Christ is Christ, and He is also the Spirit, for He has been pneumatized and has become the pneumatic Christ. Concerning the pneumatic Christ, we need to see that the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, Christ Himself, and the indwelling Spirit in Romans 8:2, 9-11 all refer to the compound Spirit that gives life. In verse 2 we have the Spirit of life, and in verses 9 to 11, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, Christ Himself, and the indwelling Spirit. Are these five or are they one? The life-giving Spirit is called the Spirit of life, the Spirit of life is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Christ is just Christ Himself. Furthermore, this Spirit who is of life, of God, of Christ, and Christ Himself dwells in us as the indwelling Spirit to dispense life to us all the time. This is the pneumatic Christ.
Second Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit,” and verse 18 says that we are transformed “from the Lord Spirit.” Like the title Father God, the title Lord Spirit is a compound divine title. He is the Lord, and He is also the Spirit. Today our Christ is the pneumatic Christ, the pneumatized Christ, the Christ who is both the Lord and the Spirit.
With the Spirit Himself there was no humanity. Likewise, the Spirit did not include the elements of the death of Christ, the effectiveness of the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the power of the resurrection of Christ. However, the element of Christ’s humanity and the elements of His death, the effectiveness of His death, His resurrection, and the power of His resurrection have all been added to and compounded with the Spirit of God to produce the compound Spirit. Today the pneumatic Christ is such a consummated life-giving Spirit.
The fifth critical point which today’s theologies do not stress adequately concerning the Spirit of God in the move of God’s eternal economy is the seven Spirits (the sevenfold intensified Spirit, cf. the sevenfold sunlight-Isa. 30:26) of God (Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6).
As the last Adam in the flesh, Christ could be our Redeemer, but He could not enter into us to impart Himself to us as life. But after He became the Spirit, He was able to enter into us as the Spirit of life to save us organically, carrying out His organic salvation within us as the Spirit that gives life. In particular, He is the life-giving Spirit to produce the church. However, not long after the church was produced, it became degraded. Revelation, the last book of the Bible, speaks of the degradation of the church. Because of this degradation, the life-giving Spirit, who is both Christ and the Spirit, became intensified sevenfold.
Isaiah 30:26, a prophecy related to the millennium, says, “The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold.” Whereas in Isaiah we have the sevenfold sunlight, in Revelation we have the sevenfold Spirit. For producing the church the life-giving Spirit is sufficiently strong, but under the degradation of the church this strong Spirit has been intensified sevenfold. Thus, Christ has become not only the life-giving Spirit but also the sevenfold intensified Spirit. The seven Spirits being the seven eyes of the Lamb (Rev. 5:6) indicates that the seven Spirits and Christ are one person.
The Catholic Church, the Protestant denominations, the Brethren assemblies, the Pentecostal churches, and all the free groups are held back by their imperfect and unscriptural theology from the central revelation of God and come short of the completion of God’s eternal economy because of their missing, negligence of, and opposition to the above five critical points concerning the Spirit of God.
We all need to have a clear view of the central revelation of God. The central revelation of God is God becoming flesh, the flesh becoming the life-giving Spirit, and the life-giving Spirit becoming intensified sevenfold to build up the church to issue in the Body of Christ and to consummate the New Jerusalem. We need to see that the Triune God became flesh, that the flesh became the life-giving Spirit, and that the life-giving Spirit became the sevenfold intensified Spirit. This Spirit is to build up the church, which becomes the Body of Christ consummating the New Jerusalem as the final goal of God’s economy. This central revelation has been altogether neglected in today’s theologies. The Catholic Church, the Protestant denominations, the Brethren assemblies, the Pentecostal churches, and all the free groups come short of the completion of God’s eternal economy because of their missing, negligence of, and opposition to the five critical points concerning the Spirit of God which we have covered in this message. The Lord’s recovery today is just the recovery of these critical points concerning the Spirit of God in the move of God’s eternal economy.
I am quite concerned for all the co-workers and elders. It may be that a good number of them do not have a complete understanding of what the Lord’s recovery is. If we are asked to explain what the recovery is today, we should be able to answer in one simple sentence: The Lord’s recovery is God becoming the flesh, the flesh becoming the life-giving Spirit, and the life-giving Spirit becoming the sevenfold intensified Spirit to build up the church that becomes the Body of Christ and that consummates the New Jerusalem. Regarding the Lord’s present recovery, I hope that none of you would be held back by your old theology or by your old understanding of the recovery.
God must have a people who are the God-men to be His overcomers for Him to accomplish His eternal economy concerning the church issuing in the Body of Christ and consummating the New Jerusalem.
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