THE SPIRIT OF REALITY FOR THE DISPENSING OF THE TRIUNE GOD
Sent by the Son from with the Father
The verses in the Scripture reading at the beginning of this chapter are firstly from the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John begins with “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1:1). It goes on to say, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (v. 18). This book starts with God, goes on to show us the Father, and continues to show us that He is the Son. Hence we have God, the Father, and the Son. In 15:26 the Lord said, “But when the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of reality, who proceeds from the Father, He will testify concerning Me.” In this verse the Son, not the Father, is the Sender of the Spirit. The Son sent the Spirit from the Father. From may be better translated as from with (see Darby’s New Translation, 1:14, 15:26, and notes). The Spirit of reality comes not only from the Father but with the Father. When He comes, the Father comes. This verse reveals the reality of the Triune God. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are here, and the Son is the Sender of the Spirit who comes from with the Father.
Making Christ Real to Us by His Dispensing
Moreover the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one, but They are also three for dispensing. The Father is in the heavens, but the Son is here. Even though the Son was with the disciples, He could not enter into them. Therefore, there is the need of the Spirit. When the Spirit came, He entered into the disciples (14:17). This Spirit who is in us is the Spirit of reality. The Spirit of reality indicates that the Spirit makes everything the Son spoke to the disciples real. Jesus said, “I am the way and the reality and the life” (14:6). Without the Spirit entering into us, the Lord being life would not be real to us; it would merely be a doctrine. When the Spirit comes into us, He guides us into the reality that Christ is the life, because the Spirit is the reality of life. What Christ spoke was His word, but when the Spirit comes, He makes Christ’s word real to us. The coming of the Spirit of reality is the dispensing of the Triune God, the dispensing of Christ into us.
As the Breath to Bring the Triune God into Us
We must read the Gospel of John again. First we have the Word and God. “In the beginning was the Word,…and the Word was God” (1:1). Then we have the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Finally we have the breath (20:22). At the beginning of this book, in chapter one, is the Word which was God. At the end, in chapter twenty, is the breath. Do you believe that this breath is something separate from the Word? This breath is the Word, and this breath is also God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. In this breath we have the Spirit, the Son, the Father, God, and the Word. This breath is the dispensing of Jesus, the dispensing of the Triune God into us. Today we receive the breath simply by breathing. By breathing this breath in, we receive the Spirit, the Son, the Father, God, and the Word. This is the dispensing of Jesus into us.
Becoming the Sevenfold Intensified Spirit for the Dispensing of God into Us
The Bible first reveals God, Jehovah, the Triune God. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Following this, so many books in the Old Testament show us something about the Father. Then in the New Testament there are at least four books, the Gospels, about the Son. At the end of His life, the Son told us that He would send the Spirit from with the Father. From here we go on to the book of Acts. In the book of Acts we mainly have the Spirit. Then after all the Epistles is the last book, Revelation, which speaks of the sevenfold intensified Spirit (1:4; 4:5; 5:6). The Bible starts with God and ends with the sevenfold intensified Spirit. All this is for the dispensing of God into us.
(Enjoying the Riches of Christ for the Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)
