God, man, the death of Jesus, and the resurrection of Christ are compounded together to be a compound Spirit. This is according to the type of the all-inclusive Spirit as the compound ointment in Exodus 30. This anointing ointment had a base of one hin of olive oil. Then this oil was compounded with four kinds of spices-myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia (vv. 23-25). A marginal note in the Newberry Bible says that the compound ointment in Exodus 30 indicates the Holy Spirit. I read this many years ago and knew that this ointment typified the Spirit, but I did not see until much later that it typifies the compound Spirit. Today the Spirit of Jesus Christ is not merely the Spirit of divinity but also the compound Spirit of divinity, of humanity, of Jesus’ human death, and of Christ’s human resurrection compounded together. Today the Holy Spirit we have is such a compound Spirit.
When I was a young Christian, I was told that I was crucified with Christ. I did not understand how Christ’s crucifixion could involve me when He died two thousand years ago. How could I have been there? A. B. Simpson pointed out that we need to reckon that we have been crucified, based on Paul’s word in Romans 6:11. According to our view, Christ’s death was far away from us in time and space. But because God has put us into Christ, His history is our experience.
Actually those who are of European descent came to the United States about two hundred years ago, before they were born. They were born in America but their ancestors were not American. When their ancestors came to the United States, they came in their ancestors. Hebrews 7 speaks of the fact that the tribe of Levi offered tithes to Melchisedec through their father Abraham (v. 9), for they were in Abraham’s loins when he met Melchisedec (v. 10). Thus, the history of our ancestors is our experience, and we can reckon according to this realization.
God put us into Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). Christ died on Calvary two thousand years ago. Since we are in Him, we died also. This is the way we should reckon our having died together with Christ (Gal. 2:20). This is quite logical. When we come to our experience, however, reckoning ourselves to be dead does not work. The more we reckon that we are dead, the more it seems that we are alive.
One day Brother Watchman Nee told us that the death of Christ in Romans 6 is in the Spirit in Romans 8. Christ’s death, especially the effectiveness of His death, is compounded in the Spirit. Within the Spirit is the power and effectiveness of the death of Christ. Today drugs prescribed for certain illnesses have different essences. One essence of a drug is a nourishing essence while another essence kills the germs. Today the compound Spirit is the best and the largest dose which God has prescribed for us. He is our all-inclusive dose. If we lose our temper often, we need to take in the Spirit of Jesus often. The Spirit of Jesus has the element of Christ’s death to kill the germ of our temper.
Home | First | Prev | Next