²³ I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

Connection to Christ and His mission is depicted with the imagery of our Lord being physically “in” us. So also is the imagery of the Father being “in” Christ. Scripture speaks of the right hand of God, the eye of the Lord, the face of God—all images given to help us understand God who is spirit and thus has no physical body. This concept of using figurative language is not unique to the Bible—this is a fundamental element of human communication—and it makes the Scriptures no less “literal.” We believe in a literal-historical interpretation of the Bible. A literal understanding helps us see that when we are told that, “those who wait for the Lord … will mount up with wings like eagles …,” that this is literal communication using imagery of nature to convey a spiritual truth. When we exercise patience in God’s timing, we will rise above our circumstances, like an eagle rises above the earth.

Consider the incarnation for a moment. Jesus is the “Word” who became flesh (John 1:1, 14). He is the ultimate and perfect “anthropomorphism” of God, that is, He pictures for us God in human form. He took on the “form of a bond-servant…being made in the likeness of men…being found in appearance as a man…” (Phil 2:7-8). The incarnation was very much physical, in that God as a spiritual being, became a physical man. Yet, “He is the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Heb 1:3). While firmly adhering to the real incarnation as a fundamental of the faith (see 1 John 4:1-3, Col 1:19, 2:9), we see God using language (“The Word”) to convey an understanding of Himself in a way we can grasp. This is what John means when he wrote, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God [i.e. Jesus, the Word] who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. (John 1:18).

Indeed, although the disciples had Jesus in the flesh, after His departure, they were left with not just the memory of the physical Jesus, but also with the literary picture that language conveys. So together with us today, we are invited by God to picture in our mind’s eye that Jesus is “in” us, in a somewhat similar way as Jesus was “in” His physical body 2,000 years ago.

We live in a finite, flat-line world, as compared to the infinite dimensions of the spiritual world. God uses figures of speech and word pictures to help us gain a truer understanding of Himself and His purposes. We dare not dissect these images down to meaningless generalities. The connection of Jesus to us is best conveyed with the image that He is “in” us. We can do no better.

Lord, thank You for being in me and in us, working to bring us to perfection.