How can Jesus be in us?

In John 14:10, Jesus said, “The words I say to you are not my own. Rather, it is the Father living in me, who is doing his work.” So the means by which the Father brought his “words” and “work” to life was by living in Jesus. 

So in asking the question, “How can Jesus be in us?” – we’re also faced with, “How was the Father in Jesus?” How was the Father able to convey his plan, his truth, wisdom, likeness, love, and everything else essential about himself in Jesus?

Jesus dropped a clue in Luke 4:18, when he said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me.” So it wasn’t on Jesus’ initiative or willpower or wisdom that made his Father come to life and reality in him; it was purely the Spirit of the Lord doing it all in him. It was through the Spirit, therefore, that the Father was living in Jesus doing his work. 

It’s not surprising, then, that Jesus told his disciples in John 14:16, “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Counsellor – the Spirit of truth….who’ll live with you and in you (17)” – because, John 15:26, “When the Counsellor comes, whom I’ll send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.” 

The Spirit, therefore, would do in the disciples’ lives what the Spirit had done in Jesus’ life. In Jesus’ life, the Spirit had brought the Father to life and reality in him. In the disciples’ lives, the Spirit would bring Jesus to life and reality in them.

They’d “know” the Holy Spirit was doing this in them too (14:17). The Spirit, for instance, would “remind them of everything Jesus had said and taught” (26). The Spirit would also “take from what is mine” (16:15) – like Jesus’ love for them (14:18), his eagerness to answer their needs (14), his peace (27), his joy (15:11), his knowledge (15), and the love of his Father too (14:21, 23) – “and make it known to you” (16:14). 

All these things happening to them would be clear evidence of Jesus in them. Because this is what the Holy Spirit was being given to them for, to guide them “into all the truth” about Jesus to “bring glory to him” in them (16:13-14). Which is why the Spirit would be “Bearing much fruit” in them too….(next blog)