LIFE IN LIFE

Jesus promised His disciples that He would not abandon them as orphans but would come back to them after the resurrection (John 14:18-19; 16:16-22). "In that day" (εν εκεινη τη ημερα) after the resurrection they would experience a mutual indwelling with the triune God (John 14:20). Jesus must be referring to the period of time from the resurrection to the ascension. He has just promised them the indwelling of the Spirit (John 14:17), and, after the resurrection, Jesus breathed the Spirit on them (John 20:20-23) as a temporary infilling until the Day of Pentecost following His ascension to heaven.

Our deepest intimacy with God comes from this mutual indwelling. Jesus said, "In that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in ME, and I in you" (John 14:20). The triple repetition of the preposition "in" (εν) indicates "the space within which something is found" (BAGD, p. 258).  Jesus is in the Father. This is the foundational indwelling for our benefit.  We are in Jesus, and Jesus is in us. The Son and the Spirit are in us who are in the Son who is in the Father. It is a position of amazing security like our most precious documents placed inside a fire box that is, in turn, placed inside a bank vault!

It is also a position of deepest, life-giving, life-sustaining intimacy. Jesus is in us, and we are in Jesus like a fish is in water, and water is the fish; or like a bird is in the air, and the air is in the bird (Johnson, private notes). This total and mutual immersion of life in life forms a spiritual connection deeper than the most intimate human bond can ever hope to achieve.

Here, in this verse, we find the basis for the extended metaphor of the "Vine and Branches" (John 15). Jesus explains our deep connection with Him in the analogy of the vine and branches.  A cleft graft uniting a fruit-bearing shoot with the stock of a vine is literally a linkage of life inside life. The stock is split, and the branch is sliced so that the branch fits deep into - and matches up with - the stock. The life of the stock flows into the branch.

We are in Jesus, and Jesus is in us - life in life. His life flows in us who are living in Him.