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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17-18; 1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22; 2 Cor. 3:6; Gal. 5:25; Rom. 8:4-6
God is a mystery, and this mystery is in His being Spirit. The Spirit is truly mysterious. We may illustrate this with electricity. Today we use many electrical appliances. Electricity is something practical; without it, we would not have electric lighting or microphones, so we would not be able to hold a meeting here tonight. Although electricity is really practical and useful, we cannot see it, nor can we show it. Where is electricity? It seems that since electricity is in a light bulb, as long as we do not remove the light bulb, the electricity is here, but once we remove the light bulb, it is gone. This is a wonderful thing. We can see by this that electricity is a mystery.
Another illustration is the life in our human body. I can speak, move, and show expressions because there is life in me. If I die, however, I will not be able to move even though my head and hands are still here. Why is this? It is because life will no longer be in me. Life is something real, but no one can place life before our eyes. Even until today physiologists and medical doctors cannot give us an adequate explanation of life. We can see the expressions of life, but we cannot see life itself. Yet life is very real.
These examples show us that there is a God in the universe. When you consider the universe, you see that it is truly wonderful, yet it is a puzzle. This puzzle can be explained only by tracing back to God. The entire universe depends and rests on God. However, God is invisible, indescribable, and unexplainable; hence, God is a mystery.
The Bible mentions four great matters concerning God. First, God created. God created all things, including man. Second, God was incarnated. People in the world can see all the things created by God, but very few know that God became a man. We know that the name of this man is Jesus. All would agree that Jesus is the wonderful One, the most special One. Jesus is extraordinary, and He is also common. Jesus is God. He is God, yet He became a man. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was God, and the Word became flesh.
The first great act of God was His creating of all things, and the second great act was His becoming a man. God entered into human flesh, put on human nature, and became a man named Jesus. When He came out for His ministry, people saw in Him a mystery; that is, although He obviously was a man, He did things that other men could not do, and He spoke words that others could not speak. The words that He spoke were apparently simple, yet they were extraordinary. For instance, He said, “I am the bread of life.” He also said, “I am the light of the world.” And again, “I am the way, the reality, and the life.” These words are simple, yet they are extraordinarily great. I do not believe that anyone in the whole world could have spoken such words as Jesus did. None of the philosophers and wise men ever spoke such words. No one is as wonderful as Jesus. Jesus is wonderful because He is God.
The third great thing concerning God is that in the flesh He became our Redeemer. Every one of us is fallen and corrupt. The Lord Jesus came to save us by bearing our sins through His death on the cross. The cross is excellent and special.
Creation, incarnation, and crucifixion are three great things that God accomplished. However, these three great things are for the fourth great thing — His becoming the life-giving Spirit. The reason for His creation, His incarnation, and His redemption is to give life. His purpose in all this is to give life to man.
What is life? Life is God Himself. There are three different words for life in the Greek language. The first word is bios, denoting our physical life. The second word is psuche, denoting our soul-life. In the Gospels the Lord Jesus used this word many times. The soul-life is the natural life, the human ego. The third word is zoe. This is the life of God, the eternal life. John 3:16 says that everyone who believes into the Son would not perish but would have eternal life. The Lord Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life” (10:10). The word life in these passages is zoe. Therefore, in summary, our physical life is bios, our natural life is psuche, and the divine life is zoe.
Dear brothers and sisters, before you were saved or before you loved the Lord, your living and outward actions depended on your inward determination. Moreover, your inward feelings, your thoughts, and your emotions, including your joy, anger, sorrow, and delight, depended on the psuche. Whatever the psuche decided within you was expressed by your bios outwardly. You were living by your natural life and by your physical life. But one day you were saved, and you began to love the Lord. In the depths of your being, that is, in your spirit, you received another life. Since the time you believed in the Lord Jesus by calling on Him, there has been something mysterious within you. This mysterious thing is God Himself as your life. This life in you supplies you, supports you, and directs you, and it wants to live out from within you. You may rightly say that this is to be touched by the Holy Spirit; you may also say that this is God’s moving; or you may say that this is Christ living in you. These are different expressions referring to the same thing — that the eternal God entered into us to be our life. This God, who is our life, is the life-giving Spirit. The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b).
God created all things, became a man, died on the cross to accomplish redemption, and became the life-giving Spirit. This Spirit is the God who created all things, who became a man, and who died on the cross to accomplish redemption. Today He has entered into us to be our life and everything. This is the most central item in the Bible. This life-giving Spirit is God, He is the Lord, and He is Christ. We may also say that He is Jesus. All these names refer to this same One.
Do not be influenced by the traditional teachings of Christianity. I know that among Christians the doctrine of the Trinity is very popular. Many talk about the Holy Father, the Holy Son, and the Holy Spirit, and they talk about Them as three persons. I am not saying that there is no proper doctrine concerning the Trinity, but you should not try to deal with this truth as a doctrine, because your mind will not be able to understand it fully. After the summer conference last year, I visited the churches in various localities, and my unique burden was to show people that they cannot be clear concerning the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Some of you may think that you are very clear about the Triune God, but I tell you that you cannot be clear. We cannot be clear even about ourselves, let alone about the Triune God. If you do not believe me, let me ask you a few questions. Do you have a soul? Do you have a heart? Do you have a spirit? Do you have a mind? Do you have a conscience? You say that you have them all. Then please tell me, where is your soul? Where is your heart, and how many hearts do you have? Where is your spirit? Are you trying to understand God thoroughly? You cannot understand even yourself thoroughly.
Now I will read to you a few passages from the Bible that will puzzle you. Isaiah 9:6 says, “A child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / ...And His name will be called / ...Mighty God, / Eternal Father.” He was a child and a Son, yet His name was called Mighty God, Eternal Father. Please tell me, was He the Son or the Father? He was the Son, and He was also the Father. This is very puzzling to us. Previously I thought that I was very clear about the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — but after I read Isaiah 9:6 again and again, I became puzzled.
Let us also read John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” First it says that the Word was with God, so there must be two; the word with would indicate this. But then it says, “The Word was God”; by this we say that They are one. Then, are the Word and God two or one? Here then is another verse that is puzzling.
Let us now look at 2 Corinthians 3:17: “The Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is...” The first part of this verse says that the Lord is the Spirit, so the Lord and the Spirit are one. But then it goes on to refer to the Spirit of the Lord, so the Spirit and the Lord are obviously two entities. Please tell me, are the Spirit and the Lord one or two? This is yet another verse that puzzles us.
Therefore, you should not expect to have a clear understanding concerning God and concerning the person of our Lord Jesus. If you think that you are clear, you will be in trouble. It is better not to be so clear. This is the same as not being able to explain your heart, soul, spirit, mind, emotion, will, and conscience as clearly as you can slice tofu into neat pieces. The Triune God is a mystery. Do not try to understand this with your own understanding. Do not think that the Father is one person, the Son is another person, and the Spirit is yet another person. When you begin to view Them in this way, eventually you will end up with three separate persons, and the result will be heresy.
God created; He became a man; He died on the cross. This “He,” whether He be the Father, the Son, or the Spirit, is now a life-giving Spirit; He is altogether a story of the Spirit. I say this according to the Bible and according to our experiences.
When I was young, whenever I prayed, I did not know whether to address God as the Father or as the Lord. In my experience, when I prayed, I had a sense that the Lord was the Father, and the Father was the Lord. This is really so. You cannot make a clear distinction. You may pray, “O Father in heaven,” “O Lord,” or “O God.” Sometimes you may pray, “O Lord Jesus!” In actuality, how many are there? I do not say how many, but I do know that He is the Father, He is God, He is the Lord, He is the Spirit, and He is Jesus. Hallelujah! Sometimes you need to call, “O Lord”; another time it is appropriate to call, “O Father”; and still another time you may call, “O Lord Jesus!” Therefore, do not try to understand, because you cannot understand. However, whether or not you are clear, you can truly have the experience. “O Lord Jesus!” “O Father God!” “Abba Father!” “O God!” When you call in these different ways, you are filled with sweetness within.
Our God is a mystery. We cannot understand Him with our mind, nor can we explain Him in an accurate way with our human language. Our mind is limited. I have tried this test on people: Is it right to say that we are on the globe and the globe is beneath our feet? You may say yes. Now if you were to ask those who live in the opposite hemisphere of the globe, they also would say that the globe is beneath their feet. Who then is above, and who is below? Therefore, do not trust your mind too much. Your mind is limited. Neither should you care too much about your feelings, which are even less dependable. You just need to enjoy God in simplicity.
How I wish that all of us would no longer take the old way of Christianity, which is the way of doctrines. Today we want to follow the new way of the Lord’s recovery, which is the way of the Spirit. We may not understand the doctrines, but we can still enjoy God every day. The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. The Lord is the Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Today every one of us is being transformed into the image of the Lord, even by the Lord Spirit. Not only so, today the Spirit of the Lord dwells in our spirit. The Lord is with our spirit. Therefore, the Lord and we are one spirit. Do not care too much about the feeling of your flesh or the thoughts of your mind. You need to realize that the most precious item in you is the Lord Jesus as the Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord is in your spirit. Moreover, these two spirits — your spirit and the Spirit of the Lord — are mingled into one spirit.
For at least eleven or twelve years here in Taipei, I have been speaking concerning the Spirit, but to this day I have not spoken enough about this. Although I have spoken so much, I am concerned that the brothers and sisters still spend too little time in their spirit in their daily life. You all know that it is common for spouses to quarrel with each other. Why do they quarrel? It is because they are not in their spirit; rather, they live in their soul. When you live in your soul, you will quarrel. If every one of us lived in our spirit from morning to evening, there would be no quarreling among us. Those who quarrel are soulish; they are in their mind.
The problem today is that we merely know the doctrine, but we lack the practice. We even turn the truth concerning the Spirit into mere doctrine; we do not have the reality of the Spirit, the experience of the Spirit, and the exercise of the spirit. The Word says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). When you speak, speak in the Spirit; when you do things, do them in the Spirit. Whatever you do, you have to do it in the Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, I beg you that from now on you try your best to exercise your spirit every day. In order to exercise your spirit you have to call, “O Lord Jesus!” Moreover, you must also pray-read. On the one hand, you call, “O Lord Jesus!” and on the other hand, you pray-read the Word. To be sure, if you touch the Spirit daily in these two ways, you will be filled with the Spirit. Then the Bible to you will not be a book to be understood; instead, it will be a living and shining book. Whenever you read the Bible, you will taste its sweetness, and you will receive the supply of the Lord. This is the real eating of the Lord.
Today the Lord is the Spirit. Not only so, He is the Word, and He is in His words. Your spirit must be opened to the Lord and to the Bible. If you use your spirit to pray-read the Bible, this will be effective and will be much richer than just listening to a message. You will receive more supply from this practice than from listening to a message. You will experience the Lord as the Spirit, and you will also experience the Lord in His words. As a result, you will be fully satisfied in your enjoyment of Him. All your difficulties will vanish, your death will be swallowed up, your darkness will be dissipated, and your weakness will be turned into strength. As a result, in your daily life, you will be practically joined to the Lord.
Moreover, at such times you will surely be living in the Body, because the life of this Spirit is corporate and not individual. The more you enjoy the Lord and live in the Spirit, the more you will desire to have the church life and to coordinate with others for the testimony of the Body. May the Lord have mercy on us that in these last days we may be in the flow of His recovery more and more.
