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Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:2; Deut. 32:11; Isa. 31:5; Matt. 3:16b; John 1:32; Psa. 45:7; Heb. 1:9; Isa. 61:1; Zech. 4:6, 11, 14; Exo. 30:25-26; 1 John 2:20, 27; 2 Cor. 1:21; Ezek. 1:4a; 37:9a; John 3:8; Acts 2:2; Ezek. 37:9b-10, 14a; John 20:22; Exo. 14:20, 24; 40:34-38a; Num. 10:34; 1 Cor. 10:2; Ezek. 1:4b; Exo. 40:38b; Ezek. 1:4c; Acts 2:3-4; Ezek. 1:4d; Gen. 2:5; Deut. 11:14; Joel 2:23, 28-29; Hosea 6:3; Zech. 10:1; Acts 2:16-18; Exo. 17:6; John 4:10, 14; 7:38-39; Rev. 22:1, 17b; 21:6b; Gen. 2:10-14; Psa. 36:8; 46:4; Ezek. 47:1, 5, 7-9, 12; Exo. 25:37; Zech. 4:2, 10b; Rev. 1:4c; 4:5b; 5:6
In this chapter we want to see more concerning the application of the fourteen symbols of the Spirit pointed out in chapter 3. In that chapter we saw that these fourteen symbols can be considered in seven pairs: the brooding bird and the dove; the (olive) oil and the anointing ointment; the wind and the breath; the cloud and the fire; the light and the rain; the living water and the river of water of life; the seven lamps of the lampstand and the seven eyes of the Lamb.
The first pair is the brooding bird (Gen. 1:2) and the dove (Matt. 3:16). We need to ask why the first symbol of the Spirit in both the Old and New Testaments is a bird. This is the way to study the holy Word. We should never take anything in the Word for granted. The next pair is the oil and the anointing ointment. In the good Samaritan’s care for the dying one, he poured oil and wine on his wounds (Luke 10:34). This indicates that the oil is for soothing and for healing. The very God, who is the Spirit, is all the time soothing and healing us.
The wind and the breath are the third pair, and the cloud and the fire are the fourth pair. Within the cloud is the fire. This may sound strange, but actually it is common. Quite often, lightning is in the cloud. When the lightning is in the cloud, the fire is in the cloud. With the fire there is the light, another symbol of the Spirit. On a dark night, lightning issues in light. The Spirit as the light is paired with the Spirit as the rain. On a rainy day there are the cloud, the lightning (the fire), the light, and the rain. The cloud, the fire, the light, and the rain are all symbols of the Spirit. Then the rain gives us the water, and the water forms a river. This brings us to the next pair of the symbols of the Spirit—the living water and the river of water of life. An abundance of flowing water is a river.
The last pair of the symbols of the Spirit is the seven lamps of the lampstand and the seven eyes of the Lamb. The beginning and the end of the Old and New Testaments are the same concerning the Spirit. Both the Old and New Testaments begin with the Spirit as a bird and end with the Spirit as the seven lamps of the lampstand, as the seven eyes, and as water. In Zechariah the Spirit is symbolized by the seven lamps as the seven eyes of Jehovah (4:2, 10), and the Spirit is also symbolized by the rain (10:1). In Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, the Spirit is symbolized by the seven lamps of the lampstand (1:4c; 4:5b), the seven eyes of the Lamb (5:6), and the river of water of life (22:1).
As we have pointed out, the Spirit as the oil (Heb. 1:9) is for soothing and healing. The Spirit as ointment is for anointing (Exo. 30:25-26; 1 John 2:20, 27; 2 Cor. 1:21). In the Gospels the Lord Jesus healed a certain blind man in a particular way. The Word says that the Lord Jesus “spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed his eyes with the clay” (John 9:6). The Lord anointed the blind man’s eyes with a kind of ointment. An ointment is always composed of more than one element, and it is for the purpose of anointing. The Lord’s Spirit is the anointing Spirit, the anointing ointment. Every ointment has a number of ingredients, or elements. In eternity past God was only one element, but one day He began to be compounded. First, God was compounded with man. One day He entered the womb of a virgin, and He stayed there for nine months. Divinity was compounded with humanity. God was born as a man, and this man was a compounded man. Jesus was a compound of God and man.
Jesus, the unique God-man, walked on the earth for thirty-three and a half years, and then He entered into death. He was compounded with death. A piece of cloth that has been put into dye is compounded with the dye. If the cloth is white and the dye is blue, the cloth becomes a blue cloth. When the Lord Jesus went to the cross, His death was like a dye with which He was compounded. Thus, the very God was compounded with humanity and death. After three days He came out of death and was compounded with another element, the element of resurrection. After forty days He ascended into the third heaven, and He was compounded with the element of ascension. Thus, we can say that our God today is a compound of five elements: God, man, death, resurrection, and ascension. Our God today is the very compound Spirit, who is the consummation of the processed Triune God. Our God today is the top compound. He is the ointment. God Himself is the oil, and this oil has been compounded with four kinds of “spices”: man, death, resurrection, and ascension. Such a compound ointment is for the purpose of anointing.
Anointing means painting. When something is painted, the elements of the paint are added to it. Obviously, if a table is painted with green paint, it becomes green. A certain table may be coated with many coats of paint. All of us may be likened to tables who are being painted with the processed Triune God. We have been painted with the processed Triune God, but how many coats of paint have we received? We need to open ourselves to the Lord to receive more of His painting, His anointing. The New Testament tells us that we have received the anointing. This means that we have received the painting. This anointing, this painting, is still going on within us.
Christ as the Spirit is the divine paint. God is painting us with Himself as the Spirit. Some have a Pentecostal concept that they need to pray and fast for three days to receive the Spirit. But according to our experience, our receiving of the Spirit is for us to be painted with the Spirit. Today the consummated Spirit of God as the consummation of the processed Triune God is being applied to us all the time.
As we have seen, the ingredients in this compound Spirit are God, man, death, resurrection, and ascension. Galatians 2:20 says that we have been crucified with Christ, but we may still be so strong in our disposition and our character. In our experience we are short of the death of Christ. How can we get this death? This wonderful death is an ingredient in the compound Spirit. To receive this ingredient, we need more painting. On the one hand, God uses the people close to us and the environment to help paint us. On the other hand, our Lord paints us directly. He is a great painter who paints us with Himself. We need to pray to God, to contact Him. We need to approach God and stay with Him to fellowship with Him. The longer we stay with Him, the more He paints us.
In the divine paint, the compound Spirit, there is the ingredient of the death of Christ. The more we contact the Lord, the more His death gets into us, and this death kills us. The compound Spirit is like an all-inclusive drink with all kinds of ingredients. When we pray regularly, the death of Christ, as an ingredient of the compound Spirit, becomes a spiritual medication to us.
First John 2 tells us that we have received an anointing (vv. 20, 27) and that anointing is the moving of the compound Spirit as the anointing ointment. Within this ointment are the ingredients of Christ’s divinity, humanity, all-inclusive death, germinating resurrection, and transcending ascension. These ingredients will transform us. We need to remain in the enjoyment of the anointing of the compound Spirit.
We Christians also need to experience the Spirit as the wind (John 3:8; Acts 2:2). The wind brings us the Spirit as the breath (John 20:22). The Spirit as the breath refreshes us and makes us new inwardly. The wind also brings us the Spirit as the cloud (Exo. 14:20, 24; 1 Cor. 10:2). Spiritually speaking, the Spirit as the cloud is the presence of God. God is symbolized by the cloud. When the tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered it (Exo. 40:34-38a). That covering, protecting, guiding cloud was God Himself. The spiritual wind brings God’s presence to us. If we have the cloud, we have God with us. We may even say that the cloud is the condensation of the Lord’s presence. Within the cloud is the fire that burns and enlightens. Whenever we enjoy the Spirit as the cloud, we also have the Spirit as the fire to burn us and enlighten us (Ezek. 1:4c; Acts 2:3-4).
The Spirit is also the light as the issue of the fire (Ezek. 1:4d) and the spiritual rain (Hosea 6:3). This rain comes to us through the Spirit as the wind, the breath, the cloud, the fire, and the light. On the day of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was the Spirit as the rain (Acts 2:16-18). Genesis 2:5 tells us that at that time there was no rain because there was no man to till the ground. When man comes to till the ground, the rain comes. As we are laboring in the Lord, the Spirit as the wind will come. Then the wind will bring us the breath, the breath will bring us the cloud, the cloud will bring us the fire, the fire will bring us the light, and eventually the light will bring us the rain.
The Spirit is also symbolized by the living water (Exo. 17:6; John 4:10, 14; 7:38-39). The Spirit as the rain issues in the living water. This living water becomes the river of water of life. Ezekiel 47 presents a picture of the Spirit as the river of water of life. The depth of the river begins at the ankles and then rises to the knees and to the loins. Eventually, it becomes a river to swim in, a river that cannot be crossed (vv. 3-5).
In the Bible there is the line of the Spirit as a river. Genesis 2:10-14 says that a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and this river divided and became four branches toward the four directions of the earth. Psalm 36:8 says that the Lord causes us to drink of the river of His pleasures. Psalm 46:4 says that there is a river that gladdens the city of God. Then in John 7 the Lord Jesus told us that those who believe into Him will have rivers of living water flowing out of their innermost being (vv. 38-39). The one river of water of life flows out of us as many rivers, just as the river in Genesis 2 divided into four rivers. Finally, in the book of Revelation there is the consummated river (22:1). This is the river that flows out of the throne of God to water the entire New Jerusalem, to supply the entire body of God’s chosen and redeemed people. The river is the consummated Spirit, and the consummated Spirit is the consummated God. The river is the flowing out of the consummated and processed Triune God to be our drink for our enjoyment.
First Corinthians 12:13 says that we were all baptized in one Spirit into one Body and that now we are drinking of this one Spirit. The Spirit as the river of water of life is for drinking. On the one hand, the consummated God is the outpoured Spirit for our baptism. On the other hand, the same consummated Spirit is the river that is good for us to drink.
The symbols of the Spirit are illustrations to portray how our God, after being processed and consummated, becomes our enjoyment. The Bible uses all the symbols to describe and to portray how God becomes so enjoyable and so available to us through all His processes. He becomes the bird to brood over us for God’s move. He has become the oil to soothe us and to heal us. He has become the ointment to anoint us. He has also become the wind, the breath, the cloud, the fire, the light, the rain, the water, and the river for our enjoyment. All these symbols of the Spirit portray our enjoyable God.
The Spirit is also symbolized by the seven lamps of the lampstand, which are the seven Spirits before the throne of God (Exo. 25:37; Zech. 4:2, 10b; Rev. 1:4c; 4:5b), and by the seven eyes of the Lamb, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth (5:6). The Spirit of God has been intensified sevenfold. It is like a seven-way lamp. I have seen three-way lamps before, but I have never seen a seven-way lamp. The Spirit of God today is like a seven-way lamp with intensified light. Our spiritual lamp is sevenfold intensified. This sevenfold intensified lamp is for shining, for enlightening, and for searching. The consummated Spirit is the sevenfold lamp to shine, enlighten, and search. These seven lamps are the seven eyes of the Redeemer, the Lamb. Eyes are for observing, searching, and infusing. The Lamb redeemed us with a purpose. For Him to carry out His purpose, He needs seven eyes to observe us, to search us, and to infuse us with all that He is. These seven eyes are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth to carry out God’s purpose, God’s economy.
We have to enjoy our processed Triune God as the consummated Spirit in all these aspects. We need to study these aspects of the Spirit, and we have to experience and be constituted with the Spirit in all these aspects.
