5 Critical Points concerning the Spirit of God in the Move of God’s eternal Economy

This week in our enjoyment of the Lord in His word we come to a very wonderful topic: service for the building up of the church. All those who have been regenerated by God are serving ones: they are being served by Christ daily and they serve Christ in their daily living.

The first thing we need to do when serving the Lord for the building up of the church is to serve God by knowing the age (especially the present age of Christianity in relation to the revelation of the Scriptures, the divine truths, and the genuine and proper theology), by realizing how Christ fulfills His economy, by seeing the world situation as the indicator of His move, and by spreading the truths of the Lord’s recovery for His coming back.

We all need to be perfected by the Lord to serve the Lord in an intrinsic way, according to the way He desires. We need to have a praying spirit, opening to the Lord to be shined on by Him, be exposed of our natural way and means of serving Him, and be infused with His intention, His way of service, and His heart’s desire.

We need to serve God in an up-to-date way by knowing the age we are in, by realizing the way Christ fulfills His economy, and by spreading the truths of His recovery for His coming back.

May we not serve God in an old, stale, or dead way, but serve Him in the newness of spirit, in an up-to-date way (Rom. 7:6). We want to be those who exercise our spirit to serve God in an up-to-date way according to His heart’s desire.

5 Critical Points concerning the Spirit of God in the Move of God’s eternal Economy

In order to serve God in a proper way according to His heart’s desire, we need to know the age of today’s Christianity in a particular way, especially in relation to the revelation of the Scriptures, the divine truths, and the genuine and proper theology.

We need to realize that none of today’s theologies – including the respected Nicene Creed – stresses five crucial matters related to the Spirit of God in the move of God’s eternal economy.

For us to serve God according to His standard, we need to know, enjoy, and be filled with the Spirit, and we need have the proper knowledge of the Spirit according to the divine truth in the Bible. The five crucial points concerning the Spirit in the move of God’s economy which are missed by today’s theologies are:

1. The Spirit that gives life being “not yet” (John 7:39b). None of today’s theologies or even the pastors in their sermons speak of the fact that the Spirit who gives life “was not yet” at the time of John 7:37-39.

This Spirit who was not yet is a particular Spirit – it is the Spirit of the glorified Jesus, the Spirit which includes the humanity of Jesus; such a Spirit was not yet before the Lord’s glorification, that is, before His resurrection.

Before His resurrection, the Spirit had only God’s divinity but not His humanity; but now that the Spirit is, He is the drinkable Spirit of Jesus Christ which includes the humanity of Jesus! Hallelujah, the Spirit who was “not yet” now is, and we can drink Him to enjoy all that He is and have our thirst quenched!

2. The last Adam becoming a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). The Bible clearly tells us that in His resurrection the last Adam (that is, Christ in the flesh) became a life-giving Spirit (thus fulfilling John 7:39). Paul strengthens this in 2 Cor. 3:17 where He says that now the Lord is the Spirit, and in the next verse he uses the compound divine title, The Lord Spirit.

First, the word became flesh (John 1:14), then Christ as the last Adam became a divine-life-giving Spirit, the Spirit who constantly gives us Zoe (the divine, uncreated, eternal life of God). God’s intention is to dispense Himself as life into His people, and for this He first became flesh, and then as the last Adam He became a life-giving Spirit to fulfill the promise in John 7:37-39 and quench our thirst!

3. The compound Spirit typified by the anointing ointment (Exo. 30:23-25). This is completely missed and neglected in today’s Christianity, but it is recovered and enjoyed in the church life today. The compound ointment in Exo. 30 includes myrrh (typifying the precious death of Christ), cinnamon (the sweetness and effectiveness of Christ’s death), calamus (the precious resurrection of Christ), and cassia (the repelling power of Christ’s resurrection), all blended and compounded with olive oil (the Spirit).

These were compounded according to the work of a compounder: the Triune God is a compounder, and through the processes He went through He compounded these elements into Himself to become a compound ointment for God’s building. Regretfully, none of today’s theologies stresses adequately the critical point concerning the compound Spirit typified by the anointing ointment in Exo. 30:23-25.

4. The Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, Christ Himself, and the indwelling Spirit in Romans 8:2, 9-11 all referring to the compound Spirit that gives life. If you read chapter 8 of Romans you will realize that Paul uses these terms – the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, Christ Himself, and the indwelling Spirit – interchangeably, for they all refer to the same thing.

The life-giving Spirit is the Spirit of life, the Spirit of life is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ is just Christ Himself who dwells in us. Hallelujah, the Spirit who is of life, of God, of Christ, and who is Christ Himself now dwells in us to dispense life to us all the time, making our spirit, soul, and body full of the divine life!

5. The seven Spirits – the sevenfold intensified Spirit (Rev. 1:4). In Revelation we see that the Spirit is called “the seven Spirits of God” (Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6); this is not another Spirit or seven separate Spirits but the life-giving Spirit who, because of the degradation of the church, has been intensified sevenfold.

In order to produce the churches, the life-giving Spirit is sufficiently strong; but because the churches have become degraded, the Spirit has been intensified sevenfold to counteract the degradation of the church and produce the overcomers for the fulfillment of God’s economy.

Thank You Lord for revealing to us that the Spirit of life who was not yet now is the life-giving Spirit giving us life all the time! Hallelujah, the last Adam – Christ in the flesh – became a life-giving Spirit, and today the Lord is the Spirit who dwells in us to constantly impart the divine life into all the parts of our inner being! Lord, we want to serve You in an up-to-date way by knowing the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit, and experiencing the indwelling Spirit who now has been intensified sevenfold to produce us as God’s overcomers! Hallelujah for the Spirit!

Knowing what the Lord’s Recovery is and being Up-to-date with the Lord in Serving Him

If we see the present age of today’s Christianity in relation to the revelation of the Scriptures, the divine truths, and the genuine and proper theology, we will realize that many believers today are held back by imperfect and unscriptural theology from the central revelation of God, and they come short of the completion of God’s eternal economy because they miss, neglect, or oppose these five critical points concerning the Spirit of God.

The Lord’s recovery today is the recovery of these critical points concerning the Spirit of God in the move of God’s eternal economy.

The Lord’s recovery and the central revelation of God are God becoming the flesh, the flesh becoming the life-giving Spirit, and the life-giving Spirit becoming the sevenfold intensified Spirit to build up the church that becomes the Body of Christ and that consummates the New Jerusalem; this is the full ministry of Christ in three stages — incarnation, inclusion, and intensification. Witness Lee

What is the Lord’s recovery? It is simply that God became the flesh, the flesh became the life-giving Spirit, and the life-giving Spirit was intensified sevenfold to build up the church that becomes the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem.

What the Lord’s recovery will be and how will be depends on how we handle this teaching concerning the full ministry of Christ in three stages.

We need to do a work in three stages: we need to preach the gospel for people to be redeemed and saved (a work in the stage of incarnation), we need to shepherd and perfect the saints with the healthy word of God so that they may built up and the churches may be produced (a work in the stage of inclusion), and we need to be produced as overcomers and cooperate with the Lord for us all to be produced as Christ’s overcoming bride (a work in the stage of intensification).

Oh, may we all be up-to-date with the Lord in serving Him, and may we not be held back by our old theology, spiritual concepts, old doctrines, and our old understanding of the recovery!

May we be those who serve the Lord in newness of spirit, being up-to-date with Him concerning what He is doing today, what are the main truths, and what our way should be to serve God!

Lord Jesus, we want to be up-to-date with You and not be held back by our old theology or by our old understanding of the recovery. May we realize that the Lord’s recovery is God becoming the flesh, the flesh becoming the life-giving Spirit, and the life-giving Spirit becoming the sevenfold intensified Spirit to build up the church as the Body consummating in the New Jerusalem. Lord, we want to be constituted with the truth to know what You are doing today in Your recovery, so that we may serve You in an up-to-date way in Your present recovery!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother Ed Marks for this week, and The Divine and Mystical Realm, ch. 1 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Service for the Building up of the Church (2016 Spring ITERO), week 1 / msg. 1, Serving God by Knowing the Age, by Realizing the Way Christ Fulfills His Economy, by Seeing the World Situation as the Indicator of His Move, and by Spreading the Truths of the Lord’s Recovery for His Coming Back.
  All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
  Hymns on this topic:
  # Though God in nature cannot change, / He passed through womb and cross; / The Lamb of God has been prepared, / Yet, nothing has been lost. / The Spirit is the compound God; / The One that was “not yet“; / The seven Spirits, seven eyes, / Today are “The Spirit“. (Song on the Spirit)
  # Seven Spirits and the seven eyes, / Organic salvation He intensifies, / Producing overcomers in this age, / To build His Body and to consummate / The New Jerusalem. (Song on the seven Spirits)
  # Eating is man’s destiny / And the Lord’s recovery; / This defeats the enemy— / Overcome! / Come enjoy the tree of life, / Leave the doctrines, leave the strife! / Overcome by eating Christ— / Overcome! (Hymns #1273)