In this message we shall cover more aspects of the third stage of the Spirit’s work in the believers for the divine dispensing. The Spirit’s work in this stage is to keep us in fellowship with the Triune God.
The Spirit works in the believers to confess to them that Christ came in the flesh. First John 4:2 says, “In this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses Jesus Christ having come in the flesh is out of God.” According to this verse, the discernment of spirits is based upon whether or not a spirit confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Because the spirit of a genuine prophet is motivated by the Holy Spirit of truth, this spirit will confess the divine conception of Jesus and affirm that He was born as the Son of God. Every such spirit is surely out of God. In this we know the Spirit of God.
The word “flesh” in 1 John 4:2 is very important. As human beings, we were all born of flesh to be flesh (John 3:6a). Thus every human being is flesh. To confess Jesus Christ coming in the flesh is to confess that He was divinely conceived to be born as the Son of God (Luke 1:31-35). Christ is God incarnate to become a man through divine conception. He did not have a human father, for He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. His conception is divine because it was carried out by the Holy Spirit. Although Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit, this conception took place in the womb of a virgin. Therefore, He, the very God, became a man in the flesh. Contrary to the false teaching of the Docetists, His body was not a phantasm. Rather, He had a real body, a physical body that was solid in its substance. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit; He became flesh and was born of the virgin Mary. Because He was conceived of the Spirit to be born in the flesh, the Spirit would never deny that He has come in the flesh through divine conception.
Anyone who denies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh denies that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, anyone who rejects Jesus Christ coming in the flesh rejects His humanity and His human living. Such a one also rejects Christ’s redemption. If Christ had not become a genuine man, He could not have had human blood to shed for the redemption of human beings. If He had not become flesh through the conception of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary, He never could have been our Substitute to be crucified to bear our judgment before God. Therefore, to deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is to deny His divine conception, His incarnation, His birth, His humanity, His human living, and also His redemption. The New Testament makes it emphatically clear that Christ’s redemption was accomplished in His human body and by the shedding of His blood.
Anyone who rejects Christ’s incarnation and thereby rejects His redemption also denies Christ’s resurrection. If Christ had never passed through death, it would not have been possible for Him to enter into resurrection.
Denying that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is a great heresy. This heretical teaching makes it impossible to have the enjoyment of the Trinity. According to the revelation of the Trinity in the New Testament, the Son came in the flesh with the Father and in the name of the Father. The Son was crucified, and in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. Therefore, we have the Spirit as the reality of the Son with the Father. This includes incarnation, human living, redemption by the shedding of human blood, death in a human body, burial, and resurrection. All these are components, constituents, of our enjoyment of the Triune God. If anyone denies Christ’s incarnation, that one denies Christ’s holy birth, humanity, human living, redemption through crucifixion, and resurrection. This utterly annuls the enjoyment of the genuine Trinity. In the light of this we see the crucial importance of the Spirit’s work in the believers to confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.
When we are kept by the Spirit in the divine fellowship with the Triune God, the Spirit will show us, will confess to us, that the Lord Jesus is still a human being, that He is human as well as divine. This means that even after His resurrection and ascension the Lord Jesus is still a man. Therefore, in the divine fellowship we may continually enjoy Him as a human being, especially as the One who, in His humanity, can sympathize with our weaknesses and problems. In our fellowship with the divine Trinity the third, the Spirit, confesses, testifies, that the second, who is our Savior, is still a man. This work of the Spirit to confess the humanity of the Lord Jesus to us is truly a comfort.
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