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Scripture Reading: Eph. 3:16; Phil. 1:19b; 1 Cor. 12:4, 7-11; Acts 6:3, 5; 7:55; 11:24; 13:52; 2:4a; 4:31; 9:17; 13:9; Matt. 12:28; Eph. 4:3-4a; 1 Cor. 2:10; Rom. 8:13b, 11; 1 Cor. 6:17; Gal. 5:16, 22-23, 25; 6:8b; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4, 16; Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22; 4:5b; 5:6b; 22:17a
In this chapter we want to continue our fellowship concerning the functions of the all-inclusive Spirit. In the previous chapter we saw fifteen of these functions, and in this chapter we will see twenty more. The Spirit, although abstract and hidden, is mentioned frequently in the Bible. But sadly, many of those in fundamental Christianity do not see this clearly.
In the previous chapter and in this chapter we are pointing out thirty-five functions of the all-inclusive Spirit. These are only some of the many functions of the Spirit. Revelation 22 shows us the throne of God and of the Lamb with the Spirit as the river of water of life proceeding out of it (v. 1).
God and the Lamb are sitting on the throne. We may wonder how one throne can seat two people. In Revelation 21 and 22 in the description of the New Jerusalem, we can find the explanation. Revelation 21:23 says that the lamp in the New Jerusalem is the Lamb. The Lamb is the lamp, and God is the light within the lamp (22:5). The Lamb as the lamp is the One sitting on the throne with God as the light within Him. The one throne for both God and the Lamb indicates that God and the Lamb are one.
From this One, flows the river of water of life. Revelation 21 and 22 present the ultimate, consummated revelation of the New Jerusalem. In this presentation we can see the Father, the Son (Christ), and the Spirit. The light is a figure signifying the Father (Rev. 22:5). The word Christ is not mentioned in these chapters, but Christ is revealed as the Lamb and as the lamp. The Lamb and the lamp are not physical things but figures, signifying the Son of God, Christ. Then there is a river. This river is not a physical river but a figure signifying the Spirit.
The flowing of the river is the top function, the total function, of the Spirit. The flowing of the river quenches the thirst of the whole city, supplying the whole city with the spiritual water of life. Thus, quenching is another function of the Spirit. The quenching of the Spirit is saturating, the saturating is transfusing, and the transfusing is infusing. These are more functions of the Spirit. Revelation 22 also reveals that the river grows the tree of life. According to Revelation 22, the tree of life does not grow in earth but in water. It is the water that grows the tree of life. This is another function of the Spirit. There are many functions of the Spirit revealed throughout the entire Bible.
The entire Bible is a book on the Spirit and a book of the Spirit. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God.” God here is Elohim in Hebrew, a plural word. Thus, the first verse of the Bible refers to the Triune God. Then the second verse refers to the Spirit of God, saying that the Spirit of God brooded upon the surface of the waters. Then at the end of the Bible in Revelation 22:17 there are the Spirit and the bride.
The Spirit of God is one aspect, and the Spirit with the bride is another aspect. The Spirit of God was the Spirit not yet consummated. The unconsummated Spirit of God was not yet ready for marriage. But at the end of the Bible, there are the Spirit and the bride. This means that the Spirit is married. In Revelation 22 He is the consummated Spirit as the Bridegroom. A bride needs a bridegroom. The Groom is the consummated Spirit, and the consummated Spirit is the consummated Triune God.
Actually, the revelation of the all-inclusive Spirit and the functions of this Spirit are endless. What I am doing in these messages is giving us a little view to know what the Spirit is doing. Actually, we cannot exhaust the functions of the all-inclusive Spirit.
The Spirit functions to strengthen the believers. In Ephesians 3:16 Paul prayed that the Father would grant the saints “to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man.” The Father strengthens us through the Spirit. Thus, the means that the Father uses to strengthen us is the Spirit. For Christ to make His home in our hearts, there is the need of strengthening. No one can do this but the Spirit of God. In Ephesians 3 the Spirit of God is the strengthening Spirit. The Spirit not only quenches, saturates, transfuses, infuses, and grows but also strengthens.
We know that the Spirit functions to supply the believers because Philippians 1:19 speaks of “the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” The Spirit of God had to be processed and consummated to be the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
In eternity past the Triune God possessed merely divinity. In this sense we may say that He was “raw,” or unprocessed. Then He created the universe and a man by the name of Adam, with the intention of coming into him. After the creation of man, however, man became fallen. Later, the Triune God came to join Himself with humanity. He became a man who was both divine and human. He lived on the earth in humanity for thirty-three and a half years. After having passed through such a human living, He was qualified to die an all-inclusive death. In order to die such an all-inclusive death, He had to be a God-man, a man mingled with God, and He had to pass through human living for thirty-three and a half years. Without such a qualification He would not have been able to die such a wonderful death.
He entered into this death and stayed in death for three days. Then He walked out of death into resurrection to become a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). This life-giving Spirit now consists of divinity, humanity, human living, Christ’s all-inclusive death, and His wonderful resurrection. The life-giving Spirit is the issue of the Triune God’s process from incarnation to resurrection. Now this life-giving Spirit is not merely the Spirit of God but the Spirit of Jesus Christ. With such a Spirit, there is the bountiful supply.
Lemon tea can be used as an illustration of the bountiful Spirit. First, there is only the plain water. But when tea and lemon are added to the water, it becomes a composition of three elements. When we drink it, we receive the elements of the water, the tea, and the lemon. This can be considered as a “bountiful-supply drink.” The Spirit of Jesus Christ is such an all-inclusive bountiful drink, with all the elements of the Triune God’s person and processes to supply us.
The Spirit not only strengthens us but also supplies us. It is difficult to explain how the Spirit strengthens and supplies us. When we eat food, we are strengthened and supplied, but it is difficult to say how this takes place. Even medical doctors cannot explain fully what it means to be nourished. Many years ago no one knew what vitamins were. There was not even such a word in the dictionary years ago. Our ancestors, however, were nourished with many vitamins without knowing about vitamins.
We may feel fatigued at a certain point in the day, but after we eat, we are nourished, strengthened, and supplied. We may not be able to explain how this happens, but we can experience and enjoy it. In the same way, we may not be able to explain how the Spirit strengthens and supplies us, but we can experience His strengthening and supplying.
Some of us may come to the meetings in a fatigued way. We need to get ourselves nourished, strengthened, and supplied by eating a “meal,” by enjoying the all-inclusive Spirit. For us to eat a physical meal may require twenty-five to thirty minutes. But to take a spiritual meal, we may need just two and a half minutes. When we take a few minutes to pray, we are strengthened and supplied by the functioning Spirit.
The Spirit also distributes the gifts to the believers (1 Cor. 12:4, 7-11). In order to receive the gifts for service, we need to contact the Spirit through prayer every day. We do not need to know what kinds of gifts, abilities or capacities for service, that we will receive. If we pray and contact the Spirit, He will distribute gifts to us. We may not know what these gifts are, but when we come to the church meetings, we will function with a particular capacity. With our physical being, we have a walking capacity and a speaking capacity that come out of our human life. After much praying to contact the Spirit, we will receive some spiritual capacity; that capacity becomes a gift, and that gift brings in a kind of function.
The all-inclusive Spirit fills the believers inwardly (Acts 6:3, 5; 7:55; 11:24; 13:52). Before I come to speak, I need to ask the Lord to fill me up with Himself as the Spirit. Without the filling up of the Spirit, the pneuma, we will be like a flat tire. We can experience being filled with the Spirit inwardly by spending time with the Lord in prayer.
The all-inclusive Spirit also fills the believers outwardly (2:4a; 4:31; 9:17; 13:9). The Spirit’s outward filling is the outpouring of the Spirit. On the day of Pentecost the Spirit was poured out. Fifty days before that time, on the day of resurrection the Lord Jesus came to the disciples to breathe the Spirit into them (John 20:22). Then the Spirit became the inward Spirit. On the day of resurrection He breathed the Spirit into the disciples as the pneuma, as the breath, as the Spirit of life. Then fifty days later the ascended Lord poured out the Spirit upon the believers as the Spirit of power. The Spirit of life is the essential Spirit for our life and living. The Spirit poured out upon us is the economical Spirit for our move and work. The economical Spirit is for our authority to accomplish a work according to God’s economy.
In Matthew 12:28 the Lord said that He cast out demons by the Spirit of God. We need to realize that demons and demon possession are real. About one hundred years ago a Presbyterian missionary from the United States by the name of Dr. Nevius went to China. He wrote a book entitled Demon Possession and Allied Themes, in which he told story after story of cases involving demon possession.
Today in the United States it is difficult to see a real case of demon possession. What the Pentecostals say concerning demon possession is not trustworthy. Their so-called cases of demon possession are actually cases of mental illness.
In 1948 I was in Nanking, China. There was a boy there who suddenly became crazy. Some of the saints considered that he was demon-possessed. They came together to pray to cast out the “demon,” but the more they prayed, the more he was active. Then they wondered about this situation. It seemed to them that the Lord’s name was not that powerful or mighty. They prayed in the name of the Lord Jesus for the “demon” to depart, but it did not work. Then they referred the case to me and told me what had happened. I told them that this was not a case of demon possession but a case of mental illness. I told these saints that this boy should be sent to the hospital for a period of time to be under some medical care. Eventually, the boy was admitted to the hospital, and he became well.
Today, cases of demon possession occur mostly in backward countries that are very primitive and poor. Many people in these backward countries do not have much education or knowledge. They are very poor and under all kinds of depression. The demons can have the opportunity to possess such persons. In modern countries many people are educated, so the opportunity for the demons to possess people is rare. Modern countries, however, are full of people with mental illness. Too much knowledge and education can be a factor of mental illness. In the primitive countries there are more cases of physical demon possession, but in the educated countries there are more people with psychological problems. At any rate, the Spirit is the means by which the demons can be cast out.
The Spirit functions in oneness-keeping within the believers for the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:3-4a). We need to be diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit, which is the oneness of the Body. When we exercise to keep the oneness, the Spirit within us keeps the oneness.
Most, if not all, of the teachings in Christianity today do not touch this line of the all-inclusive Spirit with His functions. The teachings are mostly ethical and are concerning man’s physical and psychological welfare. People teach that if a person is a good Christian, he will have peace within and without; he will be blessed to have a good marriage life and a good family life. This is according to the human, natural concept. It is difficult to find anyone teaching about Christ’s making His home in our hearts.
Who in Christianity sees or speaks of the organic Body of Christ? The better teachers say that Christ died for our sins, so now we have to believe in Him. They say that because of His death on the cross, God forgives us of our sins, so one day we will go to heaven. They cover this but nothing further. But when we speak concerning Christ and the church revealed and typified in the Psalms, very few of those in Christianity would have any interest in this.
I am saying this to show us that in comparison with today’s Christianity, we are on another planet, a “Christ planet.” I have considered in the past that our rate of increase has been too low. As I was spending time with the Lord recently, He touched my understanding in this matter. We have to realize that the way we take in following the Lord cannot have a high rate of increase. The way we are taking is really a narrow way. The messages given in this ministry are altogether in another category, on another planet.
Other groups of Christians use natural and worldly ways to attract people. They use the ways of being social, of rock music, and of choirs with colorful robes. They use these ways to gain people, but we cannot use these ways. When people get saved and come into our meeting, they hear the pure word of God. We shared recently that the goal of Psalm 8 is to join the earth to the heavens and to bring down the heavens to the earth, making the earth and the heavens one. Someone hearing this may wonder what this has to do with his personal benefit and self-interest. But in our ministry we do not speak much concerning man’s personal benefit. We speak and have spoken Christ in every message year after year. I am so thankful to the Lord that many of us in His recovery are still eager to hear the things concerning Christ as the centrality and universality of God’s economy for His heart’s desire. I say again that this teaching is on another planet. Because of this, we cannot expect to have too high a rate in our increase.
The Spirit reveals the depths of God to the believers (1 Cor. 2:10). Every bit of the depths of God is Christ. Christ is so deep, and the contents, the very constituents, of our messages are concerning Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 1, Paul teaches that Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom (v. 24). Christ is wisdom to us from God as our righteousness, as our sanctification, and as our redemption (v. 30). These aspects of Christ are the depths of God. As the Spirit reveals the depths of God, Christ, to us, we are renewed, sanctified, transformed, conformed, and glorified. Only the Spirit can reveal the depths of God to us.
The Spirit applies the death of Christ to the believers (Rom. 8:13b). When I was a young Christian, I heard that according to the Bible, I had been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20a). But I wondered how I could have been crucified with Christ. Spacewise He was in Palestine, and timewise He died nearly two thousand years ago. I could not figure out how I could have been crucified with Him at the same time. Later, I realized that when Christ was crucified, according to God’s economy we were included in Him. This is an accomplished fact.
I still did not know, however, how to experience the death of Christ. I was told that I had to reckon myself as having been crucified with Christ according to Paul’s word in Romans 6:11, but reckoning did not work. The more I reckoned myself as having died with Christ, the more I seemed to be alive. Eventually, Brother Watchman Nee came to the conclusion that the very death revealed in Romans 6 can be applied only by the Spirit in Romans 8. Romans 8:13b says, “If by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.” This means the Spirit applies Christ’s death to the practices of our mortal body. The Spirit indwelling us works to apply the death of Christ as the killing element to kill all the practices of our troublesome body. Reckoning does not work, but the application of the Spirit works.
The all-inclusive Spirit applies the resurrection of Christ to the believers (v. 11). In order to enjoy the application of the resurrection of Christ by the Spirit, you need to be revived every morning. If you practice this every day, I must tell you that ten or twenty minutes actually are not adequate. You need a longer time. You may say that since you are working, you cannot spare that much time. On the one hand, I agree with you, but on the other hand, you should still try your best to spend more time with the Lord in the morning. According to my experience, I need a longer time. If I spend a longer time in morning revival contacting the Lord in fellowship with Him for thirty minutes, forty-five minutes, or even an hour, I am more fully in the enjoyment of Christ’s resurrection.
Being in resurrection brings us many benefits. In resurrection we have peace, joy, rest, strength, and everything positive. The Spirit is the totality of resurrection. Furthermore, the resurrection can be applied to us only by the life-giving Spirit, by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The reality of resurrection can be ours only through the applying Spirit. This is a great function of the all-inclusive Spirit.
The all-inclusive Spirit of God mingles with the spirit of the believers, making the two one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). Our spirit has been regenerated by the Spirit of God (John 3:6), who is now in us (1 Cor. 6:19) and is one with our spirit (Rom. 8:16).
The Spirit is the essence of the divine life by which the believers live and walk. The divine life, essentially speaking, is the Spirit. Galatians 5:16 and 25 both refer to our living and walking by the Spirit as the essence of the divine life.
The Spirit brings forth the fruit of the virtues of the believers (vv. 22-23). We believers need virtues, but not according to our natural character and conduct. We need the fruit of Christian virtues borne by the Spirit. The Spirit moves and lives in us to bear fruit, the fruit of Christian virtues. These are not the natural virtues but the virtues of Christ expressed in our spiritual life.
The Spirit is the aim of the believers’ sowing (6:8b). Whatever we do is a kind of sowing. If we hate people, we sow the seed of hatred unto the flesh. Then we will reap hatred from others. We should not sow unto the flesh but unto the Spirit. To sow unto the Spirit is to sow for the Spirit, with the desire and aim of the Spirit in view, to accomplish what the Spirit desires.
The Spirit circulates within the believers in His fellowship. He does not circulate rumors or today’s news. He circulates God the Father’s love and Christ the Son’s grace within us for our enjoyment (2 Cor. 13:14). This circulating is the fellowship of the Spirit. The love of God through the grace of Christ is circulated by the Spirit’s fellowship for our enjoyment.
The Spirit is the essence for the organic building up of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:4, 16). The organic building up of the Body of Christ is altogether the total function of the Spirit in all of us. Ephesians 4:4a says, “One Body and one Spirit.” Verse 12 speaks of the perfecting of the saints. Verse 15 speaks of our growth in life. Then verse 16 reveals the Spirit in the Body building up the Body through every member, that is, through each one part of the Body and through every joint of the supply. All of this is involved with the function of the Spirit.
The Spirit moves in one member to produce one kind of function and within another member to produce another kind of function. The Spirit produces many kinds of functions in the Body. Every part operates in its measure, and all the joints of supply do their work as the issue of the functioning of the all-inclusive Spirit. This is why I say that there are many, many functions of the all-inclusive Spirit. Without such a Spirit, the Body of Christ could not be organically built up.
The Spirit speaks as the Lord. In Revelation 2 and 3, at the beginning of each of the seven epistles it is the Lord who speaks (2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14), but at the end of each epistle it is the Spirit who speaks to the churches (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). Thus, the Spirit is one with the Lord in speaking, speaking as the Lord. Speaking is a great function of the all-inclusive Spirit.
The Spirit shines and burns as the seven lamps of fire before God’s throne (4:5b). The seven lamps of fire being before God’s throne means that the fire in the lamps is shining and burning to carry out God’s divine and spiritual administration.
The Spirit is observing and transfusing as the seven eyes of God (5:6b). The Spirit as the seven lamps of fire is also the seven eyes of God, of Christ. Christ looks at us with His eyes to observe us, and when He observes us, He transfuses Himself into us with all of His feelings and sentiment. This is the Spirit’s function. When we look at the Lord, allowing Him to look at us, He observes us and transfuses us with what He intends to say or to do.
The all-inclusive Spirit speaks with the church as the bride (22:17a). The consummated Spirit of God, who is the consummated God, becomes the Bridegroom to marry the bride, the church. This marriage is a union between the processed and consummated Triune God and the transformed and glorified tripartite man. The processed and consummated Triune God and the church as the bride become a universal couple.
In Revelation 2 and 3 it was the Spirit speaking to the churches. At the end of Revelation it is the Spirit and the bride, the church, speaking together as one. This indicates that the church’s experience of the Spirit has improved to the extent that she has become one with the Spirit, who is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God.
