According to the divine fact, when we believed in the Lord Jesus, He, the very embodiment of the Triune God, came as the Spirit into our spirit. In 8:9-11 three divine titles are used interchangeably: the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ. Hence, Christ is the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of God. These titles, used interchangeably, are related to the Triune God. Furthermore, all these titles point to the fact that the divine Person now dwells in our spirit.
Today many Christians pay attention only to objective teachings and not to subjective experience. But in the Lord’s recovery we care not only for the proper understanding of the Word of God, but we care also for the subjective experience of Christ. If we do not have any subjective experience, then we become nothing as far as the Christian life is concerned, and we are left with nothing except doctrine. We praise the Lord for the experience of the Triune God! Because we have Christ in us, we have the Triune God in us. In 8:10 Paul says, “And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is life because of righteousness.” Now this Triune God who dwells in our spirit is dispensing Himself into our whole being. All day long He seeks to dispense Himself into us. Because the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity is so intimately related to our daily experience and enjoyment of the Lord, this dispensing is crucial and vital.
Do you know why we need to spend time with the Lord early in the morning? We need to spend time with the Lord in order to have the divine dispensing. However, if we do not care for this dispensing or if we are not aware of its importance, we may waste time in our morning watch caring for other things. As a result, we do not receive any nourishment from the Lord.
During our time with the Lord in the morning, we should set aside our concern about other things and pay attention to the divine dispensing. We need to pray, “Lord Jesus, cleanse me once again. This morning I take You as my sin offering and as my trespass offering. Lord, I thank You that Your precious blood cleanses me. My desire is to contact You in my spirit. O Lord Jesus, I love You, I worship You, and I open myself to You. Lord, have a free way in me to saturate me by dispensing Yourself into my being. O Lord, I need Your dispensing all day long.” If you pray in this way, you will be watered, nourished, and enlightened. Sometimes you may be rebuked by the Lord, and at other times you may be comforted or strengthened.
This experience does not come merely from learning Bible verses. The watering, nourishing, strengthening, enlightening, comforting, and enriching are the result of the dispensing of the Triune God into your inner being in a practical way. We need this dispensing every morning and throughout the day. Minute by minute, we need to stay in the divine dispensing. It is a serious matter for this inner dispensing to be interrupted. If the divine dispensing ceases, we shall be in a dead and dangerous situation.
In 8:2 Paul says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and of death.” In this verse “law” does not refer to the Mosaic law or to a particular commandment. Rather, it refers to a principle that operates automatically and spontaneously. Paul had a scientific understanding of the function of the law of the Spirit of life. Just as the law of gravity causes objects to fall back to earth, and just as the law of digestion regulates the digestion of the food we eat, so with the divine life dispensed into us there is a law. This means that the divine dispensing works spontaneously by law, by a principle that functions automatically. Through the working of this law, the essence, the element, and the riches of the divine life are being dispensed into our being.
Apart from the law of life, it is impossible for us to be sanctified or transformed. We cannot be changed metabolically without the law of life. But in the divine life there is an element that works automatically, and by this law we can be sanctified and transformed, that is, metabolically changed. Through the working of this law, we shall also be conformed to the image of Christ and eventually be glorified in His divine element. Doctrine cannot accomplish this. Not even proper biblical doctrine can avail to sanctify us, transform us, conform us to the image of Christ, and glorify us. The only thing that avails to sanctify, transform, conform, and glorify us is the law of the divine life. Praise the Lord that we have such a marvelous law within us! Now it is important that we do not interrupt the working of this divine law. As this divine law operates within us, we shall have the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.