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Scripture Reading: John 4:24; 20:22; Acts 16:6-7; Rom. 8:9-10; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:16-18; Phil. 1:19; 3, 1 Cor. 12:13; John 3:6b; Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22; Heb. 4:12; Gal. 5:16, 25; Rom. 8:4-6; Eph. 2:22
Thus far, we have seen what life is, how life works within us, and how we need to cooperate with this life. Life is a matter in the spirit, that is, in the divine Spirit mingled with our human spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). Life is the Spirit, and the Spirit is life. Thus, if we are going to know life, to experience life, and to taste all the riches of life, we have to know this basic matter of the Spirit. I feel that the verses in the Scripture reading can give us a full picture of the Spirit for life. We need to see something in a fresh way, in a new way, and in a deeper way.
John 4:24 says that God is Spirit. We are told by the Bible that in time God created the universe. Later, God took the step of being incarnated. Creation is to bring things into existence. Incarnation is to bring God into the things that exist (1:14). Although creation brought things into existence, the created things had nothing to do with God. God was only the Creator, but incarnation brought God into His creature. He was the Creator, yet He became one with His creature, man. He even became one of the creatures; He became a man. This man’s name was Jesus. Jesus was God mingled with man, the God-man. Jesus was the Creator mingled with the creature. We all have to know Jesus to such an extent. Jesus was a God-man, a man having God mingled with Him as one. In this little man you could see both man and God, both the creature and the Creator.
Then this wonderful person with the divine nature and the human nature, with divinity and humanity, lived on this earth for thirty-three and a half years, passing through all the sufferings of human life. At the end of His human life, He was put on the cross. That means He went into death and tasted death. He conquered death, broke through death, and walked through and out of death. All human beings are captured by death. Not one human being is willing to die. Only one person, Jesus, was willing to die. He walked into death, through death, and out of death. Acts 2:24 says that death could not hold Him. Death tried its best to hold Him, but death failed. It could not hold Him, because He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). Death cannot hold life, but life can swallow up death. Death cannot hold resurrection, but resurrection gets through death. Christ walked into death’s region and territory, but death could not affect Him. He had a tour, a sightseeing, of death.
When He went into death, He brought all the things of the old creation to an end. This included the termination of the old heaven, the old earth, and all the negative, sinful, and dark things. Satan, sin, the world, the flesh, the old man, and the old creation were brought to the cross (Heb. 2:14; John 1:29; Rom. 8:3; John 12:31; Rom. 6:6). The cross is the termination of the old creation. You were terminated there. Before you were born, you were terminated already on the cross by the death of Christ (Gal. 2:20). Death could not do anything with Christ, but by death He brought everything to an end. He terminated the entire old creation.
Then He was buried. He brought everything into the tomb, including us. After burial He was resurrected. By incarnation He put on the flesh of man. Now by death and resurrection, He was transformed from the flesh into the Spirit. First Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” He was the last Adam in the flesh, but by death and resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit.
On the evening of the day of His resurrection, He came to His disciples. The disciples were afraid of the Jews, so they were in a room with the doors shut. Suddenly Jesus came and stood in their midst (John 20:19). He came to them not in the way of the flesh but in the way of the Spirit. He did not teach the disciples or tell them what to do. Instead, He breathed into them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22).
To receive the Holy Spirit, the holy breath, is better than thousands of messages. Christ did not come to them as a big teacher but as the best Breather. He is not a teaching but the breath. He breathed Himself into them. The end of the Gospel of John says nothing about His departure, because He was in them. Later, they went to the sea to go fishing, and Christ was there (21:1-14). Wherever they went, Christ was there, because He was within them in a mysterious way, in a spiritual way, in a way like the air. Wherever you go, the air follows you. Regardless of how much you try, you cannot get away from the air. Christ today is the life-giving pneuma, the life-giving breath, the life-giving air.
After His resurrection He ascended to the heavens, and He was crowned with glory and honor (Heb. 2:9). He was enthroned and given the highest name, the headship, the lordship, and the kingship in the kingdom, including all authority both in heaven and on earth (Eph. 1:20b-23; Acts 2:36; 5:31). Acts 2 tells us that on the day of Pentecost, He came down as a rushing violent wind (vv. 1-2). When the breath is intensified and strengthened, it becomes the wind. In a soft way He is the breath. In a strong way He is the wind. The wind brings us the fresh air. The Spirit as the breath was after His resurrection. The Spirit as the wind was on the day of Pentecost.
In the Epistles there are a number of titles for the Spirit. Acts 16:7 speaks of the Spirit of Jesus, and in verse 6 there is the Holy Spirit. If you read these two verses, you can see that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. These two terms are interchangeably used. Jesus was a suffering man, so the Spirit of Jesus is the Spirit of a man with abundant strength for suffering. Then in Romans 8:9-10 there is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ. These three titles are also interchangeably used. This proves that the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ is Christ Himself. The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of the resurrected and life-giving Christ. Then Philippians 1:19 speaks of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Jesus Christ is the Spirit of the incarnated, afflicted, and crucified Jesus and the resurrected, ascended, and enthroned Christ. First Corinthians 15:45b says that in resurrection Christ as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. After His resurrection He is the breath that gives life.
After the eternal God accomplished creation, incarnation, crucifixion for redemption, resurrection, and ascension, He came down as the wind to blow through the whole earth. This wind includes everything that the Triune God has accomplished and attained. Within the wind are the elements of incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and Christ’s enthronement with His kingship, headship, and lordship. When He came down as the blowing wind to sweep through the whole earth, all these elements were within Him. In a sense, today He is still blowing and sweeping. We came into the Lord’s recovery because of the blowing and sweeping wind. Today we are full of joy because we are under the blowing and the sweeping of the divine wind.
He came as the divine wind to baptize His chosen ones in the Spirit. He put all of His chosen people from the Jewish race and from the Gentiles into Himself. This is the baptism accomplished on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius (Acts 2:1-4; 10:44-45). We were all baptized there. Before we were born, we were crucified and regenerated. In the same principle, we were also baptized. The baptism in the Holy Spirit has been absolutely and completely accomplished. Through this baptism the new man was born and the Body was produced. First Corinthians 12:13 says, “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free...” Before we were born, we all were baptized. In the eyes of God, the Body has been produced, the new man has been born, and the New Jerusalem is already in existence. This is why the apostle John said in Revelation that he saw it (21:2). This is why the Bible says, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). Everything has been accomplished.
We need to see this vision. We have God, the creation, the incarnation, human living, crucifixion for redemption, burial, resurrection, the breathing of the Spirit, ascension, enthronement, and the descent of the Spirit as the wind to accomplish the baptism. Now the Body has been produced, the new man has been born, and the New Jerusalem is here. We are the human beings under the blowing of the divine wind. When we are in our spirit, we are one with this wind, this divine person, and we are one with one another. But when we remain in our soul, that is, our mind, will, and emotion, we cannot have the church life. Instead, we are insulated from Christ and from the members of the Body of Christ.
The way to be recovered back to our spirit for the church life is by calling on the name of the Lord — “O Lord Jesus.” The more we call on the name of the Lord, the more we will be filled with Him. As we are filled with Him, the church life will spontaneously spread, and there will be an increase in life and in numbers. When our mind, will, and emotion are flooded and filled with Christ as the Spirit, we will have the powerful, living church life. This church life is connected with the Triune God and all His accomplishments and attainments. In this church life we enjoy the Triune God with His incarnation, human living, crucifixion for redemption, resurrection, and ascension. We also enjoy the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and the life-giving Spirit as the breath and the wind. The church life is so rich, because the church life is one with the Triune God and all His accomplishments and attainments.
