In my previous post I talked about knowing who you are and what you possess in Christ. This teaching by J. Preston Eby should help bring understanding and clarity to what I was attempting to convey.
THE SEVEN SPIRITS OF GOD
Part I
“Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: HOW SHALL NOT THE MINISTRATION OF THE SPIRIT be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory” (II Cor. 3:6-9).
These verses contain two highly significant phrases: “Who hath made us able ministers of the New Testament… OF THE SPIRIT” and “the ministration of … SPIRIT.”
The New Testament is not the black, leather covered, book called the BIBLE containing four Gospels, twenty-one Epistles, one book of History and one book of Prophecy. This book is what Paul calls “the letter.” It is the law, the record, the history which tells us many things ABOUT the historical man called Jesus, the Son of God. Many Christians have found the New Testament only in this realm of “the letter.” They know much ABOUT GOD, can quote volumes of scripture, and articulate persuasively their particular doctrines and beliefs. To these, their intellectual understanding of God and the Bible is an end in itself. But the New Testament is NOT THE BIBLE! The twenty-seven books called the New Testament are merely the letter… the guide given to point us to the TRUE NEW TESTAMENT, Jesus, the Christ of God! Ah, Jesus never carried a copy of the Old Testament when He taught the multitudes. I have in my library many Bibles including the Literal Bible, the Comparative Bible, the Analytical Bible, the Emphasized Bible and the Amplified Bible. But Jesus Himself is the EXEMPLIFIED BIBLE! He is the PERSONIFIED BIBLE! He is the true
picture of His Father, the Living Word of His Father. He is the full and complete revelation of His Father. He is the full and abundant Life of His Father unto all who believe in Him.
Never once in scripture is the New Testament called a book or referred to as being written on parchments or paper. Consider these statements:
“And He took… the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament IN MY BLOOD, which is shed for you” (Lk. 22:19-20).
“Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but OF THE SPIRIT” (II Cor. 3:6).
Jesus did not say, “The Bible is the New Testament.” He took the “cup” and said, “THIS is the New Testament!” He didn’t say, “The New Testament is in the Bible.” He said, “This is the New Testament IN MY BLOOD.” This means that the New Tesatament can be found only in the blood of Jesus Christ. One of the redemptive laws of God is found in Lev. 17:11: “I will even set My face against that soul that eateth blood… for the life of the flesh is in the blood.” Blood speaks of life, for the life is in the blood. The life of the Son of God is in the blood of the Son of God. This is why Jesus declared: “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and DRINK HIS BLOOD, ye have NO LIFE IN YOU. Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life” (Jn. 6:53-54). The New Testament, therefore, is the very life of Jesus poured out for us and imparted to us. Of course we do not literally drink the red blood of Christ that poured out 2,000 years ago on Calvary’s mount, but we do drink the life that was in that blood. That life is the very Spirit of God. Now we can understand why Jesus cried out and said: “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this He spake of THE SPIRIT, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)” (Jn. 7:37-39). Paul said: “He hath made us able ministers of the New Testament… of the SPIRIT.” He was telling us that God has made us able ministers of the Spirit life of Jesus Christ.
The English word “testament” is from the Greek DIATHEKE which means “a covenant.” The word is translated “testament” 18 times and “covenant” 20 times in the King James version. With this in mind let us turn to Heb. 8:7-11. “For if that first covenant (testament) had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, He saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel… For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My laws INTO THEIR MINDS, and write them IN THEIR HEARTS: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people. And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall KNOW ME, from the least to the greatest.” These verses tell us three things about the New Covenant: (1) It is to be written in our minds and hearts (2) The essence of the covenant is that God is to us a God, and we are His people (3) In this covenant we KNOW THE LORD. The Old Testament, on the other hand, was “written and engraven in stones,” and ministered to the people only a knowledge OF (about) GOD, but not the KNOWING OF GOD HIMSELF.
Herein is an arrangement that will work – the old covenant was written and engraven in stone and the people were unable to keep it. Israel began well, accepted the covenant, and promised obedience. But there was no power to continue, to fulfill it; no power to conquer temptation, or overcome the evil heart; to remain faithful. Just as the old covenant was the law written and engraven in stone, and one could hold high these stone tablets and say, “Here is the covenant of our God,” so the new covenant is the law of God inscribed in the minds and hearts of a people – not merely a law, but that law inscribed in a people – so that you can point to that people and say, “There is the covenant of our God!” The people with the law of God in their heart IS THE COVENANT, THE BOOK OF GOD’S LAW OF LIFE. I heard of a man who collects presidential signatures. The autographs are valuable, some of them priceless – not because of the ink or paper that was used but because of the persons who wrote them. These presidential signatures are all appropriately framed and hung with dignity and honor. God has made a covenant with mankind that has been written by His finger and signed in blood. This is not a mere document but an agreement – signed in our Lord’s own blood. His blood is His life and it is His life formed in His people which constitutes His signature with His blood. YOU ARE THE COVENANT. Never forget that!
The New Testament is not a book; it is a PERSON. The New Testament is CHRIST – Head and body. Jesus said: “Search the scriptures; for in them YE THINK YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE: and they are they which TESTIFY OF ME. And ye will not come unto ME, that ye might have LIFE” (Jn. 5:39-40). Jesus came into the world as a demonstration of God-life right here upon the earth. Jesus said: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly “ (Jn. 10:10). To minister the New Testament does not mean to minister sermons; doctrines, laws, or truths abut Jesus Christ. To minister the New Testament is to minister the very life of God which is in Jesus in the Spirit. “He hath made us able ministers of… the SPIRIT.” The word minister implies the thought – to serve, impart, give out or to wait on. As a member of the New Creation you have been called to be an able minister of the New Testament, a minister of THE SPIRIT!
THE DISPENSATION OF GOD
This reveals to us the true purpose of God in Christ: to dispense Himself into humanity. Let us read I Tim. 1:3-4 from the American Standard version: “… that thou mightest charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine, neither to give head to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questionings, rather than A DISPENSATION OF GOD which is in faith.” Another translation makes it even plainer: “that you might command certain ones not to teach different doctrine, nor to pay attention to false stories and to genealogies, which end up in nothing, but which furnish questions… rather than A DISPENSATION OF ANYTHING BY GOD.” So God’s purpose is God’s dispensation which is nothing else than God dispensing Himself into mankind. In this divine dispensation God, who is almighty and all-inclusive, intends to dispense nothing other than HIMSELF to us. This needs to be meditated upon at length in order to impress us deeply!
Herein is revealed the difference between FACTS and TRUTH. How many of Babylon’s systems hold to their cold, dead doctrines of FACTS about God. But facts are expressive only of that dead letter of the Word. Facts can never make you free! Jesus never said, “You shall know the facts and the facts shall make you free,” but He did say, “You shall know the TRUTH and THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE.” Truth is Spirit. Truth is reality. Doctrine is never the truth. The truth is the substance, the life, the reality about which the doctrine merely speaks, to which it points. “When HE the SPIRIT OF TRUTH is come.” “HE is with you, and shall be IN YOU.” You can feed into your mind any amount of information via the natural senses but it will be just so much preaching, teaching, reading, study, research, FACTS, until the Spirit, the life within, brings it forth as an ESSENCE in your being. Oh, brethren! It is not a matter of learning doctrines! When I was young I went off to Bible School and studied all the doctrines, but they never ministered one ounce of reality to my spirit. Even in this Kingdom realm it is so easy to be side-tracked in this area. One may learn all the teachings, master the terminology the Spirit has brought forth in the realm of revelation, understand all about the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the manifested sons of God, the Kingdom, reconciliation, heaven, hell, and the various dispensations, but after all is said and done there is only ONE DISPENSATION which we need – the DISPENSATION OF GOD HIMSELF INTO OUR LIVES! Oh! That we may partake of HIM in all His glorious and eternal reality in the Spirit. Let us be filled with GOD HIMSELF – not merely these dispensational doctrines, even good sonship doctrines, theories of the pre-Adamic creation, pre-existence, nor yet of the ages to come, but rather let us be dispensers of the life of God in Christ. In all our walk learn how to contact and follow the Holy Spirit. Let us exercise our spirits to be full of the Holy Spirit rather than exercising our minds merely to understand the form of teaching. Certainly we need the teaching and right doctrines. But above all let us settle once and for all in our hearts that we are called into His glorious Kingdom to be “able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of THE SPIRIT.”
THE TREE OF LIFE AND THE TREE OF DEATH
That God’s eternal purpose has been to dispense Himself into us can be seen from the very beginning in the garden of Eden. God is there seen creating man as the center of the whole creation for the purpose of expressing Himself. We subsequently read in Gen. 2:8-9,17: “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man who He had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree … the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
In order to understand God’s purpose we must be thoroughly clear about these two trees and what they represent. What does the tree of life signify? Most assuredly it represents a realm of life beyond what Adam already possessed. Adam already had perfect human life, and it was not necessary for him to eat of the”tree of life” in order to perpetuate that human life. The only thing that could cause the termination of his human life was the eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God had not said to Adam, “You must eat of the tree of life so you won’t die,” but rather, “in the day that you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall die.” Therefore, the life offered to man in the tree of life is a HIGHER KIND OF LIFE than the human life Adam possessed – even God-life.
One thing is certain: the tree of life in Eden was not a natural, physical tree. One of the exceeding great and precious promises to the overcomer is: “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (Rev 2:7). This is the very same tree of life to which Adam lost access in that long ago beginning. It imparts more than the never-ending perfect human life which Adam could have retained simply by refusing to eat of the tree of death. This tree of life lifts man up from the realm of humanity and infuses him with divine life, even the life of God in Christ. No physical tree can minister this heavenly life, for that which is physical is not of eternal divine substance, “… for the things which are seen aretemporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (II Cor. 4:18). How simple it is to understand this! No natural tree can impart spiritual life, for no natural tree is spiritual in its properties. According to the revelation of the scriptures, Jesus is not only our life today, but He has always, even from the beginning, been the life of God Himself made available to man. Has God-life ever been accessible from any source other than Christ? John’s answer to that question rings clear through the centuries: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same WAS IN THE BEGINNING with God… IN HIM WAS LIFE; and the life WAS the light of men.” And again, “That which WAS FROM THE BEGINNING, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of THE WORD OF LIFE; for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and show unto you THAT ETERNAL LIFE, WHICH WAS WITH THE FATHER, and was manifested unto us” (I Jn. 1:1-4). This tree of life in the beginning was nothing else than the life of God in Christ made available to man. The fruit of that tree was available to Adam.
When fruit is eaten it first enters the stomach. There it begins to be digested and the nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. The blood then carries the nutrients and delivers them to each and every cell of the body, internal and external. Thus the life in the fruit is ministered to the body and the whole body becomes literally FILLED with the life-giving properties of the fruit. In this we see the picture of exactly what God has desired for man from the beginning – that he would eat of the fruit of the tree of life which is the life God in Christ. God intends to so dispense Himself into man that man will express Himself as the center of the whole universe.
But what actually happened to man? The mystery of this is contained in the symbolism of the second tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This tree represents nothing else than the realm of the carnal mind. The second tree brings death, because it is the very source of death. The first tree is the source of divine life on the one hand, and the second tree is the source of death on the other hand. A scripture showing what the instrument of death is is Rom. 8:5-6, 13: “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die.” Again: “He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal 6:8). The scripture is plain that the power of death cannot be dispensed into man except through the agency of the carnal mind. Thus, from the beginning of time, these two trees represent two sources – one, the source of life, and the other, the source of death. As we know, Adam chose to take the second choice, the tree of knowledge, into himself. This was not a matter of merely doing something wrong. No! It was much more serious than just transgressing a law or breaking a commandment. The significance of Adam taking the fruit of the tree of knowledge was that he actually took something INTO HIMSELF, he received the influence or “spirit” of the serpent into himself.
What scientists have discovered makes it relatively easy to believe in the existence of worlds, or spheres of life, behond the comprehension of human senses. IN the realm of sound, for example, we know that the human ear is quite limited, that sounds which are very real are inaudible to us if they are below or above a certain range of frequency. And the same is true of sight. The existence of radio waves, gamma rays, ultra-violet light rays, etc., also helps us to realize the power of invisible forces which are beyond our comprehension. In Eph 2:2 Satan is described as “the prince of the power of the air, the SPIRIT that now worketh IN the children (sons) of disobedience.” The Amplified Bible says, “At one time… you were following the course and fashion of the world… following the prince of the power of the air. You were obedient to him and were under his control, the demon spirit that still constantly works (Gr.: energio, energizes) in the sons of disobedience… for we are not wrestling with flesh and blood – contending only with physical opponents – but against the despotisms, against the powers, against the master spirits who are the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (spiritual) sphere” (Eph 2:2; 6:12). Oriental imagery is never more graphically displayed in all its eloquence than in the use of the biblical word SERPENT as a figure of Satan, the Devil. This symbol, along with a number of other word pictures, is very expressive of his nature and activity. I make no apology for declaring to you the truth that each and every creature of earth typifies a higher reality in the realm of SPIRIT – good or bad, positive or negative. This can be seen clearly in the words of Jesus when He says in Lk. 10:17-19, “And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy name. And He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven (the realm of SPIRIT). Behold I give you power to TREAD ON SERPENTS AND SCORPIONS, and over all the power of the enemy.” Spake He of the serpents and scorpions of the fields? Nay, my brother, He spake rather of SPIRITS possessing the nature typified by serpents and scorpions, hidden and cunning, slithering about in the lowest realms of man’s earthiness, in the thoughts and desires and ambitions of the carnal mind, full of deadly venom. Even the fowls of heaven, as the law of Moses shows us, clean and unclean, each bespeak of a kind or quality of nature, expressing those characteristics that originate in the spirit realm. Hence, in scripture unclean birds are a type of evil natures, as John the Revelator shows in Rev. 18:2, “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen and is become the habitation of DEVILS, and the hold of every FOUL SPIRIT, and a cage of every UNCLEAN AND HATEFUL BIRD.” We know the Lamb, the meek and sacrificial nature of the Christ within, the Son of God, gentle, kind, compassionate, redemptive, blessing all He touches; but have we not known also the nature of the beast, wild and ravenous, that spirit, so obvious in the world, which stomps and rends and breaks in pieces and devours, of whom Peter warns us, saying, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (I Pet. 5:8).
Some teach that in all the universe there is but ONE SPIRIT – the Holy Spirit of God. I solemnly tell every person who reads these lines that the scriptures are clear, and give us a wonderful understanding of the workings of SPIRIT. SPIRIT, like everything else in nature, has its opposites – positive and negative, good and evil, light and darkness. As was pointed out in previous messages on this subject, spirit is not good – neither is spirit evil. Spirit is just a type of thing, just as flesh is a type of thing. For that matter, flesh is neither good nor evil. It is just there. Flesh becomes evil when its use is perverted. Flesh is good when it is properly used as the temple of God or when it is used to give visible manifestation to the nature of God. As Paul said, “There is nothing impure of itself.” Jesus displayed the wonder of glorified flesh when He appeared to His disciples following His resurrection and said, “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself: handle Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have” (Lk. 24:39). Spirit, then, like anything else is neither good nor evil until it is expressed through usage. Only then does it take on a holy and righteous or an evil and unrighteous character.
Let us take a closer look at some of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit. He is variously defined as – “The Spirit of God,” “The Spirit of Christ,” “The Spirit of Holiness,” “The Spirit of Truth,” “The Spirit of a Sound Mind,” “The Spirit of Liberty,” “The Spirit of Burning,” “The Spirit of the Father,” “The Spirit of the Son,” “The Spirit of Promise,” “The Spirit of Meekness,” “The Spirit of Understanding,” “The Spirit of Adoption,” “The Spirit of Prophecy,” “The Spirit of Glory,” “The Spirit of Counsel,” “The Spirit of Grace,” “The Spirit of Adoption,” “The Spirit of Prophecy,” “The Spirit of the Lord,” etc., etc. These various titles, repeated many times, and used interchangeably, give us a full, proper assurance that they all relate to the same HOLY SPIRIT – indeed, frequently the word “Holy” is added in, combined, as for instance, “The Holy Spirit of God,” “The Holy Spirit of Promise,” etc. These various expressions are descriptive of the spirit, nature, disposition, power and glory of one God, the Father, and also the spirit, nature, disposition, and power and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, because He is the expression of the Father; and also it is the spirit, nature, disposition, power and glory of all who are truly the Lord’s in proportion as they have been made ONE IN HIM. “He that is joined unto the Lord is ONE SPIRIT” (I Cor. 6:17).
Each of these characteristics is a form of the energy of God. This energy is transmitted from the spirit into soul and body to produce its power within us, just as electricity is transmitted from a battery to an engine to make it function in a certain way. When the “Spirit of Holiness” is transmitted into our lives and consciousness we begin to function in our personality in that characteristic of God’s holiness, thus becoming holy. When the “Spirit of Wisdom” is transmitted into our consciousness we cease from our own natural reasoning and commence to act in accordance with the higher wisdom of God. When the “Spirit of Life” permeates our being even our bodies shall be quickened by His life within until this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality. Then shall be fulfilled the word which was spoken, “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed” (I Cor. 15:51).
Our failure to see that the Holy Spirit of God is not the only form of spirit in the world leads us into all manner of error and misunderstanding. There is another spirit mentioned frequently throughout the Word of God, and in opposite terms, namely, “The Spirit of Fear,” “The Spirit of Bondage,” “The Spirit of the World,” “The Spirit of Error,” “The Spirit of Antichrist,” “The Spirit of Jealousy,” “The Spirit of Slumber,” etc., etc. These terms signify the WRONG SPIRIT – the spirit, nature, disposition, power and will which has its chief exemplification in Satan, the Devil, the Serpent, the Adversary; the same spirit manifesting itself in all who walk in and live out of the carnal mind. Sin, error, darkness and death are all characteristics of the SPIRIT OF THE NEGATIVE REALM, even as holiness, truth, love, life, etc. are all characteristics of the one Holy Spirit.
As mentioned previously, there are brethren who are convinced that all spirit is the same spirit and that there is only one spirit in the world, which is the spirit of God in every man. But we are constrained to take heed to the testimony of the Holy Spirit wherein He says, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but TRY THE SPIRITS WHETHER THEY ARE OF GOD: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (I Jn. 4:1). Both the HOLY and the UNHOLY spirit bear the characteristics of personality, both alike are invisible, both are powerful, both are spirit, both are energy!
The poison of death in the fruit was taken into Adam, producing death. That same poison has since been transmitted by nature to all Adam’s descendants, subsequently working death in each one. Oh, this is not a small matter! Not many Christians have realized the fall of Adam in such a way. Satan injected the poison of his own nature of sin and death into the fruit of that tree. This is why God warned Adam that if he ate of it he would surely die! Through the fruit Satan entered into Adam and became a part of him. Through the activity of the carnal mind the poison of Satan’s own dark spirit nature became operative in man. Since Satan and man became one through the second tree, Satan is no longer outside of man, but in man. Now you can see that the fall of man was not just a matter of man committing something against God, but of man receiving something into his body, into himself. Satan, from the time of the fall, dwells in man. This is what happened when man partook of the second tree.
We have seen that the purpose of God is to dispense Himself into man. II Cor. 13:14 shows the process in this communication of God to man. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.” Here we have the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. What are these? Who are the Father, the Son, and the Spirit? Are these three different Gods? Let me ask: are love, grace and communion three different items? Not at all! Love, grace and communion are one element in three stages: love is the source, grace is theexpression of love, and communion is the realization of this love in grace. Likewise, God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all one God expressed in three progressive manifestations of Himself: God as the Father is the source, Christ is the expression of God, and the Holy Spirit is the transmission bringing God and Christ into man. Thus, the Holy Spirit is the realization of God. These three aspects of God’s being become three successive steps in the process of dispensing God into man that man may express God through his person. Without these three stages God’s essence could never be dispensed into man. The dispensation fo God is developed from the Father, in the Son, and through the Spirit.
God the Father is the universal source of all things. Paul tells us in I. Cor. 8:6: “But to us there is but one God, the Father, OF (from) WHOM are all things.” In the Hebrew and Greek languages “father” is used in various senses: as begetter, progenitor of an individual (Prov. 23:22; Zech. 13:3; Lk. 1:67), as the head of a household or ancestral family (Gen. 24:40; Ex. 6:14), and ancestor (Gen. 28:13; Jn. 8:53), a founder of a nation (Mat. 3:9), a founder of a class of profession (Gen. 4:20-21), a protector (Job 29:16; Ps. 68:5), the source of something (Eph. 1:17), and as a term of respect (II Kings 5:13; Acts 7:2). God, as Father, is thus the source and head of all things. We read in Eph. 4:6: “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” This same thought is expressed in James 1:17: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down FROM THE FATHER of lights.”
The second step in the dispensation of God to man is found in the manifestation of God in the Son. Formerly it was impossible for man to know the Father, for from the time when Adam and Eve were driven forth from His presence mankind was shut out from any vital relationship with Him. He was exclusively God and His nature was exclusively divine. There was no bridging of the gap between God and man, not because of a deficiency on God’s part, but due to the deficiency on man’s part. For natural minds to comprehend things spiritual is equally as impossible as for worms of the earth to comprehend things human. Humans are of a higher order than are worms. Worms may see men, and may observe their movements, yet there is no common ground of knowledge. The worm has no comprehension of what it sees. It discerns only things pertaining to its own realm. It has positively no understanding of the ways of man, or of the meaning of his movements, or words, or habits.
Likewise, God in His being is of an infinitely higher order than are fallen mortals. There is no common ground of knowledge. Therefore humans are totally incapable of comprehending that which pertains to that higher order. And so, until God, through His own infinite ability, manifests Himself on a level in which He can communicate with man, it is impossible for them to have any understanding, either of God, or of His Word or ways. So in His redemptive process God acted to make Himself available to man.
Jesus is indeed the expression of God, or GOD EXPRESSED. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him” (Jn. 1:18). The Amplified Bible renders this verse thus: “No man has ever seen God at any time; the only unique Son… Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him – He has revealed Him, brought Him out where He can be seen; … He has made Him known.” The marginal rendering in the Scofield Bible expresses the true meaning from the Greek: “The only begotten Son hath LED HIM FORTH, that is, into FULL REVELATION.” So God put Himself into His Son in order to make Himself visible, comprehensible, and available to man!
Now let us read Isaiah 9:6. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given… His name shall be called… Mighty God, Everlasting Father.” A brother has written: “It does not say mighty man, but Mighty God. A little child is called the mighty God! All Christians agree with the prophecy of this verse. The child mentioned here refers to the child born in the stable in Bethlehem, who is not only named Jesus, but also the Mighty God, and furthermore the Everlasting Father. This is very strange, is it not? When the child is called Mighty God, is he the child or God? And, when the son is called the Everlasting Father, is he the son or the Father? If you try to figure it out you cannot do it. You must take it as a fact, unless, of course, you do not believe the scriptures. If you believe the authority of the scriptures, you must accept the truth that since the child is called the Mighty God, it means the child IS the Mighty God; and since the son is called the Father, it means the son IS the Father! If the child is not the Mighty God, how could the child be called the Mighty God? And if the son is not the Father, how could the son be called the Father? Then, how many Gods do we have? We have only one God, because the child Jesus is the Mighty God, and the son if the Everlasting Father. Truly He is the Father expressed in all the majesty of His power, the fullness of His wisdom, and in all the holiness of His nature. He is all God is put on display in humanity.”
When Jesus came, He came to take the place of Adam – to fulfill the eternal purpose of God for man to become the expression of God to the whole universe. As man, His first emphasis or principle was: “I will be a man and I will fulfill the divine plan. I will be a man living wholly unto God.” His first consideration was not evangelistic – that is, toward man. His first consideration was towards God. “I will live unto God; I will live by God the Father; I will draw upon His life; I will simply be a vessel filled with God; I will manifest Him, reveal Him. I will not do anything on My own; I will not initiate anything. I will not show how much I can do, how much I know, how much power I have. I will not display My own attributes. I simply will be HUMANITY, a human vessel, a simple human personality; but God the Father will be in Me, living out His life, His nature, His will.” THAT is Sonship!
When Jesus came into the world He said two things. In Heb. 10:5 we read, “A body has Thou prepared Me.” He was saying, “I have a means of expressing God among humanity.” A body is for expression. If I never moved my hands, or my mouth, or my eyes, you never would know what I was thinking. But having a body, I have these unique physical capacities, and am able to express what I am. Well, Jesus Christ said, “I will not express what I am; I’ll express what HE is.” THAT is Sonship! Jesus said on another occasion, “I do nothing of Myself.” Oh my! That is just contrary to what we have thought. We have thought, “Why, Jesus could do ANYTHING!” Yet He said, “I do nothing of Myself.” “As I hear, I judge.” He as much as said, “My judgments are just, because I judge no man, My Father judges and My Father never makes a mistake. He knows what’s going on. I just listen for His judgment and as I hear, I judge, and My judgment is just, for it is not mine, but His.”
Again Jesus said, “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of Myself: but the FATHER THAT DWELLETH IN ME, HE doeth the works” (Jn. 14:10). You could ask the Lord Jesus, “Where are you going?” He would answer, “I”ll go where My Father goes. My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. I don’t stop and consider before I take a journey. Now I’m going to Capernaum, then to Galilee, and then across the river. I never anticipate anything. I just walk as My Father walks. He guides Me this way; He guides Me that way. I just walk as My Father walks, for it is not I but My Father Who lives in Me.” This is the way He was living His life, moment by moment. He had no desire to DO anything – except the Father’s will. He had no desire to perpetuate anything. When the Father changed directions, He changed directions. When the Father was finished with something, He was finished with it. When the Father passed something by, He passed it by. When it looked as if the people wanted to set Him up as king, He said, “My hour is not yet come. I can’t anticipate anything. I can’t jump ahead of schedule.”
Now here is the second thing Jesus said when He came into the world. “I delight to do Thy will, Oh God.” Jesus never stopped to consider if He was going to be understood or misunderstood. He never stopped to consider if He was going to suffer. He never stopped to think about whether He was going to die. He knew that as long as He walked in the will of His Father, nobody could take His life from Him, prematurely, because it was the Father’s life. What ever His Father willed moment by moment, that was all He could will. “I come to do Thy will, oh God.” THIS is Sonship!
As marvelous as it is to behold the Father in the Son, God, however, cannot COME INTO US through the Son. We still need a further stage, a third and final step, for God to dispense Himself into man. We see what God is like by looking at Jesus, but that doesn’t put God in Christ into us. Let’s be more specific.
II Corinthians 3:17 says, “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” The question follows: who is the Lord? I’m sure we all agree that the Lord is Jesus the Christ. But it says the Lord is the Spirit. Now, who is the Spirit? It is abundantly clear – the Spirit is the Holy Spirit of God. Therefore, the Son is called the Father, and the Son who is the very Lord, is also the Spirit! This means the Father, Son, and Spirit are ONE. Not merely one in unity or one substance – but in very truth they are ONE PERSON. The very same Person – only in three manifestations or modes of activity. “… in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that HOLY SPIRIT of promise” (Eph. 1:13).
“There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one” (I Jn. 5:7). The Father in heaven is the unseen, invisible God. The Son is the visible manifestation of God in human flesh – the WORD made flesh in the Person of Jesus the Christ. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father” (Jn. 1:14). The Father is the unseen source. The Son is the visible manifestation and expression of the invisible God. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, is the activity, the action, the motion, the operation, theforce, the energy, the influence of God toward men.
The English word “spirit” is from the Latin SPIRARE, meaning “to breathe,” the words “respiration,” “expiration,” and “inspiration” all being derived from the same source. Similarly the Greek word PNEUMA comes from PNEO, meaning “to breathe or blow,” and the Hebrew RUAHH is believed to come from a root having the same meaning. Since one cannot live without air and breathing in the realm of the physical, wind and breath are used symbolically of the Holy Spirit, apart from whom there can be no life in the realm of the spiritual. The Holy Spirit is God’s breath, God’s out-breathing, God’s ENERGY FORCE by which He accomplishes His purpose and executes His will. Many times we have thought of the Holy Spirit as “power,” and certainly He has power, but power is basically the ability or capacity to act or do things and it can be latent, dormant, inactively resident in someone or something. “Force,” on the other hand, more specifically describes energy projected and exerted on persons or things, and may be defined as “an influence which produces or tends to produce motion, or change of motion.” “Power” might be likened to the stored energy in a battery, while “force” could be compared to the current flowing from such battery. “Force,” then, more accurately represents the sense of the Hebrew and Greek terms as relating to God’s Spirit, and this is borne out by a consideration of the scriptures.
Thus, the Holy Spirit is God’s ENERGY FORCE. It is God’s energy force projected and exerted upon man. It is God’s motion, action and influence in one measure or another upon man. Yahweh accomplished the creation of the universe by means of His Spirit or ENERGY FORCE. Regarding the planet Earth in its early formative stages, the record states that “The Spirit (energy force) of God was moving to and fro over the surface of the waters” (Gen. 1:2). Ps. 33:6 says, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath (spirit) of His mouth.” Like a powerful breath or blast of living wind, God’s Spirit can be sent forth to exert power even though there is no bodily or visible contact with that which is acted upon. Where a human craftsman would use the force of his hands and fingers to produce things, God uses His Spirit. Hence that Spirit is also spoken of as God’s “hand” or “fingers.” Jesus told the Pharisees, “If I cast out devils by the SPIRIT of God, then the Kingdom of God is come unto you” (Mat. 12:28). But Luke, in recording the same event, expresses it thus: “If I with the FINGER of God cast out devils, no doubt the Kingdom of God is come upon you” (Lk. 11:20). The Spirit of God is the finger of God, the working, the activity of God usward. How great is His working!
Now our spirits can breathe deeply of the sublimity of the truth revealed by Jesus when He said: “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth… ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I WILL COME TO YOU” (Jn. 14:16-18). Surely Paul spoke of the fulfillment of that promise of Christ to return as the Spirit when he wrote to the Corinthians: “And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was MADE A QUICKENING SPIRIT” (I Cor. 15:45). This is why the Holy Spirit is spoken of this way: “And because ye are Sons, God hath sent forth the SPIRIT OF HIS SON into your hearts, crying Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:6). And again, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the SPIRIT OF GOD dwell in you. Now if any man have not the SPIRIT OF CRHIST, he is none of His” (Rom. 8:9).
We must understand that God has always been Spirit. But formerly God contained His Spirit within Himself. He did not share it. Angels do not have God’s Spirit although they are spirit beings. Their spirit is of a different order than the Spirit of God, for “unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten thee?” (Heb. 1:5). Angels are not born of God’s Spirit and therefore are not of the same spirit substance of God. They are created spirits of a different kind of spirit life. God had not shared the uniqueness of His own Spirit with any other being until Jesus. In the Old Testament the anointings of God’s Spirit came and went, fell and lifted. The Spirit was never completely “given” to any man – prophet, priest, or king. This is why we read such statements as these: “And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him (Saul), and he prophesied among them” (I Sam. 10:10). But later: “… the Spirit of the Lorddeparted from Saul” (I Sam. 16:14). When God initiated His great plan to give, to dispense His Spirit into man Jesus was the first to so receive, but during His earthly ministry the dispensation of God’s Spirit was limited to Him.
John bore witness to this when baptizing Jesus as Jordan. “And John bare witness, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him. And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending AND REMAINING ON HIM, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God” (Jn. 1:32-34). Jesus said: “For He Whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him” (Jn. 3:34). Jesus pointed forward to a day when the Spirit which was upon Him would be poured forth upon His whole body, the Church. He revealed to His disciples that it was necessary for Him to go away before this would transpire. “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I will send Him unto you” (Jn. 16:7). After His ascension He commanded the eleven to wait in Jerusalem for this promise of the Father, the power of the Spirit, which would literally FILL them.
This truth is worthy of deep meditation and prayer. Jesus was telling these distraught men that His going away would mean the coming of the Spirit. He told them plainly that it was better for them that the Spirit should come to them than that He should remain with them! How deeply this need to impress us! Blessed and marvelous beyond description was His own presence and ministry among them; yet far more blessed would be the ministry and presence of the Spirit within them. Truly Jesus was Emmanuel, GOD WITH US. But what unspeakable glory to experience the coming of the Spirit which is GOD IN US! This does not depreciate Jesus in any sense, for HE IS THE SPIRIT! He assured His disciples, “And He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the SPIRIT OF TRUTH, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth WITH YOU (as Jesus), and SHALL BE IN YOU (Jn. 14:16-17).
Wonderful as was the presence of Christ in the world, that physical presence cannot be compared to the magnificent glory of the Spirit of Christ dwelling in the heart of man. No outward manifestation of power or glory can take the place of His indwellingpresence! It is from within and not from without that the work of transformation is to be carried forward from glory to glory until we shine in that same image of Christ. Though Christ had walked and talked with His disciples, eating with them, praying with them, teaching them, and continually demonstrating the mighty works of God among them, even giving them power to heal the sick and cast out devils in His name, yet at the time of His departure there was but little sign of any work of transformation within them. All was by grace. Peter was still capable of cursing like a sailor and lying like the devil! Judas was still capable of stealing, fraud, and acting a traitor. In the face of pressure they were all capable of forsaking Him and running away in despair. They were still very natural, carnal men, as almost all the Old Testament saints had been. God in Christ had indeed been among them, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, but He was definitely not IN THEM! Transformation does not take place from without. It must come from within. All the evil in the world today, even as Jesus said, comes from within the evil heart of man. Therefore, since all evil begins within and not without, then transformation must begin within and not without. A man who makes his New Year’s resolutions to change and reform his habits has only an outward change, and usually temporary at best, while his heart remains unchanged. But the man who ceases his sinfulness and carnality because his heart is changed is changed from within and is indeed a New Creation man. Herein then lies the first and greatest blessing of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had been with them, but now He would be IN THEM, changing, transforming, renewing them from within. He would become the dispensation of God into man by the Spirit. How wonderful it must have been to walk the hills of Judea and the shores of the Sea of Galilee with Jesus by their side! How much MORE WONDERFUL IT IS that Christ by the Holy Spirit now dwells within us, bringing forth that same image of Christ and glory of the Father in our lives!
THE ALL-SUFFICIENT OF THE SPIRIT
If your desire is to truly be an over comer in this hour, a most wonderful key is found in I Jn. 1:7. “… If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from ALL SIN.” There is a way for the Lord’s people to be freed from ALL SIN! “If we walk in the light.” How? “AS HE IS IN THE LIGHT!” To walk in the light as He is in the light, means to expose ourselves to the Spirit even as He exposes Himself to the Father. There is a great principle here! Paul says in Rom. 8:1-2: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus HATH MADE ME FREE from the law of sin and death.” What makes me free from the law of sin and death? Why, the LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE makes me free! Life swallows up death! Light dispells darkness!
But haven’t we always had it turned around in our thinking? Haven’t we always been struggling to “die” so we can live? How often have we said, “If somehow I can get rid of my “old man,” if I can just conquer this habit, this nature, this temper, this lust, this… this… this… THEN I shall be able to have the LIFE of Christ manifested in me!” We have been trying to get rid of sin so we can have righteousness. We have tried to get rid of death so we can have life. We have worked at eradicating from our lives all the darkness so we can walk in the light. But friend, we have been putting the cart before the horse! That is like saying, “I will stand here in this dark room and rebuke the darkness, and when I get all the darkness out, I will have light.” You can rebuke the darkness until you fall dead but it will never leave until you TURN ON THE LIGHT! There is no vacuum machine that can suck up darkness, no chemical that can wash it away, no force that can move it. The problem is not to get rid of the darkness, but to produce the light. The LAW OF LIGHT is that it always dispells darkness. It never fails! So if you have been trying to get rid of the darkness in you, the carnality in you, by rebuking it, fighting it, struggling with it, trying to reform it, praying to be delivered from it, having hands laid on you for it… FORGET IT! None of those things can remove the darkness in us. Only the LIGHT can do that! Brother, sister, TURN ON THE LIGHT in your life, expose yourself to the mighty presence of the Holy Spirit in your life, and the law of the Spirit of life working in you will make you free from the other law of sin and death. You can’t take death out of a corpse to make it live, but put LIFE IN IT and it will live! And you can’t take the law of death out of you, but you can put the law of the Spirit of life in you and the death will be swallowed up!
The light is turned on as we yield to the Spirit. The way to learn to yield to the Spirit is to first of all BE FILLED with the Spirit. I am not speaking of merely receiving an initial experience of the baptism in the Spirit and speaking in tongues. I speak of BEING CONSTANTLY in that state of being FULL of the Spirit. In Eph. 5:18 Paul says: “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT.” The Amplified Bible reads: “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but EVER BE FILLED and STIMULATED with the HOLY SPIRIT.” This is true to the Greek text. Be CONSTANTLY and CONTINUOUSLY FILLED…
I have had that experience of facing the pressures of everyday living until the vital presence of God has been crowded out of my life. This has usually happened when I failed to give myself daily to prayer and praise, to the Word of God, and fellowship with the body of Christ. When we spend all our spare time visiting on the carnal plane, reading the newspaper, watching television, tinkering with hobbies, and any number of activities which may not be wrong in themselves, WE CROWD THE SPIRIT OUT OF OUR LIVES. How filled our lives are with EARTHLY THINGS! Always going, going, going, and doing, doing, doing. Once in a while we spend a few minutes in prayer, or in the Word, or with some brother or sister in fellowship, or in some dead meeting, and then we wonder WHY we have no power in our lives and WHY we are not overcomers!
There is a LAW OF LIFE that must be at work in us. But you don’t really need to be concerned about the LAW of life, you just need the LIFE! The law will work naturally. When the life is there the law will work. When the law is working, death and darkness are swallowed up, put neutralized in us. Seek LIFE! If the glorious presence of God the Spirit can keep me in a spiritual state of overcoming life for TEN MINUTES… or for TWO HOURS… or for THREE DAYS… then that same anointing of HIS LIFE within can keep me in that state of victory for as long as I MAINTAIN THE FLOW OF HIS LIFE! This is the absolute UNFAILING KEY to victory and overcoming! Maintain the flow of the fullness of His presence and you will have little trouble with the flesh. This is the LAW OF THE SPIRIT. It WORKS! As Paul said: “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). Its just THAT SIMPLE! In plain English this means: STAY FULL of the Holy Ghost! How? By the daily and continual giving of yourself to prayer and praise, to the Word of God, and fellowship with God’s saints in the deeper things of God. This will help INSURE THAT CONSTANT FLOW OF HIS PRESENCE AND LIFE.
You will see the law of life at work. The old carnality, the old ways, the old desires, the old frustrations, will begin to fade away and become dimmer and dimmer in your life. Life will swallow up death. Light will dispel the darkness. Yielding to the Spirit is simply “giving yourself” to His presence and working in your life. Don’t try any longer to “get rid of,” or “quit doing,” or “kill,” or “die,” or “change” anything! Seek LIFE! Seek HIM! Give your whole being to Him, expose your whole life to the light. You will begin to live by the life of God’s dear Son.
Adam and Eve in the beginning never were FLESH-CONSCIOUS until they ceased to walk in the Spirit. As long as they were totally caught up in God they weren’t aware of the flesh. When they departed from the Spirit they immediately became aware of flesh and perceived that they were naked and commenced to try to cover their shame. As long as they walked in God’s presence there was no shame, for the motions of sin were neutralized. The measure of the rising up of His life within will, in thatsame measure, check the appetites of the carnal mind.
God is seeking the fully developed life of His Son in us in order to manifest HIMSELF through us as the central manifestation of Himself to the whole creation. God in Christ in the Spirit IN YOU is His purpose!
