THE MAIN CONTENTS OF THE LORD'S RECOVERY
The Life-giving and Compound Spirit and the Divine Life in Christ
Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 3:14; Phil. 1:19; 1 John 5:11-12
I. "The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit"—1 Cor. 15:45b:
A. Through and in His resurrection, Christ as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit to impart life and to enter into His believers to flow out as rivers of living water—John 7:37-39; Rev. 21:6; 22:17.
B. The life-giving Spirit is the consummated Spirit, the consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God—2 Cor. 3:17-18; Gal. 3:14; Phil. 1:19:
1. The consummated Spirit is the Triune God after He has passed through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection—John 7:39:
a. The process through which the Triune God has passed to become the Spirit is an economical, not essential, matter—1:14; Heb. 9:14; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
b. Processed refers to the steps through which the Triune God has passed in the divine economy; consummated indicates that the process has been completed; and the consummated Spirit implies that the Spirit of God has been processed and has become the consummated Spirit—John 7:39.
2. Before the Lord Jesus was crucified and resurrected, the consummated Spirit was "not yet"—v. 39:
a. The Spirit of God was there from the beginning (Gen. 1:2), but the Spirit as "the Spirit of Christ" (Rom. 8:9), "the Spirit of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:19), was "not yet" at the time of John 7:39, because the Lord Jesus was not yet glorified.
b. The Lord Jesus was glorified when He was resurrected, and through this glorification the Spirit of God became the Spirit of the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Jesus Christ—Luke 24:26; Phil. 1:19.
c. The last Adam, who was Christ in the flesh, became the life-giving Spirit in resurrection; since then, the Spirit of Jesus Christ has both divine and human elements, including the reality of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ—1 Cor. 15:45b; Acts 16:7; Rom. 8:9.
3. The consummated Spirit was breathed as the holy breath into the disciples by the Son in resurrection—John 20:22:
a. The Gospel of John reveals that Christ became flesh to be the Lamb of God and that in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit; thus, in His resurrection He breathed Himself as the consummated Spirit into the disciples—1:29; 20:22.
b. It is as the Spirit that He was breathed into His disciples, that He can live in the disciples and they can live by Him and with Him, and that He can abide in them and they can abide in Him—v. 22; 14:19-20; 15:4-5.
c. The Christ who breathed Himself into the disciples is the life-giving Spirit—1 Cor. 15:45b.
C. The life-giving Spirit is the compound Spirit, typified by the compound anointing ointment with its ingredients—Exo. 30:23-25; 1 John 2:20, 27:
1. Olive oil signifies the Spirit of God with divinity.
2. Myrrh signifies the precious death of Christ.
3. Cinnamon signifies the sweetness and effectiveness of Christ's death.
4. Calamus signifies the precious resurrection of Christ.
5. Cassia signifies the repelling power of Christ's resurrection.
D. The life-giving Spirit is the Lord Spirit, the pneumatic Christ, for the metabolic transformation of the believers and for the growth and building up of the Body of Christ—2 Cor. 3:17-18; 1 Cor. 3:6, 9b, 12a; Eph. 4:16b.
E. Without Christ being the life-giving Spirit, we cannot experience anything of God in His economy—1 John 5:6; John 16:13; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2:10; 6:17.
II. "God gave to us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life"—1 John 5:11b-12:
A. The life of the Triune God—the eternal life—is embodied in Christ; this life is in Christ—Eph. 4:18; John 1:4.
B. Because the eternal life is in the Son (v. 4) and the Son is the life (11:25; 14:6; Col. 3:4), the Son and the life are one, inseparable; hence, he who has the Son has the life, and he who does not have the Son does not have the life.
C. The eternal life is the life that is not only everlasting but also eternal both in time and in nature—John 3:16, 36; 1 John 1:2.
D. The eternal life is the uncreated life of God, the indestructible life, and the incorruptible life—Eph. 4:18; Heb. 7:16; 2 Tim. 1:10.
E. Christ is the Author of this life, and the Spirit of God is of this life—Acts 3:15; Rom. 8:2.
F. The eternal life is the life with which the believers are regenerated and which becomes the believers' life, making the believers the children of God and the members of Christ—Col. 3:4a; John 1:12-13; Eph. 5:30:
1. God gives His chosen people repentance unto eternal life and has appointed, ordained, them to receive eternal life—Acts 11:18; 13:48.
2. Christ saves His believers subjectively in eternal life—Rom. 5:10b.
3. The believers walk in newness of eternal life—6:4.
4. Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life—5:21.
5. The overcoming believers reign by the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness in eternal life—v. 17.