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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 15:45b; Gal. 3:14; John 20:22; 14:9-11, 16-20; 16:13-15; 1 Cor. 2:7-12; 2 Cor. 13:14; Rom. 8:2, 6, 9-11; John 16:7b-11; 3:5-6; 1:12-13; Gal, 4:6; Rom. 8:15; 2 Cor. 3:3b; Eph. 1:11a, 13; 4:30b; 2 Cor. 1:22a; Eph. 1:14; 2 Cor. 1:22b
Christ is the center and totality of the entire Bible, especially the New Testament. As portrayed in the four Gospels, Christ is God, a man, a King, and a Slave. However, this is not a full and proper definition of who and what Christ is. The Bible is a record of Christ as a threefold seed in humanity who became a life-giving Spirit, as the consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God, for our portion. The very Triune God became a man as the human seed of three persons — the woman (Mary), Abraham, and David. At the beginning of the Old Testament, Genesis 3:15 says, “I will put enmity / Between you and the woman / And between your seed and her seed; / He will bruise you on the head, / But you will bruise him on the heel.” The seed of the woman accomplished many things on the negative side. He destroyed Satan (Heb. 2:14), took away sin (John 1:29), nullified death (2 Tim. 1:10), and terminated our old man (Rom. 6:6). Then, in the middle years of the Old Testament history, God promised Abraham a seed who would become the blessing to the entire world (Gen. 12:2-3; Gal. 3:16). The seed of Abraham as the God-man, the very Triune God in a man, is the very God given to and enjoyed and experienced by man as the blessing. In the whole universe only God Himself is a blessing; all else is vanity of vanities. If we have God, we have the blessing. However, the way for God to be our blessing involved a process. For food to become our blessing, it must be cooked. In the same way, God had to be “cooked” in order to be our blessing. Before passing through a process, God was a “raw” God. By passing through a process, God became the “cooked” God and was “put on the table” as our food supply. This God in His totality is the processed, consummated, all-inclusive, life-giving, indwelling, compound Spirit. He as the wonderful Spirit is the blessing from God to us.
As the seed of David the king, Christ is the successor to David’s throne. According to Isaiah 55:3 and Acts 13:34, this seed of the king is the sure mercies of David. The resurrected seed of David is the sure mercies that God covenanted to David. Mercies are the initiation of God’s blessing. God gives Himself to us as a blessing through many kinds of mercies as the initiation.
At the end of the Bible, Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come!” This verse indicates that the Spirit and the bride are a couple. The term the Spirit indicates the process of the Triune God. The processed Triune God will marry the redeemed and glorified tripartite man, and together they will become a universal couple. Revelation 21 and 22 show us that the New Jerusalem is a compound, a mingling, a blending, of this processed Triune God with the chosen and glorified tripartite saints. This is the blessing given to us based on God’s sure mercies.
After Christ as the human seed lived and consummated His ministry on earth, He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). From that point onward, whatever has taken place related to Christ has been something of this Spirit. Today the very God whom we have received and are worshipping and serving is the consummated Triune God, the reality of whom is the life-giving Spirit, who is the realization of the man Jesus, the threefold seed. This is the central line, the contents, the substance, and the essence of the entire Bible.
The all-inclusive Spirit, whom the all-inclusive Christ (as the threefold seed in humanity) has become, is the aggregate of the all-embracing blessing of the full gospel of God in Christ (Gal. 3:14) for the divine dispensing according to the divine economy. This all-embracing blessing comprises many items. To know these items is to have a “master key” to open every book of the Bible.
On the day of His resurrection the processed and resurrected Christ, who has become the life-giving Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God, came back to His disciples and breathed Himself as such a life-giving Spirit into His disciples for them to receive as the Holy Spirit to be their life, their person, and their everything (John 20:22). Some who hold a tritheistic concept of the Trinity have opposed us for saying that Christ is the Spirit. However, there is a clear word in the Bible that says that the very Christ who is our Redeemer and Savior is now the Spirit. First Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit,” and 2 Corinthians 3:17a says, “The Lord is the Spirit,” which Spirit is “the Lord Spirit” who transforms us (v. 18). Brother Nee received this light concerning the Spirit almost fifty years ago, and the light we have received in recent years is even stronger and more profound. Today we have the boldness to say that the life-giving Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God.
To repeat, on the day of His resurrection, the processed and resurrected Christ, who has become the life-giving Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God, came back to His disciples and breathed Himself as such a life-giving Spirit into them. John 20:22 says, “When He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” In the Old Testament the title the Holy Spirit was not used; this title was not used until the beginning of the New Testament, when God was incarnated (Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35). The title the Holy Spirit definitely denotes a person. The use of this title in John 20:22 makes the breathing in that verse different from the breathing in Genesis 2:7. The breathing in Genesis 2:7 was the breathing of a breath, not of a person. But the breathing in John 20:22 is called the Holy Spirit. Surely this denotes not merely a breath but a person, the Breather Himself. The Holy Spirit whom we are to receive is the Triune God reaching us. The Father is the source, the Son is the course, and the Spirit is the flow and also the reaching of the Triune God. The Spirit is the ultimate expression of the Triune God; thus, when we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive the totality of the Triune God.
The old creation of man came out of the breathing in Genesis 2:7. The new creation also came out of a breathing. In Genesis we can see only the breathing of a breath, not of the person of the Divine Trinity, for the creation of man as a part of the old creation. The breathing in John 20:22 took place after Christ had passed through the processes of incarnation, human living for thirty-three and a half years, crucifixion, and resurrection. Before His ascension, on the day of His resurrection, Christ came back to His disciples. He did not teach them, but He breathed something into them. What He breathed into them was the Holy Spirit, who is the life-giving Spirit whom Christ became. This Spirit who was breathed out by Christ was the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. When God breathed His breath into Adam to animate the man of clay with a human spirit, He consummated the old creation. But the breathing in John 20:22 was after Christ had accomplished His New Testament work.
The Old Testament work of God’s old creation was to create the physical things. But the New Testament work of Christ was not like that. Christ’s New Testament work was of four steps. First, He became a man in incarnation. Before His incarnation He was the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18) with divinity only, but through incarnation He put on blood and flesh (Heb. 2:14a) as His humanity. Then He lived with the disciples for three and a half years. This living was His working. After this He entered into an all-inclusive death, and then He entered into resurrection. His incarnation was to bring God into humanity; His crucifixion was to terminate that humanity; and His resurrection was to bring the crucified humanity into divinity, that is, to bring man into God. In His resurrection Christ’s humanity was “sonized,” and in His “sonized” humanity He was born to be the firstborn Son of God (Acts 13:33). Christ’s coming from God to become a man to bring God into humanity and His going through death and entering into resurrection to bring humanity into divinity was a blending, a mingling, a compounding of God with man and man with God. It was in such a condition that Christ came to the disciples and breathed Himself into them, to compound, mingle, and blend Himself with them.
When Peter, John, James, and the other disciples were meeting in that small room, they represented the entire Body of Christ. When the Head breathed into the Body and told the Body to receive the Holy Spirit, we were there also. After this breathing and receiving took place, the compounding, blending, and mingling of God with man was consummated. At the time of the incarnation there was only one God-man. After John 20:22, however, there were at least one hundred twenty God-men. Today this God-man has replenished the whole earth. Everywhere we can see God-men, who are the blending, the mingling, the compounding, of God with man. The realization that we are the blending of God with man should uplift our estimation of our worth. We are the blending, the compounding, of God with man. No words can tell how great a blessing this is.
The all-inclusive Spirit, as the realization of God the Son, who is the embodiment of God the Father, came to be the reality of the Triune God, not only with God the Son’s believers but also in them, for the dispensing of the Triune God into them (14:9-11, 16-20). First, Christ, who became the life-giving Spirit as the transfiguration, the realization, of the threefold human seed, breathed Himself into the disciples, and the disciples received Him. Then, based on this breathing, the Spirit whom He became came to be the realization of Him as the embodiment of the Father within the believers. In this way the Triune God entered into us to be one with us.
Before Christ’s resurrection the Triune God was not able to enter into man. After He went through incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection, He was qualified to breathe Himself into His disciples as the Holy Spirit, the consummation of the Triune God, for them to receive. This life-giving Spirit is the realization of the Son, who is the embodiment of the Father. As such a One, He comes into His disciples to be in their intrinsic being. What a blessing this is!
As the Spirit of reality, the Spirit declares, transmits, to the believers what He receives of God the Son, to whom all that God the Father has is given, transmitted, for the dispensing of the Triune God into the Son’s believers, making them one with the Triune God, for the glorification of God the Son. John 16:13-15 says, “When He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify Me, for He will receive of Mine and will declare it to you. All that the Father has is Mine; for this reason I have said that He receives of Mine and will declare it to you.” First, what the Father has is given, or transmitted, to the Son. This is the first step of the transmission. Then, what the Son has is received by the Spirit. This is the second step of the transmission. Finally, what the Spirit has received is declared, or transmitted, to the disciples. This is the third step of the transmission. This transmission involves four parties — the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and us, the believers. What the Father has is given, transmitted, to the Son; what the Son has is received by the Spirit; and what the Spirit receives is declared, transmitted, to us. This is the transmission of the Triune God into the Son’s believers.
The Spirit’s declaring is His transmission. The Spirit declares spiritual realities, not doctrines. In the universe there is the reality that whatever God the Father has is given to the Son; whatever the Son has is received by the Spirit; and all the things of the Father and the Son are declared by the Spirit to us, the disciples. Thus, there is a wonderful transmission in the universe — the transmission of the Triune God into our being.
The transmission of the Triune God into the Son’s believers makes them one with the Triune God for the glorification of God the Son. Our being made one with the Triune God is to glorify the Son, that is, to express the Son as glory. If we live a life in the transmission of the Triune God, we will be a glorious expression of Christ.
As the revealing Spirit, the Spirit shows us the deep things of God concerning Christ as our portion for our enjoyment, foreordained, prepared, and given to us by God but having never been seen or heard by man and having never come up in man’s heart, for the dispensing of all the mysterious riches of Christ into our spiritual being for our glory (1 Cor. 2:7-12). Christ is rich in many items. According to 1 Corinthians, Christ is rich first in His being the power of God and the wisdom of God (1:24) and then in His being righteousness, sanctification (holiness), and redemption to us (v. 30). He is rich in at least twenty items in the book of 1 Corinthians. The final and consummate item of Christ’s riches in that book is that He is the life-giving Spirit. If Christ were not the life-giving Spirit, we could not receive Him as wisdom and power and as our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. For us to receive Him, He must be the life-giving Spirit.
The dispensing of all the mysterious riches of Christ into our spiritual being is for our glory. We are whatever we live. If we live such a rich Christ, how glorious we will be! The way to live such a Christ is by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19). By the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we can participate in His bountiful supply in order to magnify Christ by living Him. What a glory this is!
As the Spirit of the divine fellowship, the divine flow, the Spirit also imparts, dispenses, the love of God in the transfusion of the grace of Christ for our enjoyment (2 Cor. 13:14). Second Corinthians 13:14 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” This is the blessing in the transfusion of the Triune God in three aspects — love, grace, and fellowship — into us for our enjoyment. We enjoy the Triune God — the Father as love, the Son as grace, and the Spirit as the fellowship, the flow. These riches are a great blessing to us.
As the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of life, the Spirit indwells us to dispense the divine life into our spirit, soul (signified by the mind), and body (Rom. 8:2, 6, 9-11). The same wonderful Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of life. Such a Spirit indwells us; He is the indwelling Spirit. By the Spirit’s indwelling, the divine life is dispensed into our three parts: first, it is dispensed into our spirit; then, it spreads into our soul; and finally, it reaches our body. The Spirit’s indwelling is not passive; rather, it is very active, but still it is quite slow and very loving. Every day we must realize that we have an Indweller within us. He is not like a roommate, dwelling with us outwardly. Whatever we do, He indwells us. Even during our sleep, He indwells us quietly, slowly, and lovingly.
As the Comforter, the Spirit convicts us, the sinners, concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment, that we may repent and believe in the Son, and He regenerates us by imparting Christ as the divine life into our being that we may become the children of God (John 16:7b-11; 3:5-6; 1:12-13). The Comforter’s convicting leads us to repent and believe. Then through repenting and believing we are regenerated. Conviction leads to regeneration. Regeneration cannot take place without conviction. Thus, in our preaching of the gospel, we must help people to have this conviction.
John 16:8 says, “When He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment.” This verse implies three persons who are involved with us. Sin refers to Adam, righteousness refers to Christ, and judgment refers to the devil, Satan. We were born in Adam; hence, we are sinful. However, there is a way for us to get out of that position. By believing into Christ, we have Christ as our righteousness; sin is gone, and righteousness is here. If we do not believe, however, we will participate in the punishment, the judgment, that is assigned to Satan. A sinner should be convicted in this way. Then he will repent and believe, and the Spirit will immediately come to regenerate him.
The Spirit regenerates us by imparting Christ as the divine life into our being that we may become the children of God. The Triune God not only comes into us to bring Himself to us but also to regenerate us that we may be born of God to be His children. Not only is the Triune God within us as the blessing, but we are now the children of such a One. This is a further blessing to us.
After our regeneration, the regenerating Spirit becomes the Spirit of sonship for us to call God “Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:6; Rom. 8:15). Abba is an Aramaic word, and Father is from the Greek word Pater. In Mark 14:36 the Lord Jesus called the Father “Abba Father.” We also should call God the Father “Abba Father.” This calling is sweet because to have such a Father is a great blessing to us. A mother can love us and sympathize with us, but a father is a blessing to us because a father can do many things for us. If we have a good, strong, capable, and rich father, we are very blessed. God is our begetting Father; we have been begotten of Him. This is a blessing to us.
As the writing ink, the all-inclusive Spirit seals us as a mark of God’s inheritance by saturating us to dispense the substance of God into us to form the image of God (2 Cor. 3:3b; Eph. 1:11a, 13; 4:30b; 2 Cor. 1:22a). A seal on something forms the image of the seal on that thing. The Spirit is the writing ink, the sealing substance. The more He seals, the greater is His mark upon us, and the greater is His image within us. We bear the image of the sealing God. This is a deeper blessing.
As the pledge of God, the Spirit is our inheritance that we may enjoy God today as a foretaste unto the glorification (the redemption) of our body, to guarantee that God will be our full taste in the ages to come (Eph. 1:14; 2 Cor. 1:22b). The pledge is a guarantee that our God is our inheritance. As God’s inheritance, we need the sealing, but for God to be our inheritance, we need the guarantee, the pledge. Today we have the Spirit as a foretaste of God, and this foretaste is a guarantee of the coming full taste. Both the foretaste and the full taste are God Himself for us to enjoy.
The preceding points are some of the items of the aggregate of the all-embracing blessing of the full gospel of God in Christ. This all-embracing blessing is Christ, the threefold seed in humanity, becoming the Spirit. The entire Bible is a book that is concerned with the Spirit. Thus, the more we touch the Spirit, the better. To touch the Spirit requires that we contact Him in prayer and in fellowship.
