Search
Scripture Reading: John 7:38-39; 14:16-20, 26; 15:26; 16:7, 13-15; 20:22; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17; Acts 16:6-7; Rom. 8:9-10; Phil. 1:19; 2 Tim. 4:22; Rev. 1:4; 5:6; 2:7; 22:17a
The New Testament reveals to us that Christ took two major steps. The first step was His incarnation, and the second step was His resurrection. Among the Christians in the past centuries, much attention has been paid to Christ’s incarnation, but the resurrection of Christ has been much neglected. The Lord Jesus, who was God, the Creator of the universe, took a major step to become a man. The New Testament tells us that God as the Word became flesh (John 1:14). This means that God joined Himself to fallen humanity, yet He was without sin. God took a major step to become a man, and this man was wonderful. He was not a common man but a God-man, who lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years and passed through human living. At the end of His human life He went to the cross and died an all-inclusive death to take away all the negative things in the universe, thus clearing up the way for Him to dispense Himself into God’s chosen people. Through His death the divine life within this God-man was released. That released divine life produced many believers, produced the church, which is the Body of Christ. He took the step of incarnation to become a man in the flesh. Through death He took the second step of resurrection to become a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). As the resurrected God-man, He became the Spirit who gives life (2 Cor. 3:6, 17).
We need to pay our full attention to two crucial verses in the New Testament: John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh,” and 1 Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” Many Bible teachers have told people that the Word became flesh, but not many have taught that the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. In these two verses the same predicate is used — became. The Word became flesh. The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. We need to be impressed with the clear and accurate word of the Bible.
The Lord Jesus as God became flesh. He became a man, and this man was the last Adam. This last Adam, who was Jesus in the flesh, became a life-giving Spirit. Before His incarnation the Lord Jesus was purely, merely, singly, wholly, and completely God. He was the complete God, the entire God, the whole God, but He was not a man. He did not have the human nature, the human element, or the human essence before His incarnation. Essentially, He only had the divine element and the divine nature. One day about two thousand years ago He took a wonderful step — God was born out of a virgin in a manger to become a man. That little child in the manger was the mighty God (Isa. 9:6). He was not merely God but a God-man. This is the greatest wonder in the universe!
This God-man’s name is Jesus. Whenever you say the name Jesus, you have to recall that Jesus was God becoming a man and that He lived on this earth for thirty-three and a half years. He lived in Nazareth, a small town despised by people. He lived in a poor family and in a lowly carpenter’s home. It is marvelous that the Creator of the universe, of the heavens and of the earth, lived in a poor carpenter’s home, not as a guest but as a son. He lived there as a carpenter (Mark 6:3), so God in the form of a man did carpentry. Outwardly He had the appearance of a man, but inwardly He was God. This is our Lord Jesus. The unlimited God, the infinite God, was limited and restricted in a little home to be a carpenter. What patience! What suffering! What limitation! What restriction!
When this God-man became thirty years old, He began His ministry. The Spirit descended upon Him as a dove to empower Him for His ministry. Then He died on the cross to clear up every negative thing in the universe so that He, as the embodiment of the Triune God, could dispense Himself into us. He entered into resurrection, which was the second step for Him to become something. As the last Adam, He became a life-giving Spirit.
The crucial point that traditional theology has missed is this matter of Christ becoming a life-giving Spirit. We need to see why the Lord Jesus as the very God needed to take these two steps. First, He needed to accomplish redemption, to clear up the universe, to sweep away all the negative things. For this He needed to take the first step, to become a man. If He were not a man, He could not accomplish redemption. Thus, He became a typical man with human blood and flesh (Heb. 2:14). His death on the cross accomplished an all-inclusive redemption to take away all the negative things and clear up the universe for the divine dispensing. He did a marvelous job to take away all the negative things, to sweep away all the hindrances, to make the entire universe so clean and so clear for God to come in to dispense Himself into His chosen people.
I feel very sorry that many Jews would not believe that God became a man by the name of Jesus. They believe in God and respect and regard the Old Testament, but they would not take in the New Testament thought that their God has become a man by the name of Jesus. When Jesus was with them and indicated that He was God, they said that He was blaspheming (Matt. 9:3; John 10:33). It was preposterous to them that a man from Nazareth could be God. They did not have the understanding that for God to save them, to redeem them, He needed to become a man. They overlooked Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and will bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel.” Immanuel means “God with us” (Matt. 1:23). The Son born of a virgin is God with man — Jesus.
On the negative side, Jesus as the God-man cleared up the entire universe to accomplish an all-inclusive redemption. On the positive side, as the last Adam, He became a life-giving Spirit. In His incarnation He had a physical body of flesh and blood with bones and skin. After being resurrected, His body was transfigured into another form. First Corinthians 15 tells us that this is a spiritual body (v. 44). Philippians 3:21 refers to “the body of His glory.” This is Christ’s resurrected body, saturated by the Spirit and with God’s glory (Luke 24:26) and transcendent over corruption and death (Rom. 6:9). In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul tells us that a seed has a form when it is sown into the earth, but when it dies and grows, it is in another form (vv. 35-38). A seed sown into the earth dies and is made alive; this is resurrection. The resurrected body of the seed is in a different shape and on a higher level. The body of Jesus crucified on the cross was a physical body, but His resurrected body is a spiritual body. After His resurrection He still possesses a body, a spiritual body.
In the evening of His resurrection He came back to His disciples, who were frightened by the persecuting Jews (John 20:19). The disciples, who were under the threatening of death, had the doors shut in the place in which they had gathered. Suddenly, Jesus stood in their midst. The Lord came with a resurrected body (Luke 24:37-40; 1 Cor. 15:44) into the room where the disciples were. Luke 24:37 tells us that “they were terrified and became frightened and thought they beheld a spirit.” But the Lord Jesus said to them, “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you behold Me having. And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet” (vv. 39-40). The Lord had bones and flesh, but how could He enter into a closed room where the doors were shut? A limited mentality cannot comprehend it, but it is a fact! If the Lord were merely physical, how could He come in without an opening? If He were not physical, how could He be touched? All we can say is that this is the Lord Jesus in His resurrected, spiritual body, which is a body of glory.
Resurrection is a wonderful phenomenon. It is amazing that a seed can be sown into the earth and grow up into a beautiful flower. After resurrection the Lord Jesus still possessed a body, a spiritual body, yet that spiritual body was still touchable. In the first step of incarnation He became a man to be our Redeemer, our Savior; then He took the second step, the step of resurrection, to become a life-giving Spirit to impart the divine life into you and me. He became a man to die for us, and He became a life-giving Spirit to impart life into us for God’s dispensing.
Some traditional theologians tell us that the three persons in the Divine Trinity — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — should not be confused and should be kept clearly separated all the time. But the Bible teaches that Jesus, the Son of God, became the Spirit. When the Lord Jesus was born, He became flesh. When He was resurrected, He became the Spirit. Some people have argued with me by saying that the life-giving Spirit in 1 Corinthians 15:45b is not the Holy Spirit. I pointed them to the modifier life-giving. Then I said, “Do you believe that there is another Spirit in the universe besides the Holy Spirit who also gives life?” In the entire universe there is only one Spirit who can give life — the Holy Spirit.
We have to admit that the Lord Jesus as the last Adam becoming the Holy Spirit is scriptural and even logical, yet we may still feel that we cannot fully understand this matter. But we must realize that there are many things we cannot understand. Every person has two hearts — a physical heart and a psychological heart. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that our heart is rotten and incurable. This is our psychological heart. Our physical heart can be seen by being x-rayed, but who can point out where his psychological heart is? We know we have such a heart because we have emotions, thoughts, a will, and a conscience. We experience the action of the heart every day, but we cannot point out the location of this heart. In like manner, every man has a human spirit and a soul, but can any man point out the location of these parts of his being? All we can do is worship the Lord that we have a spirit, a soul, and a heart. Where they are and how they are related to one another, we do not know. We are limited in our finite understanding, but we can receive the facts according to the holy Word. The holy Word tells us many truths concerning the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We receive these facts and say Amen to them. This life-giving Spirit must be the Holy Spirit. We may not be able to understand this, but we must say Amen to the scriptural fact and revelation that in resurrection the Lord Jesus as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit.
Second Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit.” Today the Lord Jesus is no longer on the cross, nor is He merely in the heavens, but He is right now in you and me — in our spirit. If He were not the Spirit, how could He be in our spirit? The Lord be with your spirit. The Lord today is with our spirit because He is the life-giving Spirit. He is in the heavens, and at the same time, as the omnipresent Spirit, He is in our spirit to give us life and also peace. This is for the dispensing of the Triune God into our being.
Now we need to see how the Lord, as the last Adam, became the life-giving Spirit. To know that the Lord became a life-giving Spirit is relatively easy because the Bible tells us this directly. But to know how He became a life-giving Spirit is not an easy matter. In the Gospel of John we are told how the Son came with the Father (8:29) and in the Father’s name (5:43). He was one with the Father (17:22). The Father was in Him, and He was in the Father (14:10-11). He did not seek His own will but the Father’s will (6:38). He did not do His own work but the Father’s work (17:4). He did not speak His own word but the Father’s word (14:24). He did not seek His own glory but the Father’s glory (7:18). The Son came in the Father’s name and lived by the Father, not by Himself (6:57). He acted, moved, and worked altogether by the Father. When the people saw the Son, they saw the Father (14:9). The Son and the Father are one (10:30). This is clearly revealed in the Gospel of John. How the Son became the life-giving Spirit is also revealed in John. First, the Son came with the Father and in the Father’s name. Second, the Son became the life-giving Spirit.
In John 7:38 the Lord Jesus said that whoever believes into Him will have rivers of living water flowing out of his innermost being. Then verse 39 says, “But 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.” Verse 39 does not speak of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jehovah, or the Holy Spirit. It simply says, “the Spirit.” In God’s creation in Genesis 1, the Spirit of God was there already (v. 2). Then after God’s creation God came to contact man, so the Spirit of Jehovah is revealed (Judg. 3:10; 6:34). The Spirit of God is for God’s creation, and the Spirit of Jehovah is for God’s contact with man. These are the two main titles ascribed to the Spirit in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit is not mentioned. In Psalm 51:11 and Isaiah 63:10-11 the Holy Spirit in the King James Version should be translated “the Spirit of holiness.” The Holy Spirit began to be used for the initiation of the gospel of God, to prepare the way for the Savior’s coming (Luke 1:15) and to prepare a human body for Him (Matt. 1:18, 20). When Jesus was conceived and born, the Holy Spirit is mentioned.
The Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jehovah, and the Holy Spirit are just one Spirit. But John 7 says that the Spirit was not yet. The Spirit of God was there from the beginning, the Spirit of Jehovah was there in God’s contact with man, and the Holy Spirit was there at the Lord’s conception and birth. But why would John 7 say “the Spirit was not yet”? John goes on to say that the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified. For Jesus to be glorified was the way for the last Adam to become a life-giving Spirit. The Lord Jesus as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit by being glorified.
Andrew Murray talks about John 7:39 in his book The Spirit of Christ. The subject of chapter 5 in that book is the Spirit of the glorified Jesus. Andrew Murray points out that the Spirit of the glorified Jesus is different from the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jehovah, and even from the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God was there in creation, the Spirit of Jehovah was there in God’s contact with people, the Holy Spirit was there in Christ’s conception and birth, but the Spirit of the glorified Jesus was not there until Jesus was glorified. From the creation of God to the resurrection of Christ there were mainly four great things in the universe: God’s creation, God’s contact with man, the birth of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus. For God’s creation there was the Spirit of God, for God’s contact with man there was the Spirit of Jehovah, for Christ’s birth there was the Holy Spirit, and for Christ’s resurrection there was the Spirit of the glorified Jesus.
In John 14:10-11 the Lord revealed that He is one with the Father — the Father is in Him, and He is in the Father. When people saw Him, they saw the Father (v. 9). In John 14:16-20 the Lord went on further to reveal that He and the Spirit also are one. After He revealed that He and the Father are one, He told the disciples in verse 16 that He would ask the Father and that the Father would give the disciples another Comforter, that He might be with them forever. This Comforter is “the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you” (v. 17). We know the Spirit of reality because He abides in us. Day by day He speaks within us, corrects us, and leads us. In verse 18 the Lord went on to say, “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.” The very “He” who is the Spirit of reality in verse 17 becomes the very “I” who is the Lord Himself in verse 18. This means that after His resurrection the Lord became the Spirit of reality. First Corinthians 15:45b confirms this.
Orphans refers to the children of a father. This shows that Jesus considered Himself as the Father. As the Son, how could He say to the disciples that He would not leave them as orphans? Since He said this, He must be the Father. Is He the Son or the Father? The best way to answer this question is to say that He was the Son in the name of the Father. Because He was the Son in the name of the Father, He was qualified to tell the disciples that He would not leave them as orphans. The Lord’s coming to the disciples was fulfilled on the day of His resurrection in John 20:19-22. After His resurrection the Lord came back to His disciples to be with them forever, not leaving them as orphans.
John 14:19 and 20 say, “Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” In verse 19 the Lord’s death and resurrection are implied. When He said, “Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer,” this implied His death. He died and was buried, so the worldly people could not see Him. When He said, “Because I live, you also shall live,” this implied His resurrection. After His resurrection the Lord lived in His disciples, and they lived by Him (Gal. 2:20). In the day of resurrection, the disciples would know that the Lord was in His Father, that they were in Him, and that He was in them.
John 14:26 says, “The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name...” The Father sent the Spirit in the Son’s name. This one thing involved the Trinity. The Son came in the Father’s name, so He was the Son in the Father’s name. Now the Spirit was sent by the Father in the Son’s name, so He was the Spirit in the Son’s name. The Son came in the Father’s name, indicating that in name He was the Father, and in person He was the Son. Now the Spirit was sent in the Son’s name, indicating that in name He was the Son, and in person He was the Spirit. In name the Son was the Father, and in name the Spirit was the Son. This is the Triune God, the three-one God. They are three yet one and one yet three. The Son came as the Father, and the Spirit came as the Son, so the three are one. We may say that the Son is the Father (Isa. 9:6), and the Spirit is the Son (2 Cor. 3:17).
Some traditional theologians maintain that the three persons of the Godhead should not be confused but should be kept distinct and separate all the time. But we have seen from the Holy Bible that the Son is in the name of the Father and that the Spirit is in the name of the Son. This shows that, on the one hand, there is the distinction between the three, but on the other hand, They are one. If They were not one, how could the Son be in the name of the Father? If They were not one, how could the Spirit be in the name of the Son? We must come back to the pure word of the Bible.
John 15:26 says, “When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from with the Father, the Spirit of reality, who proceeds from with the Father, He will testify concerning Me.” From with is the translation of the Greek preposition para. The Son sends the Spirit with the Father, and the Spirit proceeds to the disciples with the Father. This means that the Son and the Father both come with the Spirit. When the Spirit comes, He comes with the Father, and the Son follows. When the Spirit comes, all three come. This is the teaching of the Lord Jesus in the Bible.
John 16:7 says, “I tell you the truth, It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” In verses 13 through 15 the Lord Jesus continued, “But 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.” All that the Father is and has is embodied in the Son (Col. 2:9), and all that the Son is and has is revealed as reality to the believers through the Spirit. These verses show us that what the Father has becomes the Son’s, what the Son has is received by the Spirit, and what the Spirit receives is disclosed to us. Whatever the Spirit reveals is the Son’s, and whatever the Son has is the Father’s. Whatever the Son has of the Father is received by the Spirit and revealed to us. This means that the Spirit reveals to us the Son with the Father. Again we see that the three in the Godhead are three-one, triune.
After the Lord’s talk with the disciples recorded in John 14—16 and His prayer in John 17, He went to Gethsemane and was arrested there in the same night. He was then judged and sentenced to death. He was crucified and buried, and after three days He resurrected. In His glorification, that is, in His resurrection, Jesus as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit. The Spirit of God in creation was the Spirit of Jehovah in His contact with man, and the Spirit of Jehovah in God’s contact with man was the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ conception and birth. Now this Spirit, in Jesus’ resurrection, became the life-giving Spirit.
Now “the Spirit,” the life-giving Spirit, is an all-inclusive drink. The Spirit of God is just like plain water to which many things were added to make an all-inclusive drink. If tea, sugar, honey, lemon, and milk are all added to plain water, it is still water but not merely water. When you drink the water, you get tea, sugar, lemon, honey, and milk. Before the glorification of Jesus, the Spirit of God was merely the divine Spirit, but in the glorification of Jesus, in His resurrection, many crucial things were added to the Spirit of God. The uplifted and glorified humanity and the human living of Jesus were added to the Spirit of God. His all-inclusive death, the sweetness and effectiveness of His death, His resurrection, and the power of His resurrection were new elements added to the pure Spirit of God.
Before Jesus’ resurrection, there was merely the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jehovah, the Holy Spirit. No doubt, the divine element was in the Spirit of God, but there was no humanity, no human living, and nothing of His all-inclusive death and powerful resurrection. After Jesus’ resurrection, after He was glorified, the Spirit of God became the Spirit of the glorified Jesus. Now in this Spirit there is divinity, God’s divine element, and also humanity, the human element. There is human living, the all-inclusive death of Christ, and the powerful resurrection of Christ. All these items are compounded in the Spirit of God. This is “the Spirit,” the all-inclusive, compound, life-giving Spirit. Second Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” The Lord is the Son in the name of the Father. He is Jesus with the Father who is now the Spirit. The Son with the Father is now the all-inclusive, compound, life-giving Spirit.
This Spirit in Acts 16:7 is called the Spirit of Jesus. The Spirit of God is God Himself, the Spirit of Jehovah is Jehovah Himself, and the Spirit of Jesus is Jesus Himself. In Romans 8 the Spirit of Christ is Christ Himself (vv. 9-10). Then Philippians 1:19 refers to the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This Spirit is Jesus Christ Himself.
Revelation 2:7 tells us that the Spirit speaks to the churches. The Spirit here is again the all-inclusive, compound, life-giving Spirit. Revelation 22:17a says, “The Spirit and the bride say...” This compound Spirit eventually becomes one with the church, with the bride. I hope that we all would receive a vision of the Spirit — He is the compound of the Triune God, the man Jesus, His human living, His death, and His resurrection. All the positive things in the universe are compounded in this one Spirit, which is the Spirit. The first four books of the New Testament are on the Son with the Father by the Spirit, but the next twenty-two books are on the Spirit, who is the compound of the Triune God, of the proper man, of the proper human living, of the death of Christ, and of the resurrection of Christ. This Spirit occupies twenty-two of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. In the four Gospels it was the Son with the Father by the Spirit. Now it is the Spirit as the Son with the Father compounded with divinity, humanity, human living, death, and resurrection. The very Spirit who is in you today is such a Spirit. When we have this compound, all-inclusive, life-giving, processed Spirit, we have everything. This is for God’s economy to dispense Himself into us.
