John Jefferson Davis:
Christ is in fact present to the believer and to the church in a threefold way, despite the fact that Christ’s glorified, molecular body is not present on earth but is now invisible in heaven.
Christ is really within the believer by the Holy Spirit, who extends Christ’s self and presence into the believer’s heart (“Christ in you, the hope of glory” [Col 1:27]);
Christ is really among the believing assembly gathered as a church in worship, by virtue of his name and Spirit (1 Cor 5:4; the name and Spirit as extensions of Christ’s self);
and the believer is really present to the heavenly, ascended Christ, being seated with Christ in heavenly realms (Eph 2:6)—the Spirit connecting the believer with Christ and extending the believer’s spirit and self to Christ’s self (1 Cor 6:17).
The Holy Spirit connects us with Christ and lifts us into the presence of the ascended Lord, with whom we are in union from the time of our conversion, being incorporated into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:13), who continues to abide in us as an ontological reality.
Davis adds in a footnote:
Christ as to his molecular body is located in heaven, but Christ’s extended self, as extended by means of his name (1 Cor 5:4; his Skype icon) and Spirit, is also simultaneously and really located in the midst of the worshiping assembly, and also within the heart of the believer:
Christ above us, in heaven;
Christ among us, in worship;
Christ within us in the heart, by his Spirit and promise.
—John Jefferson Davis, Meditation and Communion with God: Contemplating Scripture in an Age of Distraction (IVP, 2012), 114.
