In this message we want to see more concerning the application of the fourteen symbols of the Spirit pointed out in message three. In that message we saw that these fourteen symbols can be considered in seven pairs: the brooding bird and the dove; the (olive) oil and the anointing ointment; the wind and the breath; the cloud and the fire; the light and the rain; the living water and the river of water of life; the seven lamps of the lampstand and the seven eyes of the Lamb.
The first pair is the brooding bird (Gen. 1:2) and the dove (Matt. 3:16). We need to ask why the first symbol of the Spirit in both the Old and New Testaments is a bird. This is the way to study the holy Word. We should never take anything in the Word for granted. The next pair is the oil and the anointing ointment. In the good Samaritan’s care for the dying one, he poured oil and wine on his wounds (Luke 10:34). This indicates that the oil is for soothing and for healing. The very God, who is the Spirit, is all the time soothing and healing us.
The wind and the breath are the third pair, and the cloud and the fire are the fourth pair. Within the cloud is the fire. This may sound strange, but actually it is common. Quite often, lightning is in the cloud. When the lightning is in the cloud, the fire is in the cloud. With the fire there is the light, another symbol of the Spirit. On a dark night, lightning issues in light. The Spirit as the light is paired with the Spirit as the rain. On a rainy day, there are the cloud, the lightning (the fire), the light, and the rain. The cloud, the fire, the light, and the rain are all symbols of the Spirit. Then the rain gives us the water, and the water forms a river. This brings us to the next pair of the symbols of the Spirit—the living water and the river of water of life. An abundance of flowing water is a river.
The last pair of the symbols of the Spirit is the seven lamps of the lampstand and the seven eyes of the Lamb. The beginning and the end of the Old and New Testaments are the same concerning the Spirit. Both the Old and New Testaments begin with the Spirit as a bird and end with the Spirit as the seven lamps of the lampstand, as the seven eyes, and as water. In Zechariah the Spirit is symbolized by the seven lamps as the seven eyes of Jehovah (4:2, 10), and the Spirit is also symbolized by the rain (10:1). In Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, the Spirit is symbolized by the seven lamps of the lampstand (1:4c; 4:5b), the seven eyes of the Lamb (5:6), and the river of water of life (22:1).
As we have pointed out, the Spirit as the oil (Heb. 1:9) is for soothing and healing. The Spirit as ointment is for anointing (Exo. 30:25-26; 1 John 2:20, 27; 2 Cor. 1:21). In the Gospels, the Lord Jesus healed a certain blind man in a particular way. The Word says that the Lord Jesus “spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed his eyes with the clay” (John 9:6). The Lord anointed the blind man’s eyes with a kind of ointment. An ointment is always composed of more than one element, and it is for the purpose of anointing. The Lord’s Spirit is the anointing Spirit, the anointing ointment. Every ointment has a number of ingredients, or elements. In eternity past, God was only one element, but one day He began to be compounded. First, God was compounded with man. One day He entered the womb of a virgin, and He stayed there for nine months. Divinity was compounded with humanity. God was born as a man, and this man was a compounded man. Jesus was a compound of God and man.
Jesus, the unique God-man, walked on this earth for thirty-three and a half years, and then He entered into death. He was compounded with death. A piece of cloth that has been put into dye is compounded with the dye. If the cloth is white and the dye is blue, the cloth becomes a blue cloth. When the Lord Jesus went to the cross, His death was like a dye with which He was compounded. Thus, the very God was compounded with humanity and death. After three days He came out of death and was compounded with another element, the element of resurrection. After forty days, He ascended into the third heavens, and He was compounded with the element of ascension. Thus, we can say that our God today is a compound of five elements: God, man, death, resurrection, and ascension. Our God today is the very compound Spirit, who is the consummation of the processed Triune God. Our God today is the top compound. He is the ointment. God Himself is the oil, and this oil has been compounded with four kinds of “spices”: man, death, resurrection, and ascension. Such a compound ointment is for the purpose of anointing.
Anointing means painting. When something is painted, the elements of the paint are added to it. Obviously, if a table is painted with green paint it becomes green. A certain table may be coated with many coats of paint. All of us may be likened to tables who are being painted with the processed Triune God. We have been painted with the processed Triune God, but how many coats of paint have we received? We need to open ourselves to the Lord to receive more of His painting. His anointing. The New Testament tells us that we have received the anointing. This means that we have received the painting. This anointing, this painting, is still going on within us.
Christ as the Spirit is the divine paint. God is painting us with Himself as the Spirit. Some have a Pentecostal concept that they need to pray and fast for three days to receive the Spirit. But according to our experience, our receiving of the Spirit is for us to be painted with the Spirit. Today the consummated Spirit of God as the consummation of the processed Triune God is being applied to us all the time.
As we have seen, the ingredients in this compound Spirit are God, man, death, resurrection, and ascension. Galatians 2:20 says that we have been crucified with Christ, but we may still be so strong in our disposition and our character. In our experience we are short of the death of Christ. How can we get this death? This wonderful death is an ingredient in the compound Spirit. To receive this ingredient, we need more painting. On the one hand, God uses the people close to us and the environment to help paint us. On the other hand, our Lord paints us directly. He is a great painter, who paints us with Himself. We need to pray to God, to contact Him. We need to approach God and stay with Him to fellowship with Him. The longer we stay with Him, the more He paints us.
In the divine paint, the compound Spirit, there is the ingredient of the death of Christ. The more we contact the Lord, the more His death gets into us, and this death kills us. The compound Spirit is like an all-inclusive drink with all kinds of ingredients. When we pray regularly, the death of Christ, as an ingredient of the compound Spirit, becomes a spiritual medication to us.
First John 2 tells us that we have received an anointing (vv. 20, 27), and that anointing is the moving of the compound Spirit as the anointing ointment. Within this ointment are the ingredients of Christ’s divinity, humanity, all-inclusive death, germinating resurrection, and transcending ascension. These ingredients will transform us. We need to remain in the enjoyment of the anointing of the compound Spirit.