In John 14 the Lord Jesus suddenly told His disciples that He was going away from them (vv. 2-3). This bothered the disciples very much! The Lord Jesus had been with His disciples over three years, and they had had a wonderful time with Him. Now He told them that he was leaving them: “For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will receive you to Myself, that where I am you also may be.” If the Lord Jesus would not go away, the disciples would have no way to enter into God. His going was to prepare the way for them to be where He was, that is, in the Father. He was in the Father, but they were not.
Furthermore, the Lord Jesus was among them but not in them. He was not satisfied just to be among them. He wanted to be in them. They needed to be in God, and the Lord needed to be in them. How could these two steps be accomplished? It was only by the Lord’s going away by His death on the cross and by His coming back in resurrection. It was expedient and profitable to the disciples for the Lord to go away (16:7). He was going away by dying on the cross as all the offerings. This would solve the problems and bridge the gap between them and God. This would cut the way and open the door, taking away all the obstacles that they might enter into God.
Also after three days the Lord would be resurrected to release all the divine riches within Himself into them. On that day, the day of resurrection, they would know that He was in the Father, and they were in the Lord, and the Lord was in them (14:20). How marvelous! Christ the Son is in the Father; you are in Christ the Son, so you are surely in the Father, too. Not only so, but the Son who is in the Father is in you! This is too wonderful!
The Lord Jesus told His disciples He was going to take the way of death and resurrection. By this He would become another form, the life-giving Spirit. First Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” When He became such a Spirit, this Spirit is the reality of the fulfillment of the tabernacle and all the offerings. Christ, the very fulfillment of the tabernacle and the offerings, became the life-giving Spirit. The Word which was God, firstly became flesh, and this One, through death and resurrection, became the life-giving Spirit.
What qualifications does the life-giving Spirit have? He has the qualifications of being the tabernacle and of being all the offerings. For instance, a professor needs the qualification of a Ph.D. in mathematics in order to teach mathematics. The life-giving Spirit is just the qualified Christ. Christ was qualified because he was the tabernacle and all the offerings. As such a qualified One, He became the life-giving Spirit. Today the life-giving Spirit is the reality of all that Christ is. This is very logical.
The Greek word used for Spirit is pneuma. It also can be translated into air, breath, or wind, depending upon the context. On the day of His resurrection in the night He came to them where they were staying for fear of the Jews. Although the door was shut He came and stood in their midst. He showed them His hands and His side so that they might realize He was the crucified One and then “He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit” or Holy Pneuma (John 20:22). What is the Holy Pneuma ? It is just Christ Himself as the life-giving Spirit!
At that time Christ entered into His disciples as the life-giving Spirit. From that hour He never left the disciples. Rather He remained in them and even lived in them.
I have been in the U.S.A. for the past twenty years and during this time I have given perhaps three thousand messages, most of which have touched this one thing—Christ is the life-giving Spirit. It seems I cannot finish this burden. Who is Christ? What is Christ? He is just this air, this breath, this Spirit, this Pneuma ! And where is He today? He is not only in the heavens; He is also in you and me! “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20). This “I” who is in you is the Spirit of reality. This is too wonderful!