We have seen that John 7:39 says "the Spirit was not yet." It is difficult to explain why John 7:39 says this. We saw that Jesus was anointed with the Spirit and that the Spirit was in the move of the man Jesus in His ministry to God in His last three and a half years on the earth. Furthermore, the Lord Jesus told the disciples that they would be filled with the Spirit and that the Spirit would flow out of them as rivers of living water. Then John tells us that at that time, the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified. The Spirit of God was there from the beginning, but at the time the Lord spoke this word, the Spirit as the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9), the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19), was not yet, because the Lord had not yet been glorified.

For Jesus to be glorified was for Him to be resurrected (Luke 24:26). Before Christ was resurrected, the Spirit who would flow into the believers and flow out of them as rivers of living water was not yet. His being glorified may be likened to the blossoming of a flower. When the flower blossoms, that is its glorification. Jesus was glorified in resurrection. The Spirit flowing into and out of the believers as rivers of living water would not come into being until after Jesus' resurrection. It was through the resurrection and after the resurrection of Jesus, that the Spirit became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) to enter into the believers and flow out of them as rivers of living water.

We have seen that in the Old Testament, the Spirit was the Spirit of God in God's creation of the universe, the Spirit of Jehovah in God's reaching of men and in His care for men, and the Spirit of holiness in God's making His chosen people holy unto Himself. Now we come to the New Testament, which is much more important than the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, the Spirit was firstly the Holy Spirit in two conceptions: the conception of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, and the conception of Christ, which was God being born into humanity. The very God who entered into the womb of Mary was the Holy Spirit. So Matthew 1:20 says that what was born in the womb of Mary was of the Holy Spirit. This was much different from God's creation, from God's relationship with man, and from God's making His people holy. This is God as the Holy One, "the Spirit the Holy," entering into a human virgin to be born there. God was born into man. God Himself as the Holy One entered into a human virgin and stayed in her womb for nine months. Then a child came out who was named Jesus. Isaiah 9:6 says that this child is called the mighty God and the eternal Father. God was born into the womb of Mary, and Jesus was born out of Mary to be the child who is called the mighty God as the Creator in His creation and the eternal Father as the source of all the positive things.

At the end of the previous message, we pointed out that through and in His resurrection Christ as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit to enter into His believers to flow out as rivers of living water. The last Adam means the conclusion of humanity, the ending of humanity. There were only two Adams: the first Adam and the last Adam. The first Adam is the beginning of humanity, and the last Adam is the ending of humanity. First, we were a part of the first Adam, but now we are a part of the last Adam.

We need to see the revelation of the Bible in an intrinsic way. Let us consider the example of a big tree. There is a flowing, a current, within this big tree. That is the juice of that tree. The tree's story does not depend upon its outward frame, but it depends upon its intrinsic flow, its intrinsic current. The Bible is the divine revelation composed of sixty-six books. There are many things covered in this book, but what is the intrinsic flow of the Bible? The intrinsic flow of the Bible is the Spirit.

The Spirit began to flow from Genesis 1:2. Right after God came to create, the Spirit began to move. That is the beginning of the very current of the Bible through its entire sixty-six books. This current is consummated in Revelation 22:17, which speaks of "the Spirit." Thus, the flow of the Spirit began in Genesis 1:2 and will consummate in Revelation 22:17. In between these two ends of the Bible is a long current. This long current is the history of God's move among man and within man. The history of God among man and within man is a current of the flow of the Spirit. The definition of the Spirit includes the entire history of God's move among man and within man. If we see this, we will understand the Bible intrinsically and get the real significance of the Bible.

Now the Spirit has become the life-giving Spirit. This life-giving Spirit is a wonderful One who came into being through two "becomings." The first becoming was God becoming a man (John 1:14). He became the last Adam, and was called by the name Jesus. Then this man became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). These are two big events in human history and also in God's history. In the history of the entire universe, nothing could be bigger than God's incarnation. That was God becoming a man. Then after thirty-three and a half years this man became something else. He was God, He became a man, and this man became a life-giving Spirit.