As the Holy Spirit, the resurrected and ascended Christ came to the earth to contact man, to be touched by man, to fellowship with man, and to be received by man. The resurrected and ascended Christ is resurrection. Resurrection is in Him, and He became the Holy Spirit. Hence, the Holy Spirit is resurrection. If we want to touch resurrection, we must touch the Holy Spirit. Everything of resurrection is realized in the Holy Spirit. Whenever we touch the Holy Spirit, we touch resurrection. Just as there is no death apart from the cross, there is also no resurrection apart from the Holy Spirit. Only when we touch and experience the cross will we touch and experience death. Only when we touch and experience the Holy Spirit will we touch and experience resurrection.
Due to the lack of light, in the past we thought we knew about resurrection, when actually we did not know about it. Now, however, we know that resurrection is in the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit is resurrection. The Holy Spirit who was poured out after Christ’s ascension is resurrection. The resurrected Christ ascended to the heavens. He is the totality of resurrection, and everything of resurrection has been gathered into Him.
In the Gospel of John, the Lord not only said that He was the resurrection but also that He had to ascend to heaven and come back as the Holy Spirit (14:26, 28). When He comes back as the Holy Spirit, He shines on us and looks at our inner being. The Holy Spirit is resurrection. In other words, resurrection is in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is connected to resurrection, and resurrection is contained in the Holy Spirit. What is in the Holy Spirit is resurrection. This may be likened to a glass containing grape juice. Wherever the glass is placed, the grape juice is there. Resurrection is contained in the Holy Spirit. Wherever the Holy Spirit is, there is resurrection. There is no resurrection outside of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is resurrection. Our experience can prove this. Every time we are in resurrection, we are living in the Holy Spirit. In the same way, every time we live in the Holy Spirit, we are living in resurrection. When we are living in our natural life, we are living in our self and the flesh, but when we are living in the Holy Spirit, we are living in the resurrected Lord. When we receive Christ’s death, we receive Christ’s cross, and when we live in the Holy Spirit, we live in resurrection.
In short, the Lord’s death is the cross, that is, the Lord’s cross is death, and the Lord’s Spirit is resurrection. Before the Lord’s resurrection, the Holy Spirit was not available as resurrection, but now after the Lord’s death and resurrection, everything of resurrection is in the Lord, and the Lord is in the Holy Spirit. Thus, resurrection is in the Holy Spirit. Just as the cross is the reality of the Lord’s death, so also the Holy Spirit has become the reality of resurrection. Where there is the cross, there is death, and likewise, where there is the Holy Spirit, there is resurrection. Without knowing the Holy Spirit, our talk about resurrection is vain, because the Holy Spirit is the reality of resurrection.
To experience the Lord’s death, we must receive the cross. We must see that when the Lord was nailed to the cross, we also were hung on the cross. We have already been crucified and dealt with. If a person wants to experience the death of the cross, he must see and receive the cross. Similarly, if a person wants to experience resurrection, he must see that when Christ was resurrected and ascended, He put everything of resurrection in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit as the embodiment of the resurrected Christ is the descending of the glorified and resurrected Christ.
The Holy Spirit of Pentecost is the embodiment of the resurrected Christ. The resurrected Christ is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit wants to enter into us, but how can He do this? A sinner is saved because he has an experience of the Holy Spirit. At the beginning he may feel that God is visiting him and that God’s eyes are looking at him. He may immediately feel that he is a sinner, even a worthless sinner, yet God is willing to visit him with His own eyes. This look is God’s eyes. This is the story of the embodiment of the Spirit of God in us. This look is the first step. Then the second step is enlightenment. After He looks at us, our inner being is enlightened. Once He enlightens us, we immediately feel that we are very filthy and corrupted. Whether a person is a sinner or a saint, when he experiences the Holy Spirit, the principle is the same. When God’s eyes look at us, we are immediately enlightened by the Holy Spirit. The third step is the burning of the Holy Spirit. Eventually, the Holy Spirit enters into us, and we experience the Holy Spirit.
In other words, God is embodied in Christ, and Christ is realized as the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit enters into us, we then live in the Holy Spirit. God first looks at us, and then He enlightens us. Once He has enlightened us, He burns us, and once He burns us, we live in the Holy Spirit. When we are living in the Holy Spirit, we are living in resurrection. At this time, our inward feeling is the feeling of the Holy Spirit, the feeling of resurrection, and our inward power is the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of resurrection. Hence, the power of resurrection is the Holy Spirit. Romans 8 calls the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead,” indicating that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead (v. 11). The power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit. His resurrection was accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit. The power is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the power of resurrection. We are touching the reality that the Holy Spirit has entered into us. The Holy Spirit is the power of resurrection and is resurrection. After He looks at us, He enlightens us; after He enlightens us, He burns us; and after He burns us, the Holy Spirit comes into us. He is resurrection.
Now we have an inward power which enables us to overcome the world, sin, and Satan, to bear what is unbearable, to suffer persecution, or to be martyred. This power is what 2 Corinthians 4 calls the excellency of the power (v. 7). In us earthen vessels there is an exceedingly great power that is of God and not of us. This exceedingly great power in us enables us to be pressed on every side but not constricted and to be cast down but not destroyed (vv. 8-9). This resurrection power is the Holy Spirit, the resurrection, which is in us, who are vessels. This power enables us to live a life of holiness, not fearing hardship or suffering. Today we can be conformed to Christ’s death because we know the power of His resurrection in us.
We know that God is the Spirit. When the Spirit of God touches our spirit and interacts with our spirit, there is spiritual reality. Christ is this spiritual reality. Not only so, the Spirit of God is the seven Spirits of God, the seven lamps of God, and the seven eyes of God. When the seven eyes look at our inner being, they shine into our inner being. When they shine into our inner being, they burn in our inner being, and eventually, the Spirit comes into our spirit to be our spiritual reality. Hence, we see that the Holy Spirit is everything. God is the Holy Spirit, Christ is the Holy Spirit, resurrection is the Holy Spirit, power is the Holy Spirit, and resurrection life is also the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit touches our spirit, contacts our spirit, and meets with our spirit, there is an issue—spiritual reality.
We can see in Revelation 4 that the ascended Lamb looks at our inner being through His seven eyes and that these seven eyes are the seven eyes of God. He looks at our inner being, enlightens our inner being, and burns in our inner being. Thus, we live in the reality of resurrection and in the power of resurrection. Then this reality and power lead us to have a kind of living that we cannot live by ourselves. This living is in resurrection and by the power of resurrection.