26.2 Living in John 14:20
© 2015 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
The tenth most important verse in the Bible, though it appears last that it might support all that has come before, yet it is also the first, for we cannot what Romans 8:29 might mean except we already are living only inside of Jesus. To construct this “verse,” I have placed together three specific statements of Jesus in the upper room, just a few moments before Gethsemane.
In that day you shall know that I am in the Father and you in Me and I in you – Abide in Me and I in you – This is age-abiding life, that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
I have only nine or ten lessons through which to convey a brief introduction to these words; I fear they are not enough.
Focus
This session is focused on John 14:20, the only Salvation, the only place in which we live. The next session is focused on John 15:4a, Abide in Me and I in you; and the third session is focused on John 17:3, the only definition of age-abiding life found in the Bible. Of course, we cannot speak of any one of these things without referring, continually, to the other two.
Also, these words come through John; thus we see that we have little need for the Greek – the English sense is clear, though we will bring in the English definitions of some of the words. I feel a great responsibility resting upon my heart, to open these words to the Church as they have never been opened before.
In That Day
Why did Jesus say, “In that day”? Simple – the same reason God placed so many obstacles in between Adam and Life high up in a thorn tree – God requires willingness of heart. And so God places doors everywhere.
Doors are for two purposes, to keep out those who do not belong and to invite in those who do. God is inviting us into His very heart; He allows in only those who would be nowhere else. That little phrase, “In that day,” causes so many to say, “Oh, it’s not for now, it’s not for me,” and so they just walk away.
Determination
If God is determined to seize hold of us, then He requires the same determination to seize hold of Him coming out from us. Yet all who believe that they must “obey” first before God would allow them into the fullness of Christ never enter because they know that they have not fulfilled obedience. Yet God accepts only those who enter like David, with all boldness of heart to seize hold of God and never let Him go, regardless of all or any endless mistakes and wickedness, refusing to set their eyes on any falling short, but only upon Salvation.
Yet God has also given us a clear word by which to enter. Now is the Day of Salvation – today is the acceptable time.
Today
Today is that day. Today we know, today we see that everything that we are right now in this world is IN the Lord Jesus and the Lord Jesus Christ fills every particle that we are. Absolute and today.
But how, then, do we enter into Christ? We do NO SUCH THING!
But of God you are in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:30). The Father has already put us into Christ, all we do is open our eyes to see Him alone in whom we dwell. And when did God do such a thing? – figuratively speaking, from before the foundation of the world, but in reality?
All NOWWe are utterly inside of Christ inside the core Being of an always now, always here God and are not nor have ever been anywhere else.
Do you see how tucked in we are?
Father is IN Christ IN us. We are IN Christ IN Father. And all of this is Personal and literal, spirit, soul, and body, substantial and absolute, complete, and without limitation.
The Appearance of God
This diagram is our (Father, Christ, and us) substance. Yet by appearance, you and I as one body together are the only appearance to both heaven and earth of this symmorphic Being, three, that is, One, becoming known as One (Jesus Sent) through many, all sharing the same form.
What about the Spirit? He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17). Just as Jesus and Spirit are found always together, never separate, so, throughout the New Testament, Spirit and Bride are found always together, never ever separate.
Mediator
We, Father and us, walk always by our substance. Creation knows our substance, Father and us, only by our appearance, flesh of His flesh, one flesh with Him.
But! Look carefully at these words. I – in Father; you – in Me; Father – in Me; I – in you. First person singular, I/Me, Jesus.
God is too much; we are too little. Jesus is just right – Mediator, Bond, Connection. I NEED Jesus – I am never alone. Look back at the diagram to see how Jesus encases us in Father.
Literal, not Figurative
In this Salvation, in this only place where we live, John 14:20, Jesus is Personal three times. Jesus, in Person, is in Father. Jesus, in Person, personal, is the One in whom we are. And Jesus in Person and utterly personal is in us.
May I suggest that Jesus is the most personal Person in the universe? Jesus is also the Heart of God, the Father’s Heart. We might say to another human, “You are the person of my heart,” but only figuratively, to signify our love. Yet we cannot know John 14:20 in any way figurative, but utterly literal.
Our Heart
My heart IS another Person – Jesus. We cannot know our heart to be “deceitful and wicked” by a broken old covenant, else we cannot know Jesus. What an awful story in which to live, always seeing one’s heart, and thus Jesus, as desperately wicked, especially since such a story is 100% untrue and without meaning.Let’s look again at our picture.
I did not say this; Jesus did. Jesus’ words put you and me smack dab in the midst of the Godhead, in full communion with Father and Son.
When We Know
When we KNOW that we are one person with Jesus –When we KNOW that we are one person with Father through Jesus – When we know that the Father is the biggest part of us on the outside – When we know that the Father is the centralist part of us on the inside –
When we know that we are encased in and carried by Jesus every moment, all that we are –When we know that this is the Jesus who loves us and trades His self now for our former self gone –
We Just Are
When we KNOW that it is this One in whom we are encased, inside and out, upon whose breast we always lean our heads, a Person in us as real – more real, than any human person we might see with our eyes – When we know that this same Jesus is every single connection between us and a wild and unending, untamable and consuming Fire called God, meek and lowly of heart –
When we KNOW, then we just ARE. And all that remains is sweet communion carried by utter rest. In that day you shall know. Today is that day, the Day of Salvation; let us know.
Pro-Thesis
I want to show, now, how the most important verse in the Bible, Romans 8:28-30, along with the other eight, must be found only inside of John 14:20. As I am writing the introductions to the next three courses in Symmorphy, I tie every course entirely into Romans 8:28-30. I do so by enlarging the five HUGE Greek words Paul used in verses 28 and 29, words that define and lay out for us this God with whom we have to do, His intentions, His determination.
- Pro-Thesis – the set forth purpose of God defining His intentions, the Word by and for which all things are created.
- Pro-Knowing – the origins of you and me out from the intimate knowledge of God’s own heart.
- Pro-Determination – a Determination that has seized you and me in its grip to fulfill in us all that God intends.
- Symmorphose – the ruling verb of the Being of God, Person inside of Persons, inside of persons, God and us merged together as one person by every word that is Christ, sharing the same form.
- Image – the outer expression of God’s purpose, God Himself appearing to His creation as you and me, that the Father might be seen and known by all.
Jesus First Becomes Me
God’s intention towards us is to conform us to the image of His dear Son, that is, to cause us to become one person with Jesus, sharing together the same form. We all know how fruitless it is for us to try to “be like Jesus.” We know the false pretending such a way of living produces.
I know with all certainty that there is one way only by which I could ever become “like” Jesus. Jesus first must become me, not just like me, but become me in all that I am in all of my human weakness. And then Jesus Himself, my Savior and my Salvation, must live me all the way into life. I have no other hope.
Opportunity
It is the word, “opportunity” that enables us to know God’s dilemma and how that dilemma is solved only by John 14:20.
- Opportunity (Webster’s 1926): A fit or convenient time; a time or place favorable for executing a purpose; a suitable combination of conditions; suitable occasion. Convenience or advantage of situation. Synonyms: Chance, opportunity, and occasion agree in the idea of a condition or juncture of circumstances favorable to some end. Occasion often implies little more than a possibility or chance of giving rise to some result. But an opportunity is a specific, fit, and opportune occasion.
I am a writing teacher, fully experienced and qualified to teach writing in college. More than that, I have all the means to teach writing at hand, fully developed and proven exercises and approaches, along with a love of developing further effective exercises. The problem is that I have no opportunity to teach, no fit occasion, no time or place favorable for improving the writing skills of college students. To obtain such an opportunity, I would have to submit full application to a college and be chosen by that college against a stack of other possible writing teachers. Only then would I have occasion to connect with students.
Pro
Remember that the Greek prefix, pro, when referring to God, cannot mean “a long time ago.” God is all here now. Nothing in God “happened” and then “ceased to happen.” All things in God ARE NOW. Pro, then, when referring to God, must mean out of the core of God’s Being, out from His heart, out from the inner essence of who and what God IS.
Pro-Thesis – Pro-Knowing – Pro-Determination. These three things fully qualify God to be known by His creation. God even has all the means at hand to reveal Himself; the cross of Christ, the blood, and the resurrection.
God’s Opportunity?
Yet God remains unknown. What is the problem?
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known (1 Corinthians 13:12). We always thought of Paul’s statement as reflecting a problem on our part, that we just don’t know. But our not knowing reflects a problem on God’s part just as much. What opportunity does God have to make His invisible Being known to us – that we would KNOW Him in just the same way that He already, in His Heart, Pro-KNOWS us?
Only One Opportunity
God has one opportunity only, one time and place favorable, one suitable combination of conditions only, to fulfill His intentions and determination towards us: John 14:20.
Look at the diagram of our tucked-in-ness again.Father in the center is God as He is, all, everywhere, now. Then, the inner circle of Christ is Christ Jesus as the becoming known of Father. Next, the outer circle of Christ is Christ Jesus as our knowing of Father. Finally, the outer circle of Father is Father made known to all.
Pro-Knowing
Christ is to Father, the becoming known of Father, and Christ is to us the knowing of Father. You see, the word pro-ginosko, pro-knowing, in Romans 8:29, places you and me utterly into Christ in Father’s heart as part of Christ Himself, part of the knowing of Father. The knowing, the ginosko, then, that is age-abiding life, is our return to knowing that we exist only inside the Heart of Father.
We know just as we are known. The only opportunity the Father will ever have to win the Desire of His Heart, to be known and seen, touched and handled by His creation, the only suitable time and place is John 14:20.
We Know - Today
Know that I am IN the Father, you IN Me and I IN you. Notice – “you in Me” comes first and “I in you” comes second. Jesus became us when He drank us into Himself, there on His knees in Gethsemane. Jesus became ALL that we are including our sin and our shame. We become Jesus as we drink Him into ourselves today; Jesus becomes all that we are.
And we drink Jesus by faith, by calling Him so. – I know that I am in Jesus in all that is Father; I know that Father is in Jesus in all that is me. (Shout this to the heavens.)
We KNOW – Today.