In His resurrection He did a great thing—He was transfigured to become the Spirit. In His incarnation He as God was transformed to become a man. In His resurrection He as God in the flesh was transformed again to become the life-giving Spirit. The Father as the source is embodied and expressed in the Son; the Son is realized as the Spirit and abides in the believers (John 14:16-20). Now He is qualified to be our grace. Such a transformed One is grace. In the Bible the Lord Jesus is likened to a cake. A cake does not come about in a simple way. First, a grain of wheat falls into the ground, sprouts, and produces many grains after much suffering. Then the grains are ground and sifted into flour, which is mixed with water to form a cake. Finally, the cake has to be baked over the fire, and then it becomes ready to eat. This signifies that the Triune God has been processed into a “cake.” This “cake” is grace. Today in His resurrection and in His ascension He transfuses Himself into us as a cake for our enjoyment. This is the process that the Triune God passed through in order to enter into man.
The Spirit is in the believers as their life and life supply—first, to be the living water of life for them to drink (John 7:37-39); second, to be the bread of life for them to eat (6:63); and third, to be the breath of life for them to breathe in (20:22). The Spirit also becomes the divine grace enjoyed by them. We experience Him as the living water, the bread of life, and the breath of life. The basic necessities for human existence are these three things—eating, drinking, and breathing. As far as our spiritual life is concerned, we need the living water of life, the bread of life, and the breath of life as our supply. By eating, drinking, and breathing we live and grow. Christ as the life-giving Spirit is God’s transfiguration to be grace to us. This Spirit in us imparts the Triune God into us as grace, that is, as our living water, bread of life, and breath of life, to supply us that we may live and grow.
The indwelling Spirit, the processed Triune God, abides in the believers as the anointing and becomes their enjoyment in life (1 John 4:13; 2:27). The Spirit, whom God has given to dwell in us, is the witness in our spirit, witnessing that we dwell in God and God in us. The indwelling Spirit is the element and sphere of God’s indwelling that we may experience and enjoy His abiding in us. The Spirit, who dwells in our spirit, is also the basic element of the divine anointing to be our enjoyment in life.
The anointing Spirit, the pneumatic Christ, the Spirit who speaks to the churches, eventually becomes the counterpart of the church, the bride (Rev. 2:1, 7; 22:17). We are His counterpart, and He also becomes our counterpart. The two become one couple with the same life, the same nature, and the same operation. Thus, we become His increase. John 3 says that those whom He has regenerated are His increase. His increase becomes His bride; His bride is His counterpart, a part of Him, as His Body; the Body is the temple of God; and the temple of God is the house of God. In chapter two of John His increase is the temple of God. Then in chapter fourteen it is the house of God. The temple, the house, is the tree in chapter fifteen that is full of branches as its increase. This is the Gospel of John. There is neither the thought of doing good or evil nor the concept of being right or wrong. There is only the organism as the product of the union and mingling of the Triune God with man. This is the issue of grace in us.