In this message we will begin to consider the three stages of Christ, that is, the three periods of the history of what Christ is—incarnation, inclusion, and intensification. Many believers in Christ know something about the first stage of Christ's history, the stage of incarnation, but they know very little, if anything, about the second and third stages, the stages of inclusion and intensification.
Christians have paid a great deal of attention to the matter of incarnation. Every year at Christmas so many believers celebrate the Lord's incarnation; however, not many realize what the intrinsic significance of the incarnation is. Through incarnation Christ as God became flesh. John 1:14 tells us that the Word, who is the very God, became flesh.
In His resurrection the Christ who had become flesh through incarnation became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Christ, therefore, has had two becomings. The first becoming is seen in John 1:14—the Word became flesh. The second becoming is seen in 1 Corinthians 15:45b—the last Adam (Christ in the flesh) became the life-giving Spirit. From our study of the Bible we have found out that Christ's second becoming in resurrection is no less important than His first becoming in incarnation. As we will see, Christ's becoming the life-giving Spirit in resurrection involves something that we may designate by the word inclusion.
Christ's becoming flesh through incarnation was rather simple, for it involved just two parties—the Holy Spirit and a human virgin (Luke 1:26-27, 30-32, 35). Christ's becoming the life-giving Spirit, on the contrary, was not simple, for it involved and included divinity, humanity, Christ's death with its effectiveness, and Christ's resurrection with its power. In and through Christ's resurrection six things were compounded together to become the life-giving Spirit, which is God's anointing ointment (1 John 2:20, 27).
The Bible tells us that God has anointed us with His Spirit (2 Cor. 1:21; Luke 4:18). However, God has anointed us not merely with the Spirit of God (Gen. 1:2) nor with the Spirit of Jehovah (Judg. 3:10; 6:34) nor the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18, 20); rather, God has anointed us with the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit who gives the divine life to fallen humanity. Thank the Lord that we all have been anointed by and with this compound life-giving Spirit!