THE ALL-INCLUSIVE SPIRIT
After the Lord’s talk with the disciples recorded in John 14—16 and His prayer in John 17, He went to Gethsemane and was arrested there in the same night. He was then judged and sentenced to death. He was crucified and buried and after three days He resurrected. In His glorification, that is, in His resurrection, Jesus as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit. The Spirit of God in creation was the Spirit of Jehovah in His contact with man, and the Spirit of Jehovah in God’s contact with man was the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ conception and birth. Now this Spirit, in Jesus’ resurrection, became the life-giving Spirit.
Now "the Spirit," the life-giving Spirit, is an all-inclusive drink. The Spirit of God is just like plain water to which many things were added to make an all-inclusive drink. If tea, sugar, honey, lemon, and milk are all added into plain water, it is still water but not merely water. When you drink the water, you get tea, sugar, lemon, honey, and milk. Before the glorification of Jesus, the Spirit of God was merely the divine Spirit, but in the glorification of Jesus, in His resurrection, many crucial things were added into the Spirit of God. The uplifted and glorified humanity and the human living of Jesus were added to the Spirit of God. His all-inclusive death, the sweetness and effectiveness of His death, His resurrection, and the power of His resurrection were new elements added into the pure Spirit of God.
Before Jesus’ resurrection, there was merely the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jehovah, the Holy Spirit. No doubt, the divine element was in the Spirit of God, but there was no humanity, no human living, and nothing of His all-inclusive death and powerful resurrection. After Jesus’ resurrection, after He was glorified, the Spirit of God became the Spirit of the glorified Jesus. Now in this Spirit there is divinity, God’s divine element, and also humanity, the human element. There is human living, the all-inclusive death of Christ, and the powerful resurrection of Christ. All these items are compounded in the Spirit of God. This is "the Spirit," the all-inclusive, compound, life-giving Spirit. Second Corinthians 3:17 says, "The Lord is the Spirit." The Lord is the Son in the name of the Father. He is Jesus with the Father who is now the Spirit. The Son with the Father is now the all-inclusive, compound, life-giving Spirit.
THE SPIRIT OF JESUS, THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST,
AND THE SPIRIT OF JESUS CHRIST
This Spirit in Acts 16:7 is called the Spirit of Jesus. The Spirit of God is God Himself, the Spirit of Jehovah is Jehovah Himself, and the Spirit of Jesus is Jesus Himself. In Romans 8 the Spirit of Christ is Christ Himself (vv. 9-10). Then Philippians 1:19 refers to the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This Spirit is Jesus Christ Himself.
THE SPIRIT
Revelation 2:7 tells us that the Spirit speaks to the churches. The Spirit here is again the all-inclusive, compound, life-giving Spirit. Revelation 22:17a says, "The Spirit and the bride say..." This compound Spirit eventually becomes one with the church, with the bride. I hope that we all would receive a vision of the Spirit—He is the compound of the Triune God, the man Jesus, His human living, His death, and His resurrection. All the positive things in the universe are compounded in this one Spirit, which is the Spirit. The first four books of the New Testament are on the Son with the Father by the Spirit, but the next twenty-two books are on the Spirit, who is the compound of the Triune God, of the proper man, of the proper human living, of the death of Christ, and of the resurrection of Christ. This Spirit occupies twenty-two of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. In the four Gospels it was the Son with the Father by the Spirit. Now it is the Spirit as the Son with the Father compounded with divinity, humanity, human living, death, and resurrection. The very Spirit who is in you today is such a Spirit. When we have this compound, all-inclusive, life-giving, processed Spirit, we have everything. This is for God’s economy to dispense Himself into us.
(The Divine Economy, Chapter 9, by Witness Lee)
