The Spirit coming as the Son with the Father is the consummation of the Triune God. In the Gospels the Son with the Father and by the Spirit is the embodiment of the Triune God. Now in Acts through Jude the Spirit as the Son with the Father is the consummation of the Triune God.
The Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God is in the church. In this section of the New Testament, we see the church as the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23) and the temple of God (Eph. 2:21; 1 Cor. 3:16). The Body of Christ is the kingdom of God, and the temple of God is the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15). Thus, to say that the church is the Body of Christ and the temple of God is to say that the church is the kingdom of God and the house of God. Romans 14:17 says that the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. According to the context of Romans 12 through 15, the kingdom of God must refer to today’s church life. The church is both the kingdom of God and the house of God.
As those in the church, we should live Christ unto the fullness of God. In the first section, we see the embodiment of the Triune God living the life of God to develop into the kingdom of God. Now we see the consummation of the Triune God in the church living Christ unto the fullness of God. This expression “the fullness of God” is revealed in Ephesians 3:19. What a marvelous picture we have in the twenty-two books of the second section of the New Testament!
In Acts through Jude what do we see? We see a wonderful, living Person—the Spirit as the Son with the Father to be the consummation of the Triune God realized in the church to live Christ unto the fullness of God.
Let us go on now to the third section of the New Testament. This section contains only one book, the book of Revelation. In the book of Revelation we see the seven Spirits out from the eternal One and of the Redeemer (Rev. 1:4-5). In the first section we have the Son; in the second section, the Spirit; and in the third section, the seven Spirits. In the book of Revelation the Spirit becomes the seven Spirits. The seven Spirits are from the eternal One, the One who is, who was, and who is coming. This eternal One is Jehovah God, who in Exodus 3 is revealed as the One who was, who is, and who is coming. Hence, Revelation 1:4 actually refers to Jehovah God in Exodus 3, the eternal One, the eternal I Am.
The sequence of the Trinity is different in Revelation 1:4 and 5 from that in Matthew 28:19. In Matthew 28:19 the Spirit is third, but in Revelation 1:4 and 5 the seven Spirits are second. The fact that the seven Spirits are mentioned second indicates that the seven Spirits are from the eternal One and are also of the Redeemer. Revelation 5:6 says that the seven Spirits are the seven eyes of the Lamb. Since the seven Spirits are the seven eyes of the Lamb, the seven Spirits surely are of the Lamb, the Redeemer.
In Revelation the seven Spirits are related to the Triune God. On the chart we point out that the seven Spirits out from the eternal One and of the Redeemer are the intensification of the Triune God. The Son is the embodiment of the Triune God, the Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God, and the seven Spirits are the intensification of the Triune God.
The seven Spirits as the intensification of the Triune God are in the overcoming church. In chapters two and three of Revelation we hear again and again concerning the overcomer. Also in these chapters the following word is repeated seven times: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6,13, 22). The word concerning the overcomer and the sevenfold mention of the Spirit speaking to the churches indicates that what the Lord desires under the intensification of the Triune God is the overcoming church, the church that overcomes the degraded situation. In the overcoming church we have not only the embodiment of the Triune God and the consummation of the Triune God; in the overcoming church we have also the intensification of the Triune God, the Triune God intensified sevenfold.
According to the book of Revelation, the overcoming church consummates in the golden lampstands and, ultimately, the New Jerusalem. The seven lampstands are in this age, and the New Jerusalem will be in eternity. Therefore, the book of Revelation opens with the seven lampstands and closes with the New Jerusalem.
In the first section of the New Testament we have the initiation of God’s New Testament economy, in the second section we have its development, and in the third section we have its finalization. This means that the seven Spirits as the intensification of the Triune God in the overcoming church are the finalization of the New Testament economy. The intensified Spirit finalizes God’s New Testament economy in two stages: first, in this age, with the golden lampstands; finally, in eternity, in the New Jerusalem.
This is a brief outline of the entire New Testament concerning God’s New Testament economy.
[see God's New Testament Economy chart]