When the Son was on earth, He lived in the Father, and the Father lived in Him. The Son never spoke His own word; He spoke the Father’s word. The Son never did His own work; He did the Father’s work. The Son never sought His own glory; He sought the Father’s glory. What we have in the Gospel of John, therefore, is a revelation of the Son with the Father. Hence, Isaiah 9:6 says that the Son given to us is called the eternal Father. John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Yes, God gave His Son to us; yet the name of His Son is called the eternal Father! Some have tried to explain Isaiah 9:6 by saying that the Son is only called the Father but actually is not the Father. How ridiculous! The Son came with the Father and in the name of the Father; He also lived in the Father, and the Father lived in Him. Here we have both the Son and the Father, for we have the Son with the Father. Of course, there is still a distinction between the Son and the Father. But although there is a distinction between the Son and the Father, the Gospel of John clearly reveals that the Son is in the Father and that the Father is in the Son. This is the reason the Son could say, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
After the Son died on the cross and was buried, in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. This means that the Father is in the Son and that the Son became the life-giving Spirit. This is the Spirit spoken of in John 7:39; “But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” Now when we preach the gospel concerning Christ the Son and people believe in Him and call on His name, they receive not only the Son, but also the Father and the Spirit, for all three are one. The Son came with the Father, and the Spirit comes not only with the Son but as the reality of the Son with the Father. We need to be clear that the Son came with the Father and the Spirit came not only with the Son but as the reality of the Son. Furthermore, all three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit— coinhere. This is the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit as the one God—as revealed in the Bible.
When the Triune God reaches us today, He comes as the Spirit. The moving of this Spirit is the anointing within (1 John 2:27). The Triune God dwells in us as the all-inclusive, compound, life-giving Spirit, and this Spirit is the ointment moving within. We do not have merely one third of the Triune God; that is, we do not have the Holy Spirit apart from the Son and the Father. We should not have the concept that one third of the Triune God is in us and that the other two thirds are in the heavens. The entire Triune God—the Spirit as the reality of the Son with the Father— dwells in us as the anointing oil. Furthermore, He is not dormant within us; rather, He is living, moving, acting. This is the anointing, which is the Triune God as the all-inclusive Spirit moving in us to saturate us with God’s essence. First this Spirit is life to us, and then He becomes everything to us, including our nature, constituent, virtues, attributes, power, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, kindness, humility.
What we have been speaking in this message is the central view of the entire divine revelation according to the sixty-six books of the Bible. Concerning this matter, the first Epistle of John is the continuation of the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John reveals that Christ has come to accomplish everything for God’s economy, and now He is ready for us to receive Him by believing in Him. After we receive Him, we should love Him, and through His love we should love the brothers. The first Epistle of John tells us how to enjoy the Triune God, who is the divine life to us. We enjoy Him by remaining, abiding, dwelling, in the divine fellowship. As long as we stay in this fellowship, we shall enjoy the Triune God as love and light. The Triune God is within us for our enjoyment.