Message Nine

The Spirit—the Consummation
of the Processed Triune God

Scripture Reading: Gal. 3:2, 5, 14; 5:5, 16, 18, 25; 6:8

1. God is uniquely one, yet He is triune—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—3:20; 4:4, 6:
   1. In the essential Trinity the Father, the Son, and the Spirit coexist and coinhere at the same time and in the same way with no succession; in the economical Trinity the Father, the Son, and the Spirit work in three successive stages in the process of God’s economy—Matt. 28:19; Eph. 1:4-5, 7, 13; John 5:43; 14:26.
   2. For the accomplishment of His economy, the Father first sent forth the Son to redeem us, and then the Father sent forth the Spirit of the Son to impart His life into us that we might become His sons in reality—Gal. 4:4, 6:
      1. The first One sent the second One and was still one with the second One.
      2. The first One sent the third One, and the third One was still one with the second One and the first One; this is the oneness in the Godhead.
      3. There is also a distinction among the three; all the beauties and excellencies exhibited by the Divine Trinity come from this distinction—Matt. 28:19.
2. The Spirit is the consummation of the processed Triune God—Gal. 3:2, 5, 14; 5:5, 16, 18, 25; 6:8:
   1. The New Testament reveals that our God is the processed and consummated Triune God, the One who has passed through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection—John 1:14; 6:57a; Heb. 9:14; Rom. 1:3-4:
      1. Processed refers to the steps through which the Triune God has passed in the divine economy; consummated indicates that the process has been completed.
      2. Although God is eternal and unchanging in His nature and substance, He has passed through a process in His economy—John 1:14; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
      3. Our God today is not a “raw” God, but a processed God.
      4. Before His incarnation God was unprocessed, having only the divine nature, but through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, the Triune God was processed and consummated to become the Spirit—John 7:39.
   2. The processed Triune God is a flowing God—Jer. 2:13; John 4:14; 7:37-38:
      1. As the origin, the Father is the fountain of living waters; as the embodiment and expression of the Father, the Son is the spring, the emergence of the fountain; and as the transmission, the Spirit is the river—Jer. 2:13; John 4:10, 14; Rev. 22:1.
      2. The Father as love is the fountain, the Son as grace is the spring, and the Spirit as the fellowship is the flowing river—2 Cor. 13:14.
   3. The processed and consummated Triune God is the Spirit—Gal. 3:2, 5, 14:
      1. We all need to receive a vision of the Spirit—the compound of the Triune God, the man Jesus, His human living, His death, and His resurrection—John 7:39; Acts 16:7; Rom. 8:10-11; Phil. 1:19; Gal. 3:14.
      2. The Spirit is the processed, compound, all-inclusive, life-giving, indwelling, sevenfold intensified, consummated Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God to be the eternal portion of His chosen, redeemed, regenerated, renewed, transformed, conformed, and glorified tripartite people as their life, life supply, and everything.
      3. God’s economy is to give Himself to us as the Spirit—vv. 2, 5.
   4. The term the consummated Spirit indicates that the Spirit has been processed and thus has become the consummated Spirit—John 7:39; Gal. 3:14:
      1. The Spirit is the Triune God after He has passed through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection—John 7:39.
      2. Having passed through all the steps of the process, the Triune God is now the consummated Spirit as the blessing of God’s New Testament economy—Gen. 1:1-2; Gal. 3:14.
      3. Concerning the consummated Spirit, there are three major and crucial points:
         1. The Spirit of God has been compounded to become the compound ointment, as revealed in Exodus 30:23-25.
         2. The Spirit was “not yet” before Jesus’ glorification in resurrection, as referred to in John 7:39.
         3. The Spirit is considered the seven Spirits of God to function as the seven lamps before the throne of God and the seven eyes of the Lamb, as revealed in Revelation 1:4, 4:5, and 5:6.
      4. The consummated Spirit, the compound Spirit, is the divine and mystical realm into which the believers in Christ may enter today—John 14:20.
3. The Christian life is the living of the processed Triune God as the consummated Spirit in the believers—Gal. 5:16, 18, 25; 6:8:
   1. The Triune God has been processed to be the consummated Spirit to live in us, the believers in Christ—John 7:39; Gal. 3:14; 6:18.
   2. To live the Christian life is to live the processed Triune God as the consummated Spirit—Phil. 1:19-21a.
   3. The normal Christian life depends upon our knowing and experiencing the Spirit—Gal. 3:14.
   4. The proper Christian life is a life of receiving the Spirit continually—vv. 2, 5.
4. Eventually, the Spirit as the totality of the processed Triune God becomes one with the church, who is now fully matured to be the bride—Rev. 22:17:
   1. The Spirit is the ultimate expression of the processed Triune God, and the bride is the ultimate expression of the transformed tripartite man.
   2. The conclusion of the entire Bible is the marriage of a universal couple; this couple is the Spirit—the processed Triune God—and the bride—the transformed tripartite man.