Such an all-inclusive Spirit to work the Triune God into our tripartite being is to make us the sons of God. We were enemies of God, but such a wonderful, divine work by the consummation of the Triune God is making us sons of God. Romans 8:14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” This all-inclusive Spirit is making us the sons of God by accomplishing the divine sonship in our being. The Spirit is divinely “sonizing” us. We are sinners and we were God’s enemies, yet this all-inclusive Spirit is not merely making us spiritual, holy, or victorious, but divinely sonizing us, making us the sons of God. This is a great matter.
The witnessing Spirit witnesses in our spirit all the time that we are the children of God (Rom. 8:16). The Spirit is making us sons of God and at the same time He is witnessing that we are the children of God. Many sisters have the experience that even while they are shopping in the department store, within there is a witnessing, reminding them that they are children of God. Sometimes the young people would go to the movies. While they were on their way to the movies, there was something within witnessing and saying, “Don’t forget that you are a child of God.” Sometimes while a husband is losing his temper with his wife there is also a witnessing— “Don’t forget that you are a child of God.” Nothing stops a person’s temper as fast as saying amen to this kind of witnessing in their spirit. This is the witnessing Spirit within our spirit who witnesses that we are the children of God.
Romans 8:23 tells us that we have the firstfruit of the Spirit. This is not the foretaste of the coming age, but the firstfruit of the rich God to be our portion. The foretaste of the coming age is the taste of the outward things, but the firstfruit is the foretaste of the processed Triune God Himself. What we have enjoyed and what we are still enjoying of God Himself is just a foretaste. The full taste is coming. The Holy Spirit, the all-inclusive Spirit, is the firstfruit of all the riches of God’s being for our enjoyment. We are tasting just a foretaste of God and the full taste of God will come. We will enjoy the full taste of God in eternity.
The interceding Spirit helps us, sympathizes with us, sustains us, comforts us, and supports us by interceding for us (Rom. 8:26-27). Many times we felt that we were weak and depressed, but within us even at that time there was something sustaining, supporting, encouraging, and comforting us. There was something within us telling us that we should not be disappointed. Although we are weak, there is some sustaining and support within us. There is even a kind of prayer going on within us and for us. When we got disappointed before we were saved, we remained disappointed. But after being saved, quite often, when we were disappointed, something within us was still supporting us, comforting us, and sympathizing with us in a sweet way. This is the interceding Spirit and this is the intercession of the helping Spirit. He helps us in any kind of situation.
No one fully understands us, but the interceding Spirit understands us thoroughly. We can tell anyone that they do not understand us, but we cannot say to the interceding Spirit, “Dear Spirit, You misunderstood me and You do not understand me.” If you would say this, the Spirit would say, “I understand you much more than you understand yourself. I know your need, your problems, your weakness, and your shortcomings. No one else knows and even you do not know. But I know so I sympathize with you, I support you, and I even sustain you. I am your helper. As long as you have Me, you are alright. You do not need to worry about yourself.” It is so easy, however, for us to neglect this One. Despite this, He is within us, so soft, so tender, so sympathizing, and so loving. This is wonderful! This is much better than any material thing. The witnessing Spirit plus His interceding is so sweet. He tempers us and makes us to be the proper persons.
This One is sanctifying us all the time (Rom. 15:16). This is not objective, positional sanctification but subjective, dispositional sanctification. This sanctification is to renew us, to transform us, and to conform us to the image of God’s firstborn Son that we may be so fitting to be a living member of the Body of Christ.
Eventually, such a Spirit becomes a mingled spirit, the Spirit mingled with our spirit (cf. Rom. 8:4; 1 Cor. 6:17), according to whom we walk. We do have such a mingled spirit within us and what we should do now is to behave, to act, to live, to walk, and to have our being according to this mingled spirit. If we walk according to this mingled spirit, we will be a son of God in full, and as such a son we will be a living member of Christ, living in the church life which is the kingdom of God. This kingdom is mentioned in Romans 14:17 and is not mainly of power or ruling or government. The kingdom of God, which is today’s church life, is of righteousness with ourselves, peace toward others, and joy with God in the Holy Spirit. Do not think that the kingdom of God is for you to be a king to rule over others and to execute God’s government. You have to forget these thoughts. The kingdom of God today in the church life is not for ruling or for governing but is for living—a righteous living, a peaceful living, and a joyful living. The church life as the kingdom of God today is a kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. This is the Lord’s recovery.