THE SPIRIT OF REALITY BEING THE ULTIMATE CONSUMMATION OF THE TRIUNE GOD
The Lord’s recovery is a recovery of the truth. From the messages in this book, people can see how deep and scientific our reading of the Bible is. I believe that there may never have been a group of people who read the Bible in the way that we read the Bible. In Christianity, the general understanding concerning Colossians 1:27 is that it speaks of Christ in the believers but does not speak of the Father or the Spirit in us; that is, Christ is related neither to the Father nor to the Spirit because the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three separate persons. Many have not seen that 2:9 in the same book says that in this Christ is not only the Godhead—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—but also all the fullness of the Godhead—the fullness of the Father, the fullness of the Son, and the fullness of the Spirit. The Christ in us is the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells. Therefore, on the evening of the day of His resurrection, the Holy Spirit whom the Lord breathed into His disciples was simply Himself, the Triune God. This is why we say that the Spirit, who entered into the disciples to be their life, is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God.
FOUR BIBLICAL PASSAGES WHICH SPEAK CLEARLY CONCERNING THE TRIUNE GOD
Ephesians 2:18
In the New Testament there are four main passages which speak in a clear way concerning the Triune God. The first passage is Ephesians 2:18: “For through Him [the Son] we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father.” This verse clearly mentions the Son, the Spirit, and the Father. In general, Christians understand this in a natural way to mean that we were fallen sinners, and the heavenly Father loved us, so He sent the Son to save us, the sinners. When the Son comes to us, we believe in Him and are saved. God forgives us through our faith in the Son, and therefore we can be in the Spirit. Once we are in the Spirit, the Son has finished His work, and we have access unto the Father, thanking Him and saying, “Heavenly Father, You really love me; thank You.” Our natural, human mind understands this verse as if there were three steps in which first we are through the Son, then the Spirit comes, and eventually we have access unto the Father. In actuality, this kind of understanding is seriously mistaken.
What does it really mean to experience having access through the Son in the Spirit unto the Father? In a sense Ephesians 2:18 is much deeper and more mysterious than John 3:16. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that every one who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.” Most Christians think that this verse is very easy to understand; that is, it speaks about believing in the Lord and not perishing but having eternal life. But they do not deeply research what “eternal life” is, thinking only that it relates to our going to heaven to enjoy eternal blessings unto the age of the ages without end. This kind of understanding is not correct. It is not easy for the natural, human mind to understand the truth of the Bible. Simply the matter of “eternal life” requires us to spend much time in study. If we want to understand what Ephesians 2:18 says concerning our having access through the Son, in the Spirit, and unto the Father, we must have an even deeper study of the Bible.
First, we must see how the Son came. The Gospel of John says that when the Son came, He did not merely come from the Father, but He came from and with the Father. The other Gospels show us that the conception of the Son was of the Holy Spirit. The Son came to the earth from and with the Father, but He was conceived and born of and through the Spirit as His essence. Thus, the Son did not come alone; instead, the Father and the Spirit came with Him. This is why when the Son was on the earth, He said that He was not alone because the Father never left Him. The Father who had sent Him had come with Him and was continually with Him (John 8:16, 29; 16:32). Furthermore, His essence was Spirit because He was conceived and born of the Holy Spirit, and when He came out to minister, the Spirit descended upon Him as His power. Therefore, the Son who came to the earth was the Father and the Spirit as well. This corresponds with what is said in Colossians 2:9: “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” In this incarnated One there are the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Therefore, this One is the Triune God.
(Four Crucial Elements of the Bible, The—Christ, the Spirit, Life, and the Church, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee)
