In this message we shall cover more aspects of the second stage-the inner-life-working stage-of the Spirit’s work in the believers for the divine dispensing.
As the Spirit works in the believers, He searches and reveals to them all things concerning Christ-the depths of God. First Corinthians 2:10 says, “God has revealed them to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.” The depths of God refer to the deep things of God, which are Christ in many aspects as our eternal portion, foreordained, prepared, and given to us freely by God. These have never arisen in man’s heart, but they are revealed to us in our spirit by God’s Spirit. Hence, we must be spiritual in order to partake of them. We need to live and move in our spirit that we may enjoy Christ as everything to us.
God reveals the deep and hidden things to us through the Spirit, for these things have not been seen by man’s eyes, heard by man’s ears, nor have they come up in man’s heart (1 Cor. 2:9). This means that man has no idea concerning them, no thought of them. They are altogether mysterious, hidden in God, and beyond human understanding. But God has revealed them to us through the Spirit, who searches all things, even the depths of God.
To have something revealed to us is different from being taught about that thing. To teach is related to our mind; to reveal, to our spirit. To realize the deep and hidden things God has prepared for us, our spirit is more necessary than our mind. When our entire being becomes one with God through loving Him in intimate fellowship, He shows us, in our spirit through His Spirit, all the secrets of Christ as our portion. This is to reveal the hidden things planned by His wisdom concerning Christ, things which have never come up in man’s heart.
First Corinthians 2:10 says that the Spirit searches all things. The life-giving Spirit is searching Christ as the depths of God. The Greek word rendered “searches” includes active research and implies accurate knowledge not in discovering but in exploring. The Spirit of God explores the depths of God concerning Christ and shows them to us in our spirit for our realization and participation. The life-giving Spirit is moving and searching within us. By this searching He imparts the riches of Christ into our being.
To know the depths of God is to know Christ in many aspects as our eternal portion. Christ is the center of God’s economy, the portion given to us by God for enjoyment, and the mysterious wisdom hidden in God. God’s wisdom in a mystery is Christ as the deep things of God. Christ, the all-inclusive and extensive One, is truly the depths of God.
If we would know Christ as the depths of God, we need to know that through incarnation God became a man named Jesus. Through His crucifixion the Lord Jesus terminated the old creation and released the divine life that it may be imparted into all who believe in Him. Now, in resurrection, He is the life-giving Spirit who indwells our spirit and who has become one spirit with us. We have a mingled spirit within us, our regenerated human spirit mingled with the divine Spirit. Now we are one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). These matters are unfathomable; they are immeasurably deep and profound.
If we consider the context of the whole book of 1 Corinthians, we shall have the assurance to interpret the deep things of God in 2:10 as referring to the all-inclusive Christ who, as the life-giving Spirit, indwells our spirit. After accomplishing redemption, this Christ has become the life-giving Spirit. As such, He is so available to us that we can be joined to Him as one spirit. Nothing can be deeper than this.
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