There is a jagged wound in His side. The wound in us matches the wound in Christ with an exactness known only to the Father.

Then we are pressed into Christ's side—wound against wound. We are tender. We are sore. We ache. But there is no other manner in which Jesus can become the Way in us, the Truth in us, the Life in us.

Now we are being made ready to bear fruit.

After a while the Life from the Vine begins to flow into the branch of our personality. Now the mystery of redemption becomes understandable to us. We know now what God is doing, for the mystery of the Gospel is Christ in us.

Everything else is a prop, scaffolding, a means to an end.

Love is quick to perceive the dependence of Christ on us. The Vine cannot bear fruit apart from the branches. Adam cannot replenish the earth apart from Eve. Christ cannot bear fruit apart from us. The branches are the source of His inheritance from the Father.

The Father is Love and performs all things in creative love.

When first we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior He is with us as our Friend and Companion. He is the Good Shepherd who makes us lie down in green pastures and leads us beside the quiet waters. Also, He is born in our heart at that time.

In order for us to become an abode in the House of God, the Divine Seed that has been planted in us must be nourished and cared for until Christ begins to mature in us. As Christ grows to fullness of stature in us, the Father and the Son come through the Holy Spirit and make our transformed inner man Their eternal dwelling place.

The Father will dwell only in Christ. Our Christian discipleship is a long travail as Christ is being formed in us. When the Father and the Son take up Their residence in us, this is the beginning of the Day of the Lord as far as we personally are concerned. This is why the Lord Jesus uses the expression from Isaiah, "in that day." That "day" is the Day of the Lord, the day when the Lord alone is exalted.

The Morning Star, Christ, arises in our heart. The Day of the Lord commences in the personality of God's conquering saints. When Jesus comes, the saints will bring the Day of the Lord to the whole world.

A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. (John 16:21)

We "see" the Lord Jesus, so to speak, when we are a young Christian. Jesus is real to us as our new and dear Friend. But as time passes we become less aware of His companionship. We "see" Him no longer. Our discipleship becomes a painful travail.

If we continue to serve Him, enduring with patience our trials, giving thanks each day to the Father for the tender mercies and blessings of that day, we "see" Jesus again. Now the revelation is coming from within us. We are aware of His guiding Presence with us and also within us. This is the Kingdom of God.

To be continued.