We have seen that there are three categories of the lampstand in Exodus, Zechariah, and Revelation, respectively. These lampstands are all related to God’s building, and God’s building is God’s move. First, God’s move was with Christ; then this very Christ became the life-giving Spirit for God’s move, for God’s building. Eventually, the many reprints of this life-giving Spirit are the churches. The first lampstand in Exodus signifies Christ, the second lampstand in Zechariah symbolizes the Spirit, and eventually in the last book of the Bible, Revelation, the seven lampstands are the seven local churches. A picture is better than a thousand words. This picture of the lampstands in three stages shows us Christ, the Spirit, and the churches. The churches are the reproduction of Christ and the reprint of the Spirit. No word can be uttered that is so impressive and so meaningful as this picture concerning the church.
We need some further fellowship to help us realize that the church in the New Testament is absolutely a matter in the Spirit. Many people talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but not many realize that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a matter absolutely related to the church. The baptism in the Spirit is to bring forth the church. In the New Testament the baptism in the Spirit is for the church.
The first main item that we need to see is the economy of the divine Spirit. When we refer to the divine Spirit, we mean the all-inclusive, divine Spirit. First, substantially speaking, God is Spirit. God is Spirit, and this Spirit is the substance of God. A wooden table is a table for function, but substantially it is wood. John 4:24 does not say that God is the Spirit but that God is Spirit because Spirit indicates God’s substance.
Dispensationally, the third of the Triune God is the Spirit (Matt. 28:19). God is triune—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The final One, the ultimate One, of the Triune God is the Spirit. The Trinity of God is not a matter for doctrinal study but is altogether for God to dispense Himself into humanity. Thus, the Trinity of God is a dispensational matter.
For imparting life, the redeeming Christ became the life-giving Spirit (John 14:16-20; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17). First Corinthians 15:45 tells us that the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. The last Adam refers to Christ, who was incarnated as a man to be our Redeemer. In the beginning was the Word, the Word became flesh, and this One was the Lamb of God (John 1:1, 14, 29). For God to be incarnate as a man is for Him to be the Lamb of God, our Redeemer, to take away sin. After He accomplished redemption on the cross, He became the life-giving Spirit in resurrection to impart Himself into us as life (1 Cor. 15:45). Christ became two items in two steps. In the step of incarnation He became the flesh for redemption, and in the second step of resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit for life-giving, for imparting life. Sin is gone, and life is here. Two main points in the book of Hebrews are that sin was put away (9:26) and life was brought in (7:16). Now we have the law of life working in us (8:10) to make us His reproduction. He was incarnated to be our Redeemer to take away our sin, and He was resurrected to be the life-giving Spirit to impart Himself into us as life. First, God is Spirit; second, the last person of the Trinity is the Spirit; and third, the Redeemer became the life-giving Spirit. Thus, today totally and all-inclusively our God is the Spirit.
The second main item is the matter of baptizing people in the Spirit (Matt. 3:11; John 1:33; Acts 1:5). The Lord has baptized all God’s chosen people in the Spirit. Our God today is totally and all-inclusively the Spirit, and He has prepared everything to baptize His chosen people into Himself. Matthew 28:19 tells us clearly that to be baptized is to be baptized into the Triune God. We are charged to baptize the nations into the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. When a person is baptized in water, he is dipped into the water, put into the water. Thus, to be baptized in the Holy Spirit is to be put into the Triune God.
Furthermore, to be put into the Triune God is to be put into Christ. Matthew 28:19 tells us that we are baptized into the Triune God. Galatians 3:27 and Romans 6:3 tell us that we are baptized into Christ. To be baptized into Christ is to be baptized into the Triune God.
How we thank the Lord for 1 Corinthians 12:13! This is one of the greatest verses in the Bible. It says that “we were all baptized into one body.” We have been baptized into the Triune God, into Christ, and into the Body. Into the Triune God means into Christ, and into Christ means into the Body.
We need to know when and where we were baptized. We were baptized into the Triune God, into Christ, and into the Body approximately nineteen and a half centuries ago. If you are a Jew, you were baptized on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. If you are a Gentile, you were baptized in the house of Cornelius in Acts 10. Baptism is a bequest that is according to God’s will. First Corinthians 12:13 says, “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” Before we were born, we were baptized. We need to take this bequest according to the will and give the Lord thanks. I not only believe this divine fact, but I also am enjoying it. By the Lord’s mercy, I am daily and even hourly in the experience of the baptism in the Spirit. We have to enjoy the baptism in the Spirit. We have the bequests of the new testament, the new covenant, and we have to enjoy them. If we had a bequest of ten million dollars in the bank, we would enjoy the fortune we have by spending it. In like manner, we have the new covenant, which is a will with many wonderful bequests. The baptism in the Spirit is one of these marvelous bequests that we can receive and enjoy today. We have been put into the Triune God, into Christ, and into the church, the Body.
We need to see that before we came into the church, we were put into the church already. If we had not been put into the church, we could not have come into the church. This is heavenly language. Do you know why you came into the church? Because before you were born, you had already been put into the church. A certain brother may have been born physically in 1941 in the United States. But he actually came to the United States two hundred years before when his great-grandparents immigrated from Scotland. If he had not been brought to the United States two hundred years before, he could not have been born in the United States in 1941. This is the divine way of reckoning things. Hebrews tells us that Levi paid tithes to Melchisedec because he was in the loins of his father, Abraham, when Melchisedec met Abraham (7:9-10). When were we put into the church? We should learn to speak the heavenly language. We were put into the church nineteen and a half centuries ago, and we are enjoying the church today. We were all put into the church at the same time, but you may not have been enjoying the church as long as another brother. I have been enjoying the church for fifty years.
The third main item we need to see is the Spirit for the Body. The Spirit is for many positive items of the Christian life, but ultimately the Spirit is for the Body. The Spirit is for regeneration, sanctification, transformation, life, power, and so many spiritual items, but all of these items are altogether for one issue—the Body. Regeneration, sanctification, transformation, life, power, and every positive spiritual blessing are for the Body. If we miss the Body, we miss everything. If we miss the Body, we miss the mark and the goal of God’s economy.
The Spirit is for the Body, so 1 Corinthians 12:13 says that in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, and Ephesians 4:4 says, “One Body and one Spirit.” The one Spirit equals the one Body, and the one Body equals the one Spirit. Thus, it is absolutely correct to say that the church is the reprint of the Spirit. “No Spirit, no church. More Spirit, more church.” This is because the church is the reprint of the Spirit. The Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God, and the church is the reprint of the Spirit, the corporate expression of the processed Triune God.