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Scripture Reading: John 16:7, 13-16; 14:16-20
In chapter 6 we said that Christ accomplished redemption through His death in the flesh on the cross according to God’s eternal plan. In chapter 7 we said that Christ’s resurrection proves and confirms His accomplishment on the cross and also brings redeemed humanity into the status of the new creation. Through His death and resurrection all the requirements for us to be saved have been fulfilled. However, the accomplishments of Christ’s death and resurrection could not be applied to us if He had merely resurrected from the dead. In order for these accomplishments to reach us and become our experience, Christ had to become the Spirit.
Only the Spirit can reach us and enter into us. Only the Spirit can cause us to receive the redemption accomplished by God. Only the Spirit can bring what was accomplished through Christ’s death and resurrection into us to become our spiritual experience and reality. The goal of God’s redemption is for man to receive Him as life so that God and man may be fully mingled as one. This can be accomplished only by the Spirit. Only the Spirit can enter into man and enable man to receive God as everything so that God and man may be joined as one. Redemption can be applied to man only in the Spirit, and the goal of God’s redemption can be attained only in the Spirit.
In order to accomplish redemption, it was not sufficient for God to be incarnated. He had to take a further step and become the Spirit in order to apply His redemption. God accomplished redemption as a man in the flesh, but as a man in the flesh, He could not apply redemption. As a man in the flesh, He could accomplish redemption for man objectively, but He could not apply it to man subjectively so that it would become man’s practical salvation. As a man in the flesh, Christ could accomplish the fact of redemption for man, but He could not enable man to experience this salvation. As long as Christ was a man in the flesh, His accomplishments could not be applied to man. In order for His accomplishments to be applied to man, Christ had to become the Spirit.
The objective aspect of redemption was accomplished by God as a man in the flesh. The subjective aspect of redemption is accomplished by God as the Spirit. God was incarnated in order to accomplish the objective aspect of redemption, and He became the Spirit in order to make the subjective experience of redemption real to redeemed humanity. Without His becoming flesh, there would not be the fact of redemption. However, without His becoming the Spirit after accomplishing redemption, there would be no experience of salvation. The experience of salvation is the subjective application of redemption, which is received through the Spirit. In other words, the fact of redemption, which was accomplished by God as a man in the flesh, becomes our experience of salvation in the Spirit. The fact of redemption from sins becomes our experience of forgiveness of sins in the Spirit. The fact of His being put to death on the cross becomes our experience of co-crucifixion with Him in the Spirit. His resurrection life becomes the life that enlivens us and the life by which we live in the Spirit. His being our righteousness, our sanctification, and the redemption of our body in the future are realized by us in the Spirit. In the Spirit, God’s redemption and all that is of Him are applied to us.
After accomplishing redemption, the Lord Jesus needed to go in order to come again. He had to go in order for the Spirit to come. In John 16:7 the Lord said, “If I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you.” This means that the Spirit could not come as long as the Lord remained on the earth as a man in the flesh. Furthermore, the Lord would not have been able to apply His accomplished redemption to man, which causes man to receive salvation. His redemption must be applied by the Spirit in order for man to receive His salvation. Hence, the Spirit had to come. However, in order for the Spirit to come, the Lord had to go. Through His going, He was able to send the Spirit (v. 7). His going enabled the Spirit to come and ensured that the Spirit would come.
The coming of the Spirit was the coming of the Lord Himself. In 14:17 the Lord said, “Even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive...but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.” In this verse the word He refers to the Spirit, who would come to abide with the disciples. In verse 18 the Lord continued, “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.” In this verse the word I refers to the Lord, who would come to be with the disciples. “He” in verse 17 is “I” in verse 18. When the Lord told His disciples that He would not leave them as orphans, He told them of His coming as the Spirit to abide in them.
Hence, in verse 19 the Lord said to the disciples, “Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live.” This verse indicates that the Lord would go away in the flesh and return as the Spirit in order to enter into the disciples so that they might live as He lived. Then they would know that the Lord was in them and that they were in the Lord (v. 20). In 16:16 He said to the disciples, “A little while and you no longer behold Me, and again a little while and you will see Me,” because He was going away in the flesh and coming again as the Spirit.
On the morning of the day of resurrection the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven. In the evening on that same day He came back as the Spirit and breathed into the disciples, telling them to receive the Holy Spirit (20:17-22). From that time onward, the Lord led the disciples to know Him as the Spirit. As the Spirit, He was no longer limited by time and space like He was when He was with them in the flesh. Then on the day of Pentecost He poured out the Holy Spirit from heaven upon the disciples. The disciples were now filled inwardly and outwardly with the Holy Spirit. They were mingled with the Holy Spirit and could enjoy all that the Lord had accomplished (Acts 2:1-4).
The Lord went into death as a man on the cross in order to accomplish redemption, and He came as the Spirit in order to apply His accomplished redemption. Everything that He accomplished in the flesh is in the Spirit to be applied to us. He went as a man, and He came again as the Spirit so that all His accomplishments in the flesh could be applied to us. In the Spirit we can contact and receive all that the Lord accomplished.
We receive the Lord in the Spirit. When He was in the flesh, He could be contacted, but He could not be received by man. Even though He was among man, He could not enter into man. He could render help to man, but He could not enter into man to be man’s life and everything. God was incarnated to be the man Jesus Christ, and now the Lord is the Spirit, who is God (John 4:24; 2 Cor. 3:17). Just as everything of God is in Christ, everything of Christ is in the Spirit.
Christ is the embodiment of God, and the Spirit is the transfiguration of Christ. Christ is the image of God, and the Spirit is Christ in another form. Christ is the impress of God’s substance (Heb. 1:3), and the Spirit is the reality of Christ (John 14:17-20). The fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily (Col. 2:9), and all that Christ is and has is in the Spirit (John 16:13-15). God is manifested in Christ (1:18), and Christ is revealed in the Spirit (15:26). God was embodied in Christ in order to be among man, to be seen by man, and to be contacted by man. Christ was transfigured in His resurrection as the Spirit in order to enter into man and to be received by man. God was embodied in Christ in order to be man’s Savior, and Christ was transfigured as the Spirit in order to become man’s salvation. Just as man needs to know Christ in order to know God, man needs to know the Spirit in order to know Christ. Just as man cannot find God outside of Christ, man cannot touch Christ apart from the Spirit. Just as man must be in Christ in order to contact God (14:6), man must be in the Spirit in order to experience Christ. A person must receive Christ in order to receive God, and a person must receive the Spirit in order to receive Christ. A person who does not believe in Christ does not believe in God, and a person who does not have the Spirit does not have Christ. He who is unto Christ is unto God, and he who belongs to the Spirit belongs to Christ.
As the eternal Father who dwells in unapproachable light (Isa. 9:6; 1 Tim. 6:16), God cannot be contacted. However, He desires to have a relationship with man. Therefore, He came out of unapproachable light in incarnation: He became flesh, revealing Himself in humanity. He had the form of man in order to be near men and to be contacted by men. God was manifested in the Son (John 1:18), Jesus Christ, in order to be among men and to contact men. He put on a body of blood and flesh; He possessed the human life, nature, and image; and He was exactly the same as man yet without sin (Heb. 4:15). In the form of a man He tasted everything of human life, and on behalf of man He accomplished everything needed for man to have a relationship with Him. However, as a man in the flesh, He could not enter into man, be received by man, or become man’s everything in order for man to be joined with Him. Therefore, through death and resurrection He became the Spirit—He changed His form—so that He might contact man. The Spirit is God’s consummate form in His relationship with man. As the Spirit, He can be contacted, and He can also enter into man and be gained by man. Hence, man may have His life, nature, and image and thus be joined with Him as one, just as He put on humanity and was joined with man, having the human life, nature, and image.
Just as the God who dwells in unapproachable light cannot be contacted by man, the God who was incarnated as a man in the flesh could not be received by man. Light is a limiting factor in eternity, and the flesh was a limiting factor in time and space. The light limits His contact with man because of His glory, and the flesh limited His contact with man because of His physical body. In order to be among men, He had to break through the limiting factor of His dwelling in unapproachable light in glory. Likewise, in order to enter into man, He had to break through the limiting factor of the flesh.
Although God came out from unapproachable light in order to be in the midst of man and to be contacted by man, He was limited in the flesh and not able to enter into man to be received by man. When He was incarnated, He broke through the limiting factor of His glory, but He entered into the limiting factor of the flesh. Hence, He had to go through death and resurrection in order to break through the physical limitation of the flesh and enter into spiritual freedom (2 Cor. 3:17). In order to be received by man, He had to come to man in another form. In His first coming He was incarnated as the man Jesus Christ. In His second coming to man on the day of His resurrection, He was the omnipresent Spirit. This is His second form. The Spirit is the consummate form of God in His appearing to man. As the Spirit, God has attained His purpose in man.
As the transfiguration of Christ and God’s consummate form, every spiritual reality is in the Spirit. The Lord Jesus referred to the Spirit as “the Spirit of reality” (John 14:17). God is in Christ, and Christ has been transfigured as the Spirit. Hence, the Spirit is every spiritual reality. All that God is and has is in Christ, and Christ is the Spirit. Hence, the Spirit is the reality of all that God is in Christ. Because God is in Christ and Christ is the Spirit, the Spirit is all spiritual reality.
The Spirit is the reality of God and the reality of Christ. Hence, the Lord referred to the Spirit as the Spirit of reality and also said that this Spirit would guide us into all the reality (16:13). All the reality refers to everything that God is in Christ, that is, everything that God desires to impart into us and for us to gain in Christ. The Lord Jesus is the reality (14:6), and reality came through Him (1:17). He became a man for the purpose of bringing reality to man. In order for man to receive this reality, it must be applied through the Spirit; that is, the Lord had to become the Spirit. Hence, the Lord brought reality with Him, and when He was transfigured into the Spirit, He became the Spirit of reality to guide us into all the reality.
The Spirit is the reality of all spiritual matters. Every spiritual matter is in the Spirit. If we have the Spirit, we have every spiritual matter, but without the Spirit we do not have spiritual reality. When the Spirit is present, reality is present, and when the Spirit is absent, reality is absent. With the Spirit everything is real, but without the Spirit everything is merely doctrine.
All that God is and all that He has are given to man in Christ and received by man in the Spirit. Everything that God is and has can be given to man only in Christ. However, in order for man to receive God, Christ had to become the Spirit. God has sent the Spirit into the world to reach all those who would believe in the Lord so that the Spirit can enter into man and be received by man.
The Spirit is like radio waves in the air. When we tune a radio to a specific frequency, we can receive the sound being emitted through the radio waves. In the Spirit we can contact, receive, and experience all that God is and has and all that Christ is and has accomplished. We can contact God only in the Spirit, and we can believe in, receive, and experience Christ only in the Spirit. Every spiritual experience can be received in the Spirit because God and all that He is and has are in the Spirit.
God was incarnated as a man, Jesus Christ, in order to be manifested in the flesh to accomplish redemption for us. In resurrection Jesus Christ, the incarnated God, was transfigured as the Spirit in order to come into us. Hence, at any time and in any place God is able to work Himself and all His accomplishments into us so that we can receive Him, be joined to Him, and become one with Him. The manifestation of God in the flesh is precious, but Christ’s coming as the Spirit is more real to us. The early disciples knew the preciousness of God’s presence in the flesh, but only later did they recognize the value of His presence as the Spirit of reality (Acts 1:3-4, 8). May we not only value the manifestation of God in the flesh but also appreciate His coming as the Spirit of reality. God is waiting for us to receive and enjoy everything that He is and has for us in the Spirit of reality.
