Let us now consider the progress of the divine revelation in the Scriptures in more detail. Firstly, God reveals Himself to us (Gen. 1:1). In Genesis 1:26 God is revealed as Elohim, a Hebrew word meaning “the mighty One.” The English word God is the translation of the Hebrew word Elohim. Following this, in Genesis 2:7 God is revealed as Jehovah, which means, “I am that I am.” God is the great I Am, the ever-existing One. As the ever-existing One, He is the reality of every positive thing. This name, Jehovah, denotes God in His relationship with man. Concerning His creation, God is revealed as Elohim; concerning His relationship with man, He is revealed as Jehovah. Jehovah is the Old Testament form of the name Jesus, and Jesus is the New Testament form of Jehovah. In other words, in the Old Testament Jesus was called Jehovah, and in the New Testament Jehovah is called Jesus. The entire Old Testament, which comprises thirty-nine books, is mainly a revelation of the two divine titles, Elohim and Jehovah.
The second step in the progress of the divine revelation is the revelation concerning Christ (Matt. 1:1). At a certain time, God was incarnated as a man called Jesus Christ. Thus, following the Old Testament, we have the four Gospels which reveal a wonderful Person named Jesus Christ. The name Jesus mainly means the Savior (Matt. 1:21), and the title Christ mainly means the anointed One (Matt. 16:16). Jesus is not only our Savior but also God’s anointed One or, using today’s term, God’s appointed One. God has appointed Him to carry out His eternal economy. He is not only Jesus to save us, but also Christ to carry out God’s eternal plan.
In order for Christ to carry out God’s eternal plan, He needs the church. And to produce the church there is the need of two things—redemption and the imparting of life. After redeeming the fallen, created man, Christ had to impart life into the redeemed ones. For this, there is the need of the Spirit of life, the life-giving Spirit. Therefore, following the four Gospels, we have redemption and the imparting of life in the Acts and the Epistles. In these books, the blood of Christ is frequently mentioned. Along with the blood, we have the Spirit. Blood is for redemption, and the Spirit is for the imparting of life. After being redeemed and regenerated, we become the living members of the Body of Christ, the church. As the church, the Body is the means by which Christ carries out God’s eternal economy. By this we see that in God’s economy the church is a very crucial matter. Without it, Christ cannot accomplish anything. If He would carry out God’s eternal plan, He must have the church.
God is revealed as Elohim and as Jehovah, and Christ is revealed as Jesus and as Christ. The revelation concerning the Spirit, however, is not simple (Matt. 28:19); rather, it is a mystery. Few Christians have ever fought for the revelation of God, and not many have fought for the revelation of Christ. But when we come to the matter of the Spirit, there is much argument because the revelation of the Spirit is a mystery. The Spirit is mysterious because it is related to life. There are many aspects of the revelation of the Spirit: the Spirit of truth or reality (John 14:16-17), the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), the Spirit of power (Luke 24:49), the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9), the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9), the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7), the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19), the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:32), and the seven Spirits (Rev. 1:4; 4:5; 5:6).
Do you know the difference between the Spirit of life and the Spirit of power? Those in the so-called Pentecostal or charismatic movement talk about the Spirit of power. Only the Lord knows whether or not they have the genuine power. I have heard much so-called speaking in tongues, but I have not seen power in the work of these tongues speakers. The baptism of the Holy Spirit empowers people. But so many of the supposed tongues speakers today are just as powerless as the non-tongues speakers. They may have the power to babble incoherently, but they do not have the power to save souls. Although some never have spoken such “tongues,” thousands of people have been saved through their preaching. That is real power. Not only is there no real power in the so-called charismatic movement; neither is there any life. After speaking in tongues, many will proceed to fight with their wives or to smoke cigarettes. Is this life? No! Life transforms people. We need both the Spirit of power and the Spirit of life.
We are here for the testimony of Jesus. This testimony is not a term or a form; it is a life. How we need to open up ourselves to Him that He may impart more life into us. If we truly have Christ as our life, we shall walk, live, and behave ourselves in Christ. Now we can understand why the Epistles repeatedly speak about the Spirit. As we have seen, the book of Revelation speaks of the seven Spirits of God. For the church life, there is the need of this intensified Spirit. Out of this intensified Spirit, the real church comes into being. While I do not oppose any genuine Pentecostal gifts, I can testify that in the past I have not seen one proper church built up by the so-called Pentecostal movement. Consider the Catholic charismatic movement today: it is saturated with the worship of Mary. If this movement is proper, how could it tolerate idol worship? That it tolerates idolatry proves that it is not proper. Dirt can be added to a snowball, but not to a diamond. The so-called charismatic movement is like a snowball to which unclean things can be added. Our eyes need to be opened to see that today God desires the real, living, and practical local churches.