We have seen that with Christ first of all there is the incarnation. Following this we have the crucifixion, resurrection, and then the ascension. After the ascension, we have the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Incarnation brings God into man, mingling divinity with humanity. The crucifixion terminates and ends every negative thing: sin, the world, the flesh, the old man, the self, and Satan. All negative things have been fully terminated on the cross. The cross was the end of the old creation. Crucifixion was followed by resurrection. Resurrection is the germination of a new start that we may have new life and be in the new creation. After this Christ was exalted to the right hand of God. This exaltation was a kind of inauguration to put Jesus into His office. He was positioned, authorized, and inaugurated into His post to carry out God’s project of building God’s eternal dwelling place. Today this is the church, and ultimately it will be the New Jerusalem. In His ascension He has been qualified, approved, appointed, and even committed with the divine life, the Holy Spirit, and all the gifts. Now this ascended Christ has all the items that are necessary for the building of God.
The first step the Lord took to accomplish God’s project was to baptize all His members in the Holy Spirit. These were all the people which God had chosen and predestinated in eternity past to be given to Him. He baptized all of them into Himself. This was the baptism in the Spirit. Here we have a big mystery, and this is why among Christian teachers there are different opinions, interpretations, understandings, and practices concerning the matter of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
In the New Testament there are a few mysteries. The person of Christ is one. He is both God and man. He is the Son, the Father (Isa. 9:6), and the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). This is according to the pure revelation of the Bible. We have no doubt that Jesus is God incarnated; He did become a man. We all have to confess that Jesus did come in the flesh. He was God as well as man. As the expression of God, He is the Son of God. Yet Isaiah 9:6 says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given...and his name shall be called...The mighty God, The everlasting Father.” The Son given to us is called the everlasting Father. This is why He is so mysterious. But this is in the Word of God. Then the New Testament says in 2 Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is that Spirit.” He is the Son, yet He is called the everlasting Father. He is the Lord, yet the Lord is that Spirit. Jesus is altogether a mystery. We should not try to understand Him by our limited mentality. He is too mysterious.
How can we understand the mysterious Jesus when we cannot even understand ourselves? Do you know that you have two hearts? One heart is the physical heart, and the other is the psychological heart. Our physical heart may be quite perfect, but our psychological heart is corrupt. Can you tell where this psychological heart is in your being? We cannot even understand ourselves. Then how can we understand the wonderful Jesus? The person of Christ is a real mystery.
In the New Testament there is another mystery—the matter of the Triune God. God is one, yet He is triune. How can you define Him? When I was a young Christian, I tried to understand the trinity of God. But the more I tried, the more I could not understand. The Triune God is a mystery.
To say that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three persons of one God is just a kind of interpretation. This should not be pressed too far; otherwise it will lead to three Gods. Many Christian teachers do hold the concept that the Father, Son, and Spirit are three Gods, but they dare not to express this in words openly. Some say that the Father, who has a person, is one God, and the Son, who also has a person, is another God, but the Spirit, who does not have a person, is merely an influence, not another God. All these concepts with their interpretations are complicated and complicating. We should not get involved with them.
We cannot understand the mystery of the Triune God adequately. We can and should only believe the pure Word of God. Matthew 28:19 speaks of the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. There is one name for the Father, Son, and Spirit, because God is triune. Then 2 Corinthians 13:14 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Christ, God, and the Spirit are the one Triune God. We cannot tell how God could be triune, but according to the Bible we do know that He is triune. We have to forget about the theological terminology, but take care of the pure Word of the Bible. How could one God be the Father, the Son, and the Spirit? It is a mystery. This is why His name is called “Wonderful.”