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Scripture Reading: Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; John 7:38-39; Rev. 22:1; Rom. 8:2; 2 Cor. 3:6b; 1 John 5:6b; John 14:16-20; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:18; John 17:17; Eph. 4:3; Rev. 22:17; Gal. 5:16, 25; Rom. 8:4; Acts 13:52b; 2:4a; 4:31b
In this chapter we would like to continue our fellowship concerning the second emphasis in the Lord’s recovery — Christ. In particular, we want to see more concerning the biography of Christ. Then we will go on to see the truth concerning the third emphasis in the Lord’s recovery — the Spirit.
According to what is revealed in the Scriptures, Christ is the centrality and universality of God in His move, especially for the completion of His redemption to produce the church. As the centrality and universality of God, Christ must have the preeminence, the first place (Col. 1:18b). He is the most preeminent One in the universe. In God’s creation, in God’s redemption, in the church, and in the believers, Christ has the preeminence, the first place.
Ephesians 1 also tells us that God has given Christ to be the Head over all things to the church (v. 22b). The preposition to indicates a kind of transmission. Whatever Christ is, is transmitted to the church. Whatever Christ, the Head, has attained and obtained is transmitted to the church, His Body. In this transmission we enjoy the fullness of the Godhead and His headship.
Christ was God, and one day He became a man in incarnation. Incarnation is God coming to be a man. The almighty God became one with man according to the human principle of conception and birth. God took this way to become a man about four thousand years after He created man. Four thousand years after His creation of man, He came into the womb of a virgin named Mary. The almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth, came into the womb of a virgin and stayed there for nine months. Then He came out of that womb to be a man with a name given by God’s ordination — Jesus. Jesus is the connection, the linking, of God with man.
Jesus means “Jehovah the Savior.” Jehovah became a man to be our Savior in order that we may enjoy His salvation. He is the complete God connected and mingled with the perfect man. This wonderful person is very particular. He is not merely God or merely man. He is both God and man, so He is called the God-man. Through Him God and man came together. Man was joined to God, and God mingled Himself with man. This is Jesus. Many Christians do not know Jesus as such a connection, such a linking, and such a mingling of divinity with humanity. His incarnation not only made Him a man but also brought God into man. Now we can shout, “Hallelujah, God today is a man!”
After He lived thirty years in Nazareth, He came out to minister. When He came out, He was a great attraction, like a big magnet. While He was walking on the seashore of Galilee, Peter, Andrew, James, and John were drawn to Him (Matt. 4:18-22). They left their occupations and followed Him. They were attracted by the Lord as the great light in the darkness of death (v. 16) and followed Him for the establishment of the kingdom of the heavens in the light of life.
Although He was such an attraction, He did not possess any outward beauty. He was not a handsome man. Isaiah says that He had “no attracting form nor majesty that we should look upon Him, / Nor beautiful appearance that we should desire Him” (53:2) and that “His visage was marred more than that of any man, / And His form more than that of the sons of men” (52:14). Even though He did not have a handsome appearance, something within Him was like a magnet. When the disciples saw Him, they were drawn, attracted. We may also say that they became “addicted” to Him. Today I can declare that I am addicted to Jesus, and many of us are the same.
After Jesus passed through human living for thirty years, He ministered for three and a half years. Then He went to the cross on Calvary to die an all-inclusive death. By that death He terminated the old creation (Col. 1:20), He crucified the old man (Rom. 6:6), and He took away man’s sin (John 1:29) and sins (1 Pet. 2:24). He also judged Satan and Satan’s world (John 12:31). Before His death the entire universe had become old and was filled with all these negative items. But through His unique death He cleared up all these things.
On the positive side, He was broken on the cross to release the divine life that was concealed within Him (v. 24). On the cross He was pierced, and out came blood and water (19:34). The blood symbolizes redemption, and the water symbolizes the flowing life of God. On the one hand, He cleared up the whole universe through His redemption, His redeeming death. On the other hand, He released the divine life within Him so that He might impart this life into His believers.
After His death He remained in Hades for three days. Then He walked out of death and was resurrected. In His resurrection He accomplished three things.
First, through His resurrection He became the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29). Before His resurrection He was the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16), the unique Son of God, but His humanity had not been brought into the divine sonship. Before His resurrection He was the only begotten Son of God with divinity, but then He became a man with flesh and blood. As the Son of God in eternity past, He had only divinity. He had only the divine nature, not the human nature. Through resurrection His humanity was “sonized.” He is now the Son of God with humanity and divinity. Through His resurrection He sonized His humanity. He was the Son of God before His resurrection, but He was not yet the firstborn Son. In His resurrection He was begotten of God to be the firstborn Son of God among many sons.
In His resurrection He produced many sons of God. This is the second accomplishment of His resurrection. According to 1 Peter 1:3, God regenerated us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. His resurrection was a great birth, a great delivery, in which He made all of us, His believers, the many sons of God. I once read of someone who had seven children by one birth. But by the resurrection of Christ, millions and millions of children were born. In His resurrection He became the firstborn Son among many sons. According to 1 Peter 1:3, we were born again about two thousand years ago when Christ was resurrected. We were all born in the same delivery. When Jesus Christ was delivered as the firstborn Son, we were delivered as the many sons. In resurrection we all were born of God.
In His resurrection Christ also became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). This is the third accomplishment of His resurrection. He was the unique God. Then He became a man. As a man, He died on the cross, was buried, and remained in Hades for three days. Then He entered into resurrection to become a life-giving Spirit. Today He is God, He is a man, and He is the Spirit who gives life. He is such a wonderful person. The biography of Christ is marvelous. He is the life-giving Spirit, and the life-giving Spirit is the consummation of God being a man. God being a man has been consummated in the Spirit. Thus, the Spirit who gives life is the aggregate of God plus man. He became a life-giving Spirit to impart Himself into our being to be our life and to remain within us as our person.
We know that Jesus has come into us, but we need to realize that the story of this Jesus who has come into us is not so simple. He was God in eternity past. Then about four thousand years after the creation of man, He came into the womb of a virgin and was born of this woman to be a man. God was linked with man. He lived thirty-three and a half years, died on the cross, was buried for three days, and came out in resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit. Therefore, the life-giving Spirit is the aggregate of God becoming a man. Today He is the Spirit who gives life.
On the evening of the day of His resurrection, He came back to His disciples. At that time the disciples were gathered together with the doors shut for fear of the Jews. Suddenly, Jesus appeared to them and stood in their midst. At that time the disciples were all threatened. They were fearful and had no peace, so Jesus appeared to them as peace and said, “Peace be to you” (John 20:19). According to Luke 24:37, the disciples “were terrified and became frightened and thought they beheld a spirit.” But the Lord said, “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” (v. 39). The Lord came to them with a resurrected body (1 Cor. 15:44). How could He enter with bones and flesh into a closed room? Our limited mentality cannot comprehend it, but it is a fact. We have to receive it according to the divine revelation. He showed the disciples His hands and His side, and He breathed Himself into them as the Spirit (John 20:20-22). He had become the Spirit, yet He had flesh and bones.
After His resurrection and before His ascension, He appeared to His disciples and disappeared. Although He disappeared from their sight, He was still within them as the Spirit. Before His death the Lord’s presence was visible in the flesh. After His resurrection His presence was invisible in the Spirit. His manifestations, or appearings, after His resurrection were to train the disciples to realize, to enjoy, and to practice His invisible presence, which is more available, prevailing, precious, rich, and real. This dear presence of His is the Spirit in His resurrection, whom He breathed into them and who would be with them all the time.
Whether the disciples were conscious of His presence or not, He was with them all the time. For the sake of their weakness, He appeared to them in order to strengthen their faith in Him. When He disappeared from the disciples’ sight, they became disappointed. Because of the trial of the need of his living, Peter went fishing, and some of the other disciples followed him. They fished the whole night, but they did not catch one fish. All of a sudden Jesus appeared again (21:1-14). He appeared and disappeared, but actually, He was always with them.
The Christian life is a life of Jesus’ appearing and disappearing. Maybe in the morning a brother feels that Jesus is so present with him. He may have a very intimate time with the Lord to enjoy Him in His manifestation. Afterward, this brother’s wife may do something or say something to make him unhappy. Then to this brother’s sensation, Jesus has disappeared. Seemingly, he lost Jesus, but actually, Jesus is not gone. This brother may have lost the Lord’s manifestation, but the Lord always remains within him. All of this is a part of the biography of Jesus.
Day by day the Lord is appearing and disappearing to sanctify us, to renew us, to transform us, and to conform us to His own image. Eventually, He will glorify us in His great appearing, His second coming. He will bring us all into glory, and our physical body will be glorified. According to Philippians 3:21, our body is a body of humiliation. It is damaged by sin, weakness, sickness, and death (Rom. 6:6; 7:24; 8:11). But it will eventually be conformed to Christ’s resurrected body, saturated with God’s glory (Luke 24:26), and transcendent over corruption and death (Rom. 6:9). He will bring our body of humiliation into Himself as the glory. Now He is the hope of glory (Col. 1:27), and one day we will be in Him and with Him in the glory. That will consummate God’s new creation with us.
Before we were regenerated, we were fully in the old creation. Regeneration made us a new creation, but we are not the new creation in full. We are in the process of becoming God’s new creation just as a butterfly gradually comes out of a cocoon. When Jesus comes again, we will be transfigured in our body into His glory. That will be the consummation of God’s new creation with us. This is the biography of Christ.
When He comes again, He will also bring God’s kingdom to the earth. According to Daniel 2, He will come as a smiting stone to smash and destroy the entire human government on this earth. Then as the smiting stone, He will become a great mountain, the kingdom of God, filling the whole earth (vv. 34-35, 44-45). Thus, in His second coming He will consummate God’s new creation in us, and He will clear up the earth by destroying the entire human government from Nimrod to Antichrist, signified by the great human image in Daniel 2. Then He will become the kingdom of God filling the whole earth.
All the overcoming believers will reign with Him in the thousand-year kingdom, while the defeated believers will suffer some discipline. The defeated Christians in this age will be made mature in the millennium, and the saved Jews will also be consummated as God’s new creation. After the millennium is completed, a part of the nations, who were the citizens in the kingdom of one thousand years, will rebel (Rev. 20:7-9). That will be the last rebellion of mankind against God. Fire will come down out of heaven and devour them. Later, the old heaven and old earth will pass away to become the new heaven and new earth. All the consummated believers and chosen and redeemed Jews will be together to be the New Jerusalem for eternity.
Christ will be the centrality and universality of the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem will be the mingling, the blending, of the processed Triune God with the transformed, tripartite man. On the one hand, we will be God’s dwelling, and on the other hand, God will be our abode. The New Jerusalem will be a mutual abiding place for God and for us. In other words, God will dwell in us, and we will abide in Him. We will enjoy and express the Triune God forever. This is the eternal destiny of the New Jerusalem with Christ as the center and the circumference. He will become the centrality and the universality of God’s economy in full. The New Jerusalem will be the ultimate consummation of God’s economy. This is the biography of Christ without any ending.
Now we want to fellowship concerning the third emphasis in the Lord’s recovery — the Spirit.
When we speak concerning the Spirit, we are touching the Divine Trinity. The Divine Trinity is a great mystery. God is uniquely one, but this one God is triune. In theology, scholars of the Bible invented the word triune. This word comes from Latin. Tri means “three”; une means “one.” God is one, yet He is three. Although God is three, He is not three Gods. He is the only one God, yet He is three. This is a great mystery.
Bible teachers and theologians have tried their best to describe the Trinity. They have used the term persons to describe the three of the Godhead. We may use this term temporarily, but if this term is pressed too far, it can lead to the heresy of tritheism. Others have used the word hypostases to describe the three of the Godhead. Hypostases refers to supporting substances or to something substantial supporting something underneath. This is like a stand having four legs to support it. God is uniquely one, but He has three supporting substances — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
According to the divine revelation, the Divine Trinity has a source, a course, and a flow. The Bible says that God is the living water (John 4:10, 14). With this water there is a source, a course, and a flow. The Father is the source, the Son is the course, and the Spirit is the flow. Matthew 28:19 says that we are to baptize people into the one name of three persons — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. There is one name for the Trinity. Second Corinthians 13:14 speaks of the love of God, the grace of Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. In this verse we see three persons — God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We also see three matters — love, grace, and fellowship. The love of God is the source; the grace out of the love of God is the course; and the fellowship of the Spirit is the flow.
The Spirit is the Triune God’s flow. In other words, the Spirit is the Triune God flowing. The Spirit as the flowing of the Triune God may be likened to the current of electricity, the flowing of electricity. The electricity itself and its flow are not two separate matters. They are just one thing. Electricity has a flow, and that is called the current. The Triune God has a flow, and that is called the Spirit.
The Spirit is not only the flow of the Triune God but also the reaching of the Triune God. The current of electricity is the reaching of electricity. Electricity reaches a house from the power plant by its current. The flowing is a kind of reaching, and the reaching is a kind of “entering into.” The Spirit is the reaching of the Triune God, and this reaching enters into us. The Spirit is the Triune God entering into us as the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2).
The Spirit is the reality (1 John 5:6b). God is very abstract but very real. It is hard to say whether electricity is abstract or solid. To say that our God is abstract may be partially right, but our God is also very real. The reality is the Spirit. The Spirit is the reality of God, the reality of Christ (John 14:16-20; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:18), the reality of the word of God (John 17:17), and the reality of the resurrection of Christ.
In His economy God passed through different stages. God was in eternity past. When He was in eternity past, He was merely and solely divine; He did not possess humanity. But one day, about four thousand years after He created man, He became a man. He partook of man’s nature, man’s blood and flesh (Heb. 2:14). This is another stage of God. He became Emmanuel (Matt. 1:23). He became a God-man.
Our God, the God of the Christians, is very different from the God of the Jews. Because of the Jews’ unbelief in Jesus, their God is merely in divinity, not in humanity. The Jews do not believe that Jesus today is their Jehovah in the Old Testament. Jehovah in the Old Testament was only God, but Jesus today is God plus man. This man Jesus, the last Adam, became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). In the New Testament there are two great “becames.” First, God became a man; the Word became flesh (John 1:14). Second, this God-man became a life-giving Spirit. These are the different stages of God.
In eternity past the Spirit of God was merely the Spirit of divinity. But God became a man, and this God-man became the life-giving Spirit. Now the Spirit of God is also the Spirit of the man Jesus. Acts 16:7 speaks of “the Spirit of Jesus.” The Spirit of Jesus is the Spirit of God with the humanity of Jesus. The Spirit of Christ is mentioned in Romans 8:9, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ in Philippians 1:19. The Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of Jesus Christ are the one Spirit, who includes both divinity and humanity.
In John 7 the Lord Jesus said that the Spirit would be the flow out of the innermost being of a believer (v. 38). Verse 39 says that this Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. At that time Jesus had not yet been glorified in His resurrection. He had not yet become the life-giving Spirit in His resurrection. This life-giving Spirit, whom Jesus became, is the Spirit of God in another stage.
In one stage in eternity past, He was only the Spirit of divinity, without humanity. But after Jesus’ resurrection the Spirit is now the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Jesus became the life-giving Spirit in resurrection, so the Spirit has become the Spirit of Jesus Christ with humanity in resurrection. Today the Spirit that is within us is not only the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God but also the Spirit of Jesus Christ. He is divine, and He is also human. He is not only human in incarnation but also human in resurrection. Today He is such a Spirit.
God, man, the death of Jesus, and the resurrection of Christ are compounded together to be a compound Spirit. This is according to the type of the all-inclusive Spirit as the compound ointment in Exodus 30. This anointing ointment had a base of one hin of olive oil. Then this oil was compounded with four kinds of spices — myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia (vv. 23-25). A marginal note in the Newberry Bible says that the compound ointment in Exodus 30 indicates the Holy Spirit. I read this many years ago and knew that this ointment typified the Spirit, but I did not see until much later that it typifies the compound Spirit. Today the Spirit of Jesus Christ is not merely the Spirit of divinity but also the compound Spirit of divinity, of humanity, of Jesus’ human death, and of Christ’s human resurrection compounded together. Today the Holy Spirit we have is such a compound Spirit.
When I was a young Christian, I was told that I was crucified with Christ. I did not understand how Christ’s crucifixion could involve me when He died two thousand years ago. How could I have been there? A. B. Simpson pointed out that we need to reckon that we have been crucified, based on Paul’s word in Romans 6:11. According to our view, Christ’s death was far away from us in time and space. But because God has put us into Christ, His history is our experience.
Actually, those who are of European descent came to the United States about two hundred years ago, before they were born. They were born in America, but their ancestors were not American. When their ancestors came to the United States, they came in their ancestors. Hebrews 7 speaks of the fact that the tribe of Levi offered tithes to Melchizedek through their father Abraham (v. 9), for they were in Abraham’s loins when he met Melchizedek (v. 10). Thus, the history of our ancestors is our experience, and we can reckon according to this realization.
God put us into Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). Christ died on Calvary two thousand years ago. Since we are in Him, we died also. This is the way we should reckon our having died together with Christ (Gal. 2:20). This is quite logical. When we come to our experience, however, reckoning ourselves to be dead does not work. The more we reckon that we are dead, the more it seems that we are alive.
One day Brother Watchman Nee told us that the death of Christ in Romans 6 is in the Spirit in Romans 8. Christ’s death, especially the effectiveness of His death, is compounded in the Spirit. Within the Spirit is the power and effectiveness of the death of Christ. Today drugs prescribed for certain illnesses have different essences. One essence of a drug is a nourishing essence, while another essence kills the germs. Today the compound Spirit is the best and the largest dose that God has prescribed for us. He is our all-inclusive dose. If we lose our temper often, we need to take in the Spirit of Jesus often. The Spirit of Jesus has the element of Christ’s death to kill the germ of our temper.
The Spirit we have today is the consummated Spirit, not the “raw” Spirit. The divine Spirit has been consummated with humanity, with the sweetness and effectiveness of Christ’s death, and with the power of Christ’s resurrection. This consummated Spirit has become the very dose that God has prescribed for us. We just have to take this dose by continually calling on the Lord’s name — “O Lord Jesus. O Lord Jesus.” Certain medicines are prescribed for high blood pressure. Within a short period of time after they are taken, a person’s blood pressure will come down. We need to take such an effective dose for our Christian life and church life. This dose is the compound Spirit.
We can take this dose by calling, “O Lord Jesus.” It is not necessary for us to shout. If we call on the Lord repeatedly, our temper will be gone. This is why we are told to pray unceasingly (1 Thes. 5:17). To pray we have to say, “O Lord Jesus.” To call on the Lord’s name is to breathe in the Spirit. M. E. Barber wrote a hymn that says, “Just to breathe the Name of Jesus, / Is to drink of Life indeed” (Hymns, #73, stanza 2). When we breathe the name of Jesus by calling on His name, we drink of the Spirit of life. To call on the Lord is to breathe in the Spirit (Lam. 3:55-56).
The Spirit today is the consummation of the Triune God. He is the consummated Spirit of God compounded with divinity, with humanity, with Jesus’ death, and with Christ’s resurrection. In Philippians 1:19 Paul speaks of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Jesus Christ is bountiful. He is bountifully rich, and He has a bountiful supply. How can we touch Him and gain Him? We must call on the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the name, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ is the person. If we call a person’s name, he may respond, “Yes, I am here.” If we call, “O Lord Jesus,” the Spirit says, “Yes, I am here.” This is because the Spirit is the person.
We need to call on the name of the Lord in every place (1 Cor. 1:2). Some brothers and sisters may not want to call on the Lord before others in the meetings because they feel that they are too dignified. If a brother is a professor, he may feel that if he calls on the Lord, he will lose his dignity. It is easier for the young people to call on the Lord. The older saints may call on the Lord privately and secretly, but they may not call on the Lord publicly in the meetings. If we do not call on the Lord, however, we are refusing to take the Spirit as our medicine, as our dose. It is not a shame to take the best medicine. We have to call on the name of the Lord to receive the Spirit.
The Spirit is the aggregate of the Triune God, the consummation of the Triune God. The Triune God is embodied in Christ, and Christ is realized as the Spirit. The Spirit today is the living Jesus and the reality of the Triune God. The way to enjoy Him and be filled with Him is to pray. Then we will be filled with Him inwardly as the essential Spirit for our life and living and filled with Him outwardly as the economical Spirit for power in our ministry and work (Acts 13:52; 2:4a; 4:31b).
Before I speak to the saints in the ministry, I have to pray. Without praying, I cannot speak. Before coming to speak, I frequently pray, “Lord, fill me within as the essence, as life, and fill me without as the power for the impact.” The Lord hears this prayer. When I speak, I have the Spirit as the essence within. I am not empty, but filled up with the Spirit. I also have the experience of the Spirit upon me as my authority for the impact. We all need to be filled inwardly with the essential Spirit for life and for the reality of our being and filled outwardly with the Spirit of power for God’s economy to carry out God’s work.
The believers should live, act, and do everything by, in, and according to the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25; Rom. 8:4). This is the Christian life and also the corporate life of the church.
The church as the bride of Christ should be one with the Spirit (Rev. 22:17). Eventually, the whole church is one with the Spirit. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” The entire church should be one spirit with the Lord. If all of us live, act, and do things with, in, by, and through the Spirit, the church will be absolutely one with the Spirit. This is the church, the Body of Christ, which the Lord desires.
