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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 2:11-12; 6:17; 15:45b; John 7:39; Rev. 22:17; Rom. 8:4
God has revealed in His Word that He wants to dispense Himself into man. We are God-containers. Without God as our content we are empty. Through Christ’s redemption we can receive God into us, be filled with God, and even be saturated with God in our entire being. In this chapter we will see from the Holy Scriptures how God fills us.
In order for God to come into our being, He must be something like the air. The word Spirit is used in both the Old Testament and the New Testament in reference to God. Genesis 1:2 mentions the Spirit of God. John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit.” Matthew 28:19 names the Holy Spirit as the third of the Trinity. First Corinthians 15:45b says that in resurrection Christ became a life-giving Spirit. The Hebrew word for Spirit in the Old Testament is ruach. The Greek word for Spirit in the New Testament is pneuma. Both ruach and pneuma can mean “wind,” “breath,” or “spirit.” This indicates that the Spirit of God and the spirit of man are like the wind or the air. John 3:8 says, “The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” The wind is a mystery. We are like the wind because we are born of the Spirit.
We cannot see or touch the air, but we recognize that the air is real and present. The word pneumatic means “filled with air.” A pneumatic tire is a tire that is full of air. As believers, we should be full of the Spirit. When we are short of the Spirit, we are like a car that cannot move because its tires are short of air.
Both God and man are mysteries. The mystery concerning God and the mystery concerning man are altogether a matter of the spirit. Animals are not a mystery because they do not have a spirit. Our human spirit is the deepest part of our being. Externally, we have a body, which is visible and knowable. However, within our physical body are many mysteries. In addition to our physical heart, we have another heart. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, / And it is incurable; / Who can know it?” This verse speaks of our psychological heart. Our physical heart may be strong, but our psychological heart is rotten and incurable. The location of our psychological heart is a mystery. Furthermore, 1 Peter 3:4 says that there is a hidden man in our psychological heart. This hidden man is the spirit. When our heart wants something, the spirit within our heart does not always agree. Our heart is corrupted, but our spirit is the lamp of Jehovah (Prov. 20:27).
In 1 Corinthians 2:11-12 Paul says, “Who among men knows the things of man, except the spirit of man which is in him? In the same way, the things of God also no one has known except the Spirit of God. But we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is from God, that we may know the things which have been graciously given to us by God.” Our mind cannot know the things concerning man. Unregenerated professors and doctors of philosophy know many things, but they do not know where they came from, what their destiny is, or the real meaning of human life, the real purpose of human existence. We cannot know these things by exercising our mind, because the things of man can be known only by man’s spirit. Atheists say that there is no God, but when they are alone, something deep within them causes them to wonder, “What if God does exist?” This question does not come from their mind. We cannot know God by exercising our mind, just as we cannot know the air by exercising our eyes or ears. We are able to sense the air by exercising the right organs — our mouth, nose, and lungs — to breathe in the air. Only the spirit of man can know the things of man. We need to forget about our mind and turn to the deepest part of our being, our spirit, to know that God is real and that He is our source and our destiny.
As believers, we have two spirits within — our human spirit and God the Spirit. It is not easy to understand the Bible, because the Bible contains spiritual mysteries, including the things of man, the things of God, and the two spirits. Most people do not know anything about the two spirits. Even Bible translators who are Hebrew and Greek scholars have mixed up the things concerning the spirit. Some Bible translations confuse heart, soul, mind, and spirit. These four terms refer to four distinct inner parts of the human being. Scholars may have strong minds, but they do not know God, the two spirits, or the things of man if they do not use their spirit.
When we were saved, something of God was added into our spirit through regeneration. Our spirit has been enriched and uplifted by being born of God. Moreover, at the time of our regeneration God’s Spirit came into our spirit. Our regenerated human spirit is indwelt by the divine Spirit. Before regeneration, the conscience is the only functioning part of the human spirit. Without being regenerated, the best that men can do is to develop their conscience. But when we are saved, Christ regenerates us by giving us God’s divine life and nature. In addition, God the Spirit comes into our spirit. Thus, our spirit is mingled with God’s Spirit into one spirit. A glass of water may be enriched by having tea, honey, and milk added into it. Similarly, when we were regenerated, we received God’s life and nature, the effectiveness of Christ’s all-inclusive death, His resurrection power, and the Spirit. All these riches have been added into our spirit. We need to realize that we have all the riches of God in our spirit.
When God created man, He wanted to enter into man. However, man became fallen and sinful. Because of sin, man even became dead, and his heart became incurably corrupt. This was our condition before we were saved. Before the holy, righteous God could enter into such fallen beings, He needed to do many things. First, He became a man in incarnation. God put on the flesh of man and lived as a man on the earth for thirty-three and a half years. Then He willingly went to the cross to die on our behalf. God judged our sins on the cross, and Christ shed His blood to cleanse us of our sins. Furthermore, Christ’s death terminated our flesh, our self, the old creation, and Satan. Thus, Christ solved all the problems between God and man; the cross cleared up the entire universe. Then Christ was buried and rose after three days. Death could not hold Him, because He is the resurrection (John 11:25). As the resurrection, He overcame death and defeated the power of death. He took a tour of Hades and walked out. By resurrection He changed His form — He was transfigured, transformed from the flesh into the Spirit. Through His resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b).
The life-giving Spirit is an all-inclusive drink, which has had many ingredients added. The first ingredient was divinity. Then through incarnation the element of humanity was added. Furthermore, all the experiences of human life were added through Christ’s thirty-three and a half years on the earth. Finally, all the accomplishments of Christ’s death and the attainments of His resurrection were added. Thus, in resurrection Christ became the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. Divinity, humanity, Christ’s human living, His all-inclusive death, the effectiveness of His death, the power of His resurrection, and His resurrection life are all in the Spirit.
John 7:39 says, “This He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” The Spirit who was not yet is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. The Spirit of God existed already, but the ingredients of Christ’s processes and accomplishments had not yet been added. After Christ’s death and resurrection the Spirit was ready as an all-inclusive drink. Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come! And let him who is thirsty come; let him who wills take the water of life freely.” When we drink the Spirit, we receive Christ’s divinity, humanity, human living, all-inclusive death, and resurrection power.
When we first repent and pray to receive the Lord, we feel like an eagle soaring high in the air. Sufferings and all human life are no longer problems to us. We feel that everything, including the devil, sin, and the world, is under our feet. We feel this way because we have received the life-giving Spirit. Because we have the Spirit within us, we are not “flat tires” but are full of pneuma. Our spirit is one with the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” We are one spirit with the Lord. We have a mingled spirit.
Romans 8:4 says, “That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.” My burden is that we would realize that to be a proper Christian is to walk according to the mingled spirit. We need to walk, live, act, speak, and move according to the spirit. Instead of praying each morning to know the Lord’s will concerning where we should go and what we should do each day, we need to pray, “Lord, thank You for another day for me to live You. Wherever I go and whatever I do and say, I want to practice to be one spirit with You so that everything I do and say would be according to You.” When we realize that we are doing or speaking something that is not according to the Lord, we should stop and repent.
We must learn to practice living, moving, and speaking according to the spirit. The simple and effective secret of living a proper Christian life is practicing to be one spirit with the Lord and to walk according to the spirit. If we walk according to the spirit, we will be saved from many problems. If we speak to our spouse according to the spirit, we will not argue or lose our temper. If we shop according to the spirit, we may not buy certain things or even go to certain stores. The more we practice walking according to the mingled spirit, the more we will pray, sing, pray-read, and fellowship with the Lord. To walk according to the spirit is to live Christ. This is the way to live a victorious life.
