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Scripture Reading: John 14:10, 13, 16-20, 23, 26; 20:22; 15:26; 2 Cor. 3:17-18
All Bible readers know that the Bible speaks of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is one of the three major subjects of the Bible. Throughout the centuries Bible readers have studied a great deal about Christ. However, they have not been thorough enough, and might even be considered negligent, in their study of the Holy Spirit in the biblical record. In this chapter we want to see the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit,” from the viewpoint of the entire Bible.
At the very beginning, in Genesis 1, after telling us that God created the heavens and the earth, the Bible goes on to say that the Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters (v. 2). The Hebrew word means something like the brooding of a hen over its eggs. A hen broods, stretching its wings over its eggs for the purpose of producing something living, that is, its chicks. Therefore, was brooding has the sense of life-producing. All Bible readers know that Genesis 1 speaks about God’s creation of the heavens and the earth, but many have neglected the fact that the Spirit of God carried out God’s actions by brooding upon the surface of the waters.
After speaking of the Spirit of God, the Old Testament refers to the Spirit of Jehovah numerous times. The Spirit of Jehovah indicates the reaching of God to man. The book of Judges frequently says that certain judges rose up to fight for the children of Israel because the Spirit of Jehovah had come upon them (3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6). Furthermore, the prophets rose up to speak for God because the Spirit of Jehovah had come upon them also (2 Sam. 23:2; Isa. 61:1). Elijah became a prophet because the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him; later, Elisha, following Elijah, put on Elijah’s mantle. That mantle is a type of the Holy Spirit descending upon the believers in the New Testament as the economical Spirit, the Spirit of power. In Luke 24:49 the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “Behold, I send forth the promise of My Father upon you; but as for you, stay in the city until you put on power from on high.” This is what the mantle of Elijah and Elisha typifies. Hence, this Spirit is also called “the mantle Spirit.”
In Joel 2:28-29 God promised, saying, “Afterward I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh, / ...Indeed even upon the male and female slaves / In those days I will pour out My Spirit.” In the Old Testament the pouring out of the Spirit is typified by rain, as in Hosea 6:3, which says that God would pour out His Spirit at two times as the fulfillment of the autumn, or former, rain and the spring, or latter, rain (KJV). On the day of Pentecost the pouring out of the Spirit was the former rain; at the end of this age God will again pour out His Spirit upon the children of Israel, and all Israel will repent and be saved. This is the latter rain, as prophesied in Zechariah 12:10. The Old Testament speaks of the Spirit of God only to this extent, concluding at the end with a promise, which is that God will pour out His Spirit as rain upon His elect.
In the New Testament the Holy Spirit is the first divine title ascribed to the Spirit of God. Matthew 1 says that the Holy Spirit entered into the womb of Mary, a human virgin, causing her to conceive and give birth to a child, Christ. At the time of the New Testament, for the initiation of the gospel of God, the preparing of a human body for the Savior required that the Holy Spirit impart the divine nature into humanity, making man holy for the carrying out of God’s plan of redemption. Hence, the mention of the Holy Spirit in the beginning of the New Testament is related to the conception of Christ.
When Christ came out to minister at the age of thirty for the accomplishing of the commission that He had received from God, the Spirit of God descended upon Him (Matt. 3:16). Matthew 1:18, 20 and Luke 1:35 unveil to us that Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit as His essence. Then at His baptism the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, descended upon Him. This was related to His ministry, His work. These are not two Spirits but two aspects of one Spirit. The Holy Spirit as the essence of Jesus in His conception and birth was His divine life, and He lived by this Spirit as His essence and life. The essence of the divine element of the Holy Spirit, who was His life and nature, was unchangeable and irremovable. However, the Holy Spirit also has the economical aspect, the aspect of power, which was for the ministry of Jesus (Luke 4:14, 18; Matt. 12:28) and could be removed from Him when there was the need for it (27:46).
Jesus had the Holy Spirit in the essential aspect as His intrinsic nature from His conception and birth, but it was at His baptism that the Holy Spirit in the economical aspect descended upon Him as His outward power. The Bible clearly records that the Lord Jesus ministered not by His own strength but by this Spirit. Within, He was constituted and filled with the essential Spirit; without, He was anointed and empowered by, as well as filled with, the economical Spirit. He was a person altogether wrapped up with the Spirit. Hence, His move was the Spirit’s move, and His work was the Spirit’s work.
On the last night of His three-and-a-half-year ministry, the Lord Jesus had a long discourse with His disciples, which is recorded in John 14—16. This section was a word of farewell from the Lord Jesus to His disciples on the night of His betrayal. In this parting word He first said that He is the expression of the Father; when people see Him, they see the Father. He is in the Father, and the Father is in Him, and He and the Father are one (14:9-10). Then in verses 16 and 17 He said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, even the Spirit of reality.” Nearly every Christian knows that what the Lord Jesus spoke of here was the promise to give us a Comforter, but they do not understand how the Father gave us the Comforter.
The Lord went on to say that this Comforter, the Spirit of reality, would abide with the disciples and would be in them (v. 17). The Lord had been with the disciples for three and a half years, they truly enjoyed His presence, and He was their Comforter, but now He was going to leave them. When they heard this, they were very sorrowful. Therefore, the Lord wanted them to know that at that time He could only be with them outwardly, but He could not enter into them. Although the Lord in the flesh could be with the disciples and could walk, stay, and abide with them, He was not satisfied with this. He desired to enter into the believers so that He might live in them as their life. Moreover, He wanted to be their bread of life and life supply. In other words, He wanted to be the “another Comforter.” Therefore, the “another Comforter” was Christ entering into them to be their life and life supply. Since He was to be life to them, He could not be merely outside of them but had to be inside of them. Since He was to be their bread of life and life supply, He had to be received into them so that He might minister to them. Hence, although the disciples were delighted with the Lord’s outward presence, that was not good enough; the Lord aspired to enter into them.
How could the Lord enter into the disciples, and how could He be with them forever? In 14:19-20 the Lord said, “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.” That day was the day when the Lord would live and His disciples also would live; this refers to the day of the Lord’s resurrection (20:19). After His resurrection the Lord lived in His disciples, and they also lived by Him, as referred to in Galatians 2:20. Moreover, in that day the disciples were able to know that the Lord is in the Father. This is not mere mental knowledge, because our mind cannot understand such a thing. What the Lord referred to here was an experiential knowledge. In John 14:10 the Lord said, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?” The Lord was asking the disciples whether they believed, not whether they had the experience. Then in verse 20 the Lord went further and said, “In that day you will know.” Therefore, know here refers to experience — not only believing but also experiencing that the Lord is in the Father. In the initial stage of my experience of Christ, I considered that Christ and the Father were separate. Whenever I prayed, I was bothered, because in my mind I had always understood that Christ was in me, and the Father was on the throne in heaven. Colossians 1:27 says that Christ in us is the hope of glory, but I could not understand how this Christ was related to the Father. At that time I did not have any feeling or experience telling me that Christ is in the Father. It was not until after I had been a Christian for thirty years that I began to realize that it is altogether impossible to experience Christ apart from the Father.
As far as the truth of salvation is concerned, John 3:16 is the top verse. However, as far as the enjoyment of Christ is concerned, John 14:20 is the top verse. This verse says, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” The order here cannot be reversed. What the Lord’s word here means is that in resurrection He would enter into His disciples, but instead of entering into them alone, He would enter into them in the Father. Therefore, on the day of the Lord’s resurrection, the disciples would know that Christ not only was related to the Father and was the expression of the Father, but He also was in the Father. Moreover, the disciples would know that they were in the Son, and the Son was in them.
Why is it that in this section concerning the other Comforter, instead of speaking concerning the Comforter, the Lord spoke of Himself being in the Father, us being in Him, and Him being in us? In actuality, it is because this refers to our experience of the other Comforter. It was on that day, the day of the Lord’s resurrection, that this other Comforter came to the disciples and breathed into them; He was inhaled by them and received into them. In 20:22 in His resurrection the Lord came to the disciples and breathed into them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” This Holy Spirit is the “another Comforter.” When the disciples received Him, they knew that Christ was in the Father. Then He could live in them, and they could also live because of Him and with Him. The disciples could even live in Him, and He could also live in them. Hence, in John 14:10 there is merely a revelation, but in verse 20 the revelation became an experience. This experience began on the day of the Lord’s resurrection, in which the Son came as another Comforter and breathed the Holy Spirit, who is His transfiguration, into His disciples. When this Comforter, the other Comforter, had entered into the disciples, they realized that the Son was in the Father, they were in the Son, and the Son was in them. The disciples could have such a realization because the other Comforter had entered into them and was experienced by them practically.
John 14 contains many revelations. Verse 6 says that Christ is the way, the reality, and the life; verse 9 says that he who has seen the Son has seen the Father; verse 11 says that the Son is in the Father, and the Father is in the Son; and verses 16 and 17 say that another Comforter, the Spirit of reality, would be given to the disciples not only to abide with them but also to be in them. However, the four most important verses in John 14 are verses 10, 20, 23, and 26. Moreover, the revelation in these four verses is progressive. Therefore, to study the experience in verse 20, we need to go on to study verse 23. In verse 23 the Lord said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him.” This is truly wonderful. Why is it that when one loves the Lord, the Father loves him? Why did the Lord say that the Father would love him instead of saying that He Himself would love him? Would not the Lord also love him? Then the Lord continued, “And We will come to him and make an abode with him.” We here refers to the Father and the Son. According to our thinking, if a person loves the Son, the Son will love him and will enter into him with rejoicing to abide in him. But why did the Lord say that when one loves the Son, it is the Father who will love him, and that the Father and the Son would come to him and make an abode with him? In order to explain this verse, we must go on to study verse 26.
As we have seen, verse 20 says that the Son abides in the disciples, and it is through the Holy Spirit, whom the Father sent, that the Son is able to abide in the disciples. Then, verse 26 says, “But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and remind you of all the things which I have said to you.” This verse says that the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father in the Son’s name. According to grammar, in My name is a modifier; to be in His name is to be in His person. However, when we read this verse, it is very difficult to say whether in My name refers to the Father sending in the Son or to the Spirit being sent in the Son, that is, whether this phrase modifies the Father or the Spirit. Actually, in My name modifies the Father. Therefore, the Father sending the Holy Spirit in the Son’s name is equivalent to the Son sending the Holy Spirit; that is, the Father’s sending of the Holy Spirit in the Son’s name is the Son’s sending of the Holy Spirit from the Father (15:26). In other words, the Son sent the Spirit from the Father and with the Father. This does not mean that the Son sent the Father but that the Spirit comes with the Father.
John 14:26 says that the Father sent the Spirit in the Son, and the Father and the Son are one because the Father is in the Son. Then 15:26 shows us that the Son sent the Spirit from the Father and with the Father; hence, the Spirit is with the Father. The former indicates that the Father and the Son are one and that the Father is in the Son, whereas the latter says that the Spirit came from the Father and with the Father. The former tells us that the Father is in the Son, especially in the sending of the Spirit, whereas the latter tells us that it was the Son who sent the Spirit. Does this mean that there were two Senders? The Father and the Son are two, but in the sending of the Spirit, They are one, because it is the Father sending in the Son. Hence, the Father’s sending is the Son’s sending. When we study these two verses together, we can conclude that the Spirit who is sent comes with the Father, and the Father sends the Spirit in the Son’s name. Therefore, the Spirit comes with the Father and the Son. This proves that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one and cannot be separated.
Hence, in order to experience Christ, we need to see that Christ is the Spirit. If He were not the Spirit, we could not experience Him, and He could not come into us. Ephesians 3:17 says, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” The chorus of Hymns, #309 says, “Since Jesus came into my heart!” If Christ is not the Spirit, how can He come into my heart and make His home in my heart? We should not merely repeat what others say. Perhaps we do not understand this mystery, but we must know this fact and experience this reality. Since Christ as the Spirit lives in our heart today, we can sing, “Floods of joy o’er my soul like the sea billows roll.” Throughout the generations Christians who love the Lord have experienced the joy of the Lord’s making His home in their hearts by their having intimate fellowship with Him and touching His Spirit in their spirit. Although many of them can neither understand nor speak this truth, they have experienced the reality. Every word of the Lord is established. Hence, we may not understand why, but if we just Amen His word, we will have the reality.
We can use calling on the Lord’s name as an illustration. Romans 10:13 says, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” We are now able to explain this truth because we have studied the Bible for a few decades, examined and compared others’ writings, and experienced it ourselves (Acts 2:21, footnote 1, Recovery Version). However, today, if we release our spirit to call on the name of the Lord, immediately we experience being saved from all kinds of people, events, and matters. Likewise, we can experience Christ’s making His home in our hearts through faith. How can Christ make His home in our hearts? It is because He is the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Some say that Christ abides in our hearts not directly but through the Holy Spirit or in the Holy Spirit. However, regardless of whether we say “through” or “in,” Christ and the Spirit are actually one in our experience.
Putting John 14:26 and 20 together, we see that in that day, the day of the Lord’s resurrection, the Father sent another Comforter so that the disciples would know that the Son is in the Father and also in them. Verse 17 says that another Comforter would come to abide with the disciples and be in them. Are there two persons in us, one who is the Son and the other who is the Spirit as another Comforter? These two are one in our experience. Hence, the Son who is in us, mentioned in verse 20, is the Spirit who is in us, mentioned in verse 17. Then as to the Father, the first half of verse 20 says, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father.” This “I,” who is the Spirit of reality in verse 17, is in “My Father.” Therefore, when the Spirit comes, the Son comes, and when the Son comes, He comes in the Father. This corresponds with the revelation in 14:26 and 15:26.
John 14:18 says that the Lord would come to the disciples. How did the Lord Jesus come as another Comforter? He came first by becoming the life-giving Spirit through death and resurrection; this was the first step of His coming. Then on the day of His resurrection, in the evening, the Son who became the Spirit came to breathe Himself into the disciples; this was the second step of His coming. Similarly, verse 16 says that the Father would give the Comforter to the disciples: “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever.” How did the Father give the disciples another Comforter? The first step was by resurrecting the Son, who passed through death (Acts 2:24, 32; Rom. 8:11), and then by sending the Son who had become the Spirit to breathe into them (John 14:26). When the Son breathed into them, the Father’s giving was accomplished. The Lord’s breathing of the Holy Spirit into the disciples was the fulfillment of His promise that the Father would give them the Spirit of reality as another Comforter. Hence, the Lord’s breathing accomplished not only His coming as another Comforter but also the giving of the Comforter by the Father. In other words, the Lord’s breathing is the Spirit’s coming and the Father’s giving. Therefore, John 20:22, where the Lord breathed into the disciples, is the fulfillment of 14:16-17, 26; and 15:26.
John 14:19 says, “Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me.” This word was spoken by the Lord to His disciples on the night of His betrayal. Then on the third day He was resurrected from death, and in the evening of that day He went to the disciples and breathed into them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” who is the Spirit of reality. The Lord’s word of promise to His disciples was fulfilled in just three days and was therefore “a little while.” At that time the Lord became the Spirit and breathed Himself into the disciples. Hence, the world beheld Him no longer, but the disciples beheld Him. The Lord’s breathing was the Father’s giving and the Spirit’s coming. This is the reaching of the Triune God. Hence, the Spirit of reality, the Holy Spirit who was breathed into the disciples, is not only the third of the Triune God but the Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God. In this Spirit are the Son and the Father. For this reason, for Christ to come into us to become our experience, He must be the Spirit. Christ is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God.
Hence, the Triune God is not for theological doctrines but for our experience. If we do not understand this, in our experience it may seem that we have only the Son without the Father and the Spirit. Actually, when we experience Christ, this Christ is the Spirit, and this Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God. Therefore, when we experience Christ, we also experience the Father with the Spirit. We may say even more plainly that the Christ whom we experience is the Spirit. For this reason many of the great Christian teachers throughout the ages eventually acknowledged that Christ is the Spirit in the Christians’ experience. Because of this, we have created the term the pneumatic Christ. Paul was clear about this matter and therefore said, “The Lord is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:17). This kind of speaking is not doctrinal but experiential because he went on to say, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Furthermore, he said, “We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit” (v. 18). This means that in our experience the Lord is the Spirit, the consummation of the Triune God. The Lord Spirit, who is transforming us within, is with the Father and in the Son.
John 14:20 says, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” Now we can understand the sequence here. On the evening of the day of the Lord’s resurrection, the Son breathed the Spirit into the disciples. Then 15:26 says that when the Spirit comes, He brings the Father with Him. Moreover, 14:10 indicates that since the Son is in the Father, the Father has the Son in Him. Hence, after the Spirit was breathed into the disciples, when they experienced the Spirit, they realized that the Spirit had brought the Father with Him, and therefore the Father and the Spirit are one. Furthermore, because the Father has the Son in Him, the disciples also knew that the Father and the Son are one. It is the same with us; when the Spirit comes into us, the Father also comes with Him, and the Son is in the Father for us to experience and to know.
Because the Spirit is in us for our experience, we are brought into the Son to live by Him, because of Him, and with Him (v. 19). Moreover, since we live in the Son, the Son also lives in us (15:4). Therefore, there are not only three in one but four in one; the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and the believers have all become one. When the Spirit comes, He comes with the Father, who is in the Son and in whom also is the Son, and lives in us so that we are in the Son. As a result, because we are in the Son, the Son is also in us. This is the Triune God becoming our experience and our blessing.
The Triune God has been consummated as the Spirit, who enters into us with the Father, in whom is the Son. Because of the Spirit’s entering into us, we are in the Son, and consequently, the Son is also in us. This is the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — in us to be experienced by us as our blessing and to become our enjoyment, which is Christ in us as the hope of glory. Therefore, to experience Christ is to experience the Triune God. Unfortunately, many Christians today neither understand this matter nor have the light concerning it, much less experience it.
Let us use prayer as an illustration. Christians’ general concept about prayer is that we pray and ask the Lord to do something for us only when we have problems. However, this is not accurate. It was only after groping for a long time that I have realized that the prayers of Christians are actually their calling on the name of the Lord. The biblical word for call means “to cry out.” When we pray, we surely cry out the name of the Lord Jesus. If we call out the name of the Lord Jesus from deep within, our spirit is stirred up. Sometimes even when we call on the Lord’s name softly, our spirit is stirred up. Romans 10:12-13 says, “The same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all who call upon Him; for ‘whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” Therefore, it does not matter whether our voice is loud or soft; what matters is that we call. The Lord is rich for our enjoyment. In order to enjoy the riches of the Lord, we need to call upon His name. Calling on the name of the Lord is the secret not only to our salvation but also to our enjoyment of the Lord’s riches. When we call upon the name of the Lord, we breathe in His riches.
Every day we need to exercise our spirit and call on the name of the Lord to enjoy Him. Whenever we are about to lose our temper, we should exercise to call on the Lord. Once we call on the Lord, our temper is gone, and when we call again, we feel peaceful inside, and we rejoice exultingly. Sometimes when we are tired from working, we can call, “O Lord Jesus!” and we feel relaxed. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. When we call, we are filled with “air.” The Lord is the Spirit. In Greek the word for spirit is the same as that for breath or air. For Christians, to call on the name of the Lord is to be filled with air. If we call sufficiently, we are “inflated”; if we do not call, we become “deflated.” Every morning you need to first call on the name of the Lord to be filled with “air” and then go to your office. Every office is a place that deflates people. It is needless to say that you are often deflated after working hours are over; even by noon you have nearly been deflated already. Therefore, you need to call on the Lord at noon so that you may be filled with “air” again. After leaving your office, on your way home, you must again call on the Lord’s name and get fully inflated. Then when you return home, you will not feel dejected but instead will be overflowing with joy. When we call on the Lord, we experience Christ, who is the Spirit. By calling on the name of the Lord, our spirit touches the Spirit, who is the consummation of the Triune God. As a result, we can enjoy the Lord’s riches. This is to experience Christ.
After I was saved, I enjoyed reading spiritual books and magazines, especially the writings by Brother Watchman Nee. In two of his books, The Normal Christian Life and The Overcoming Life, based on Romans 6, Brother Nee says that every Christian should know how to reckon (v. 11). For example, we should reckon that we have been crucified with Christ. At that time, although my mind was clear, regardless of how much I tried to reckon, it did not work. According to time, Christ was crucified two thousand years ago, and I was born two thousand years after Him. How can I be crucified with Him? Moreover, according to space, He was born in the land of Judea, and I born in China in the Far East. Again, how can I be crucified with Him? Brother A. B. Simpson, the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, wrote a hymn with a chorus that says, “Let us reckon, reckon, reckon, / Let us reckon, rather than feel; / Let us be true to the reck’ning, / And He will make it real” (Hymns, #692). Since this is based upon the Bible, I accepted this doctrine, and I tried my best to reckon. However, regardless of how much I tried, it did not work. Without reckoning, I was better off; the more I reckoned, the worse off I was. Without reckoning, it seemed that my natural self was dead, but once I began to reckon, it became alive, and everything went wrong. Later, Brother Nee added a word saying that the reckoning in Romans 6 must be done along with the experience in Romans 8. Romans 6 merely gives us the fact, whereas Romans 8 brings us into the experience.
Romans 8:13 says, “If you live according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.” This verse tells us clearly that it is not that we can reckon ourselves to death but that by the Spirit we put to death the practices of the body. How do we do this by the Spirit? It is by calling on the name of the Lord. We simply need to call on the Lord. Then our spirit is stirred up and executes the Lord’s death within us. Christ in us is the Spirit, who contains the element of His death with its effectiveness. Therefore, the Lord’s death is in the Spirit, not in our reckoning. For this reason, after his speaking in Romans 6, Paul speaks about being according to the spirit, walking according to the spirit, and being led by the Spirit of God (8:4-5, 14). It is only by the Spirit that we can put to death the practices of the body. If the Lord were not the Spirit, He could not come into us, and His death would have nothing to do with us. The Lord passed through the processes of death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit. In this Spirit are the elements of the Lord Himself, His death, and His resurrection. Since the Lord is the Spirit, He can come into us, and all His riches can be subjectively experienced and enjoyed by us. The Lord is the Spirit as the reality of all spiritual things.
When the Trinity is referred to in the beginning of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, the Spirit is called “the seven Spirits who are before His throne” (1:4). The seven Spirits are moving and speaking in the church today. At the beginning of each of the seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3, it is the Lord who speaks, but at the end of each epistle, it is the Spirit who speaks to the churches. This indicates that the Lord who speaks is the Spirit, even the seven Spirits. Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come!” This shows us that the Spirit, who is Christ as the Bridegroom, and His bride sound the call together.
In the Gospel of John the Spirit is likened to the Son’s breath. In John 20:22 the Son breathed into the disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” This indicates that the breath breathed out by the Son was the Holy Spirit. In Revelation the seven Spirits are the eyes of Christ as the Lamb. Breath is for living and denotes man’s essence, whereas eyes are for moving and denote man’s activities. In other words, the breathing of breath is for the essential aspect, whereas the eyes’ observing and shining are for the economical aspect. In the Gospels the Spirit is the breath, whereas in Revelation the Spirit is the eyes.
Whether essentially or economically, the Spirit cannot be separated from the Son. In the essential aspect the Spirit is the Son’s breath, whereas in the economical aspect, the aspect for moving, the Spirit is the Son’s eyes. Likewise, we can neither divide the Son from the Father nor divide the Father from the Spirit. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are absolutely undivided and indivisible; these three are one. Isaiah 9:6 says that the Son is called Eternal Father, and 2 Corinthians 3:17 says that the Son is the Spirit. Hence, these three are one. Regardless of which one we experience, we experience all three.
There is a way to experience the Triune God. Ephesians 2:18 says, “Through Him [Christ] we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father.” We cannot experience the Father directly; we must come to the Father in the all-inclusive Spirit through the Son. Therefore, the Gospels reveal that we need to believe in the Son. To believe in the Son is to receive the Son. The Son, who is the Spirit, enters into us by our receiving Him. As a result, we have access to the Father in order to experience God and His riches. This is the sequence of experiencing the Triune God, not three kinds of experiences but one experience in three aspects. We need to have a subjective and rich experience of this kind.
