In the previous two messages we have seen that the Lord Jesus had the divine Spirit in Him for His incarnation, human living, and ministry, but at that time He had not yet become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) to flow out of His believers as rivers of living water (John 7:38-39). In order for the Spirit to come into the believers and flow out of them, the Lord had to take two more steps. First, He had to die. Second, He had to resurrect. In His death He cleared away the obstacles of sin, the flesh, the world, and Satan so that we could receive the Spirit for the Spirit to flow out of us. Then in His resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). After the Lord's crucifixion and resurrection, the Spirit can enter into the believers to regenerate them and flow out of them as rivers of living water.

The Spirit eventually became the consummation of the processed Triune God. In the Old Testament, the Spirit was the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jehovah, and the Spirit of holiness. The Holy Spirit is the first title used for the Spirit of God in the New Testament. The birth of Christ was directly of the Holy Spirit. His source was the Holy Spirit and His element was divine.

The thirty-three and a half years from Christ's incarnation to His ascension was a transitory time. Before this transitory time began, before Christ's incarnation, God was purely God. He was merely divine. But the Bible shows us that God intended to enter into man. For Him to enter into man, He needed to become a man. Before that time, He was eternally perfect, complete, but not yet perfected, completed. He was unprocessed, "raw," "uncooked." In those thirty-three and a half years, He passed through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. These are the five steps through which the "raw" God passed to become the "cooked" God. It was after this that He sat down in the heavens and became the consummated Triune God.

Before His incarnation, He did not have the human element. He did not have the experience of human living or human suffering. After He created man, He remained separately from man for four thousand years. But one day He became a man to bring Himself into humanity. Matthew 1:20 says, "That which has been begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit." That means God was born, begotten, into Mary and remained in her womb for nine months. Then He was born out of that womb to become a God-man. From that time God and man became one. But this is not the consummation; this is the beginning of the process. He grew up as a young man and passed through human living. Then at the age of thirty, He came out to be baptized. He worked for God and ministered God to man for three and a half years. Then He entered into His crucifixion and was buried in a tomb for three days. He visited Hades and came out of that region of death into resurrection. Then in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit.

Also, in resurrection He was begotten to be the firstborn Son of God (Acts 13:33; Rom. 8:29). As the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16), He had merely divinity, not humanity. But as the firstborn Son of God, He has the elements of humanity, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. In resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit, and He was also begotten to be the firstborn Son of God. His being the firstborn Son implies that there are other sons to follow Him. In resurrection He begot us to be the many sons of God. In such a condition and status, He ascended. Before He came down from the heavens in incarnation, He was purely God. But He went back into ascension as a God-man with the elements of humanity, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. Now the Triune God is completed, consummated, "cooked." He has become the life-giving Spirit, who is the consummation of the processed Triune God. The processed Triune God today in His consummation is the Spirit.

In the previous message we saw that this consummated Spirit who is the consummation of the Triune God is five things to us. He is the Paraclete, the reality, the reaching, the access, and the fellowship. As the Paraclete, He is always with us, going along with us and living in us to be our everything. This One is the reality. Without this One, God is not real, Christ is not real, righteousness is not real, holiness is not real, life is not real, light is not real, and love is not real. The Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God is the unique reality in the entire universe. Who is God? He is God. Who is Christ? He is Christ. Who is the Savior? He is the Savior. Who is the Redeemer? He is the Redeemer. Who is the Lord? He is the Lord. Who is the Master? He is the Master. Who is the Father? He is the Father. He is the reality. First John 5:6b says, "The Spirit is the reality." When He comes to us, He is the reaching of God to us. Also, He brings us back to God, and this is our access. Then as we remain in Him, He is our fellowship.

We need to know the Spirit in such a detailed way. If we do not know the Spirit thoroughly, we cannot have a proper, normal Christian life. The normal Christian life depends upon our knowing and experiencing the Spirit.