until we go to heaven, but in the meantime He also indwells our bodies, invisibly. Like the Jews who could not see the Shekinah glory in the O.T. but could see a manifestation of His presence, we can reveal the Shekinah glory or the indwelling of Christ to the world and to each other through our body, the temple of the living God. It is our privilege and responsibility to rest in Him where He is, because we are positioned in Him, so we are to abide in Him above, at the same time He abides in us here below, by means of the Spirit. JOH 15:4, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither {can} you, unless you abide in Me."

God has one main way of revealing Himself today, "Christ in you." He has no other way of showing Himself to man except as Christ lives in us; not by the Shekinah glory in the temple built with hands of men, but in lives redeemed and freed and cleansed as they walk about in this dark world with Christ living in them. 1Pe 1:8, and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

1PE 4:14, If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

There are three verses which we need to note again before we go on:

JOH 17:22, "And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them;

A reference to the Shekinah glory given to the humanity of Christ from God the Father as the Lord was fulfilling His personal sense of destiny with the power of God the Holy Spirit, and this glory is now made available to us. The glory includes the indwelling of the person of Jesus Christ, the Shekinah glory. That's why He said that they may be one as we are one.

He explains this in verse 23, "I [God the Son] in them, And You [God the Father] in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me."

No believer can ever attain spiritual maturity without understanding the reason and purpose of the indwelling of TLJC. So, this could be translated that they may attain spiritual maturity. He gives us His glory and indwells us in verse 22 so that we may be matured in unity; the preposition eis plus the accusative neuter singular from the numeral heis. Two words back to back that look just about the same: eis heis, meaning with reference to one. It means that there is one objective for the Church-age believer: to glorify God, that's the reason we have been created, REV 4:11,"Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created."

We have been given the Shekinah glory to indwell our bodies and to fulfill God's plan and therefore glorify God with His very own glory.

JOH 17:23, I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity or matured with reference to one objective, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.

One of at least 15 different reasons for the indwelling of Jesus Christ in your body is a sign that God loves you just as He loved Jesus Christ His Son, a phenomenal love. No human being will ever love you like that.

JOH 17:24-26, "Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known Thee, yet I have known Thee; and these have known that Thou didst send Me; and I have made Thy name known to them,"

Jesus Christ revealed to His disciples the Father's purpose. He revealed the fact that God the Father is the master-mind of the pre-designed plan and the escrow blessings. He is the one who provided for you the most fantastic blessings that have ever existed.

So the Lord says in JOH 17:26, and I have made Thy name known to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them, and I in them."

The great objective is to have God's love in us which will give us the ability to handle any problem in life. Why does God the Son indwell us and why did He emphasize it so much the night before His death?

Look at COL 1:25 to see how it relates to the indwelling of Christ. In this passage, we will note how the indwelling of Christ relates to the pre-designed plan of God and the believer's escrow blessings. In COL 1:25, Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit,

The word for stewardship is the Greek noun okoinomia which means dispensation. This was the mystery dispensation never known to O.T. saints. Those in Israel had Jesus Christ indwelling their tabernacle; they couldn't see Him because He was between the cherubs in the Holy of Holies, but they could see the cloud that covered the tabernacle. His humanity was living in God's pre-designed plan for His life. So we have the Shekinah glory indwelling humanity in order to achieve impeccability and be qualified to go to the cross and die for our sins. This means that the Shekinah glory dwells inside of humanity so that we can fulfill the plan of God. When the Church-age came we have the Shekinah glory indwelling the body of every believer.

So Paul says in verse 25, of this church I was made a minister according to the dispensation from God bestowed on me for your benefit. Paul is the chief communicator of mystery doctrine. He will teach us how the reflected glory of Christ may be seen in us. Paul has been given the privilege of communicating the most fantastic information of the most unique dispensation in all of history. The primary function of the minister is to communicate all the information that is for the dispensation of the Church-age. Paul became a minister because there was given to him this fantastic dispensational information, and this information has been passed on so that we have it now as never before. If there's anything that has been lacking in Christianity today it is lack of knowledge of the dispensation of the church.

Lack of knowledge about:  1) The baptism of the Spirit. 2) The pre-designed plan of God. 3) Mystery doctrine. 4) Escrow blessings. 5) The equality factor. 6) The Royal Commissions. 7) The indwelling of the Trinity. 8) The availability of divine power. 9) The absence of prophecy. 10) The principles of becoming a spiritual champion or invisible heroes.

COL 1:25, Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God,

It is for the benefit of every believer to understand the dispensation in which he lives and everything which is related to it. For anyone who is a pastor-teacher today the teaching of mystery doctrine should be a great part of his ministry. This does not mean that other doctrines are neglected, but this means that there must be an emphasis on why we are here. We are often thrilled and blessed by the Old Testament Saints and their stories and by things that we find throughout the word of God, but there is no substitute for teaching and repeating mystery doctrine. You need to know why you are here and the tremendous assets that God has provided for you. This is why it is necessary to spend time in books like Colossians, Ephesians, and Philippians, why it is necessary to teach about escrow blessings.

COL 1:26, that is the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to his saints,

The word for saints is hagios; you are a hagios, a saint, or someone who has been set apart for God for a special purpose which took place at the moment of salvation, that is to bring glory to God. This is for your own benefit. You do that by having the glory of God revealed in your life or the life of Christ being manifested in your life. For example, in our spiritual gift, 1CO 12:7, But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Look at 2CO 4:10-12, always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you.

1JO 4:9, By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

So back in COL 1:27, to whom God willed or desired to make known what is the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the confidence of the glory.

God willed something here for each and every one of us. God always makes His will known to those who desire to know it. The problem is not with the revelation of God's will but the fact that the reception of it is so poor. So many completely ignore and forget this marvelous principle, that God always makes His will known. His will has never been hidden from anyone who truly desires to know it. However, His will begins with principles of doctrines. God has revealed His purpose, His plan, and the mechanics of execution and the fantastic rewards for any believer who is interested enough in learning. Where people are really in trouble today is that they always want a short-cut. They really don't want to think or concentrate. The greatest complication in the spiritual life is simply ignorance. The average Christian today concentrates on who is against him and never gives a thought about the fact If God be for us who shall be against us? Long before man existed, long before angels existed and the creation of the universe, God's glory eternally existed. There never was a time when His glory did not exist; therefore God's glory should be the most important thing in your life.

Your happiness is not related to people and circumstances; your happiness is actually related to the glory of God, the Shekinah glory which actually indwells your body.

God willed to reveal something to you that He did not reveal to people in the past: something He does not reveal to the unbelievers and something which only your negative volition can stop you from learning. COL 1:27, to whom God willed to make known what is the glorious riches of this mystery, among the Gentiles,

Your escrow blessings, your very own pre-designed plan, your very own mystery doctrines. Everything has been revealed by God to those who really desire to know.

The Hebrew word goy is the word for the Gentiles who were considered to be the scum of the ancient world. COL 1:27 reveals that only in this dispensation do we find the Gentiles having the same privileges and the same opportunities as the Jews. The Shekinah glory no longer belonged to the Jews exclusively but now to anyone who was baptized into Christ. For GAL 3:26-28, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. As a believer it is time that you regarded yourself as a new creature with a new nature. You are not a Jew or a Gentile but a new person in Christ. The color of your skin, your economic status, and your social status are not issues. You are a brand new creature in Christ and you are far more blessed than anyone who ever came before you or anyone that will ever come after you.