The Son as God’s grace and reality is dispensed into all those who believe in Him. In other words, as the eternal life, God’s only begotten Son is dispensed to us (John 3:16).
John 12:24 shows us that the Lord Jesus as the divine grain of wheat-containing the divine life and glory-released the divine life through the breaking of the shell of His body in death to produce many grains to be formed into one loaf, which is the church, the Body of Christ, to be His increase, for the expression of His glory. This is the divine dispensing.
When the Lord entered into resurrection, He became the life-giving Spirit. The Word which was there in the beginning was the Triune God Himself. He became flesh, passed through human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ultimately, in resurrection became the Spirit, who is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God.
On the night of resurrection, the Lord came into the midst of the disciples and breathed into them a breath, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). The Holy Spirit here is actually the resurrected Christ Himself, because the Spirit is simply His breath. The Word which was there in the beginning eventually became the breath, who is the Triune God Himself. The Father is the source, the Son is the flow, and the Spirit is the realization. The Triune God is realized as the life-giving Spirit. This is like the big watermelon becoming the melon juice that has become easy for man to receive. Hence, 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “we were...all given to drink one Spirit.” By this, the Triune God Himself is dispensed into us to be our life and everything to us. This is the accomplishment of the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.
John 3 reveals to us that this Son who became flesh, died, and resurrected to become the Spirit, is above all, inheriting all, and is sent from God to speak God’s word. In the Old Testament time, God spoke through the prophets. But in the New Testament, He speaks to us in the Son (Heb. 1:1-2a). The Son is simply God Himself. He is the expressed God. While He was on earth, whatever He spoke, whether it was teaching, preaching of the gospel, or discourses, and whether it was spoken on the mountain, by the seashore, or in the houses, it was all the Father’s words.
According to the principle of the Bible, the word of God is simply God Himself. To hear God’s word is to hear God. To receive God’s word is to receive God. Moreover, the word and the Spirit cannot be separated from each other. The word is the Spirit (John 6:63). While the Lord Jesus was on earth, not only did He speak for God, but He also came to dispense the Spirit (John 3:34). The Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. Through this dispensing which is without measure, the processed Triune God is injected into us to become our all.
The Spirit is not merely the Spirit of God before the Lord’s incarnation. It is the Spirit of God after the Lord’s resurrection. As such, He is the mingling of the Holy Spirit, bearing the divine nature, with the Lord’s incarnation (His humanity), human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. This is typified by the holy ointment that was produced by olive oil mingled with four spices, as described in Exodus 30:23-25. In this compound Spirit, there is divinity, humanity, the effectiveness of Christ’s death, and the fragrance of His resurrection. This Spirit is God; He is the Father and the Son, and Jesus Christ. When we call on the name of the Lord, He enters into us, and He is joined to us and mingled with us, dispensing into us Himself together with all His riches, to be our life and life supply.
Today, to be a genuine Christian who loves the Lord, we do not need to pursue after other things. We only need to grow and to advance day by day in this mingling of God with man. By this, we will grow with the growth of God (Col. 2:19).
(A message given by Brother Witness Lee in Kota Kinabulu, Malaysia on October 24, 1990)
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