We need to enter into the significance of all the different aspects of the Spirit. We need a vision of all these different aspects which will give us a clear view of the Spirit. Once we see something, we will never forget it. In 1958 I came to the United States, and someone took me to see Disneyland. I could never forget Disneyland because I saw it. I received a “vision” of Disneyland, and what I saw was impressed into my being. In like manner, we need to see visions concerning the Spirit. This series of messages is entitled The Spirit. “The Spirit” is the simplest divine title of the Spirit of God in the Bible. What I will share in these messages is the accumulation of all the visions which I have seen through my study of the Bible over many years.
Basically speaking, what is revealed in the Bible is God. We have to realize that the center of the Bible is God. Of course, God is embodied in Christ. God is the source, Christ is the embodiment of the source, and this Christ is realized as the Spirit. The Spirit is the reaching of God to us and the realization of the embodiment of God. God is embodied in Christ, and Christ is realized as the Spirit. Thus, the Spirit is the realization of Christ, and Christ is the embodiment of the very God who is the source of everything.
In the first verse of the Bible, there is God—“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1—ASV). The second verse of the Bible tells us that the Spirit of God brooded over the face of the waters. Thus, the first two verses of the Bible speak of God and of the Spirit of God. In the first chapter of the Bible, there is not the term Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, but there are a number of things typifying Christ. In chapters one and two of Genesis, four items typify Christ: the light, the sun, the man Adam as the head over all things, and the tree of life. Although the title Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, is not mentioned, the very person of Christ is typified as the light, as the sun, as the head of God’s creation, and as the tree of life. Therefore, the Triune God is in the first two chapters of the Bible. In these first two chapters are God, the Spirit, and four types of Christ. Now we want to go on to see the different aspects of the Spirit of the Triune God.
Spirit is the essence of God. John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit.” This verse does not say that God is “the” Spirit but that God is Spirit. To insert a definite article, “the,” in this verse is wrong. John 4:24 does not show us “the” Spirit. It only says, “God is Spirit.” This is just like saying that a table is wood. We would not say that a table is “the” wood. That is wrong. When we say that a table is wood, this indicates that the essence of the table is wood. To say that a ring on a person’s finger is gold means that the ring’s essence is gold. John 4:24 shows us what God’s essence is. God’s essence is Spirit. In order to touch God and experience God, we need to know what His essence is.
Now we need to see the distinction among four words: nature, substance, essence, and element. In the theological study of the Trinity, these four words have been used. An element is a substance. Every element has its nature, and in the nature of the element is the essence. Consequently, the essence denotes the very thing itself. Now we can see that there is a difference in using the two words essence and substance. We cannot refer to the substance of the essence but to the essence of the substance. Each substance or substantial element has its essence. God is Spirit, and Spirit is the essence of God.