THE EXTRACT OF THE LAST ADAM
How can the tabernacle and the offerings, which are the reality of the universe, be realized by us and enjoyed by us? First Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” Here we have the last Adam and the life-giving Spirit. Who is the last Adam? The last Adam is God incarnated to become a man. The first Adam was simply and merely a man. But the last Adam is the God-man, One who has both divinity and humanity. The last Adam is God manifested in the flesh and God mingled with humanity. He is Adam, but He is Adam with the divine nature and also the divine Person. Therefore, the One who is the last Adam is nothing less than God Himself. But He is God with humanity, God with the flesh. Eventually, this One who is the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit.
The life-giving Spirit is the extract of the last Adam. In the first message of this series on the fulfillment of the tabernacle and the offerings in the writings of John, we pointed out that an extract may be understood as a liquid extracted from a plant or other organic matter that contains its essence in concentrated form. A synonym for extract is “spirit,” which is the essence of a substance extracted in liquid form. Wine, for example, may be regarded as an extract, or spirit, of grapes. Whenever you extract the essence of a particular substance, you get the spirit of that substance. In a similar manner, the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit, and now the life-giving Spirit is the extract of the last Adam.
Suppose a certain kind of herb is useful in healing a particular illness. How can that herb be applied to a sick person? The best way is to take out the extract of that herb and use it to make medicine. Then a sick person simply needs to take this medicine. There is no need for him to eat the herb. We may use this as an illustration of the life-giving Spirit as the extract of the last Adam, God in the flesh. Just as herbs need to pass through a process in order for an extract to be brought forth, so the last Adam, the God-man, had to pass through a process in order to become the life-giving Spirit. Just as herbs may be pressed to produce the extract, so the last Adam was “pressed” on the cross. He certainly passed through the process of death and resurrection.
Chapter fifteen of 1 Corinthians is concerned with resurrection. It was through resurrection that the last Adam was made an extract, an extract that is the life-giving Spirit. Of course, resurrection was preceded by death. Hence, through death and resurrection the last Adam became the omnipresent life-giving Spirit.
Because the Spirit is everywhere, we can contact Him simply by exercising our spirit and calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. In this way we enjoy Him as the Lamb of God, as the all-inclusive offering. Then through Him as the offerings we enter into Him as the tabernacle. How marvelous!
The content of the record of the Bible is the Triune God passing through a process to become the tabernacle, a mutual abode for God and man. Now we may dwell in Him and He in us through Himself as the offerings. This is the content of the Bible and the reality of the universe.
The Gospel of John is the condensation of the whole Bible. In this book we have the fulfillment of the tabernacle and the offerings. The reality of the universe is the Triune God as the tabernacle and the offerings, and this reality is the content of the Bible. The whole Bible is condensed into one book, the Gospel of John. Therefore, in the record of this Gospel we have the fulfillment of the tabernacle and the offerings.
(The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, Chapter 22, by Witness Lee)
