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Week 10 — Day 1
Gen. 1:2 ...The Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters.
Judg. 6:34 And the Spirit of Jehovah clothed Gideon...
Isa. 63:11 ...He who put in their midst His Spirit of holiness.
According to the entire revelation of the sixty-six books of the Bible, the Divine Trinity — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — is for God’s dispensing....God’s desire with His strong intention is to dispense Himself into His chosen people as their life, as their life supply, and as their everything. To carry out this dispensing He needs to be triune.
In Jeremiah 2:13 God refers to Himself as the fountain of living waters; in John 4:14 Christ is the fountain of water springing up in the believers into eternal life; and in Revelation 22:1 the Spirit is the flow, the river of water of life. The Father is the fountain, the source, and the Son is the spring as the course to express the source. This course, this spring, issues in a flow, which is the Spirit as the reaching, the application, of the Triune God.72
Among the three of the Trinity, the Spirit is the most important in the sense of His being the realization, application, and reaching of the Triune God to us.73
God’s move in man is altogether a story of the Spirit. Without the Spirit, there is no history of God because God is totally a matter of Spirit. The difference between God’s move, God’s act, God’s work, and religions is that religions do not have the Spirit. They may have some spirits, but those spirits are demonic, devilish, and satanic. There is only one genuine, divine Spirit; that is God Himself.74
In [this portion] on the Spirit we shall [only be able to cover in part] the Spirit’s person, symbols,...and work.75
Every story in the Old Testament is related to God. The first story is concerning God’s creation of the heavens and the earth, with millions of items, and His creation of man. In this story the Spirit of God is mentioned. Genesis 1:1 says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then the following verse says, “The Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters.” Thus, we see that the Spirit was the Spirit of God in God’s creation of the universe.
After His creation, God began to work on man. In God’s work on man, His name is Jehovah. The Spirit of Jehovah is in God’s reaching of men and in His care for men (Judg. 3:10; 6:34; Gen. 6:3a)....Jehovah simply means to be. God was, God is, and God shall be forever. He is the great I Am.
God told Moses that His name was “I Am Who I Am” (Exo. 3:14). This means, “I am always the thing which should be.” If there is the need of light, He is the light. If there is a need of life, He is the life. He is everything. The Lord Jesus Himself told us that His name is “I Am” (John 8:58). The name I Am means that the very One who works on man is everything to man. He takes care of man and He comes upon man. This is Jehovah in His reaching of man and in His care for man.
God is caring for man mainly to make man holy. To be holy means to be separated unto God.76 The Spirit of holiness refers to the nature and essence of God....[Moreover,] the Spirit of holiness is a description of what God is.77 Man’s fall caused him to depart from God to become common, worldly, secular, and even dirty. So God needs to take care of man, making man separate from all things other than Himself. This is to make man holy. Thus, the Spirit in the Old Testament is the Spirit of holiness in God’s making His chosen people holy unto Himself (Psa. 51:11; Isa. 63:10-11). This is not the same as the Holy Spirit, which is used in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit is more intensified than the Spirit of holiness.78
Week 10 — Day 2
Matt. 1:20 ...That which has been begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.
1 Cor. 15:45 ...The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.
[Because there are a number of titles for the Spirit in the New Testament, we shall only be able to cover twelve of them for our purpose here.] In the New Testament the Holy Spirit is the first divine title ascribed to the Spirit of God.79 This divine title is first used when God came in to prepare a forerunner of the Lord Jesus (Luke 1:15) and a human body for Christ (v. 35). This indicates that the Holy Spirit is related to the incarnation of God.
Spirit denotes the nature of God, the nature of God’s person, and holy denotes an attribute of God’s nature. God’s nature is holy. Incarnation is a matter of bringing God’s nature into man. God desires to make His chosen people holy in the divine nature so that they may be holy even as He is holy [Lev. 19:2; 1 Pet. 1:16].
The Holy Spirit in God’s incarnation makes man distinct from being common as God is distinct in His holy nature.... The Holy Spirit, of whom the holy Jesus (Acts 3:14) was conceived and born as mentioned in Matthew 1:18 and 20, will make the believers of the holy Jesus intrinsically holy as He is holy in the divine nature. Eventually, all these believers will consummate in the holy city, the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2).80
Galatians 4:6 says, “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father!”...God the Father sent forth God the Son to redeem us from the law that we might receive sonship (Gal. 4:4-5). He also sends forth God the Spirit to impart His life into us that we may become His sons in reality....Once we have been born of the Spirit, we need the Spirit in order to grow in life. Without the Spirit we cannot have the position, right, or privilege of sonship....But when the Spirit comes, the sonship is made real. The Spirit of the Son of God, therefore, is the reality of sonship.81 Although the Spirit of sonship has come into our spirit, the Spirit cries in our hearts, Abba, Father. This indicates that our relationship with our Father in the sonship is sweet and very intimate....How tender and sweet it is to call God, Abba, Father! Such an intimate calling involves our emotion as well as our spirit....This proves that we have a genuine, bona fide relationship in life with our Father. We are His real sons.82
The Life-giving Spirit
First Corinthians 15:45...tells us that the last Adam, who was Christ in the flesh, became a life-giving Spirit. The Redeemer, the Savior, who passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, became a life-giving Spirit.83 Christ’s being the last Adam means that after Him there is no more Adam. In Christ, Adam was ended.84The title “the life-giving Spirit” indicates that the Spirit is moving, working, and living in us to impart life into us....The Spirit is the life-imparting Spirit, working to give life to our whole being.85
The term “the Spirit of life” is used only once in the New Testament — in Romans 8:2. The Spirit is not only the life-giving Spirit but also the Spirit of life. The Spirit of life is the reality of life, for this Spirit contains the element of the divine life. Actually, the Spirit Himself is life. Therefore, with the Spirit of life we have the riches of the divine life.
The way to have life is the Spirit. Life belongs to the Spirit, and the Spirit is of life. These two are actually one.... Thus, the way to experience the divine, eternal, uncreated life is the Spirit of life.86
Week 10 — Day 3
Phil. 1:19 For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
2 Cor. 3:18 But 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.
In the New Testament, the life-giving Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7). This title of the Spirit is concerning Jesus in His humanity, who passed through human living and death on the cross. It indicates that in the Spirit there is not only the divine element of God but also the human element of Jesus and the elements of His human living and suffering of death.
The Spirit of Christ is concerning Christ in His divinity, who conquered death and became the life in resurrection with the resurrection power, indicating that in the Spirit there is the element of divinity that became the death-conquering and the life-dispensing Spirit (Rom. 8:9b).
The Spirit of Jesus Christ refers to the Spirit, comprising all the elements of Jesus’ humanity with His death and Christ’s divinity with His resurrection, who becomes the bountiful supply of the unsearchable Christ for the support of His believers (Phil. 1:19b).87
The Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18) is a compound title like the Father God and the Lord Christ. This means that the Spirit is the Lord.88 When we call “O Lord,” we get the Spirit, the Lord Spirit. This Spirit is the transforming Spirit....If a quick person called, “O Lord Spirit” again and again for two weeks, he would be slowed down. The Lord Spirit changes us, transforms us. He transforms us into the image of the resurrected and glorified Christ from glory to glory.89
The Spirit of grace [Heb. 10:29] simply means that the Triune God in the Son as the Spirit becomes our enjoyment. The Spirit is the reaching of the Triune God to us. The Son could not get into us until He became the Spirit. He was among the disciples, but He needed to go through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit (John 14:16-20; 1 Cor. 15:45). Then He was able to breathe Himself as the holy breath [Spirit] into the disciples for their enjoyment (John 20:22).
When the Bible uses expressions such as the Spirit of grace, the Spirit of life, and the Spirit of reality, this means that the Spirit is grace, life, and reality. Therefore, when we are the partakers of the Holy Spirit [Heb. 6:4], this means that we are the partakers of the Holy Spirit as grace....It is always better to pray, “Thank You Lord for another day, a new day, and thank You that I have the grace to live You today.”...The grace we received is the eternal grace which is the eternal, unlimited Spirit. It is inexhaustible.90
The writings of John reveal that the Spirit is the Spirit of reality (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 4:6). The Spirit is called the Spirit of reality because whatever the Father in the Son is and whatever the Son is, is realized in the Spirit....God the Father is light, and God the Son is life. The reality of this light and life is the Spirit. If we do not have the Spirit, we cannot have the light of God the Father. If we do not have the Spirit, we cannot have God the Son as our life. The reality of all the divine attributes of both God the Father and God the Son is the Spirit....Eventually, because the Spirit is the reality, He is...the reality of God, the Son, eternal life, grace, and every divine matter.91
Week 10 — Day 4
Rev. 1:4 ...Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne.
John 7:39 But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.
In the book of Revelation the Spirit is called the seven Spirits (1:4; 4:5; 5:6), the sevenfold intensified Spirit to counteract the degradation of the church. The seven Spirits in Revelation 1:4 undoubtedly are the Spirit of God because They are ranked among the Triune God. As seven is the number for completion in God’s operation, so the seven Spirits must be for God’s move on earth. In substance and existence God’s Spirit is one. In the intensified function and work of God’s operation His Spirit is sevenfold. It is like the lampstand in Zechariah 4:2. In existence it is one lampstand, but in function it is seven lamps. At the time the book of Revelation was written, the church had become degraded, and the age was dark. Therefore, the sevenfold intensified Spirit of God was needed for God’s move on earth.
Revelation 4:5 says, “And out of the throne come forth lightenings and voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” The seven lamps here refer to the seven lamps of the lampstand in Exodus 25:37 and the seven lamps of the lampstand in Zechariah 4:2. The seven lamps of fire which are the seven Spirits of God signify the enlightening and searching of the sevenfold intensified Spirit of God. In Exodus 25 and Zechariah 4 the seven lamps, signifying the enlightening of the Spirit of God in God’s move, are for God’s building, either for the tabernacle or the rebuilding of the temple. Here the seven lamps are for God’s judgment, which will issue also in God’s building — the building of the New Jerusalem.92
Revelation 5:6 tells us that the seven Spirits of God are the seven eyes of the Lamb.93 Whereas the seven Spirits as the seven lamps of burning fire are for enlightening and burning, the seven Spirits as the seven eyes of the Lamb are for observing, searching, and transfusing.94 Eventually, these flaming eyes infuse us with all that He is, metabolically transforming us into His being....How we need to see this vision! This is God’s recovery today.95
When all the aspects and elements of the Spirit are put together, we have a totality, an aggregate, known in the New Testament as the Spirit (Mark 1:10; Matt. 4:1; 12:31; John 3:5, 34; 7:39; Acts 6:3; 8:18; Rom. 8:16, 23, 26, 27; Gal. 3:2, 14; 5:16-18, 22, 25; 1 Pet. 1:2; Rev. 2:7; 14:13; 22:17). As the Bible is the book, so the Spirit of God today is the Spirit.96 John 7:39 says that “the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.”97 The Spirit of God was there from the beginning (Gen. 1:1-2), but at the time the Lord spoke this word, the Spirit as the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9), the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19), was not yet, because the Lord had not yet been glorified. Jesus was glorified when He was resurrected (Luke 24:26). After Jesus’ resurrection, the Spirit of God became the Spirit of the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Jesus Christ, who was breathed into the disciples by Christ in the evening of the day on which He was resurrected (John 20:22). The Spirit is now the “another Comforter,” the Spirit of reality promised by Christ before His death (14:16-17). When the Spirit was the Spirit of God, He had only the divine element. After He became the Spirit of Jesus Christ through Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, the Spirit had both the divine element and the human element, with all the essence and reality of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ. Hence, the Spirit is now the all-inclusive Spirit of Jesus Christ as the living water for us to receive (7:38-39).98
Week 10 — Day 5
John 20:22 ...He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.
Exo. 30:25 And you shall make it a holy anointing oil, a fragrant ointment compounded according to the work of a compounder; it shall be a holy anointing oil.
The Spirit is the reality of all the divine entities and matters....Because the Spirit is mysterious and beyond our understanding, the New Testament uses many different symbols, figures of speech, to describe Him. In this [portion] we shall...consider [three of] the symbols of the Spirit.99
On the night of resurrection, the Lord came into the midst of the disciples and breathed into them a breath, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). The Holy Spirit here is actually the resurrected Christ Himself, because the Spirit is simply His breath.100 By breathing the Spirit into the disciples, the Lord Jesus imparted Himself into them as life and everything.
The Greek word for Spirit in this verse is pneuma, a word that is used for breath, spirit, and wind. Therefore, this verse can be rightly translated, “Receive the holy breath.” On the day of His resurrection Christ breathed Himself into His disciples as the holy breath....The divine breath in John 20:22 is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God reaching His redeemed people.101
The living water is a symbol of the Spirit (Exo. 17:6; John 4:10, 14; 7:38-39). Exodus 17:6 speaks of the living water coming out of the cleft rock. First Corinthians 10:4 tells us that the cleft rock was a rock that followed the children of Israel [and the rock was Christ]. The living water that flowed out of the cleft rock typifies the Spirit as our all-inclusive drink. In John 4 the Lord Jesus told the Samaritan woman that He had the living water to give her. Then in John 7 He said that rivers of living water would flow out of the innermost being of His believers.... Rivers of living water are the many flows of the different aspects of life of the one unique river of water of life (Rev. 22:1).102 One river is the river of peace, and other rivers are joy, comfort, righteousness, life, holiness, love, patience, and humility. These rivers of living water flow out from the depths of our being. This is the Spirit as living water.103
In the Scriptures the Spirit of God is first typified by oil [Isa. 61:1; Heb. 1:9]. This oil is one element, one entity, without any compounding, mingling, or blending. But in Exodus 30 [vv. 23-25] the oil is compounded with four kinds of spices: myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia.104 In typology...flowing myrrh signifies Christ’s death, and cinnamon signifies the sweetness and effectiveness of His death. Calamus, a reed that grows in a marsh or muddy place, shooting upward toward the sky, signifies resurrection. Cassia signifies the repelling power and effectiveness of Christ’s resurrection. Cassia is a kind of bark that was used as a repellent to repel snakes and insects. Thus, cassia signifies the power, especially the repelling power, of Christ’s resurrection. His resurrection has the power to repel Satan, the serpent.105 These four spices, precious and fragrant, were blended, mingled, compounded, with the oil. As a result, the oil becomes a compound ointment.106 This compound ointment is a picture of today’s compound Spirit.107 Before Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, the Spirit of God did not have these four elements. But after Christ’s resurrection these elements were compounded into the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God became the Spirit, the compound Spirit symbolized by the compound ointment (see Life-study of Exodus, Messages 157-163).108
Week 10 — Day 6
1 John 2:20 And you have an anointing from the Holy One...
Rom. 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.
The record concerning the compound ointment in Exodus 30 is extremely significant....The revelation concerning the compound ointment was not given in chapter one of Exodus...but toward the end of chapter thirty, after God’s dwelling place [the tabernacle] and the priesthood [God’s serving ones] had been revealed....[Exodus 30:26-28, 30] make it very clear that the compound ointment was strictly for the purpose of anointing the tabernacle and the priests.109 Where are you concerning the enjoyment of Christ? Are you before the revelation of the tabernacle and the priesthood, or after?...This ointment can be enjoyed only after God’s dwelling place and the body of serving ones have come into existence. It is not for God’s chosen people to enjoy apart from God’s dwelling and His priesthood.110...This indicates that the compound Spirit is for God’s building and for His priesthood....Only those who are for the building of God and the priesthood of God can have the enjoyment of the compound, all-inclusive, processed Spirit. All the ingredients, all the rich elements, of the compound Spirit are for God’s house and God’s priesthood.111
In 2 Corinthians 1:21 Paul says, “The One who firmly attaches us with you unto Christ and has anointed us is God.” First John 2:20 says that we have an anointing from the Holy One, and verse 27 says that this anointing abides in us. “Christ” is the anglicized form of the Greek word Christos, which means the anointed One....As soon as we believed in Him, He as the Spirit entered our spirit. Now He is within our spirit to anoint us, “paint” us, with the element of the Triune God. The more this “painting” goes on, the more the element of the Triune God is transfused into our being.112 [Remember,] God’s desire is to add Himself into us, to dispense Himself into us. While the Holy Spirit is anointing us, He kills the negative things in our being, and He purifies and cleanses us with all that Christ is.113 Today we all are under the anointing of the compound Spirit with Christ’s divinity, humanity, all-inclusive death, and wonderful resurrection. This is the Spirit as the compound ointment.114
Now we shall go on to [one aspect of] the Spirit’s work... in the believers for the divine dispensing.115
In Romans 8:2...“law” does not denote a commandment but a principle that operates automatically and spontaneously. A law is a natural regulation, a constant and unchanging rule. Every kind of life has such a law. The law of a certain life is the innate ability of that life. This ability is inborn, spontaneous, automatic, constant, and instant.116 A grain of wheat grows out wheat, and a peach tree brings forth peaches because there is a life law.117 There is no need to teach a peach tree to bring forth peaches because there is a law of life in that plant. In the same way, there is a law in our fallen human life. There is no need for anyone to teach us to lie or to commit sins. We have an evil life with an evil law of sin.
We praise the Lord that today we have another law, the law of the divine life.118 Since by regeneration we have received the life of God, we have naturally received from the life of God the most high and surpassing law of this life.119 With this life is the divine law that sets us free from the law of sin and of death.120
What is the way to give this divine law the proper opportunity and environment?...In order to let the Lord grow in us and let the divine law work within us, we must love the Lord, but we must also stop ourselves from trying to do anything....We should pray, “Lord, I love You, but Lord, I stop.” We do not stop loving, but we stop doing.121
1. The Holy Spirit is today
The Spirit of the life divine;
He quickens us and gives us life,
And makes us fit for God’s design.
2. As living water quenching thirst
The stream of life He e’er supplies;
Imparting Christ as life divine,
My hungry heart He satisfies.
3. Enlight’ning with the light of life,
He chases darkness far away;
Imparting Christ as light divine,
He turns for us the night to day.
4. He strengthens with the pow’r of life
To energize our inner man;
Imparting Christ as strength divine,
He moves within us for God’s plan.
5. By law of life He liberates,
And frees us from the law of sin;
And with the nature all divine
He regulates us from within.
6. As Spirit of the life divine,
Thru us abundant fruit He bears;
Expressing God-like attributes,
To others Christ in life He shares.
7. The Spirit ever giving life
Transforms me thus with life divine;
Renewing all my inward parts,
In life He makes Christ’s image mine.
8. Oh, by Thy Spirit, fill me, Lord,
The Spirit of Thy life divine,
And saturate me thoroughly
Till all my life is filled with Thine.
