VI. BEING THE SPIRIT
The consummated Spirit of the Triune God is "the Spirit" (John 7:38-39; Rev. 22:17). The Bible progresses through thirty-nine books from Genesis to Malachi, and then from Malachi through the four Gospels—altogether forty-three books. Suddenly, in the Gospel of John, in 7:39, we are told, "The Spirit was not yet." Why at that time was the Spirit not yet? Very few in Christianity would study this. However, the Bible says that the Spirit was not yet because Jesus Christ had not yet been glorified. This tells us that when Jesus Christ was glorified, the Spirit was there. When was Jesus Christ glorified? Jesus Christ was glorified when He was resurrected (Luke 24:26). His resurrection was His glorification. At that time the Spirit was there.
First Corinthians 15 is a chapter that speaks specifically concerning resurrection. In verse 45 it says that in the resurrec-tion of Christ the last Adam, who is Christ in the flesh, became a life-giving Spirit (v. 45b). That is to become the Spirit. The Spirit is the aggregate of the processed Triune God. The Spirit is not only the consummation of the processed Triune God but also the aggregate of the processed Triune God. The consummation refers to the completion of the processes that the Triune God went through; the aggregate refers to the sum total of the three of the Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Now He is the Father, and also the Son, and also the Spirit (Matt. 28:19). The sum total of the three as an aggregate is the Spirit.
VII. BEING THE REALITY OF GOD, THE REALITY
OF CHRIST, AND THE REALITY OF RESURRECTION
This Spirit is the reality of God because He is God. He is the reality of Christ because He is Christ. He is also the reality of resurrection (John 14:17; 1 John 5:6b).
After I had been working with Brother Nee for nearly twenty years, one day he said to me, "The Holy Spirit is the reality of resurrection." At that time I did not understand how the Holy Spirit could be the reality of resurrection. Gradually, I began to understand. If there were no God, no Christ, and no Spirit, there would be no resurrection. It is not that there was resurrection only after the Lord Jesus had resurrected. In John 11:25 the Lord told Martha, "I am the resurrection." At that time Martha was arguing about the matter of time. She said to the Lord, "Lord, my brother has died and has been buried four days. He must be stinking by now. If You had come four days earlier, he would not have died." The Lord said to her, "Martha, I am the resurrection. There is no earlier or later with Me. If I am not here, there is nothing. If I am here, I am the resurrection." However, who is this One who said to Martha, "I am the resurrection"? He is God, and God is the Spirit. This Jesus is the embodiment of God, and God is the Spirit. So, in the universe the Holy Spirit, the consummated Spirit, the life-giving Spirit, is the reality of resurrection. God is resurrection; Christ is resurrection. Hence, wherever God is and wherever Christ is, there is resurrection. Eventually, the consummated Spirit is resurrection. When we live in the Spirit, we live in resurrection.
This resurrection is the substance of God’s new creation. In the old creation there is nothing of resurrection because there is no God in the old creation. However, the new creation is just God Himself. The Spirit is the substance of God’s new creation. You and I were originally in the old creation, but now we are in the new creation. In the old creation we do not have the element of God. What we have is neither resurrection nor God. However, in the new creation what we have is entirely resurrection, entirely God. Hence the substance of the new creation is the Spirit. This Spirit is forever new and never becomes old.
(The Issue of the Union of the Consummated Spirit of the Triune God and the Regenerated Spirit of the Believers, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee)
