Day 5: God’s Indwelling Word

The Inspired Word reveals that the Infinite Word became the Incarnate Word to become the Indwelling Word.

God’s Indwelling Word is Christ in us, the hope of glory. As Jesus Himself put it, it’s a mysterious reality of us being in Him and He in us (John 14:20). He brings harmony between the transcendent and the immanent, divine sovereignty and human responsibility, the eternal and the temporal. As a result, we are graced with eternal agency to participate in His work.

As the Indwelling Word, the Spirit of God assures us that our lives are now hidden in Christ (Colossians 3:3). This becomes a reality in our lives when we are adopted and given a new identity in Christ, who then empowers us to live by His presence dwelling in us.

Adoption

In the 1959 movie Ben-Hur, Judah Ben-Hur is adopted by a Roman named Quintus Arrius. Ben-Hur becomes part of this nobleman’s family, receiving a new identity.

At that time, Roman adoption was truly radical. Under Roman law, biological babies could be abandoned at birth. Adoption signified that the new child was freely chosen and desired by the new family. Furthermore, the child could not be disowned in any way. Adoption meant the receipt of a permanent new identity.

Effectively, Judah Ben-Hur was given a new derivation. He became the son of Quintus Arrius, with all that that implied. He received a new dignity in the present tense—effectively elevated to a nobleman in Rome. Furthermore, he received a new destiny (a new future), because all that was Quintus Arrius’s was now also Judah Ben-Hur’s. Judah went from being a slave to an inheritor.

Similarly, God has chosen us in Him and adopted us into His household. As a result, He has given us a new past, a new present, and a new future. We have received a new name and a new identity. We also have the promise of inheriting all things in God’s kingdom. We can enter the throne room of grace at any point, without fear of being dismissed. Why? Because we have been chosen by Him and called as sons.

Having been adopted into God’s family, we are now capable of doing the works of God, to build things that will last for eternity. God has redeemed us from all lawlessness and purified us for His own possession (Titus 2:11–14). This is only possible if we live in the power of Christ’s life, however. We can certainly build businesses or raise families or do things that are generally productive from an earthly standpoint even if we live in alienation from God. Nothing we do, however, will endure eternally without the indwelling presence of the life of Christ working in and through us as adopted sons of God (John 15:5).

Identity

Through adoption into God’s family, we receive a new identity. Our identity is rooted in the fact that we are in Christ and Christ is in us.

Christ gave His life for us so that He could live His life in us and through us. We are identified completely with Him—in His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father.

Scripture even says we are seated with Christ “in the heavenly places,” above the cosmos, at the Father’s side (Ephesians 2:6).

Although we are new beings, we are not yet complete. We are both sanctified (perfected) and in the process of being sanctified. God’s Indwelling Word confirms in our spirits our identity as adopted sons and heirs.

Day 5 Scripture Readings:

John 16:13
Romans 8:16
Galatians 4:6–7
2 Corinthians 1:21–22