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Scripture Reading: Matt. 3:16; Heb. 1:9; Acts 10:38; Luke 4:18-19; Matt. 12:18, 28; 4:1-2; Luke 4:1; John 3:34; Rev. 1:5; 3:14; 1 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 9:14
IV. In His ministry:
D. His moving for His ministry:
1. Under the Spirit’s anointing:
а. After He was baptized in the water, God anointed Him with the Spirit descending upon Him as a dove — Matt. 3:16.
b. Anointed by God with the oil of exultant joy above His partners — Heb. 1:9.
c. Anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and with power — Acts 10:38a.
d. The Spirit of the Lord was upon Him — Luke 4:18a.
e. God had put His Spirit upon Him — Matt. 12:18a.
f. Led by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil for forty days — 4:1-2; Luke 4:1.
g. As the One sent by God, speaking the words of God and giving the Spirit not by measure — John 3:34.
h. Going about doing good and healing all those who were being oppressed by the devil — Acts 10:38b.
i. Announcing the gospel to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, and sending away in release those who are oppressed — Luke 4:18-19.
j. Announcing justice to the Gentiles — Matt. 12:18b.
k. By the Spirit of God casting out the demons for the coming of the kingdom of God — v. 28.
l. Witnessing God faithfully — Rev. 1:5; 3:14.
m. Justified in the Spirit — 1 Tim. 3:16.
n. Through the eternal Spirit offering Himself without blemish to God that He may purify our conscience with His blood from dead works to serve the living God — Heb. 9:14.
2. That the God-man as God’s anointed One, Messiah, Christ, moved under the anointing of the Spirit of God is the accomplishment of God’s eternal economy in the God-man’s ministry while He was in the flesh and on the earth.
3. Christ as the first God-man on the one hand lived by the Father, who abode and worked in Him, and on the other hand moved and ministered by the Spirit. This indicates that the living of the first God-man was actually the living and moving of the processed Triune God in Christ’s human living on the earth.
Now that we have seen the living of Christ for His ministry, we want to go on to see His moving for His ministry. His living for the ministry is concerning His life. His moving for His ministry is concerning His work. The cross was the center of Christ’s living. The Spirit was the center of His work. The cross came first, and then the Spirit.
Christ’s move in His work was altogether under the Spirit’s anointing.
After He was baptized in the water, God anointed Him with the Spirit descending upon Him as a dove (Matt. 3:16). His being baptized signifies that He took the cross to put the man of flesh to death for burial. After the cross God anointed Him with the Spirit. This shows the operation of the Divine Trinity. The Father anointed the Son with the Spirit descending upon Him as a gentle and meek dove. This anointing was to equip Christ for His work and to armor Christ for His fighting. The weapon for Christ’s fighting is not a bomb but a dove. Also, the instrument for His work is not an ax but a dove. Today we are fighting for the kingdom of God and working for Christ, but we must remember that a dove is both our weapon and our instrument. Christ was a dove as He was being arrested and as He was being judged before the Jewish Sanhedrin. He was a dove before Pilate and Herod, the Roman authorities. He fought with and worked with a dove. Today we are fighting, working, laboring, and struggling, but our weapon and our instrument should be a dove. A dove has two eyes, but it can see only one thing at a time. This means that we should have a single view, focusing on God to trust in Him continually.
Christ was anointed by God with the oil of exultant joy above His partners (Heb. 1:9). If you have God’s anointing, you will be exultantly joyful. He was anointed with the oil of exultant joy above His partners. We cannot compare with Him. Even Peter and Paul cannot compare with Him. He is above all of us in this matter of anointing.
Acts 10:38a says that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power. Today the Spirit of God is so powerful. No one can measure His power to subdue the whole earth.
In Luke 4:18a the Lord said that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him.
In Matthew 12:18a God said concerning Christ, “I will put My Spirit upon Him.” God put such a powerful Spirit upon Christ in the flesh on the earth — a gentle, meek, and humble man.
He was not only under but also led by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil for forty days (4:1-2; Luke 4:1). In the universe, only the devil can have a kind of transaction with God as His opponent. God sent His Son to be a man with the intention to defeat Satan, but the Spirit of God led this One to be tempted by Satan. This was a kind of test for forty days. Every chosen slave, or servant, of God through the centuries has been first tested by the devil. We should not think that if we answer God’s call, we will be prosperous. The first thing we meet will not be prosperity but testing. Testing is not sweet but a difficult thing. We cannot escape. We have to pass the test.
As the One sent by God, Christ spoke the words of God and gave the Spirit not by measure (John 3:34). The Spirit was given by God to Him, and He gives the Spirit not by measure. The Spirit dwells within us unlimitedly. Christ is the One who speaks the word with the Spirit. When He speaks the word of God, He gives the Spirit without measure. When we speak the word, we should minister, dispense, the Spirit. Without the dispensing of the Spirit, our word is vanity and also death. Without the giving of the Spirit to accompany the speaking of the word, the word spoken by us is dead letters. We may hear just one message, but the Spirit we receive of the Lord in this message by His speaking is not by measure. To come to the meeting to hear the word is not vain. When we hear the word of God, the Spirit of God goes along with this word not by measure. We may hear only one message, but the measure of the Spirit we receive is without limitation.
He defeated the devil in the devil’s temptation. From that time onward, He was going about to do good and to heal all those who were being oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38b). He defeated the devil first; then He went out to defeat the devil for the release of the oppressed ones.
Christ announced the gospel to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, and sending away in release those who were oppressed (Luke 4:18-19).
Matthew 12:18b says that He announced justice to the Gentiles. Justice here refers to the all-inclusive Christ. If you have Christ, you have justice and peace. With injustice there is no peace and satisfaction. The nations of the world are struggling and fighting against one another because of injustice. None of them is satisfied. Justice means that Christ is satisfying you. When we have Christ, we are satisfied, and our conflict with others is terminated. When we are announcing Christ as everything to people, Christ satisfies them and brings them justice. If there is a feeling of injustice between you and someone else, this indicates that you are short of Christ. You need to receive more of Christ; then justice is there.
By the Spirit of God, Christ cast out demons for the coming of the kingdom of God (v. 28).
Revelation 1:5 and 3:14 say that Christ is the faithful Witness. His expressing God was His witnessing. Many people wondered who He was. This man was God, witnessing God.
First Timothy 3:16 says that He was justified in the Spirit. He was opposed, persecuted, and rejected by man, but He was justified in the Spirit. As One who was in the Spirit, He could not be condemned or criticized by anyone.
Through the eternal Spirit He offered Himself without blemish to God that He may purify our conscience with His blood from dead works to serve the living God (Heb. 9:14). For Christ to offer Himself to God to be crucified to accomplish redemption to bring us back to serve the living God was a great thing. This was difficult for Him in His humanity as seen by His prayer at Gethsemane. He prayed three times for the Father, if possible, to remove the cup of death from Him, but He ended by praying, “Yet not as I will, but as You will” (Matt. 26:39-44). That indicates that even He, Christ in the flesh, was suffering something that was not so easy for His humanity. He realized the need of the strengthening of the Spirit, so He offered Himself, including His humanity, to God through the eternal Spirit. What He accomplished in His redemption was eternal because it was done through the eternal Spirit. This indicates that He did everything through the Spirit.
The God-man as God’s anointed One, Messiah, Christ, moved under the anointing of the Spirit of God. This was the accomplishment of God’s eternal economy in the God-man’s ministry while He was in the flesh and on the earth.
Christ as the first God-man on the one hand lived by the Father, who abode and worked in Him (John 14:10), and on the other hand moved and ministered by the Spirit. John 14:10 says, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works.” This proves that while Christ was working, the Father was working in Him by abiding in Him. His living by the Father and ministering by the Spirit indicate that the living of the first God-man was actually the living and moving of the processed Triune God in Christ’s human living on the earth.
