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In this lesson we will see the final items of the Spirit’s work in us, on us, and for us.
The book of Acts shows us that the Spirit gives direction to the believers in many ways. First, this is seen in Philip’s preaching of the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch. In 8:29-38 the record tells us that “the Spirit said to Philip, Approach and join this chariot.” So Philip ran up, went up into the chariot, and sat with the eunuch. Then Philip, beginning from the Scripture which the eunuch was reading, preached Jesus as the gospel to him, and he believed and was baptized. “And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away” (v. 39). This indicates that the Lord’s move in spreading His kingdom through the preaching of the gospel was by the Spirit’s leading and direction, not by man’s device and schedule.
Following this, in Peter’s preaching of the gospel to Cornelius, we can also see the Spirit’s directing. While Peter was in Joppa, praying on the housetop of the house of Simon, a tanner, a trance came upon him and he saw a vision. “And while Peter was pondering over the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold, there are three men seeking you. But rise up, go down and go with them, doubting nothing, because I have sent them” (10:19-20). So Peter went with them to the house of Cornelius as directed by the Spirit and preached the gospel to the Gentiles. In such a case of great significance, it was the Spirit who directed Peter, and not only so, even the sending of the three men to Peter by Cornelius before his conversion was the Spirit’s move and act through him.
In the important step taken by the Lord for the spread of the gospel of His kingdom to the Gentile world, we see that it was also altogether under the Spirit’s direction. Acts 13:1-3 says, “Now there were in Antioch, in the local church, prophets and teachers.…And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for Me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” Paul and Barnabas were set apart to carry out the Lord’s great commission to spread His kingdom for the establishment of His church in the Gentile world through the preaching of the gospel. This major step had nothing to do with the church in Jerusalem organizationally. It was absolutely a move by the Spirit, in the Spirit, and with the Spirit through the coordination of the faithful and seeking members of the Body of Christ on earth with the Head in the heavens.
Furthermore, in the case of the disciples entreating Paul not to go up to Jerusalem, we can also see the Spirit’s direction. Acts 21:4 says, “And when we had sought out the disciples, we remained there seven days. These told Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem.” In 20:23 the Spirit indicated to Paul that bonds and afflictions were awaiting him in Jerusalem. Here the Spirit further directed Paul, through some members of the Body of Christ, not to go to Jerusalem.
All these cases show that the believers lived, moved, and worked by the direction of the Spirit. Outwardly they were filled with the Spirit of power economically for them to carry out the work of God’s New Testament economy, and inwardly they were filled with the Spirit of life essentially for them to live a life of the processed Triune God. As a result, they moved, walked, and worked as men of the Spirit. In the same way, today we should experience and enjoy the Spirit to act, walk, work, and serve according to the direction of the Spirit.
The Spirit works on the believers inwardly and outwardly as the means for them to predict something. Acts 11:27-28 says, “And in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus rose up and signified through the Spirit that there was about to be a great famine over the whole inhabited earth.” Prophets are those who speak for God and speak forth God through God’s revelation; sometimes they are also inspired to predict something, just as what was referred to in this portion of the Word. The prophets predict by the Spirit of God as the means, uttering something from God. Therefore, sometimes the Spirit also works in us, the believers, to enable us to predict something by Him.
In Paul’s last time to Jerusalem we can see that the Spirit also tells the believers the things to come. In Acts 20:22-23 Paul said, “And now, behold, I am going bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing what will meet me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in city after city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.” Paul did not know what he would meet with in Jerusalem, but he knew one thing—that the Holy Spirit solemnly testified to him that bonds and afflictions awaited him. Later, the prophet Agabus “took Paul’s belt; and having bound his own feet and hands, he said, Thus says the Holy Spirit, In this way will the Jews in Jerusalem bind the man whose belt this is and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles” (21:10-11). This was the Holy Spirit warning Paul, indirectly through a member of the Body, what would befall him in Jerusalem.
In 1 Timothy 4, prophesying concerning the degradation of the church, Paul said, “The Spirit says expressly that in later times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons” (v. 1). Here the Spirit told the believers beforehand of the coming apostasy and warned them concerning it.
The portions of the Word mentioned above show us that the Spirit tells us, either directly or indirectly, the things to come. Therefore, we need to exercise our spirit that it may become keen and clear to listen to the Spirit’s speaking, and we also need to learn to receive what the Spirit speaks to us through the members of the Body.
In Acts 13 five prophets and teachers in the church in Antioch gave the Head of the Body an opportunity through their ministering and fasting, that the Head, as the Spirit, might set apart Barnabas and Saul and send them out to preach the gospel of Christ (vv. 1-4). On the one hand, the Bible says that Barnabas and Saul were sent by the other three brothers; on the other hand, it says that they were sent out by the Spirit. This proves that the three brothers were one with the Spirit in the Lord’s move, and the Spirit honored their sending as His. Today, in like manner, the Spirit works in us and on us to gain us that He may send us out to preach the gospel of Christ to others.
In Acts 15 we see that the keeping of the Mosaic customs and the ceremony of circumcision had caused not a small disturbance in the church at that time. Hence, the apostles and elders gathered together in Jerusalem to discuss this matter. That was a unique conference held by the apostles of the universal church and the elders of the local church in Jerusalem. Both were the leading ones in the Lord’s New Testament move on earth. The conference had no chairman; the presiding One was the Holy Spirit (v. 28), the Spirit of Christ, who is the pneumatic Christ, the Head of the church (Col. 1:18) and the Lord of all (Acts 10:36). The decision made in the conference was not based on men’s voting; it was the result of mutual fellowship under the presiding of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, later in the letter to the churches, they wrote, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things” (15:28). By this, we can see that there was no voting, and there was neither autocracy nor democracy. Instead, it was altogether a fellowship by, with, and in the Spirit, and it was by the Spirit working together with the apostles and elders that the problem of the keeping of the law was solved.
The Spirit works in us to guide us sometimes also by forbidding us and not allowing us. Acts 16:6 says, “They passed through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.” The move of the apostle Paul and his co-workers for the spread of the gospel was not according to their decision and preference, nor according to any schedule made by human council, but by the Holy Spirit according to God’s counsel, as that which was indicated in the mission of Philip (8:29, 39). They intended to speak the word in Asia, but the Holy Spirit forbade them. Forbidding is also a part of the Holy Spirit’s leading.
Acts 16:7 continues, “When they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, yet the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.” The Holy Spirit’s forbidding them from turning to the left to go to Asia and the Spirit of Jesus’ not allowing them to turn to the right to go into Bithynia indicated that Paul and his co-workers should go directly forward, in a direction toward Macedonia and Achaia in eastern Europe. Paul, however, did not have the thought of going there. This made it necessary for the Lord to give him a vision during the night, and in the vision a Macedonian call came to Paul (v. 9).
In Acts 16:6-7 the interchangeable use of the Spirit of Jesus with the Holy Spirit reveals that the Spirit of Jesus is the Holy Spirit. By forbidding and not allowing, the Spirit led the apostles, enabling them to carry out the propagation of the resurrected and ascended Christ. Today our work for the Lord depends on our being guided by the Spirit that we may spread the Lord’s kingdom by the Holy Spirit according to God’s will.
In Acts 20:28 Paul told the elders of the church in Ephesus to “take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers to shepherd the church of God, which He obtained through His own blood.” It was the apostles who had appointed the elders in every church (14:23). But here Paul, the leading one, who did the appointing, said that it was the Holy Spirit who did the placing of the elders. This indicates that the Holy Spirit was one with the apostles in their appointing the elders and that the apostles had done this according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, those who establish the elders in the churches must do so by following the leading and establishing of the indwelling Spirit in them. In this way the arrangement of the eldership will be perfected in the church according to the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit.
This word shows us that the existence of the churches is altogether due to the Holy Spirit, not due to the apostles. Although the apostles had appointed the elders, it was the work of the Holy Spirit. This reveals that a church is produced through the work of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the work of the apostles concerning the churches should absolutely be the work that comes out of the Holy Spirit and belongs to the Holy Spirit.
First Corinthians 12:4 says, “There are distinctions of gifts, but the same Spirit.” The gifts here refer to the outward gifts, the abilities or capacities for service. Some of them are miraculous, and some are developed out of the initial gifts (which refer to the inward gifts issuing from grace). These gifts, which are obtained through the Spirit, enable the believers to do spiritual things and manifest their spiritual function.
Hebrews 2:4 speaks of distributions of the Holy Spirit. Distributions of the Holy Spirit are the things, including the Spirit Himself, which the Holy Spirit distributes to those who receive salvation by faith. This includes also the imparting of the divine life into the believers. All of us who have believed in the Lord Jesus need to realize that the divine life has been distributed into our being with the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. This is the first basic gift distributed by the Spirit. Furthermore, in our experience there are also other gifts distributed by the Holy Spirit. No believer should think that he does not have a spiritual gift. Just as we have human abilities and capacities because we have human life, we also have spiritual gifts because we have the divine life. As long as we have been born of the Spirit and have received the divine life, we possess some spiritual gifts. Moreover, the gifts we have may be different, yet we have obtained them by the same Spirit. Therefore, in the church life we need to develop the spiritual gifts and manifest our spiritual function by the Spirit.
First Corinthians 12:7 says, “To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is profitable.” All the different gifts are the manifestation of the Spirit in that the Spirit is manifested in the believers who have received the gifts. Such manifestation of the Spirit is for the profit of the church, the Body of Christ; that is, for the growth in life of the members of the Body of Christ and for the building up of Christ’s Body.
In verses 8 through 10 the apostle lists nine items of the Spirit’s manifestations as an illustration. Among them, there is the word of wisdom, the word that concerns Christ as the deeper things of God, predestined by God to be our portion (1:24, 30; 2:6-10). There is also the word of knowledge, the word that imparts a general knowledge of things concerning God and the Lord (8:1-7). Furthermore, there is faith, like the faith that can remove mountains, as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:2 and Mark 11:22-24. There is healing, the miraculous power for healing different diseases. There are works of power, referring to miracles, works of miraculous power other than healing, such as the case of Peter raising Dorcas from death (Acts 9:36-42). There is prophecy, which is to speak for God and to speak forth God, including foretelling and predicting. To speak for God and to speak forth God are gifts out of life, gifts developed by the growth in life; foretelling and predicting are miraculous gifts and have nothing to do with life. There is the discerning of spirits, which is to distinguish the Spirit that is out of God from those spirits that are not out of God (1 Tim. 4:1; 1 John 4:1-3). There are also the various kinds of tongues, referring to proper languages or dialects (Acts 2:4, 6, 8, 11) either of men or of angels (1 Cor. 13:1), not meaningless voices or sounds. Finally, there is the interpretation of tongues, referring to the gift to make the unknown tongues known, understandable (14:13).
Although Paul lists nine manifestations of the Spirit, the manifestation of the Spirit by the believers is more than nine items. Of these nine items, speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues are listed as the last two, because they are not as profitable as the other items for the building up of the church (vv. 2-6, 18-19). Of these gifts, prophecy as prediction, faith, gifts of healing, works of power, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues are miraculous. The rest—a word of wisdom (like the word of the apostles), a word of knowledge (like the word of the teachers), speaking for God and speaking forth God in prophecy by the prophets, and discerning of spirits—are gifts developed by the growth in life (3:6-7), like those listed in Romans 12:6-8, out of the inward, initial gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:7.
First Corinthians 12:11 says, “The one and the same Spirit operates all these things, distributing to each one respectively even as He purposes.” The Spirit not only distributes and manifests but also operates. To operate is to move, to manifest the function. The life-giving Spirit works within us to cause us to have the manifestation of gifts and thus make us proper, functioning members in the Body. Moreover, the one Spirit operates all the various aspects of His manifestation, distributing them to many believers individually, the many members of the Body, for the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose to build up the church, the Body of Christ, for His expression.
Hebrews 3:7-8 says, “Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the provocation, in the day of trial in the wilderness.’” Here, the Holy Spirit quoted the word in the Old Testament to warn us not to come short of the promised rest. The children of Israel, as people of God, are a type of us, the New Testament believers. Their entire history is a prefigure of the church. The Holy Spirit used the history of the defeat of the children of Israel to warn us not to repeat their failure so that we lose the Sabbath rest which God has prepared for us, that is, the participation in and enjoyment of Christ as our rest in the church age and in the millennium.
In the book of Revelation we see that the Spirit speaks to the churches (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22; 14:13). Revelation 2:7 says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” At the beginning of each of the seven epistles in chapters two and three, it is the Lord who speaks (2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). But at the end of all seven epistles, it is the Spirit who speaks to the churches (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). This not only indicates that the Spirit is the Lord and the Lord is the Spirit, but it also emphasizes that in the darkness of the church’s degradation the Spirit is vitally important. The One who speaks to us today is not the outward, objective Christ but the inward, subjective Christ. He speaks not only in the letters of the Bible but also in our spirit. Whenever we hear His speaking, Christ is wrought into us.
On the one hand, each of the seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3 is the word of the Lord to a particular church; on the other hand, it is a word of the Spirit to all the churches. Hence, every church should give heed not only to the epistle written to her particularly but also to all the epistles written to the other churches. Because the Spirit today is speaking to the churches, we need to be in the churches in order to be rightly positioned to hear the Spirit’s speaking.
The Spirit speaks not only to the churches but also with the churches. Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come!” In chapters two and three of Revelation it was the Spirit speaking to the churches; here, at the end of the book, it is the Spirit and the bride, the church, speaking together as one. This indicates that the church’s experience of the Spirit has improved to the extent that she has become one with the Spirit, who is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God.
Here, we have two consummations. One consummation is that the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit— has gone through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to ultimately become the Spirit. The other consummation is that the tripartite man has gone through the processes of creation, redemption, regeneration, transformation, and glorification to be ultimately constituted into the church as the bride of the Triune God. Eventually, the Spirit and the bride will be joined in marriage in the universal wedding. In the eternity that is without end, by the divine, eternal, and surpassingly glorious life, they will live a life that is the mingling of God and man as one spirit, a life that is superexcellent and that overflows with blessings and joy.
In His work in us, on us, and for us the Spirit gives us direction. Whether in our living, in our actions, in our work, or in our preaching of the gospel, the Spirit always gives us definite directions. Sometimes the Spirit also serves as the means for us to predict something that we may be able to foretell future happenings. The Spirit also tells us the things to come, either by speaking to us directly or by speaking to us through the members indirectly. The Spirit also sends us out to preach the gospel to impart the riches of Christ to others. The Spirit also works together with the apostles and elders to resolve the problem of keeping the law and thus put a stop to the disturbance among the churches. By forbidding and not allowing, the Spirit guides us that we may spread God’s kingdom according to God’s will. The Spirit also establishes elders in the churches. Although the appointment of elders is carried out through the apostles, it is perfected in the church under the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, the Spirit distributes gifts to the members of the Body of Christ so that every believer can do the spiritual things and manifest the spiritual function. The Spirit also manifests Himself in each one of the members of the Body of Christ through different gifts for the profit of the church, that is, for the growth in life of the members of the Body and for the building up of the Body. The Spirit also operates the gifts in each one of the members of the Body of Christ to cause them to have the manifestation of gifts and thus make them proper, functioning members in the Body. The Spirit also warns us not to repeat the history of the failure of Israel that we may not miss the rest that God has prepared for us. The Spirit also speaks to the churches. He speaks not only in the letters of the Bible but also in our spirit to have Christ wrought into us. Eventually, the Spirit and the bride, the church, speak together as one and are joined in marriage in the universal wedding to live a life that is the mingling of God and man as one spirit, a life that is superexcellent and that overflows with blessings and joy, in the eternity that is without end.
