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The wonderful, all-inclusive life-giving Spirit is the sanctifying Spirit. In this chapter we shall first cover the sanctifying aspect of the all-inclusive Spirit. Then we shall proceed to see that the sanctifying takes place by the imparting of life. The all-inclusive Spirit who indwells us today is the sanctifying One, and His work of sanctifying takes place by His life imparting. This imparting of life transforms us. Hence, there is also the transforming aspect of the Spirit. By reading the book of Romans we can see that transformation implies conformation. Transformation issues in conformation. Conformation means to be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29). Through conformation we become in a practical way the many sons of God to fulfill God’s eternal purpose. Therefore, we have sanctifying, life imparting, transforming, and conforming. Romans 8:29 and 30 indicate that conformation issues in glorification. Glorification will be the ultimate consummation of the work of the wonderful Spirit. Thus, in this chapter we need to cover five matters: sanctifying, life imparting, transforming, conforming, and glorifying.
We begin with the sanctifying work of the Spirit. As we saw in the foregoing chapter, the all-inclusive Spirit is in us with a condition, a state, of holiness. The Spirit Himself is the essence, the very substance, of holiness. When this all-inclusive Spirit enters into our spirit and remains there as the essence of holiness, there is in our spirit a condition of holiness. Consider again the illustration of making tea. When a tea bag is placed in a cup of hot water, there is immediately in the water a condition of tea. The more the water is stirred up, the more the tea spreads into the water and permeates it. Eventually, the water will be saturated, permeated, with the essence of tea. To coin a word, we may call this the process of “teaification.” Teaification is an illustration of sanctification. The Spirit of holiness is like the tea that is put into our spirit, which is like the hot water. Thus, within our spirit there is a condition of the divine tea. As this divine tea moves within us, His holy essence spreads into our inward being and saturates every part, proceeding from the center of our being to the circumference. Eventually, our entire being will be permeated with this holy essence. This is sanctification.
Christians have been writing books on sanctification for centuries. We have read a number of these writings, but none of them ever fully satisfied us, because they did not correspond to our experience. As we progressed in the experience of sanctification, we began to realize that it resembles what we have called teaification. By considering the way a tea bag teaifies hot water, we can understand the process of sanctification. In sanctification we are permeated with the holy divine essence. Check with your experience. Has the Spirit not been spreading the divine element within your inner being? This is the sanctifying work of the Spirit of holiness.
As the Spirit sanctifies us from within, He imparts God’s life into us. To impart God’s life into our being means to give us life. When we were saved and regenerated, we received God’s life into us. However, this does not mean that we received God’s life in a total sense. Although we have received God’s life into us, we still need more impartation of God’s life into us each day. This does not take place once for all; rather, it is a gradual process that goes on during our entire life. No matter how experienced we may be in the spiritual life, this process of life imparting must still go on within us. As the Spirit carries out His sanctifying work, He imparts more of God’s life into us. I can testify that I have more of God’s life today than I did a year ago, and much more than twenty-five years ago. In April 1925 I received God’s life. Although I was very excited when I first received the divine life, I actually had only a little of it. But day by day throughout the years, more of God’s life has been imparted into me. Every month and every year I have gained more of this life.
This imparting of life always accompanies the sanctifying work of the Spirit. Without His work of sanctification He could not impart God’s life into us. Life imparting is always included within God’s sanctifying work. The extent to which the impartation of life will proceed depends on the degree that He is able to sanctify us. The impartation of life is always the issue of sanctification. Thus, life imparting and sanctifying work together. As the Spirit sanctifies us, He gives us life. This also is like teaification. When the tea bag teaifies the water, the tea essence goes wherever the teaification takes place. Within the teaification is the essence of the tea. It is the same with the sanctifying and life-imparting work of the Spirit. In the sanctification of the Spirit of holiness there is the very impartation of God’s life. We do not arrive at this understanding through mental figuration. It is absolutely according to our experience. If you have not been regenerated and if you have not had this experience, you will simply be unable to understand what I am talking about. But according to our experience, we know that in this sanctification is the life impartation.
When life is imparted into us, the result is transformation. It is similar to a chemical reaction caused by one element being added to another. The divine life brought into us through sanctification is a divine chemical element. When this element is imparted into our being, there is a reaction, and that reaction is transformation. Transformation means to change our nature, essence, appearance, tastes, and our whole being. Transformation is not outward change, correction, or adjustment; it is altogether an inward, metabolic change of our being. In the process of metabolism, a new essence is added to replace the old, to carry away the old, and to produce a new situation. This metabolism is the very transformation revealed in the New Testament (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18). Transformation is a divine metabolism wherein a new element is added to the old to discharge the old and to create a new situation. If our eyes are opened to see this, we shall drop all the teachings derived from the past regarding correcting ourselves and improving our behavior. Such outward changes are not metabolic changes. They are not the result of something new being added into our being to discharge the old and to create a new situation.
Take the illustration of makeup. Some women with a pale complexion put makeup on their faces to beautify themselves. This is not transformation. Rather, this is like the work of a mortician in beautifying a corpse. Many of us were in the “mortuaries” of religion for years, where hired “morticians” attempted to beautify our faces every Sunday. I used to be in that kind of situation, and I myself did the work of such a “mortician.” The Lord’s economy is absolutely different from this. We do not care whether or not your complexion is pale; it may even be greenish or grey. No matter what your color is, we would like to feed you with something nourishing. When the rich nourishment of the food gets into you, it will discharge the old things and create a new condition within you. Because my wife serves me nutritious meals, there is no paleness or greenness in my complexion. She never puts makeup on my face to give me such a healthy complexion. The food I eat does not directly cause my face to shine; it indirectly causes it to shine through the process of metabolism. The new, rich, nourishing element gets into my fibers, discharges the old element, and gives me a new constitution. This is just what spiritual transformation does.
The saints in the Lord’s recovery do not have outward correction, but they have a certain amount of inward transformation. How encouraged and happy I am to see the transformation, the metabolic change, taking place in the brothers and sisters! Although I may be tired from the work of the ministry, I am eager to work to supply you more nourishment when I think about how you are being transformed. Many can testify that in my ministry I never correct others. Instead of correcting them, I supply them with rich nourishment. This nourishing element is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. When Christ as the nourishing element is ministered into our being, this element causes a metabolic change that transforms us. Even if you have been undergoing this process of transformation for just a few years, you would find it difficult to return to your old life even if you wanted to. After you have experienced transformation, it is impossible to be the same. Although you may try to go back to the sinful, worldly things you used to do, you will not be able to eradicate or undo the work of transformation. Not even the most effective detergent can wash it away. You may wash away makeup, but you cannot wash away the transformation that has taken place deep within you. In fact, the more you try to eliminate it, the more manifest it becomes. It will remain for eternity. This process of transformation will continue and increase until the day of redemption, when we are fully transformed into Christ’s image.
In 2 Corinthians 3:18 we see the matter of transformation: “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.” The image into which we are being transformed is the image of the Lord. Transformation into the image of the Lord is from glory to glory, that is, from one stage of glory to another, from one degree of glory to another degree of glory. Whenever I come to this matter of transformation, my inner being leaps, and I am very happy. I am happy to know that you all are undergoing the process of transformation from one stage of glory to another. A year from now many of us will be in a higher stage of glory than we are today. This is the result of the transforming work of the Lord Spirit.
According to the book of Romans, transformation issues in conformation. The life imparting of the Spirit not only imparts a new essence or element into us to replace the old and to create a new situation to transform us; eventually, it conforms us to the very image of the firstborn Son of God. First we are transformed, and then we are conformed to the image of Christ.
By observing living things such as flowers and trees, I have learned that every form of life has a number of characteristics. (I do not speak from the standpoint of biology but from the perspective of my learning through experience.) Every life has four main characteristics: the life essence, the life power, the life law, and the life shape. Take a carnation for an example. A carnation certainly has a life essence; it also has life power, the power to grow. Carnations, however, do not grow in a lawless way or without regulation. Rather, a carnation grows according to its own regulation, that is, according to the law of the carnation life. Hence, a carnation has a life law. Finally, a carnation has its own shape. The stem, the leaves, and the flowers all have a particular form. There is no need to teach a carnation what should be the shape of its leaves or the pattern of its blossom. How foolish it would be for anyone to do this! If you would try to teach a carnation how to grow and if that carnation could speak, it would say, “Don’t waste your time trying to teach me. I have a law within me, and I don’t need your regulations. As I grow, the life law within regulates me. This law knows what kind of leaves I should have and what pattern and color my blossom should be. Because every plant has its life essence, life power, life law, and life shape, it is shaped according to its kind. If it is a plant that produces fruit, it will produce fruit according to its kind. A peach tree, for example, brings forth peaches. A peach tree will never make the mistake of bringing forth bananas. Every life has its own law and its own shape.
To be shaped in a particular fashion is to be conformed. Oh, the divine life within us is shaping us into the form of the firstborn Son of God! By the impartation of life and by the process of transformation, we are being conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God so that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers. When you enter into eternity and see the situation there, you may turn to me and say, “Brother Lee, you were right. You gave us a message saying that the life within would shape us, conform us, to the image of the firstborn Son of God. This is exactly what has taken place.” Today we are under the process of sanctification, life impartation, transformation, and conformation. This is the activity of the indwelling, all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. This is absolutely different from the teachings of religion. Teachings can never accomplish such a thing. Hallelujah, I am happy that within all of us there is this work of the all-inclusive Spirit! This Spirit is sanctifying us, imparting God’s life into us, transforming us, and conforming us.
Eventually, we shall all be glorified (Rom. 8:30). Glorification is like the blossoming of a carnation flower. As a carnation grows, the life within shapes it into the form of a carnation. One day, spontaneously, it blossoms. That is the glorification of the carnation. Glorification is the ultimate consummation of transformation and conformation. Presently we are undergoing the process of transformation and conformation. This will continue until we reach the consummation—glorification. In that glorification, the transfiguration of our body, we shall be exactly the same as the firstborn Son in spirit, soul, and body. At that time we shall know for certain that we are the many sons, and Christ may say, “I am the Firstborn, and you are the many sons.” We shall actually be the same as He is (1 John 3:2). This is the work of the all-inclusive Spirit within us. This is sanctification, life impartation, transformation, conformation, and glorification. We are in this process today.
When you hear this, you may wonder what you should do. Forget your doing and just rest. As this process goes on, you will be sanctified, you will enjoy the impartation of life, you will undergo the work of transformation, you will be conformed to the image of the Firstborn, and ultimately you will be brought into glorification. This is the church life. Instead of trying to do something, simply enjoy the Lord, call on His name, and praise Him. Although we should not try to improve ourselves, we do need to exercise our spirit to experience the wonderful all-inclusive Spirit. The more we do this, the more we shall experience sanctification, the impartation of life, transformation, conformation, and eventually glorification.
