First Peter 4:14 says, “If you are reproached in the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” In this verse Peter speaks of the Spirit of glory. Recently I was asked how the Spirit of glory is related to other aspects of the Spirit. The Spirit of glory is not related as much to the nature of God as other aspects of the Spirit are. Furthermore, the type of the compound ointment in Exodus 30 does not indicate much that is related to the glory of God. The four spices that were mingled with the olive oil are all elements. These elements are not for expression; they are not for glory.
Apart from 1 Peter 4:14, all the verses quoted above are related to the nature, the essence, or the element of the processed, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit. The Spirit of God has the element of divinity, the element of what God is. The Spirit of Jehovah has the element of the divine Trinity, the element of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Holy Spirit has the element of the holy divine nature. Because the Holy Spirit has this element, the Holy Spirit can make us holy in nature, even as God is holy. This process of sanctification began with the conceiving of the Lord Jesus in the womb of Mary. Luke 1:35 speaks of Him as “the holy thing.” Because the Lord Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, He is holy in constitution, not merely in position.
Not one of those who lived from the time of Adam until the birth of the Lord Jesus was holy in nature. Many had been sanctified in the sense of being separated unto God, but none of these sanctified ones was made holy with God’s nature. In other words, none of them had been constituted of the holy nature of God. For example, although Aaron was sanctified to serve God as a priest, he was not constituted of God’s holy nature. Therefore, the Spirit of God with the element of divinity and the Spirit of Jehovah with the element of the Trinity came as the Holy Spirit, the Spirit with the element of the holy divine nature, to produce a child who would be constituted of God’s holy nature. According to Luke 1:35, that child is called the “holy thing” or “the holy One.” He was holy not only in the sense of being separated unto God, but He was holy in nature, for the holy divine nature had been constituted into Him.
In the New Testament sanctification includes being constituted of the holy nature of God. In this sense, sanctification is a continuation of incarnation. In the incarnation, the Lord Jesus was constituted of the holy nature of God. Now through the process of sanctification, we who believe in Christ are also being constituted of God’s nature. If we see this, we shall realize that the teachings concerning sanctification among Christians today are very shallow, even more shallow than the concept of sanctification found in the Old Testament. Actually, New Testament sanctification is incarnation. It is the incarnation of the holy divine nature into our humanity so that we may become holy in nature, even as God Himself is holy.
The title “the Holy Spirit” implies the element of God’s holy nature. As we pointed out in the foregoing message, this title is not used in the Old Testament. In Psalm 51:11 “thy Holy Spirit” should be “the Spirit of Thy holiness.” In Isaiah 63:10 and 11, “his Holy Spirit” should be “the Spirit of His holiness.”
The aspects of the Spirit as the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jehovah, and the Holy Spirit are all preliminary to God’s New Testament economy. In God’s New Testament economy we first have the Spirit of reality. Apart from the Spirit of reality, in our experience we could not have divinity, the Trinity, or the holy nature of God. These would be nothing more than terms to us. We would not have the reality of divinity, the reality of the Trinity, and the reality of the holy divine nature, if we did not have the Spirit of reality. The reality of all these matters is the Spirit of reality.
While the Lord Jesus was still on earth, reality had not yet entered into man. The reality was present, for Christ Himself is reality. But this reality was only among the disciples; it had not yet come into them. Therefore, the Lord told the disciples that it was expedient for them that He go away. The purpose of His going was for Him to have a change in form, a change from the form of the flesh to the form of the Spirit. As soon as this change had been accomplished, His reality would become the reality of the Spirit, and the Spirit would become the Spirit of reality. Then this Spirit of reality would come to abide in the disciples. The Lord Jesus said in John 14:17, “Even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.” Because the Spirit of reality has come into us, reality now abides in us.