Resurrection is not something objective and vague, because resurrection is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the reality of resurrection. After the Lord’s resurrection and ascension, the Holy Spirit, in which is resurrection, was poured out. Now the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of resurrection. We all know that in the Old Testament the Spirit was not yet the Spirit of resurrection. After the Lord’s resurrection and ascension, the Holy Spirit was outpoured from heaven. It was then that the Holy Spirit came as the Spirit of resurrection. The Holy Spirit today is very different from the Spirit in the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament the Spirit had only the divinity of God but not the humanity of man. After the Lord’s death, resurrection, and ascension, the Holy Spirit descended from the resurrected Christ in the heavens. This Holy Spirit who descended not only had the divinity of God but also the humanity of man. In the Old Testament the Spirit had not yet passed through the process of death and resurrection. However, after the Lord’s resurrection and ascension, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven, having passed through death and resurrection. Now the Holy Spirit has two additional elements—humanity and resurrection.
Hence, in the Old Testament the Spirit of God had neither the humanity of man nor the element of resurrection mingled with Him, because Christ had not yet been incarnated and had not passed through the process of death and resurrection. God had not yet been mingled with humanity, and humanity had not yet been mingled with God. Thus, at that time the Spirit of God had only the divine element of God, not the human element of man or the element of resurrection.
The Bible clearly says that God is Spirit (John 4:24). This means that Spirit is the essence of God, the nature of God. For instance, suppose we have a wooden table. We can say that the table is wood because the table is made of wood. God is Spirit. Hence, the Holy Spirit of God is God Himself. Never think that God is merely God, the Holy Spirit of God is merely the Holy Spirit of God, and the two are separate. We can say that the table is the table, and we can also say that the table is wood because the essence of the table is wood. Likewise, the Spirit of God is God Himself because God’s nature, God’s essence, and God Himself are Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God Himself, and no one can separate the Holy Spirit from God. Sadly, some people in Christianity make the mistake of separating the Holy Spirit from God. They reason that if the Holy Spirit and God were one entity, not two, then God could not have sent the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit and God were one, then God would have sent Himself. Actually, it is true that God sent Himself.
We must realize that the hidden God is God but that the expressed God is the Spirit. The God who dwells in unapproachable light is God, but every time He comes out, He is the Spirit. There is a hidden place in heaven that man cannot approach. The Bible calls it unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16). That place is much more severe than the furnace of fire in Daniel 3, where men were slain even at a distance from it. God dwells in unapproachable light. In this unapproachable light He is God, but when He comes out, He is the Spirit. In Genesis 1 when God came out to create all things, He was the Spirit. There it says, “The Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters” (v. 2).
Every time God wants to speak through man, He comes as the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God and God Himself are not two separate entities but one. If we think of the Spirit of God and God Himself as two separate persons, we will never be clear about spiritual matters and spiritual reality. For us to have spiritual experiences and reality, we must clearly see that the Holy Spirit is God Himself. God in heaven is God, but when He comes to us, He is the Spirit. He is not two but one. The Spirit of God is God Himself.