Fine Tuning with the Father, Son, Spirit
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In Ezekiel 36:27 it says we will receive the Holy Spirit in
our spirit. In the OT the Holy Spirit never dwelt in
believers for this was never available in the Old Covenant.
The Holy Spirit came upon men but in those days the Holy
Spirit never dwelt in men forever.
How do we know the Holy Spirit will dwell in us believers forever? John 14:16-17. The "he" in v.16 is the "I" in vs.18 showing that the Comforter is but the Lord coming in another form "come unto you" (v.18). Who can deny this? The "another Comforter" is but the Lord Jesus coming in a different form. Just as God comes among men in and through Christ, so Christ comes into men in and through the Holy Spirit. Christ was clothed with the Holy Spirit and could consequently dwell in men. The Holy Spirit is the same in us as Christ in us. Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 2Cr 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? Eph 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, The God in 3:19 is the Christ in 3:17. Eph 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. |
On page 88-89, Watchman Nee talks about this in
The Better Covenant, that it is a very marvelous thing that the Creator indwells
the created and that the Lord will not leave us as orphans. He will take care of
us, nourishing us, edifying us, and bearing the full responsibility for us in
translating the subjective experience of the Holy Spirit from the object
fact of what Christ has accomplished on the cross.
2Cr 1:3 Blessed [be] God, even the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
God is spoken of as God the Father of Christ
and who is merciful in what He did for us giving us His only begotten Son. The Spirit
of Christ as comforter is God the Spirit since the Father gives His Spirit, the
spirit of His Son as Comforter.
I love this. The Father is merciful because of His Son, and His Son is a
comforter because of the Spirit. This is spiritual language of the Trinity,
which gives us life. Isaiah 9.6 is interesting because there we see Christ as
the everlasting Father. Watchman Nee said in Matthew, Chapter 1 in
Interpreting Matthew,
“Immanuel” (v.23b). This is an amazing fact. The Lord Jesus being God automatically eliminates the possibility of there ever being the biological fatherhood of Joseph with respect to Jesus. He is Immanuel, the heir to the throne (Is. 9.6-7). Hence Matthew alone recorded this. Jesus is King; therefore He represents His people. He is “the Almighty God,” “Father of eternity” (Hebrew original); hence, He has great strength. He is man, as well as God, and so, He is Immanuel. God and man, man and God. The Highest became the lowest: God became man: the King became as it were a “criminal.” Only the Highest could condescend to be the lowest.
This leads one to recall Rev. 22.1,4,
Rev 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Rev 22:4 And they shall see his face; and his name [shall be] in their
foreheads. (in their minds)
This is one throne of God and the Lamb as if they are one in the new city which is
testified in Rev. 22.4 in which there is no more distinction seemingly by having
the one "face" of God and the Lamb, for
"his" name shall be in their minds. Yet there is still a distinction
of the God the Father and God the Son, always and forever. Otherwise, there
would not be mentioned both "God" and the Lamb" here.
Though God is referred to as a he, he is not a person, but our creator on the
throne. Only when Christ is in His creation does He take on being a man and so
shall it be when He returns.
Wow!
Troy Brooks