I hope that every Christian would be clear that the relationship God desires to have with us is a relationship in which He as the Spirit enters into our spirit and in which we saved ones live in this spirit. When we live in the spirit, we are living in resurrection. When we live in resurrection, we experience dying with Christ and ascending with Christ. In other words, when we live in the spirit, we live in the realm of resurrection, and the death of the cross has an effect on us. This death enables us to put off everything that is incompatible with God so that we may live in the heavenlies. At this time, the heavenly condition is manifested in us. In such a spirit, we can sense that we are heavenly people.
Hence, we see that there are five things that are linked together: first, God being Spirit; second, living in the Spirit; third, living in resurrection; fourth, experiencing the death of the cross; and fifth, experiencing ascension. In short, God is Spirit, and to live in the Spirit is to live in resurrection. Living in resurrection leads us to the experience of death on the one hand and the experience of ascension on the other. These five items are linked together. God is Spirit, so God is the first item, and the Spirit is the second item. To live in the Spirit is to live in resurrection, so resurrection is the third item. One who lives in resurrection will have the experience of death and ascension, so death is the fourth item, and ascension is the fifth item. These five items—God, Spirit, resurrection, death, and ascension—are linked to us.
In our spiritual experience, when we live in our spirit we sense the presence of the Lord as a kind of transcendency. On the one hand, we experience death, which is a suffering to us, but on the other hand, we are brought into a heavenly realm, into a kind of spiritual reality, where we transcend over all hardship and suffering. This indicates that to live in the spirit is to live in a realm, a sphere, where there is God, the presence of God, the experience of death, and the experience of ascension. In other words, when we live in our spirit, we live in resurrection, and when we live in resurrection, we touch spiritual reality. In this spiritual reality we have the presence of God and the experience of death on the one hand and the experience of ascension on the other. Any time we turn to live in our spirit, we are living in resurrection, and at that time we sense the presence of the Lord. On the one hand, we experience death, which delivers us from all persons, things, and matters that are contrary to God, and on the other hand, we experience ascension, which gives us the sense that we are in the heavenly sphere. Not only God is with us, but heaven is also with us.
We have already seen these five great matters—God, God being Spirit, living in the Spirit being to live in resurrection, and living in resurrection causing us to have the experiences of death and ascension. However, we have not seen how these things are related to life, nor have we seen the matter of life. Whether we are speaking of the Spirit, resurrection, death, or ascension, the source is God. God is Spirit, and when the Spirit comes out and enters into us, we live in Him and experience resurrection. This resurrection brings with it death and ascension. All of these matters are related to life and cannot be separated from life.
What is the relationship between the Spirit and life, and how are they distinct? We all know that the Holy Spirit gives life that man may have life, yet we may not be clear about the difference between the Holy Spirit and life and between life and the Holy Spirit. For example, we all know that God is Spirit, and we also know the definitions of the Spirit and of God and their distinctions. Now we have to know what the Lord Jesus said concerning the Spirit. He said that it is the Spirit who gives life and that the words which He spoke are spirit and life (John 6:63). Obviously, life is connected to the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the Spirit of life, which is spoken of in Romans 8:2, is also referred to as the Spirit who gives life (v. 11). Romans 8 says that to touch the Spirit is to touch life and that the mind set on the spirit is life and peace (v. 6). These verses show us that the Bible links life and the Holy Spirit together.
We saved ones, in speaking about the Spirit and life, may often say things like, “This brother is quite good in life,” or, “This sister is very strong in the spiritual life.” Actually, this is the speaking of an unlearned person. Life does not carry distinctions such as good or bad, strong or weak. Everything of life is good and beautiful; it is never bad or wrong. Everything of life is strong. Only death is not strong.
What is life? What is the relationship between life and the Spirit, and what distinguishes them from each other? Psalm 36 reads, “For with You is the fountain of life” (v. 9). The Lord is the fountain of life, and this fountain of life is in God. When the Lord Jesus came to the earth, John declared at the very beginning of the Gospel of John, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (1:4). From this we see that life was in the Lord Jesus. In addition to this, the Lord Himself said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25). The Lord is life, and life is in Him. Then in chapter six He said that it is the Spirit who gives life, and the words which He spoke are spirit and are life. In the age of the apostles, Paul said that the Spirit is the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2). In Romans 8 he said that by setting our mind on the spirit we touch life and that the mind set on the spirit is life (v. 6). In 1 John 5 the apostle John even said, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” (v. 12). If we combine all these verses together, we can see that life is the Lord Himself.