Scripture Reading: John 14:16-24
In the two foregoing chapters we began to consider the fourth sign found in chapters 14 through 17 of the Gospel of John: the sign of the Divine Trinity. We have seen that the Divine Trinity is for the dispensing of the Triune God. We have covered ten matters related to the Father and seventeen matters related to the Son. Beginning with this chapter we will consider a number of matters related to the Spirit.
In the Divine Trinity, the Father is the source, and the Son is the expression. Now we need to see that the Spirit is the entering in of the Triune God, the Applier. The Father plans, the Son accomplishes, and the Spirit applies. Hence, the Father is the Planner, the Son is the Accomplisher, and the Spirit is the Applier. The Son has accomplished all that the Father has planned. Now the Spirit comes to apply all that the Father has planned and the Son has accomplished. Here we see the three of the Triune God working together. The Planner is the source, the Accomplisher is the expression, and the Applier is the One who enters into us. When the Spirit as the Applier enters into us, He brings with Him whatever the Father has planned and the Son has accomplished. This is the working of the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — to dispense Himself and all that He has planned and accomplished, and is now applying, into our being.
One verse in the Gospel of John that speaks of the entering into us of the Spirit is 14:17: “Even 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.” This verse speaks concerning the indwelling of the Spirit. Here we have the first mention of the indwelling Spirit, a matter that is fully developed in the Epistles (1 Cor. 6:19; Rom. 8:9, 11). John 20:22 also indicates that the Spirit enters into us: “When He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” Here we have the receiving of the Spirit promised in 14:17. The Lord’s breathing of the Holy Spirit into the disciples was the fulfillment of His promise of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter.
I hope that we will not only learn all the matters we have been covering concerning the Trinity but also experience them and minister them to others. I am especially thankful that the young people have the opportunity to learn these matters. I encourage all the saints to put the things you have heard into daily practice. This means that we need to apply them in our daily living. If we apply these matters daily, we will possess them as our life supply. Then it will be easy for us to minister these truths to others. This will further the spreading of the Lord’s recovery; it will enable the circle of the recovery to expand. The Lord’s recovery will spread by the saints’ living of all the things they have seen.
We have the Applier within us, and day by day He is applying all that has been planned by the Father and accomplished by the Son. The more we practice these matters and live them, the more opportunity we give to the Spirit to apply them to us. Therefore, we need to continue practicing in our daily life.
If we read John 14:16-24 carefully, we will see that the Spirit is the ultimate person of the Triune God. In other words, the Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God. I use the words ultimate and consummation to refer to the Spirit’s being the entering into us of the Triune God. We have seen that the Father dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16). Then the Son came as the expression of the Father, the expression of the unapproachable and invisible God (John 1:18). Although the Son came as the expression of the Father, this was not the ultimate, the consummate, coming of the Triune God. After the Son came to express the Father, the Spirit comes as the realization of the Son.
Concerning the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, we are using three crucial words: source, expression, and realization. The source is the Father, and the Son is the expression of the Father as the source. Furthermore, the Spirit is the realization of the Son as the Father’s expression, and this realization is ultimate, consummate. The consummation of the Triune God is not solely the Spirit; this consummation is the Spirit as the realization of the Son, who is the expression of the Father as the source. Therefore, here we have the realization, the expression, and the source.
Neither the Father as the source nor the Son as the expression can reach us in an ultimate way. As the source, the Father cannot reach us at all. As the expression of the Father, the Son can reach us in an objective way, but He cannot reach us in a subjective way. To say that the Son cannot reach us in a subjective way means that He can be among us or with us but not in us, apart from the Spirit. In order for the Son as the expression of the Father to reach us subjectively, that is, to enter into us to dwell in us, there is the need of the Spirit. As the realization of the Son, the Spirit enters into us to be experienced, enjoyed, and possessed by us. Furthermore, the Spirit as the realization of the Son becomes one with us in our spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). This is the entering in of the Triune God into us.
When the Spirit enters into us, the Son comes with the Spirit, and the Father comes in the Son. This means that when the Spirit as the realization reaches us, enters into us, and becomes one with us in our spirit, the entire Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — is in us. When the realization, the Spirit, becomes our portion and enjoyment, we also have the source, the Father, and the expression, the Son. Along with the realization, both the source and the expression are in us. Therefore, once we possess the Spirit as the realization, we also possess the Son as the expression and the Father as the source. In other words, if we have the Spirit, we have all three of the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The entire Triune God dwells within us.
By the Lord’s mercy I can testify that daily I experience the realization of the Triune God. Daily and hourly I have the Father as the source, the Son as the expression, and the Spirit as the realization. I enjoy the Spirit, the Son, and the Father, and I experience the Triune God dispensing Himself into me. Day by day the Triune God is dispensed into me for my experience and enjoyment. As a result, my daily life is the realization of the Triune God, and this realization is the all-inclusive Spirit. Therefore, the all-inclusive Spirit is the full realization of the Triune God.
We are not only being filled with the Triune God; we are also immersed into Him. For us to be filled with Him means that He is within us; for us to be immersed into Him means that we are in Him. This is the real mingling with the Triune God. Continually, the Triune God is dispensing Himself into us, and we are being immersed into Him in order to be mingled with Him.
As He mingles Himself with us, simultaneously He makes us one unit with Him. In this way He makes us an abode of the Father’s house. All the abodes of the Father’s house are branches of the universal vine revealed in John 15. Hence, the vine is the Father’s house, and the branches of the vine are the abodes of the Father’s house. If we realize this, we should say, “Hallelujah, I am one of the abodes of the Father’s house and one of the branches in the vine!”
What makes it possible for us to be abodes of the Father’s house and branches in the vine? This is not possible by what we are naturally, by what we are in our natural being. We can become abodes of the Father’s house and branches of the universal vine only by being mingled with the Triune God. We need the Spirit as the realization of the Triune God to fill us and saturate us, and we need to be immersed in this Spirit. Then the Spirit will be one with us, and we will be one with the Spirit. In this way our regenerated being and the Spirit become one entity, and this entity is an abode of the Father’s house and a branch in the universal vine. As those who have the Triune God in them, we become abodes of the Father’s house and branches in the vine. How wonderful! We become abodes and branches through the Triune God dispensing Himself into us and mingling Himself with us.
Do not take this chapter on the Spirit merely as a doctrine. As you are reading this chapter, you need to consider it in the light of your experience. According to your experience, is not the Christian life a life of having the Triune God dispensed into us and mingling Himself with us? While the Triune God is dispensing Himself into us, He mingles Himself with us. I can testify that sometimes this experience of the Triune God dispensing Himself into us and mingling Himself with us makes us beside ourselves with joy. Through this dispensing and mingling we may be so happy in the Lord that we may momentarily forget where we are and who we are. It may seem that we are not on earth but in the heavens. Every Christian should have this kind of experience in the Triune God. If you have never experienced the Triune God in this way, your experience as a Christian is below normal, below the standard.
When we experience the Triune God dispensing Himself into us and mingling Himself with us, we realize that in Him we are excellent, wonderful persons. A married sister who experiences the Triune God in this way will be an excellent wife, and a married brother with this enjoyment will be an excellent husband. How marvelous it is to experience the Triune God dispensing Himself into us and mingling Himself with us! It may seem to some that this is a dream. If this is a dream, then I would say that all Christians need such a dream. If you have never experienced this dream, you may be a religious Christian, but you are not a Christian according to God’s New Testament economy. In other words, in your experience you do not have the dispensing and the mingling of the Triune God. We can testify that this experience of the Triune God makes us God-men, persons filled with the Triune God and immersed in Him.
Chapters 14 through 17 of the Gospel of John reveal the Triune God. According to these chapters, the Father is in the Son, the Son is the Spirit, and the Spirit comes to us and enters into us. When the Spirit enters into us, we experience the dispensing of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit and also the mingling with the Triune God.
There are times when the experience of the dispensing of the Triune God and of being mingled with Him should cause us to be beside ourselves with joy. We should not remain serious and sober in a natural way, but we should have the wonderful enjoyment of the Triune God. Those who in their experience know what it means to be beside themselves with joy because of the dispensing of the Triune God into them cause me to be very happy and encouraged concerning the future of the Lord’s recovery. I am especially happy to see young people filled with the Lord and enjoying Him. Oh, let us all enjoy the Triune God dispensing Himself into us and being mingled with us! This dispensing and mingling will bring us into an ecstasy in Him. It will take us out of ourselves and cause us to be full of joy in the Lord. Using electricity as an illustration, we may also say that the more we experience the dispensing of the Triune God and are mingled with Him, the more we will be “electrified,” the more we will be “charged” with divine electricity, which is the Triune God transmitted into our being.
The Spirit is also another Paraclete. Concerning this, John 14:16 says, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever.” This Comforter is the Spirit of reality (v. 17). Paraclete is the anglicized form of the Greek word parakletos, which denotes one alongside who takes care of our cause, our affairs. The same Greek word is rendered “Advocate” in 1 John 2:1. Today we have both the Lord Jesus in the heavens as well as the Spirit within us as our Paraclete, taking care of our case. The Spirit as the reality of Jesus ministers to us and takes care of all our needs.
The Spirit receives all that is of the Son and thereby becomes the Son’s transfiguration. This is revealed in John 16:14 and 15: “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.” These verses indicate that the Father has given all that He has to the Son and that the Spirit will receive what is the Son’s and declare it to the disciples. Because the Father has given everything He has to the Son, the Son is His embodiment. Now whatever the Son is has been passed on to the Spirit. Hence, the Spirit is the transfiguration of the Son. By this we see that the Son is the embodiment of the Father, and the Spirit is the transfiguration of the Son. We have the transfiguration and also the embodiment. This means that when we have the Spirit, we have the Son, and when we have the Son, we have the Father. We have all three: the Father as the source, the Son as the embodiment of the Father, and the Spirit as the transfiguration of the Son.
