Abide in Christ—this highest blessing gain

For you were called based on freedom only, brothers. Not the freedom unto instigation to the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this, “You will love your neighbor as yourself. ” But if you bite and devour one another, watch that you would not be consumed by one another. But I say, Walk by spirit and you would by no means fulfill the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these oppose each other so that you would not do the things that you would will. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. And the works of the flesh are manifest, which are such things as fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, divisions, sects, Envyings, bouts of drunkenness, carousings, and things like these, of which I tell you beforehand, even as I have said before, that those practicimg such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. But they who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (Galatians 5:13-25)

A MUTUAL ABODE

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The tabernacle is God’s dwelling place. However, it is not adequate to say that the tabernacle is merely a dwelling for God. Actually, the tabernacle is a universal dwelling place for both God and man. Consider the New Jerusalem. Will God be the only one dwelling in the New Jerusalem? No, God and all His redeemed people will be dwelling in the New Jerusalem. Hence, it will be a dwelling place for both God and man. This dwelling place is a mutual abode, a mutual dwelling place.

In John 14:23 the Lord Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him. ” Here the word abode is used. The abode here is actually a mutual abode. We abide in the Lord, and He abides in us.

For there to be a mutual abode, the Lord must first become our dwelling place. When we abide in Him, He surely is our abode. Then as He abides in us, we are His abode. The Lord spoke concerning this mutual abode when He said in 15:4 , “Abide in Me and I in you. ” Therefore, the Lord is our dwelling place, and we become His dwelling place. The New Jerusalem will be such a mutual dwelling place, a place where we will abide in God and He will abide in us. Even today we may experience the mysterious fact of abiding in the Lord and the Lord abiding in us. Our real home is the Lord. The Lord is our dwelling place, and we dwell in Him.

The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle
and the Offerings in the Writings of John
cHAPTER 22 (LSM)

The Union and Mingling of All of God’s Redeemed with the Processed and Consummated Triune God

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The New Jerusalem is the union and mingling of all of God’s redeemed through all the four ages of the forefathers, the law, grace, and the kingdom with the processed and consummated Triune God. It is thus a union and mingling of the redeemed with the redeeming God.

We are not only united to the Triune God—we are mingled with Him. We may use the digestion of food as an illustration of mingling. The food that we eat, digest, and assimilate is eventually mingled with us. Apart from such a mingling, the food could not become our element. It is by being mingled with us that the food becomes us. The Bible tells us that Christ is eatable and that we should eat Him (John 6:51 , 57). To eat Him is to have Him mingled with us.

In John 15:4a the Lord Jesus said, “Abide in Me and I in you. ” This mutual abiding, this mutual dwelling, is a matter of coinherence. In today’s Christianity, Bible teachers may use the word coexist but seldom use the word coinhere. To coexist is different from to coinhere. To coexist is to exist together at the same time. To coinhere is to exist in one another, to dwell in one another. Coinherence, being a mutual dwelling or abiding, is therefore a mingling.

The New Jerusalem is a mutual dwelling for God and His redeemed. Actually, the New Jerusalem signifies that God as the temple (Rev. 21:22) is our dwelling and that God’s redeemed as His tabernacle (v. 3) are His dwelling place. From this we can see that the New Jerusalem is not only a union of the redeeming God with His redeemed people but also a mingling of God with His redeemed ones.

The God-men

Chapter 4 (LSM)

Praise the Lord! Abiding in Christ is highest blessing gain. What a blessing it is for us to have the Triune God as our blessing! Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are a blessed people, for God blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies! 😀

Abiding is going into the good land to live. Abiding is to make our home somewhere not just visit, not just a Quick Look to check it out. That’s what the spy’s did in Joshua’s time. We learn to abide in the church life. This is a journey. This is our Christian life! This is the highest Christian experience! We must be like those who gave a good report to encourage each one to enter in. He is a rich God. We can experience Him with other travelers in the church life. It is a spiritual journey that we take together by FAITH. But First we must start see how important fellowship is with God and the brothers and sisters. I’m beginning to see a little of what abiding means. This hymn shows us all the rich experiences we have when we abide. Lord make this my experience! I have seen something. Now make it real to me!

This hymn is full of rich truths about maintaining the abiding life, of fellowship with Jesus, and what riches the believer knows in this life and the one to come. Meditate on each stanza carefully, for they are your life, the abundant life Christ came to impart by His own life in us.

Another familiar hymn that speaks of the Lord's abiding presence is "Constantly Abiding." I've known this hymn since I was born again in 1955 and it's always a cheerful blessing to my heart.

There's a peace in my heart that the world
never gave,
A peace it can not take away;
Tho' the trials of life may surround like
a cloud,
I've a peace that has come there to stay!

Chorus:

Constantly abiding, Jesus is mine;
Consantly abiding, rapture divine;
He never leaves me lonely,
Whispers O so kind: "I will never leave
thee,"
Jesus is mine.

All the world seemed to sing of a Savior
and King,
When peace sweetly came to my heart;
Troubles all fled away and my night turned
to day,
Blessed Jesus, how glorious Thou art!

This treasure I have in a temple of clay,
While here on His footstool I roam;
But He's coming to take me some glorious
day,
Over there to my heavenly home!

God bless you all with His presence and His name, Jehovah Shammah, which means the Lord is there." (Ezekiel 48:35)

Excellent hymn - Christ as the thick, rich dairy-fresh cream; a going on from H437 and comparable to H564.