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If we have an all-inclusive bird’s-eye view of the Bible, we shall see that after Christ’s ascension, our God, who is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, is today the all-inclusive Spirit. Within this Spirit there is divinity, humanity, the effectiveness of Christ’s death, the power of His resurrection, and the ascension. In other words, in this all-inclusive Spirit there is all that God is, all that man in a proper sense is, and all that the Lord Jesus has passed through, gained, and obtained. All this is in the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. Our Savior today is not only the Redeemer but also the life-giving Spirit. We thank the Lord that by means of the clear view of all the books in the Bible, we see such a wonderful Spirit.
This Spirit is mysterious and glorious but very difficult to describe in words. This is the reason the Bible affords us the picture of the compound ointment in Exodus 30. In this chapter the olive oil represents the Spirit of God, and the four spices represent humanity, God’s creature. The myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia all have a special significance. In the Bible myrrh signifies the sweetness of Christ’s precious death, and cinnamon signifies the sweetness of the effectiveness of that death. Calamus signifies the rising power, the resurrection of Christ. Cassia was used in ancient times to repel snakes. If we put all these items together, we must admit that they no doubt portray the details of the compound all-inclusive Spirit.
In this Spirit we have God and the proper humanity. In this Spirit we have the effectiveness of the death of Christ and the power of the resurrection of Christ. Whatever Christ is and whatever He has done, obtained, and attained are all included in this Spirit. The Lord has shown us the significance of the myrrh, the cinnamon, the calamus, and the cassia; the reason the two middle items are each half of a full quantity; and the fact that these four spices together make three complete units of five hundred shekels each. The hin of olive oil was compounded with the four spices into one ointment. This signifies the mingling of the unique God with His creature, man, to form one compound unit. The tabernacle with all its furniture and vessels and all the priests were anointed with this compound ointment, not merely with olive oil. Today we are not under the anointing of the Spirit that includes only divinity; we are under the anointing of the compound Spirit.
When the apostle John used the term, the anointing, in 1 John 2:27 for the Spirit’s move, no doubt he thought of Exodus 30, the source of the word anointing. The word anointing was not used first by John; rather, it had been used already in Exodus 30. The anointing that abides in us is the compound Spirit as the life-giving Spirit indwelling our spirit.
In order to have this all-inclusive life-giving Spirit and to experience the Spirit, we must first be reborn, or regenerated, by Him. Regeneration is the initial experience of our Triune God.
Do not try to separate the Father from the Son, or the Son from the Father. The New Testament reveals that while the Son is here, the Father is with Him. Furthermore, the coming of the Spirit is also the coming of the Son, and the Son always comes with the Father. John 6:46 says, “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except Him who is from God, He has seen the Father.” The Greek preposition translated “from” is para. Here the sense of this preposition is “from with.” The Lord is not only from God but also with God. While He is from God, He is still with God (8:16, 29; 16:32). In these verses the Lord seemed to be saying, “I come from with My Father. When I come from My Father, I come with Him.” This means that when the Son comes, the Father is with Him. When the Son was sent by the Father, the Son was sent not only by the Father but also with the Father. When the Father sent the Son, the Father came with the Son. Therefore, when we receive the Son, we receive the Father.
This may offend our religious mentality. The religious mind always tries to figure this out. But the more it tries, the more difficulty it has, because the Father is with the Son, and the Son is now the life-giving Spirit. First Corinthians 15:45 says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” If you argue that the Spirit here is not the Holy Spirit, then I would say that you believe that there are two Spirits who give life. Christ today is the life-giving Spirit. If this life-giving Spirit is not the Holy Spirit, then you believe in two life-giving Spirits. Do you believe that in the universe there are two life-giving Spirits? Certainly it is heresy to teach this. Our God is triune. As the Triune God, He has passed through the complete process and today is the all-inclusive Spirit. I do not care for the explanation of this—I care only for the fact. The Bible reveals that Christ today is the life-giving Spirit. If we would experience Him, we must be born of Him. As soon as a sinner confesses his sin to God and believes in the Son of God, he is born again of the Triune God. However, everyone who has been born again needs to experience this Spirit more and more.
We need to experience the Spirit in two main aspects. In the first aspect we experience the Spirit from within, as the One within us. In the second aspect we experience the Spirit from without, as the One upon us. We need to experience Him from within and from without. This is pictured for us in the meal offering. The meal offering was made of fine flour mingled with oil (Lev. 2:5-6). When fine flour is mingled with oil, the oil must get into the flour. This is the oil within the fine flour. Leviticus 2:6 then says, “You shall break it in pieces and pour oil on it.” This is the oil upon the flour. First the oil was mingled with the fine flour to form a lump, and then the oil was poured upon the lump. Thus, the oil was both within the meal offering and upon it. The meal offering was permeated, saturated, and soaked with oil. This is a picture of what we should be. We all should be mingled with the Spirit, saturated with the Spirit, permeated with the Spirit, soaked with the Spirit, and also covered with the Spirit. Both within and without we should have the Spirit. Inside and outside we should be full of the Spirit. Thus, we are permeated, saturated, and soaked with the Spirit. This is the proper Christian life.
In the New Testament there are two lines of the experience of the all-inclusive Spirit: the line of John and the line of Luke. In John’s Gospel and in his first Epistle we have the experience of the Spirit within. John uses two main symbols to signify this aspect of the Spirit. First, John uses the symbol of water, saying that the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit is like living water for people to drink. The Spirit is also likened to water in John’s last book, the book of Revelation. In Revelation 22:17 the people are called to drink of the living water. No doubt, this living water is the life-giving Spirit. This is clearly indicated in John 7:37-39.
The second symbol of the Spirit in John’s writings is the breath. According to John 20:22, the Lord Jesus came to His disciples on the evening of His resurrection, breathed into them, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” According to the writings of the apostle John, the Spirit is the water for drinking and the breath for breathing. John uses these two symbols to represent what the life-giving Spirit is today. This Spirit is the water to quench our thirst and the breath for us to breathe in. As we breathe in this Spirit, we have our life in this breath. This is the inward aspect of the life-giving Spirit. All of us in the Lord’s recovery have learned to drink and breathe of this Spirit. We need to drink of Him and breathe Him in by calling on His name. A stanza of a hymn written by Miss M. E. Barber has the following lines:
The way to breathe the name of Jesus is to call, “O Lord Jesus.” No doubt this sister often called on the name of Jesus. Otherwise, how could she say in her hymn that to breathe the name of Jesus is to drink of life indeed? The way to breathe His name is to call, “O Lord Jesus.” “Just to breathe the Name of Jesus, / Is to drink of Life indeed.” This short stanza also indicates that our breathing is our drinking. To breathe is to drink. When we call on the name of Jesus, we both breathe and drink. This is the experience of the life-giving Spirit in the Gospel of John, a book of life.
Besides John’s line, the line of the inward aspect of the Spirit, we have the line of Luke, the line of the outward aspect. We need to experience the life-giving Spirit both from within and from without. Like John, Luke also uses two symbols for the Spirit. Luke 24:49 says, “Behold, I send forth the promise of My Father upon you; but as for you, stay in the city until you put on power from on high.” In this verse Luke uses the symbol of clothing. The Lord said that the disciples should wait in Jerusalem until they were clothed, enveloped, with power from on high. This obviously indicates the outward experience of the Spirit. A drink is something inward, and clothing is something outward. But both are for living. Today we drink liquids and we put on clothing. Have you ever realized that this all-inclusive Spirit is both our drink inwardly and our clothing outwardly? We need Him as our drink within, and we need Him as our clothing without.
In Acts, Luke uses another symbol, the symbol of the mighty wind. Wind is similar to breath. It is mainly the wind that brings us fresh air to be our breath. Although the wind and the breath are similar, breath is for living and wind is for power. For the inward experience of the Spirit, we have the water to drink and the breath to breathe, and for the outward experience we have the clothing to put on and the mighty wind to blow upon us. The inward aspect is for life and for living, and the outward aspect is for power and function.
When you are alone in your room, you may drink all the water you want, but you do not need to be clothed in a particular way. However, when you appear before others, you must wear proper clothing. Authority comes with a proper uniform. Everyone respects a policeman. But no one respects a policeman who has no uniform. However, you automatically drive carefully whenever you see a policeman in uniform because of the authority represented by that uniform. The outward experience of the Spirit is our uniform. On the day of Pentecost Peter put on this uniform, and the whole universe was afraid of him. Hell, the demons, Satan, and all the rebellious ones were afraid of Peter because they saw that he was clothed with power from on high and that he possessed the highest authority.
Everything has been accomplished for us, and we can have both the inward and outward experience of the Spirit. Do not worry; there is no need for you to do anything. Simply believe in the glad tidings. The highest gospel is that everything pertaining to the inward experience and the outward experience of the Spirit has been accomplished. Simply believe whatever the Bible says and call upon the name of the Lord.
In Acts 2 there is a great secret, a secret which has been overlooked by most Christians. Acts 2:17 says, “It shall be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh.” Verse 21 says, “And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” In Acts 2 to be saved is to receive the Spirit. To be saved is not simply to be forgiven of our sins or to be rescued out of hell but also to have the Holy Spirit. What must take place for us to have the Holy Spirit and be saved? Two things: first, God must pour out His Spirit; second, we need to call on the name of the Lord. The Spirit has already been poured out. Now you need to call on the name of the Lord Jesus. When you call on the name of the Lord, the outpoured Spirit will get into you and will be upon you. This is the reason that Romans 10:13 says, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Today we need to learn to call upon the name of the Lord. I am heavily burdened to impress you with the need of calling. Throughout the centuries Satan has shut the mouths of so many Christians. If you call on the name of the Lord Jesus all day long, you will be saturated, permeated, and soaked with the Spirit, and the power poured out from on high will be your portion. There is no need for me to convince you of this. Check your past experience. Often when you found yourself in trouble, you called on the name of the Lord. We all have some amount of experience. Usually we did not call on the Lord. We simply did not like calling on His name. Therefore, the Lord sent us some difficulty to help us or even to force us to call on Him. When the troubles came, we spontaneously called out, “O Lord Jesus.” Perhaps we did not call in a very pleasant way. Nevertheless, we called and we received breath, strengthening, and refreshment. I want to impress you that the secret of experiencing the inward aspect and the outward aspect of this wonderful Spirit is simply to call again and again. After you call, you will pray. Then you will call more and pray more. Eventually, it will be difficult to tell whether you are experiencing the inward aspect or the outward aspect. Then you will be filled with refreshment, and outwardly you will be released. You will have the power, the boldness, the assurance, and the faith to speak strongly. You will not have any doubts whatever. The way to experience this wonderful Spirit is by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. Be simple and call on the name of the Lord.
We all need to be de-drugged and simplified. When I am at home, I experience the Lord in a simple way, like a simple child. The simplest way for me to experience my Lord is to say, “O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus.” Many times I call on the name of the Lord while I am cleaning. When the work tires me, I am strengthened by calling, “O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus.” There are times when I have nothing to speak. However, after calling on the name of the Lord for a few minutes, I have a great deal to say. Try it. If you call on the name of the Lord for five minutes, you will be set on fire. Oh, we must be the calling people!
At least one book in the New Testament—1 Corinthians—was written to the calling people. This book was written to all those who call on the name of the Lord Jesus (1:2). When Paul was Saul of Tarsus, he received authority to persecute and even kill the believers. In Acts 9 his intention was to bind all those who called on the name of the Lord. This indicates that the Christians in ancient times were the calling ones. There was no need to tell others that they were Christians; neither was there a need for others to discern who the Christians were. It was easy to tell because they were the calling people. They called on the name of Jesus. We must be today’s calling people, all day long calling on the name of the Lord. When you call on His name, you are in the Spirit. When you call on His name, you will be filled with the Spirit, saturated with the Spirit, permeated with the Spirit, and soaked with the Spirit. When you call on the name of Jesus, the Spirit will be poured out upon you. Within and without we shall be full of the Spirit.
Some meetings may be started simply by calling on the name of the Lord for several minutes. The Lord hates deadness more than anything. Nothing is as defiling as death. Although I do not encourage you to be beside yourself, I would like to impress you and even to charge you to call on the name of the Lord. Those who do can testify that it certainly makes a difference. I expect that the time will come when we shall all be accustomed to calling on the name of the Lord Jesus all the time. Before you read the Bible, try calling on the name of the Lord Jesus for a few minutes. What a difference it will make in your reading of the Scriptures! Although it will not change the Bible, it will change you. You will be living, and your spirit will be stirred up. Mere knowledge is useless, but calling, “O Lord Jesus” is useful. Do you know the way to receive the Spirit? There is no need to wrinkle your brow or fast for three days. The Lord never predestined you to do that. Rather, He destined you to call on the Lord. In His economy He has already accomplished everything for the inward and outward experiences of the Spirit, for the indwelling of the Spirit, and for the outpouring of the Spirit. Now He is here as the all-inclusive Spirit. This Spirit includes the Savior, the Redeemer, and the Life-giver. He is waiting not for you to fast or to pray but to call on His name. He is waiting for you to breathe the name of Jesus and to drink of life indeed. I encourage you to try it. All the local churches must be calling churches, and every saint in the Lord’s recovery must be one who calls on the name of the Lord. We have been called to call on Him.
