Mutual Abiding Now, Increasing to New Jerusalem

In John 15:4 the Lord Jesus told us, “Abide in Me and I in you.” Our abiding is a condition for His abiding in us.

We need to abide in the Son so that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit may abide in us (John 15:4a; 14:17, 23). Once you get into God, do not get out. You need to abide in Him. To abide implies to enter in further. The depths of God are unfathomable, so we need a further entering into Him. After entering into Him, we have to stay in Him. To stay in Him is actually to enter in further and further.*

From the moment we first repented and believed into the Lord, we have been in Him. This position is permanent. But, do we abide in Him, have our living according to Him? In John 15:7 He speaks of His words abiding in us. If we are living and behaving according to these inwards words, then we have the real abiding.

To abide in Christ is subjective and experiential, a higher relationship than being in Him positionally. As an example, suppose that I, a California person, move to a foreign country. I am in that country positionally but do I behave, think, eat, and speak like the local people? I am in Christ, but is He the content of my living, thinking, and speaking?

Our hindrance in living Christ is our old man, which needs to be put off (by us with the Spirit’s supply). By the time of New Jerusalem there will be no more old man so by then there will be no hindrance nor distraction from this mutual abiding.

* From chapter 39, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.

Posted by Don on July 21, 2023

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