WE get one more aspect of this wonderful revelation of God to our souls in 1 John 3:24-" God dwelleth in us." So again in chapter 4. 12. We know the words that introduce this last passage, and what is connected with them in the first chapter of the Gospel. There, if " no man hath seen God at any time, the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Here the same truth is expressed, but it is added, " If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us." In the Gospel the Son reveals God according to His perfect knowledge of Him as the Father, in whose bosom as Son He dwells. It is the perfect revelation of God in His own nature, perfectly manifested in the Son. Here, " if we love one another," God is love-we have been born of Him, and thus partake of His nature and know Him. The children that have been born of God are known by the characteristic traits of the nature of which they partake, when set free by the deliverance of the cross to express that nature; God wrought in His grace, as we have seen, to convict our souls of our sins by the inshining of His truth upon us. And we received Jesus, we believed in His name, we were born, " not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God;" " of his own will begat he us by the word of truth." It was the first blessed work of God, a work in us essential to any discernment of divine things. But this was not peace, but the full awakening of our souls to the need of it. Our need was met, and far more, by the work of the Son of God wrought for us, outside every question of what we were, save that we were guilty and lost in our sins-God Himself proved for us to our full justification in righteousness from every charge that could be brought against us.
Now this work for us, in which all divine love has been manifested towards us, so that there are no new depths of divine love to be revealed (see chap 4. 9, 10), is assumed as the basis of the Epistle of John, as well as the work in us. " I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake." (1 John 2:12.) Hence even the babes of God's family possess the Holy Ghost (chap.2: 20), for His presence dwelling in us is ever the seal of the faith that believes God's testimony to the accomplished work of the cross expressed in this forgiveness. The babes, too-these babes of John's Epistle-know the Father. (Ver. 13.) Thus, while the object of the epistle is to instruct us as to the eternal life we possess in the Son of God, that we may know it and know we have it; and as to the nature of that life, those who possess it are not looked at otherwise than as in the full Christian condition, of which the blessed Spirit of God dwelling in us is the seal and power. It was not enough that we should possess the nature of God, but that nature in us must be set free from the dominion of sin by faith of our death with Christ, and in power by the Holy Ghost dwelling in us, in order that it should be displayed in all its perfection as in Christ-" which thing is true in him and in you." " If we love one another God dwelleth in us,' not simply has Christ become our life, but the Holy Ghost, too, has been given us. And inasmuch as " the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given us," it can be added, " and his love is perfected in us." Our hearts may be but poor tiny vessels to contain it, but the love cannot be less than itself, the love of God in all its fullness, and this is shed abroad in us as surely as the Holy Ghost has been given us-God dwelling us. " And hereby we know that he dwells in us by the Spirit which he hath given us" (chap. 3. 24)-the power of the manifestation of His nature in us, that nothing but God and what is of God may shine out in us.
But this wondrous fact of His grace, amazing amazing truth become absolute to our souls by the possession of His nature that loves, and the Holy Ghost as the power of it-God Himself in us-is not all, but leads to what is the deepest, richest privilege of our souls in infinite and everlasting blessing-" We dwell in God." God Himself has become the refuge, and shelter, and hiding-place, and known home of our hearts. What unspeakable rest, what calm, undisturbed repose of heart, what unfathomable depths of joy are found in what is thus made known to us! Impossible if God did not dwell in us, yet going beyond this, as the effect of it, and thus more connected with the practical state. But first, as to the privilege itself, "Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit;" not, mark, simply now " by the Spirit which he hath given us" (as in chap. 3. 24), but " of his Spirit," expressing that the Spirit who dwells in us is His Spirit, so that we might understand we share His own Spirit, and thus know and enter into, in a way more intimate than with any man, the mind and thoughts, and heart of God. " Truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ." The immediate effect is therefore, that " we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world;" we enter into the joy found for God in such a testimony, and are impelled to have part in the testimony itself. It is the deepest conceivable expression of divine communion-inconceivable save to faith and by the power of the Holy Ghost, and as the effect of God dwelling in us. But being communion, it is much more connected with our practical state. Hence we find, as the practical conditions of it, " he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him" (chap. 3. 24), and " he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him." (Chapter 4:16.)
These are the two great principles of the Christian life, seen in the Lord Jesus Christ, obedience and love; these made up His life, and were the path of that life as manifested in all its perfection in Him. " The prince of the world cometh, and hath nothing in me," He could say, " But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I dot"
(John 14:30,31.) He is our life, hence it is the test of true abiding in Him that we walk as He walked. (1 John 2:6.) Our hearts condemn us the instant we do not, and confidence in God is hindered. If God is love, how could we dwell in God if we did not dwell in love? And love, as we have seen and known so well for our own souls, is active. How cold and withered up hearts are when love is not active, going out to all the family of God, God's first circle of interest, embracing all that are His, seeking their blessing, and to serve and give up self for our brethren! Then again, there is the world lying without but not outside the activity of His love, nor of ours to whom He has given of His Spirit. There is freshness when His love is active in us. It is the atmosphere in which He dwells-and we, too, if we dwell in love. Any infringement of love is the hindrance to the enjoyment, of such dwelling. But oh, what an incentive to love we' possess-it was " not that we loved him, but that he loved us." " We love Mm because he first loved us." And now we possess the very nature of Him who so loved us. How blessed to be seeking to express it! But the deep spring is in Him, and abiding in Him it is impossible but that it should flow out. And because we dwell in love we dwell in God.
This is one side of the life, the other is obedience. We' are sanctified to the obedience of Christ; abiding in Him, this, too, will be expressed in us. It is the necessary test of the love as to whether it be true divine love and no other. " This is the love of God that we keep his commandments." It is the only path of liberty and joy to, have no will but His. His commandments perfectly expressed this life in Christ; they are now given to form us and direct us in His blessed ways. His life was only and absolutely the obedience of love, and He is our life; how could it be anything else in us? Keeping His commandments we dwell in God. Reserve a corner in the heart for self-pleasing, doing our own will, and there is no joy. How could there be? The heart condemns us,. " and if our heart condemn us, God is greater than out)
heart and knoweth all things." His estimate of aught that hinders the heart's confidence before Him is far deeper than ours.
Truly we have been brought to the springs and sources of everlasting joy in being brought to dwell in God. There can be nothing beyond it forever. It is all ours to enjoy now. And this leads me to what is important; for it may be said, "you speak of what is not for me. Only such as are far advanced in the divine life can know such privileges as these." How blessed the answer to such workings of unbelief when we hear Him say, " Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is (not the Christ merely, though whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born-truly born of God-but) the Son of God"-that is, in the full glory of His Person as known in Christianity, known now that the Holy Ghost is come, and we know Him in the Father -" God dwelleth in him, and he in God." All belongs to each dear simple child of God, to the very youngest and feeblest that has been brought to the true knowledge of the glory of the Son of God. But shall we be content that it is ours in grace? Or shall we not rather now seek earnestly the path of His life in love and obedience, for the little while we are waiting for Him, so that we may prove in our own souls the rest and joy beyond all that can be expressed of dwelling in God, and God in us? What nearness, what intimacy of communion is involved in it, what a retreat for the soul amid the storm and conflict here-God Himself become our hiding-place and home of our hearts before the glory!
May nothing short of the abiding realization of it satisfy us. Let us seek practical nearness to God, that we may know Him better in ever deepening blessedness, according to the wonderful revelation He has Given us of Himself-God with us; God for us; God in us-that we may consciously dwell in Him. J. A. T.
(Concluded from page 156.)