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The Bible reveals that the word of the Lord, as the seed of life, contains the life of God (1 Pet. 1:23). A seed is something tangible, yet it contains life, which is intangible. Consider, for example, a flower seed. We can see the seed but not its life; nevertheless, life is hidden in the seed. Like a seed, the word of the Lord is tangible, but within it is the intangible life of God; wherever it is sown, it will blossom.
The Bible likens the heart of man to a field (Matt. 13:3, 8). When the word of God, which can be compared to a seed, is sown into the field of the heart of man, the life of God will grow. This growth is God’s regeneration of man. First Peter 1:23 says, “Having been regenerated not of corruptible seed but of...the living and abiding word of God.” We have been regenerated through the living and abiding word of God. The word of God has been spread for many centuries both in the East and in the West, and as long as it is sown into the field of the heart of man, a life that is intangible yet real will grow forth. This is God’s regeneration of man.
John 6:63 says, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” Although life is hidden in the Lord’s words, the Spirit must be in the words in order for the words to have life. Without the Lord’s Spirit the Lord’s words are without life; the Lord’s words must have the Lord’s Spirit to have the Lord’s life. God’s life is with His Spirit, and His Spirit is in His words.
Furthermore, we need to be clear that the Spirit does not follow life but rather that life follows the Spirit. Life is within the Spirit; we can touch life only through the Spirit. We can know life only when we know the Spirit, and we can touch life only when we touch the Spirit. What is life, and how can we touch life? Life is the Spirit. To touch the Spirit is to touch life, and to know the Spirit is to know life. For us to learn the lesson of the fellowship of life, we must touch the matter of the Spirit and know the Spirit based on a foundation of the knowledge of life. Otherwise, we will have no way to know the matter of life and no way to experience the fellowship of life.
The Gospel of John speaks about God becoming flesh to be our life. If we truly know the Gospel of John, we will see that it begins with life. Then it turns from life to the Spirit in chapter 3, and in chapter 20, on the evening of the Lord’s resurrection, He came into the midst of the disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22). This shows that where the Spirit is, there is life; without the Spirit, there is no life.
John 1:4 says, “In Him was life,” showing that for God to be man’s life is for Him to regenerate man (vv. 12-13). God being man’s life to regenerate him is a matter in the Spirit. Hence, in chapter 3 the focus turns from life to the Spirit. Verse 6 says, “That which is born of the Spirit”; then verses 15 and 16 say that those who are born of the Spirit have the eternal life of God. Here we see life and the Spirit. In chapter 4 the Lord spoke with the Samaritan woman about the matter of the living water that issues from the eternal life. The Lord particularly said, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness” (v. 24). Here the Lord clearly turned from life to the Spirit. To touch life by drinking the living water of life, one must contact and worship God, who is Spirit, by being in spirit.
In 6:63 the Lord said, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” Obviously, life is in the Spirit. Where the Spirit is, there is life. In 7:38 the Lord said, “He who believes into Me...out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” The rivers are the flowing of the Spirit of the resurrected Christ from within man. In other words, after Christ’s death, resurrection, and glorification, the Spirit of life, the Spirit of resurrection, enters into man and becomes rivers of living water flowing out of man. Therefore, we cannot separate life from the Spirit; life is with the Spirit. When we know the Spirit, we know life. So far, we have seen four main points: life, the Spirit, the Word, and resurrection. The Gospel of John speaks first of life, then turns from life to the Spirit, and then goes on to say that the Spirit is in the word and that, in resurrection, this Spirit becomes rivers of living water flowing out of man.
John 1 starts with, “In the beginning was the Word.” The Greek term for Word here is logos, which can be likened to “great words,” but the Greek term for words in chapter 6 is rhema, which can be likened to “small words.” Logos may be likened to a lamb, and rhema to a small piece of meat cut off from the lamb. We cannot eat the lamb in its entirety, but we can cut the lamb into small pieces and cook them for eating. As a whole lamb, the Word who became flesh in chapter 1 is slaughtered and cut in chapter 6. In verses 50 and 51 the Lord said that He is the bread which came down out of heaven, indicating that He is man’s food. In verse 55 He also said, “My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.” The separation of blood from the flesh signifies death, indicating that there is a process of being slain. If the Lord was a “complete” lamb, there would be no way for Him to be eaten by man; He had to be slain and processed in order to be eaten by man to become man’s life.
When the Lord told the Jews, “My flesh is true food...he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (vv. 55, 57), they were puzzled. They wondered how the Lord could give His flesh for man to eat and how man could have life by eating His flesh. The answer is in verse 63: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” The Lord was referring to the fact that His words, rhema, are spirit and that it is the Spirit who gives life. The Lord’s words are spirit and are life. Hence, in this chapter the Lord’s words can be compared to “meat” cut into small pieces for eating; hence, they are “small words,” rhema, which are different from the “great words,” logos, in chapter 1. Through the process of the Lord’s death, logos became rhema. A complete lamb became small pieces of meat, and the great words became small words. In this way He could enter into man to be man’s life.
The Lord is the Word who was in the beginning (1:1). As the Lamb of God (v. 29), He passed through a process to be food to man (6:51) so that man might eat Him and receive Him. After a lamb has been slain and eaten, it gets into us. After the lamb has been eaten, however, is it gone? No! Instead, the lamb enters into us, becomes us, and is now “living” in us. The lamb has become us and is living in us to be our life; the lamb is not gone. What has become life in us? In spiritual terms, it is resurrection. Death is a process through which the lamb passed; the resurrected lamb is within us.
In John 12:24 the Lord said, “Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” For the grain of wheat to bear much fruit is for it to bring forth many grains, that is, for it to enter into many grains. The Gospel of John is a record of how the God who was in the beginning became flesh, and how through being slain, He became edible “meat” for us who believe in Him to eat and digest so that He can be with us forever and never leave us again. This is called resurrection. Resurrection is the Lord Himself entering into us and living in us. This is the reason the Gospel of John has no record of the Lord’s ascension. It contains a record only of His becoming flesh, passing through death, and making a turn to come into us and live in us. This is resurrection.
How did the Lord enter into us? How did He make this turn and come into us? In the Gospel of John He made several turns. The first turn is in chapter 1: the Word became flesh to bring God into man. The second turn is in chapter 14: the Lord in the flesh became the Spirit through death and resurrection. We need to remember that resurrection is the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit is resurrection. In chapter 7 the Lord linked resurrection, the Holy Spirit, and glorification: “The Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified” (v. 39). Then in chapter 14 the Lord explained even more clearly how He became the Spirit. This is a great turn in the Gospel of John.
In chapter 14 the Lord spoke of His transfiguration from the flesh into the Spirit. The Lord told His disciples that He would go, and this troubled them (vv. 1-2). His going refers to His death. However, the Lord also said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you” (v. 18). His coming to us refers to His resurrection. There is no mention of the Lord’s ascension and His second coming in John 14. Brethren teachers, even though they are rich in truth, interpret coming in chapter 14 as being related to the Lord’s second coming; this is incorrect. In chapter 14 going refers to the Lord’s death, and coming refers to His resurrection. His going and coming are His death and resurrection. He went into death in the flesh and came back in resurrection as the Spirit. Through His going and coming, which is His death and resurrection, He became the Spirit.
In the beginning the Lord’s life was intangible, but one day the Word, who was in the beginning, became flesh and tabernacled among us. When the Lord Jesus was with the twelve disciples, He was tabernacling among them. Then in chapter 14 He spoke of His going and coming, which refer to His death and resurrection. Through His death and resurrection He was transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit. Chapter 1 says that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. Chapter 14 says that when the Spirit of reality comes, He will abide with us and be in us; this abiding is an eternal abiding. His becoming the Spirit, referred to in chapter 14, transpired in resurrection.
There are at least six issues of the Lord’s entering into us as the Spirit. First, He enters into us to abide with us forever (v. 16). Second, He causes us to live as Christ lives; that is, He causes Christ to live in us (v. 17). Third, He reminds us of the things that the Lord said; that is, He speaks and explains Christ to us inwardly (v. 26). This means that the Christ in the four Gospels is being spoken of and explained to us by Himself as the Spirit in us. These points are seen in chapter 14. Fourth, the Spirit testifies in us concerning Christ; this is seen in chapter 15, verse 26.
Fifth, the Spirit in us guides us into all the reality; this is seen in chapter 16. To guide us into all the reality is to guide us into all the reality of God that is in Christ (v. 13). Sixth, the Spirit glorifies Christ in us so that Christ may have the preeminence in us, just as He has the preeminence in the universe; this is seen in chapter 17. The Spirit shows how Christ inherits all things in the universe and all that is of God, and in the same way, Christ in us should gain all that is of us. His entering into us has at least these six issues that are the content of life.
In summary, from the Gospel of John we see that the Lord in us is life, that He became the Spirit so that He can live in us. We see that the Spirit speaks Christ to us, explaining to us the Christ who is recorded in the four Gospels. Moreover, the Spirit testifies in us concerning Christ, guides us into all the reality, and glorifies Christ in us. All these items are the functions of life, and they are also the resurrected Christ as the content of life in us. I hope that all of us will enter into and muse on these messages carefully. If we would know the content of life, we need to know these six points; nearly all the contents of life can be found in these six points.
When the Spirit of resurrection enters into man, He convicts man concerning sin, concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment (16:8). Concerning sin is related to Adam, concerning righteousness is related to Christ, and concerning judgment is related to Satan. The Holy Spirit shows man his sinful condition in Adam, and then He shows man that he can be justified in Christ. Man can be justified in Christ because Christ died and resurrected. Without being justified in Christ by being transferred into Him, a sinful man in Adam will certainly follow Satan and come under the judgment of God. This is because the ruler of this world, Satan, has been judged (v. 11).
The ruler of this world has been judged, and all those who follow him will be judged. If men are willing to be Satan’s people and follow him, they will be judged with him. Matthew 25:41 says that the eternal fire is prepared for Satan and his angels, not for men. We were sinners in Adam, but we can be transferred into Christ and be justified rather than following Satan and coming under God’s judgment. The Holy Spirit convicts us inwardly concerning these three points so that we may repent and confess our sins for our regeneration. When we are regenerated, we are saved and made alive from within, and there are these six issues of life.
The Gospel of John shows that Christ in the flesh passed through death and resurrection, and in resurrection He became the Spirit to enter into us to be our life. In the beginning the Spirit shows our condition in Adam, and then He shows the result we have in Christ and the end of those who follow Satan, thereby convicting us concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment so that we may repent and confess our sins. In this way the Spirit enters into us and grants these six issues. These six issues are the story of life in us. First, the Spirit in us is our life; second, Christ lives in us; third, the Spirit in us explains and speaks Christ to us; fourth, the Spirit in us testifies concerning Christ; fifth, the Spirit guides us into all the reality of God that is in Christ; and sixth, the Spirit glorifies Christ in us so that Christ may have the preeminence in us and possess all that is ours. This is the story of life in us after our regeneration.
We frequently speak of life, but what exactly is life? When someone walks slowly and is polite and gentle, do we say that this is life? When someone looks stern and angry, do we say that this is not life? No, we cannot say this; rather, we must consider these six issues. Life is Christ living in us, and the Spirit is explaining and speaking Christ in us, testifying to us concerning Christ, guiding us into the reality of God in Christ so that He may have the ground and everything in us, and enthroning Christ in us so that He may be glorified. This is stated repeatedly in John 14 through 17. This is life.
From John 1 through 17 we see two great turns of the Lord. One is that He became flesh to come into the midst of men; the other is that He became the Spirit through death and resurrection in order to enter into men, thereby producing these six issues in us. The purpose of the Lord’s prayer in John 17 is to ask God to fulfill the story of life spoken of in the previous chapters. In chapter 18 the Lord was betrayed and judged, in chapter 19 He died and was buried, and in chapter 20 He was resurrected. In resurrection He came into the midst of the disciples, breathed into them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22). The disciples were surprised that the Lord could enter into the room when all the doors were shut. In that small room there was the story of life. Because the Lord was resurrected and He became the Spirit, the disciples could receive Him as easily as breathing. The story of the entire Gospel of John is hidden in the Holy Spirit whom the Lord breathed into the disciples. If we would simply inhale Him as in breathing, He would immediately come into us to be our life; in resurrection He becomes so available.
In chapter 20 the Lord’s breathing into the disciples seems to be a small matter; actually, it is a great matter. This breath is the holy breath, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is too great a thing. The story of life and all spiritual reality are in the Spirit, and the Spirit, like air, is always available to us. Once we breathe in the Holy Spirit, we have all the stories of life, such as the Lord’s incarnation and His death and resurrection. Incarnation brought God into man, and death and resurrection brought man into God. All the content of life, the aspects of life, and the spiritual stories in John 1 through 20 are included in the Holy Spirit in chapter 20.
The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of resurrection, is the issue of the two great steps taken by the Lord: His incarnation and His death and resurrection. The Spirit of resurrection contains all His stories of life. All we have to do is breathe Him in, pray to Him, change our concept, repent, confess our sins, and worship Him, and we will instantly obtain Him. We simply need to have a small amount of spiritual breathing, and the Holy Spirit will come into us immediately. All the content of the story of life is in the Holy Spirit and also in our spirit. Through the Spirit’s begetting our spirit, the Spirit with all His riches and the fullness of life can easily enter into our spirit and dwell in us as our supply and reality.
