When Jesus was thirty years old, He began to minister (Luke 3:23). In the Old Testament, a priest had to be thirty years of age, the full age for God's service (Num. 4:3, 35, 39, 43, 47). The Lord Jesus came out at the age of thirty to minister, to serve God, to preach the gospel, to carry out God's economy. At the time of John the Baptist, God ordained for all the Israelites to be baptized. Jesus as a man, as one of the Israelites, had to be baptized. He could not be an exception. After Jesus was baptized, three things happened: the heavens were opened, the Spirit of God descended upon Him as a dove, and the Father spoke concerning the Son, "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I delight" (Matt. 3:16-17).
We have pointed out that the Son came with the Father and that the Father was even in the Son. But in Matthew 3 it is recorded that after the Son was baptized, the Father spoke from the heavens. The Son and Father are not separate but one, and the Son and Father mutually indwell one another. But in Matthew 3 the Son is on the earth and the Father is in the heavens. How can we reconcile these two matters? Furthermore, we saw that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit and that this Holy Spirit as the divine element was the constituent of Jesus. Jesus already had the Holy Spirit, yet the Spirit as a dove descended upon Him. How can we resolve this problem?
Before the Spirit of God descended and came upon Him, the Lord Jesus was born of the Spirit (Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:18, 20), proving that He already had the Spirit of God within Him. That was for His birth. Now, for His ministry, the Spirit of God descended upon Him. This was the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1; 42:1; and Psalm 45:7 to anoint the new King and introduce Him to His people.
His conception was for Him to exist. His ministry was for Him to work. Jesus was conceived and born of the Holy Spirit for His existence, but for Him to work to carry out God's ministry, He needed an extraordinary qualification. The Holy Spirit He received at His conception was for His being, His existence, and became an element of His person. He needed the essence of the Holy Spirit in order to exist. The divine essence became the constitution of Jesus' being. This is essential. For His work, for His ministry, He needed more of the Holy Spirit; He needed the divine power of the Holy Spirit, the divine equipment. This is economical. The essence is essential, and the power is economical. Essentially, the Holy Spirit as the essence of Jesus' person can never be separated from Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in this sense never left Jesus. Economically, the Holy Spirit as the power came upon Him, not for Him to exist but to empower Him to work for God. This power may come, remain, or leave. When this power came, it did not add something to His being. When this power left, it did not mean that His being was damaged. We all need to learn these two aspects of the Spirit for Jesus' person and work—the essential aspect and the economical aspect.
For our God to dispense Himself into us is not a simple thing. What Jesus experienced, we also need to experience. We all need to be born of the Holy Spirit. This is our regeneration, our new birth, that we may have the Holy Spirit within us. Essentially at our regeneration, we received the Holy Spirit, but economically we still need the Holy Spirit. While I am speaking, I need the Holy Spirit as my power economically. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is uniquely one and was accomplished upon the Body of Christ more than nineteen hundred years ago (1 Cor. 12:13). But the experiences of the baptism in the Holy Spirit are numerous and continually shared by all the members of the Body. Peter first received the baptism (Acts 1:5, 8; 2:4) and later experienced it again and again (Acts 4:8, 31). This is for God's economy to dispense Himself into us.
The Son came through incarnation with the Father and was conceived and born of the Spirit. He is the embodiment of the Triune God for the dispensing of Himself into His people. When we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we do not enjoy the Son only, without the Father and without the Spirit. This is because the Son came to be embodied with the Father and by the Spirit. When we touch the Son, we touch the Father and the Spirit.
John 14:23 says, "Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him." Our concept may have been that when we love the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus comes to us alone. We may have never considered that the Lord Jesus comes to us with the Father. The Lord tells us that when we love Him, the Father and He will come to abide with us. Whenever we say, "Lord Jesus," the Father comes with the Son. The Father is always with the Son, so when we call on the Son and say, "Lord Jesus, I love You," the Father comes. We all need to say, "Lord Jesus, I love You" to experience the Father coming with the Son to make an abode with us. Furthermore, when we call on the name of the Son, the Father comes, the Spirit follows, and the Son remains. You have all three, but the three are one. The Three-one God is a marvelous mystery. Three are all here as one for and in our experience.