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Scripture Reading: John 7:39; 2 Cor. 3:17; John 20:22; Acts 1:3; John 20:19; Acts 1:9, 12-14; 2:1-4, 33; Luke 24:49; 2, Rom. 8:9; Acts 16:6-7; Phil. 1:19; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 5:10, 17; Rev. 20:6
Prayer: Lord, how we thank You for this gathering. You have gathered us together around You through Your Word. O Lord, how we love You, and how we love Your Word. We thank You that You are the very God, the very Word, and the very Spirit. We thank You that You are even the life, the divine life, that we are enjoying every day. Lord, we believe that You are with us and that we are really one spirit with You. We praise You that we are here in the church enjoying You as the Spirit, as life, and as the very God. Thank You for the cleansing blood. Thank You for all the enlightening words, and thank You for the anointing Spirit. We put our full trust in You. Thank You, Lord Jesus. In Your precious name. Amen.
In the two preceding chapters we covered three factors that are vital to the recovery of the church life: Christ, the Spirit, and the divine life. In this chapter I wish to speak a further word regarding the factor of the Spirit and the factor of the divine life.
In the previous chapter we saw that the Spirit of God became the Spirit after Christ was glorified (John 7:39; 2 Cor. 3:17). It was at this time that the Spirit was first breathed into the disciples. On the day of the Lord’s resurrection, He came back to the disciples in the evening, breathed Himself into them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). The Greek word pneuma, translated “Spirit” in this verse, also means “breath.” When the Lord Jesus said, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” He meant that they were to receive the holy breath. The Holy Spirit is the holy pneuma, and the holy pneuma is the holy breath. Thus, the Lord likened the Spirit to breath by which we live.
The Spirit as the holy breath was breathed into the disciples essentially for their existence so that they might live by this life-giving Spirit. This is the Spirit of life, the Spirit of the divine essence. When this Spirit of life was breathed into the disciples, this meant that the divine essence of God was breathed into their inner being. The processed Triune God as the Spirit in His divine essence was breathed into the disciples’ inner being. God’s divine essence thus became the very element in their inner being. From then on the disciples had the divine element in their being. This was for their existence, for their spiritual living. All this happened in the Lord’s resurrection.
To repeat, in His resurrection the Lord became a life-giving Spirit, and in His resurrection He came to the disciples and breathed Himself as the Spirit into them as the divine essence. Now they had something divine in their being. This was for their spiritual being, their spiritual existence, and their spiritual living.
After He was resurrected, the Lord Jesus stayed with the disciples for forty days in order to train them to enjoy His invisible presence (Acts 1:3). The Lord had been with them in the flesh for three and a half years. During those three and a half years, the disciples had enjoyed the Lord’s physical presence, which was visible to all of them. But to their great dismay the Lord Jesus was crucified and was buried. They thought that that was the end of Him, and they were very disappointed. It was a great surprise to them when on the third day the Lord Jesus was resurrected.
That night He came back to them, not in a physical way but in a spiritual way. The doors of the room in which the disciples met were closed, yet the Lord Jesus came and stood in their midst (John 20:19). They did not know how the Lord entered the room, yet He came into the room, appeared to them, and breathed into them. Then after a while He disappeared. The disciples had never experienced this before. This was the Lord’s spiritual presence, a presence invisible to human eyes. In those three and a half years the Lord’s presence with them was physical and visible. But now in resurrection the Lord Jesus came back to the disciples in a spiritual way, and His presence was no longer physical but spiritual and invisible. However, because of the weakness of the disciples, they sometimes needed His invisible presence to become visible for a short time. He then would disappear. For forty days the Lord Jesus was with the disciples in this way, appearing and disappearing, becoming visible and invisible. This might have troubled the disciples. After the Lord had appeared to them and then disappeared, Peter, John, and the other disciples might have asked one another what this meant. Was that not the Lord Jesus who had appeared to them? Surely it was He, but where was He now? They did not know where the Lord had gone. They needed to realize that Jesus never left them, for He was within them. In this way the Lord Jesus trained them for forty days to practice and to enjoy His invisible presence.
Although we cannot see Him, we believe that the Lord Jesus is here. He is not visible, but He is very real in us. I have the assurance that Jesus is in me. While I am speaking, I believe that the Lord Jesus speaks with me. If you really believe that the Lord Jesus is within you, it is impossible for you to remain silent or stay still. Because you have Jesus within you, you cannot help but jump for joy and shout Hallelujah!
After training His disciples for forty days, the Lord ascended to the heavens. This was clearly seen and realized by the disciples (Acts 1:9). They returned to Jerusalem and prayed for ten days until the day of Pentecost (vv. 12-14). On the day of Pentecost the Spirit was poured out upon them (2:1-4, 33). This pouring out of the Spirit was different from what had taken place on the day of the Lord’s resurrection. On the day of resurrection the Spirit was breathed into the disciples, but on the day of Pentecost the Spirit was poured out upon them. Before the Lord Jesus ascended to the heavens, He told His disciples, “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” (Luke 24:49). In speaking of the Spirit who was about to be poured out upon them, the Lord used the words put on, or clothed. This power from on high was the Spirit of God’s economy, who was to be poured out upon the disciples. The pouring out of the Spirit was their being clothed with power from on high. This was not the Spirit of life within but the Spirit of power without.
We have seen that the Spirit within is likened to breath (John 20:22). The Spirit of life is also likened to water for drinking. In John 7:37, Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” To drink is one thing, but to be clothed is another. We need to drink of Jesus, to have Jesus within us as the living water, and we also need to be clothed with the Spirit of power. We need the Spirit in both ways. We need the Spirit within as breath and as water for drinking, and we also need the Spirit without as our clothing.
With our physical life both breathing and drinking are crucial. If we cannot breathe, in a few minutes we will die. Furthermore, our life also depends upon our drinking. If we do not drink, we cannot live properly. The Spirit of life within is for our life and living, and this Spirit is likened to breath and to water for drinking. However, if I am breathing well and drinking sufficiently, yet I am not wearing any clothing, it is not proper for me to visit anyone. In order to speak to anyone, I need air and water within, and I also need to wear the proper clothing.
We may illustrate this principle with the example of a policeman. A policeman may be a small man, but when he puts on his uniform and stands in the street, people pay attention to him. This man has the authority to stop all the cars. But if the same policeman stands in the street without his uniform, no one will obey him. When a policeman in uniform orders someone to pay a traffic ticket, it must be paid, for the policeman is one who has authority, signified by his uniform.
When the Spirit of God’s economy, that is, the Spirit of power, was poured upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost, they were all clothed with power from on high. Peter was a small fisherman, but when he stood up on that day, he spoke with authority. This was because on the day of Pentecost Peter was clothed with the heavenly uniform. By this we can see that in our experience the Spirit has two aspects, an inward aspect and an outward aspect. Inwardly He is the breath and the living water, and outwardly He is the power, the uniform. The Spirit of power was not for the disciples to live but for them to work, to preach, to minister, and to carry out God’s economy.
This Spirit today is also called the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9), the Spirit of life (v. 2), the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6), the Spirit of Jesus (v. 7), the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9), and the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19). When the Bible speaks of the Spirit of God, this means that God’s essence, God’s element, is in the Spirit. But the title the Spirit of Jesus means that the essence of Jesus, His humanity in particular, is in the Spirit. Because Jesus was the name given to Him at His human birth, the term the Spirit of Jesus denotes mainly the Spirit of Jesus’ humanity. When the Bible speaks of the Spirit of Christ, this title implies that the element of Christ is in the Spirit. Christ is the One anointed by God, and He is the resurrected One. Therefore, in the Spirit of Christ there is the element of resurrection, and there is the element of anointing. When the Bible uses the title the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this means that in this Spirit there is the humanity, human living, and crucifixion of Jesus and the anointing, resurrection, and ascension of Christ.
Furthermore, the name Jesus means “Jehovah the Savior.” Hence, the Spirit of Jesus Christ also includes divinity. Now we can see the many elements in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The elements of His humanity, divinity, human living, anointing, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension are all in this one Spirit.
We may illustrate this by a cup of water to which many ingredients are added. It begins as plain water. But when tea is put into it, it becomes tea-water because the element of tea has been added to the water. Then when milk is put in, the element of milk is added to the water. When sugar and lemon are put into the water, the elements of sugar and lemon are added to the water. Now such a drink has the element of tea, the element of milk, the element of sugar, and the element of lemon. Because all these elements are in the water, it is now a drink composed of water, tea, sugar, milk, and lemon. Originally, it was merely a glass of plain water, but now the water contains tea, milk, sugar, and lemon.
This is an illustration of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God is like a glass of plain water. However, although the Spirit of Jesus Christ is still the Spirit of God, He now includes the elements of Jesus’ humanity, divinity, human living, anointing, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
With the Spirit of Jesus Christ there is the bountiful supply (Phil. 1:19). This is like the full supply of a drink that contains milk, tea, sugar, and lemon. This is the all-inclusive Spirit. Such a Spirit is also the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b), the processed Spirit, the very Spirit who has passed through a long process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Therefore, today He is the processed, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit. Hallelujah! This is the Spirit.
We have seen that the Spirit is the realization of Christ and that Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God. We have also seen that when the Triune God moves, He is the Spirit. Just as the current of electricity is electricity in motion, the Spirit of God is God moving. As the Spirit, He moves into us, He stays in us, and He lives in us. When He lives in us, He becomes the divine life. The divine life is simply God Himself living in us.
When God is embodied, He is Christ. When God moves, He is the Spirit. When God lives in us, He is the divine life. These are three factors vital to the church life: Christ, the Spirit, and the divine life. The church life is simply Christ, plus the Spirit, plus the divine life. Christ is God embodied, the Spirit is God moving, and the divine life is God living in us.
I hope that all of you, especially the young people, will speak all these things again and again until you can speak them in your dreams. Speak of the three factors vital to the church life: Christ, the Spirit, and the divine life. Christ is God embodied, the Spirit is God moving, and the divine life is God living in us. This is the church life. The church is not something organized, not merely a human society. The church is Christ, the church is the Spirit, and the church is the divine life. What is Christ? Christ is God embodied. What is the Spirit? The Spirit is God moving. What is the divine life? The divine life is God living in us. We all must have this dream, the dream of the church.
We all must see that the divine life is the Triune God living in the believers. You have been regenerated with this divine life, and now this divine life is saving you with a daily salvation (Rom. 5:10). This divine life saves you from your bad temper, from anger, from worry, and from anxiety. It even saves you from murmuring. In the family life there is always murmuring. Husbands may murmur about their wives, and wives may murmur about their husbands. A husband may say that he does not always love his wife because sometimes she is not so lovable. This is murmuring. A sister may say that she does not always submit to her husband because sometimes he is not a proper head. This is also murmuring. In the church life the saints sometimes murmur about the elders. All this shows how much you need a daily salvation. If God lives in you in reality, this living of God will save you from murmuring. Then to you your husband or your wife will be wonderful, and all the elders will be wonderful. We all need this kind of salvation.
To be saved in life as mentioned in Romans 5:10 is not to be saved from perdition, from hell, but to be saved from our daily “hell.” Perhaps this morning or this afternoon a sister was in “hell” for three hours because her husband offended her. Then she came to a meeting, heard the message, and became happy. In a sense this meeting saved her from her hell. However, I expect that every day you will be saved by God living in you. Do not forget that God living in you is the divine life. In Romans 5:10 Paul says that we will be saved in His life. Salvation in this verse does not refer to salvation from eternal perdition. To be saved in His life means to be saved from daily failures, from daily weaknesses. This is the life that we are enjoying today.
In the millennium the faithful believers will reign in life as kings ruling over all things (Rev. 20:6). However, even today we can be kings ruling over our anxiety, over our anger, over our bad habits, over our bad temper, and over murmuring (Rom. 5:17). We can be kings in our daily life and in our church life. We can be kings in our offices. The sisters who teach school can be kings in their schools, kings ruling in life. This is the divine life.
