Crystallization-Study of Exodus (3)
Message Ten
The Compound Spirit
Scripture Reading: Exo. 30:22-25;Rom. 8:16, 23, 26-27; Gal. 3:14; 5:16-18, 22, 25; Rev. 2:7; 22:17a
I. The revelation concerning the compound ointment was given toward the end of Exodus 30 after God's dwelling place and the priesthood had been revealed; this indicates that the compound ointment (typifying the compound Spirit) is solely for the purpose of anointing God's dwelling place and His priesthood—vv. 26-28, 30; cf. 1 Pet. 2:5; Psa. 133:2.
II. The all-inclusive, processed, compound Spirit is the aggregate, the totality, of all the aspects of the Spirit of God:
A. In God's creation the Spirit of God with the element of divinity was active—"and the Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters"—Gen. 1:2b:
1. The Spirit of God, as the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), came to brood over the waters of death in order to generate life, especially man (Gen. 1:26), for God's purpose; in spiritual experience, the Spirit's coming is the first requirement for generating life (John 6:63).
2. Because creation came into being by the Spirit of God with the element of divinity, then according to Romans 1:20, creation manifests God's eternal power and divine characteristics.
B. In God's relation with man there is the Spirit of Jehovah with the element of the Divine Trinity:
1. In Genesis 2 Jehovah is a title used for God's contact with man; it denotes God's relationship with man—vv. 4-5, 7-9, 15-19, 21-22.
2. Jehovah means "I am who I am" (Exo. 3:14; cf. John 8:24, 28, 58), indicating that Jehovah is the self-existing and everexisting eternal One, the One who was in the past, who is in the present, and who will be in the future forever (Rev. 1:4).
3. Jehovah is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Exo. 3:14-15), the Triune God.
4. Whenever God came to contact people in the Old Testament, He was the Spirit of Jehovah as the extract of the element of the Triune God—Judg. 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6, 19; 15:14; 1 Sam. 10:6; 16:13-14; 2 Sam. 23:2; 1 Kings18:12; 22:24; 2 Kings 2:16; 2 Chron. 18:23; 20:14; Isa. 11:2;63:14; Ezek. 11:5; 37:1; Micah 3:8; Zech. 7:12.
C. In the New Testament, the first divine title ascribed to the Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit, with the element of the holy divine nature:
1. Such a title is not used in the Old Testament (in Psalm 51:11 and Isaiah 63:10-11, Holy Spirit (KJV) should be translated "Spirit of holiness").
2. The preparing of the way for the Savior's coming required that His forerunner be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb, so that he could separate the people unto God from all things other than God, making them holy unto Him for His purpose—Luke 1:15.
3. The preparing of a human body for the Savior required that the Holy Spirit impart the divine nature into humanity, making man holy in nature for the carrying out of God's plan of redemption—v. 35; Matt. 1:18, 20.
4. Dispositional sanctification in the New Testament is to make us not merely holy in position but also holy in nature, even as God is holy—1 Pet. 1:15-16; Rom. 6:19, 22.
D. The Spirit was not yet, not yet compounded with more elements, before Christ's resurrection:
1. John 7:39 says, "This He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified":
a. The Spirit compounded with other elements was "not yet" at the time Jesus spoke this word, because He was not yet glorified; Jesus was glorified when He resurrected (Luke 24:26).
b. When the Spirit was the Spirit of God, He had only the divine element; when He became the Spirit of Jesus Christ through Christ's incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, He had both the divine and human elements, with all the essence and reality of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ; hence, He is now the compound Spirit, the all-inclusive Spirit of Jesus Christ—Exo. 30:22-25; Phil. 1:19.
2. Through and in His resurrection Christ as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit of the glorified Jesus, the compound Spirit, to enter into His believers to flow into them and flow out of them as rivers of living water—1 Cor. 15:45b; John 7:37-39.
E. The writings of John reveal that the Spirit is the Spirit of reality—John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 5:6:
1. The Spirit is the reality (v. 6), and as the realization of what God the Father and God the Son are, He guides us into all the reality (John 16:13).
2. All that the Father is and has is embodied in the Son (Col. 2:9), and all that the Son is and has is declared as reality to the believers through the Spirit (John 16:13-15); hence, it is a matter of the Triune God being wrought into and mingled with the believers.
F. The Spirit of Jesus has the elements of Christ's humanity, human living, and crucifixion—Acts 16:7:
1. The Spirit of Jesus is the Spirit of a man with abundant strength for suffering.
2. We have the Spirit of the man Jesus living in us so that we can live the proper human life and endure its sufferings.
G. The Spirit of Christ in Romans 8:9 has the element of resurrection—vv. 10-11:
1. The Spirit of Christ is the totality, the aggregate, of the all-inclusive Christ with His all-inclusive death and resurrection.
2. By the Spirit of Christ, we partake of Christ in His resurrection life and power, His transcendency, and His reigning authority.
H. The Spirit of Jesus Christ in Philippians 1:19 is the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit of the Triune God:
1. To experience the Lord's humanity, we need the Spirit of Jesus; to experience the power of the Lord's resurrection, we need the Spirit of Christ.
2. In his suffering Paul experienced both the Lord's suffering in His humanity and the Lord's resurrection; such a Spirit has and even is the bountiful supply for a person like Paulwho was experiencing and enjoying Christ in His human living and resurrection.
I. The Spirit is the Spirit of life with the riches of the divine life (Rom. 8:2) and the life-giving Spirit with the impartation of the divine life (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:6):
1. The Spirit of life is the reality of life, for the Spirit Himself is life.
2. The Spirit is moving, working, and living in us to impart life into our whole being.
J. The Spirit is also called the Lord Spirit—v. 18:
1. In this aspect of the Spirit the element of lordship is included; in the Lord Spirit we have the elements of ascension and lordship.
2. This strongly proves and confirms that the Lord Christ is the Spirit and that the Spirit is the Lord Christ—v. 17.
K. The compound Spirit is also the Spirit of grace with the element of the enjoyment of the Triune God—Heb. 10:29:
1. For the Spirit to be the Spirit of grace means that the Triune God in the Son as the Spirit becomes our enjoyment.
2. To partake of the Spirit of grace is to partake of the Spirit as grace—cf. Gal. 6:18; 2 Tim. 4:22; Rom. 8:16.
L. The seven Spirits are the sevenfold intensified Spirit to bring the degraded church back to the enjoyment of Himself as the tree of life, the hidden manna, and the rich feast for the finalization of God's eternal economy—Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6; 2:7, 17; 3:20:
1. In substance and existence God's Spirit is one; in the intensified function and work of God's operation His Spirit is sevenfold; it is like the lampstand in Zechariah 4:2—in existence it is one lampstand, but in function it is seven lamps.
2. Whereas the seven Spirits as the seven lamps of burning fire (Rev. 4:5) are for enlightening and burning, the seven Spirits as the seven eyes of the Lamb (5:6) are for observing, searching, and transfusing; as the Lord enlightens and judges us, He looks at us, and through the seven Spirits as His eyes He transfuses Himself into us for our transformation.
3. Christ's ministry in the stage of intensification is to intensify His organic salvation, to produce the overcomers, and to consummate the New Jerusalem.
M. The Spirit of glory, being the Spirit of God Himself, rests upon the suffering believers in their persecution for the glorification of the resurrected and exalted Christ, who is now in glory—1 Pet. 4:13-14.
N. Ultimately, the Spirit of God is "the Spirit," the compound Spirit; the Spirit is the totality, the aggregate, of all the elements of the titles of the Spirit of God; hence, the Spirit is the all-inclusive, processed, compound Spirit—Rom. 8:16, 23, 26-27; Gal. 3:14; 5:16-18, 22, 25; 1 Pet. 1:2; Rev. 2:7; 14:13; 22:17a:
1. This Spirit, the compound Spirit, is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jehovah, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of reality, the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of life, the life-giving Spirit, the Lord Spirit, the Spirit of grace, the seven Spirits, and the Spirit of glory.
2. "The Spirit," the compound Spirit, is the unique and greatest blessing of God's New Testament economy—Gal. 3:14; cf. Eph. 1:3.