Search
Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22; Gal. 5:16, 25; 6:18
The revelation of the Bible is that Christ came in the flesh to be the Lamb of God (John 1:29) that He might die on the cross in order to accomplish redemption, deal with all negative things — including sin, Satan, the flesh, and the world — solve all problems, and release the divine life from within Him. Following this, He rested for three days, and then He resurrected from the dead. In resurrection Christ as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). We must all be deeply impressed with the two steps that Christ took. First, as God, He became flesh to accomplish redemption and release His life, and then as the last Adam, He became the life-giving Spirit to impart Himself into us as life. Now sin is gone, and life, which is Christ Himself (John 11:25; 14:6), is here. Because God has forgiven us of our sins and Christ has imparted Himself into us as life, we have all become living members of Christ’s Body, His living organism for His expression. Whenever and wherever we come together, we are the church, the Body of Christ as His expression.
Now Christ is no longer only objective to us but very subjective. Therefore, we all need to live by this living, subjective One and walk in our spirit, which is regenerated and indwelt by the Spirit of God. This spirit is the mingled spirit, the human spirit mingled with the divine Spirit (3:6; Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22). We, the redeemed ones, do have a wonderful mingled spirit as the treasure in our being (2 Cor. 4:7). This mingled spirit is the source of every spiritual reality and spiritual attribute. Regardless of how young a person is, as long as he believes in the Lord Jesus, is washed by His redeeming blood, forgiven of all his sins, and regenerated in his spirit, he has this wonderful treasure within him. Regrettably, however, very few Christians are clear that as redeemed sinners and living members of Christ they have a wonderful spirit that is mingled with the divine Spirit. Some Christian teachers even oppose this truth. When we speak of our spirit mingled with the divine Spirit, some say that we are teaching “evolution into God.” This shortsightedness is an insult and even a blasphemy.
That we have a mingled spirit is according to the revelation of the Bible. Some say, “God is high, great, holy, and divine, but we are low, small, mean, and sinful. How can we sinful persons be mingled with God?” This argument neglects the spiritual facts. The first fact is in John 3:6, which says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This verse makes it clear that it is our spirit, not our mind or even our heart, that has been born of the divine Spirit.
The second fact, which is even stronger, is in 1 Corinthians 6:17, which says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” One spirit indicates a mingling. We are one spirit with the Lord because we have been joined to Him organically in our spirit. Our critics are shortsighted, even blinded, by their traditional concepts. They know that God is high and that we are low, but they do not see 1 Corinthians 6:17. The revelation of the mingled spirit is wonderful and great. Without being mingled, how can the human spirit and the divine Spirit become one? Many in Christianity say that the church is merely united with Christ. This is not wrong, since the Bible tells us that Christ is the Husband and the church is the wife (Eph. 5:25). However, while saying that our union with Christ is scriptural, some say that to be mingled with the Lord as one spirit is a heresy. These critics have been blinded by religion. They hold to Ephesians 5:25, but they do not see 1 Corinthians 6:17.
The third spiritual fact is that the New Testament repeatedly says that we are in Christ and that He is in us (1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:17; John 14:20; 15:4-5; 17:23, 26; Rom. 8:10; Gal. 2:20). If we were only in Christ but He were not in us, or vice versa, there would simply be an indwelling, not a mingling. However, the Bible says again and again that we are in Him and that He is also in us. This is not a mere indwelling; it is a mingling. We may illustrate this mingling by considering a glass of tea. Not only is the tea in the water, but the water is also in the tea. This is a mingling of the tea with the water. We all need to see the mingling of God and man. Some critics say that if we as human beings are mingled with God, God and we will both lose our natures. This thought is short even of scientific knowledge. When tea is mingled with water, both the nature of the tea and the nature of the water remain unchanged. It is not that the water is no longer water and that the tea is no longer tea. Although the two are mingled as one, they both retain their distinctive natures. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary defines mingle as “to bring or combine together or with something else so that the components remain distinguishable in the combination.” A clear Old Testament type of mingling is seen in the meal offering, which was composed of fine flour, signifying Christ’s humanity, mingled with oil, signifying the Holy Spirit as Christ’s divinity (Lev. 2:4). In such a mingling, the distinction between the two elements of fine flour and oil was preserved, and no third element was produced. The same is true regarding the mingling of divinity and humanity in the incarnated Christ and in His believers. Although the proper denotation of mingling is readily understood, most Christians still neglect the truth concerning mingling, and some condemn it as heretical. This is because they are veiled and blinded by their traditional, religious doctrine. We are not arguing here for doctrine; we are contending for the truth.
Today we are no longer like the children of Israel in the Old Testament, who had God only among them, not mingled with them. Because the God who was among them could not enter into them, He gave them five long books written by Moses, full of regulations, rituals, forms, and instructions. Today, however, the age has changed. God came in the flesh to accomplish redemption, the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit, and this Spirit, who is the realization of the Triune God, has come into us to regenerate us and mingle Himself with our spirit to make us one with Him. This is wonderful and marvelous! Today the very Triune God is within us and one with us. Because of this, we do not need books full of regulations, rituals, forms, and instructions. The New Testament has no such books. Rather, the apostle Paul charges us to live and walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25) and to walk according to the mingled spirit (Rom. 8:4). This all-inclusive charge is sufficient.
We all need to realize that the Triune God has been wrought into our being, and we have been joined to Him as one spirit. Perhaps some of the young people may say that they have no feeling of being one with the Lord. In actuality, they have much feeling day by day. The unbelieving young people do not have this reality within them, but the believing young people have something wonderful within them, which is the mingled spirit. We all have such a wonderful spirit within us. Many in Christianity have never been instructed to know that within them is a wonderful spirit. This is the reason that Christianity has so many doctrinal teachings. This was not Paul’s way. In 2 Timothy, for example, Paul did not write a long doctrinal letter. At the end of only four chapters he simply said, “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you” (4:22). Grace is Christ Himself for our enjoyment, and this Christ today is in our spirit.
Similarly, Paul said at the end of Galatians, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers” (6:18). In order to practice the church life in the Lord’s recovery, we do not need mere outward instructions. What we need is to walk according to the mingled spirit and enjoy Christ as grace in our spirit. To enjoy Christ as grace, we simply need to take a drink of Christ. In our daily living, drinking is very crucial. Every morning after I rise up, the first thing that I do is take a glass of water. Then at breakfast I drink something more, and throughout the day I drink even more. This is the reason I am so energetic. We need to drink Christ, who is the fountain in our spirit. The waters that Elisha healed in Jericho are a picture of the Christ whom we drink. Jericho is situated in a low valley, a desert that is full of dust and heat. Within that valley, however, is a strip of green land that is watered by the spring that Elisha healed (2 Kings 2:19-22). Originally, we all were a “Jericho,” cursed and condemned (Josh. 6:26), but our Elisha, Jesus Christ, has healed the waters within us. Today we all have a healed fountain of living water within us that springs up into eternal life (John 4:14). If we drink of this fountain day by day, the church will be watered and flourishing.
The local churches in the Lord’s recovery may be composed in several ways. A certain church may be composed of all ages, of which the church in Anaheim is a good model. The church in another locality may also be composed of saints of different ages, but that locality may have many good colleges and universities with a large number of students, for whom the young people will be burdened. In this case, a group of young saints can go there but not to set up another church. To do this would be to create a division, because there is already a church in that locality. A third local church may be composed of saints of all ages, but in it there may be a few young people who are studying at some smaller colleges and universities. Thus, this church will be composed of all ages and also have some young college and university students.
Regardless of the composition of the churches, we must realize that we are not in an age of doctrine; we are in the age of the mingled spirit. Therefore, the young saints should not engage in any doctrinal debates. Whereas the older ones often have religious concepts, young people tend to have many natural concepts. In the church, however, we must all drop our concepts. We need to return to our spirit and remain in our spirit continually. We do not care for doctrinal debates; we care only for the mingled spirit. What we have fellowshipped here is according to the Lord’s economy today, and He will work it out. The Lord will use the young saints to capture many of their peers in the United States, and then He will train them and send them to other countries. In this way the Lord will spread His recovery and produce many firstfruits for the rapture (Rev. 14:1-5).
