The Spirit is the Spirit of resurrection. This Spirit includes God, Christ, incarnation, death, resurrection, and humanity in resurrection; hence, the Spirit of resurrection is an aggregate Spirit. In other words, in the Spirit of resurrection are God, Christ, incarnation, death, resurrection, and humanity in resurrection. This is to say that the Spirit of resurrection is the aggregate of God, Christ, and all that the Triune God has passed through, attained, and accomplished. Today in the New Testament age this is the Spirit who has entered into us. According to John 14 through 17 this Spirit has at least six functions.
John 14:16 shows that the Comforter, whom the Father would give to us, is the Spirit of resurrection who would live in us and be with us forever. Thus, the Spirit of resurrection is also the indwelling Spirit, the Spirit who dwells in our spirit. All the guidance, help, shining, and strength that the Spirit gives us does not come from outside but from within; thus, He is the indwelling Spirit. We should not expect the Spirit to grant us power outwardly. Today the Spirit is the Spirit of resurrection, the indwelling Spirit, the Spirit who lives in us. His presence with us is inward, and the strength, shining, guidance, and comfort He gives are inward. All that He gives us and does for us comes from within. The Spirit’s first function is to indwell us and to be with us inwardly.
Verse 17 says that the Spirit of reality abides with us and shall be in us. This means that the Spirit of resurrection is for Christ to live in us. The Spirit of resurrection is Christ in another form; therefore, when the Spirit is in us, Christ is living in us. This is carried out by God’s salvation.
Verse 26 shows that the Spirit in us explains Christ to us. We know Christ not only through the Bible outwardly but also through the sense of the Spirit inwardly. The Spirit in us explains Christ to us. Many stories about the Lord Jesus cannot be understood by unbelievers or comprehended by those who read the Bible merely with their eyes. It is the Spirit who explains Christ to us, especially concerning how Christ was God who became flesh, how He was a man, how He became our Savior, how He is the King, and how He is the Most High God. The Spirit explains all that Christ is and has and all the words He spoke on earth. This is the emphasis of John 14:21-31.
Chapter 15 shows that the Spirit in us testifies concerning Christ; this is related to the preceding point. The Spirit explains Christ to us and testifies concerning Christ. These are actually two related matters; however, there is still a difference. Everything concerning Christ—what He was, what He did, and what He said—is made clear to us by the Spirit in this third function. The emphasis on the Spirit’s function in regard to testifying concerning Christ is related to what Christ has obtained and attained, how He has the first place, how He was glorified, and how He was exalted by the Father and made Lord and Christ; all these matters are testified to us by the Spirit.
We know that the Christ who was on earth is now in heaven, that the lowly Christ is now glorified, and that the despised Jesus is now exalted by God and made Lord and Christ, because the Spirit testifies to us concerning these things. The Spirit’s explanation of Christ to us is regarding what He did, what He said, and what He was in the past, but the Spirit’s testifying to us concerning Christ is regarding the high and glorious position which He attained and obtained after His death and resurrection. All these things concerning Christ—how He was glorified, how He was exalted by God, how He ascended to heaven and was made Lord and Christ, and how He is above all—are testified to us by the Spirit.
The Spirit in us makes all that God is in Christ real to us; this is shown in chapter 16—God in Christ has come to be everything to us. If we did not have God in Christ as everything to us, we would still be void and empty inwardly. However, if we have God in Christ as everything to us, we will be full of reality inwardly. God in Christ is everything to us, and this matter is made real to us by the Spirit. For example, in the matter of God being our life, it is the Spirit who becomes the reality of this life, and in the matter of God being our power, it is the Spirit who makes this power real to us. If we do not have the Spirit of resurrection in us, God as life would only be terminology, mere sayings to us, but not a reality. It is the Spirit of resurrection in us who makes the matter of God coming to be our life real to us. God coming to be our life, power, and comfort is God in Christ coming to be everything to us. Without the Spirit of resurrection entering into us, all these matters would be empty terminology. All these matters can become our inward reality and be received, touched, and enjoyed by us because the Spirit of resurrection has accomplished these things in us. Once the Spirit of resurrection enters into us, He makes all that God is in Christ real to us.
The Spirit of resurrection in us glorifies Christ so that He may always have the preeminence in our being, so that He may have the full ground in us, and so that everything of ours will be in submission under His authority. This is revealed in chapter 17.
The totality of these six points is the work that the Spirit of resurrection does in us, and this is also the content of life. When we speak of life, the story of this life is contained in these six points. The sum total of these six points is the content of the story of life in us. The full story of this life within us, the life of God, is contained in these six points. In brief, the story of life in us is for us to know Christ, see Christ, experience Christ, and glorify Christ.