The Spirit of Jesus, whom Paul experienced in Acts 16:7, implies the Lord’s humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension; the Spirit of Jesus is the totality and the full realization of the all-inclusive Jesus.
In Acts 16:7 Luke turns from the Holy Spirit (whom the apostles experienced in His forbidding them to go somewhere in the previous verse) to the Spirit of Jesus.
The Bible is economical and precise in the mentioning of the titles or aspects of God; no expression is accidental, and every mention of the Spirit, Christ, or God together with a modifier means something particular and exact.
The Spirit of God in the Old Testament involves that God as Spirit speaks, does things, moves, and is related to man.
The Spirit of Jehovah in the Old Testament refers to God as the Spirit in relation to man, getting close to man, and having fellowship with man.
The Spirit of holiness in the Old Testament refers to God sanctifying man by setting him apart for His purpose; God sanctified particular people for His purpose, for His move.
In the New Testament we see the Holy Spirit, who is mentioned first in relation to the conception of the Lord Jesus and His work on earth; the Holy Spirit is mainly related to the mingling of God with man.
Then, we see the Spirit of Jesus, which the apostles experienced, who refers to and implies to Christ in His humanity – Jesus, the Man.
As a man, Jesus first lived a human life and then was crucified and resurrected; He became a man, was incarnated to be a human being, lived a perfect human life, endured the sufferings and trials of a human life, and was crucified and died.
Three days after His death, He was raised from the dead; He resurrected as a man, and He was transfigured to be a life-giving Spirit. Then, He was ascended to the heavens and was made by God Lord and Christ.
All these things He accomplished as a Man; as a Man, Jesus lived the human life and endured human sufferings; as a man, Jesus died on the cross and was buried; as a man, Jesus was raised from the dead; as a man, Jesus ascended to the heavens and was made Lord and Christ.
Hallelujah, Jesus Christ as a Man is now on the throne in the glory, in the highest point of the universe, and He is Lord of all!
The Lord of the universe is Jesus Christ, a man, and today we can experience the Spirit of Jesus in our daily life and work, especially in the propagation of Christ on earth!
The Spirit of Jesus implies the Lord’s Humanity, Human Living, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension
The Spirit of Jesus includes and is the totality of the Lord’s humanity, His human living, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension. God’s New Testament economy is carried out through the Lord’s incarnation, humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension.
The processes that Christ went through are all part of the Spirit of Jesus, who is our experience today for the propagation of Christ on earth.
The Spirit who is now called the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus is the totality and the ultimate consummation of Christ’s incarnation, humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension.
When we have the Spirit of Jesus, we have all these elements. When we call, O Lord Jesus, we need to realize that we’re calling on the name of the One who is a man, who has humanity, who was crucified, who was resurrected and was ascended.
The Spirit of Jesus involves more than the Holy Spirit does; strictly speaking, the Holy Spirit involves only the incarnation and birth of the Lord Jesus (Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:18, 20), and the Spirit of Jesus involves His humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension (see Acts 1:1-3, 8; 2:23, 32, 36).
After His resurrection and in His resurrection Christ has become the pneumatic Christ, the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17). This Christ as the Spirit is constituted with certain elements: incarnation, humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension.
Only Christ as the Spirit is the One who possesses these qualifications; only He is qualified with incarnation, humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension.
The Spirit of Jesus is the realization of this qualified Jesus; in the Spirit of Jesus we have all these elements and qualifications of Christ.
When the apostle Paul and his co-workers were moving under the direction of the Spirit of Jesus in Acts 16, the Spirit was the totality of the all-inclusive Christ.
This matter of the Spirit of Jesus implying all these items has been very much neglected throughout history; the matter of the Holy Spirit has been over-emphasized especially in the aspect of power or miraculous gifts, but the Spirit of Jesus has been very much neglected.
We need to open to the Lord, come to Him in a fresh way in His word, and read the New Testament – especially the book of Acts – to see, enjoy, and experience Christ as the Spirit of Jesus with the elements of the Lord’s humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension.
Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy the Spirit of Jesus with the elements of the Lord’s humanity, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. Oh Lord Jesus, we call on Your name to receive, enjoy, and experience all that You are as the Spirit of Jesus in reality! Amen, Lord, bring us into the appreciation and enjoyment of Yourself as the Spirit of Jesus with all Your qualifications and elements! May we experience and enjoy You as the Spirit of Jesus for the propagation of Christ on earth!
The Spirit of Jesus is the Totality and the Full Realization of the All-inclusive Jesus
The Spirit of Jesus is the totality and the full realization of the all-inclusive Jesus (Acts 16:7). Hallelujah, we have an all-inclusive Jesus!
As believers in Christ we don’t follow a man outwardly, but we follow the man Jesus inwardly – every genuine believer follows the Man Jesus!
Sadly to say, however, this truth of the Spirit of Jesus being the totality of the all-inclusive Jesus has been hidden from so many children of God.
Many have heard the gospel and have even preached the gospel, speaking of the love of God for sinners, realising that God sent His beloved Son for them to be saved, but hardly anyone knows that the Son of God is not just divine but also human.
Even after He died, resurrected, and was ascended, and even now in the heavens in glory, Jesus is a Man, and the Spirit of Jesus (the Spirit of a man) is with us to supply us and lead us for His propagation on earth.
The One we believe into, we love, we treasure, and whom we daily live and walk with for His propagation, this One is Jesus Christ, a Man, and the Spirit of Jesus is the totality and the full realization of the all-inclusive Jesus!
Just as the Spirit of Christ is the reality of Christ, so the Spirit of Jesus is the reality of Jesus (Rom. 8:9; Acts 16:7).
The Spirit is the very essence of what God is; the Spirit of Jesus is the distillation, the essence, of all that Jesus is, and by having the Spirit of Jesus, we have the reality of Jesus.
If we don’t have the Spirit of Jesus, Jesus will not be real to us; He may be a historical figure to us, but unless we know the Spirit of Jesus, the reality of Jesus is not ours. What makes Jesus real to us is the Spirit of Jesus.
Jesus is real to us because we have the Spirit as the reality of Jesus, the realization of Jesus.
When we read Acts 16 we may think that the Spirit of Jesus came to Paul in a negative way to stop him from going here or there…but actually what we see here is the Spirit of Jesus limits us, leads us, forbids us, and supplies us, and we can propagate Christ by enjoying and experiencing the Spirit of Jesus.
Though outwardly the Spirit of Jesus may limit us or not allow us to go somewhere, inwardly we are engaging with and participating in the wonderful Spirit of Jesus as the realization of Jesus.
We, ordinary men, can be involved with the marvelous propagation of Christ on earth through the Spirit of Jesus; we can be joined to Him as the Spirit of Jesus, and we are enabled to endure all the sufferings and opposition, for He becomes our strengths and He empowers us.
Jesus was crucified and resurrected, ascended, and transcended all things; we have such a Jesus, and with the Spirit of Jesus we participate in His propagation.
Our moving or not moving should be under the guidance and direction of the all-inclusive Spirit of Jesus.
May we be saved from having a superficial understanding of the Spirit, and may we enjoy and experience the Spirit of Jesus as the totality of the all-inclusive Jesus, the full realization of Jesus.
Lord Jesus, we want to enjoy and experience the Spirit of Jesus as the totality and the full realization of the all-inclusive Jesus! Hallelujah, our Lord Jesus is not only God but also a Man, an all-inclusive Man who passed through a process to become the Spirit of Jesus to be experienced by us for His propagation on earth! Praise the Lord, the One whom we love, we treasure, and with whom and in whom we live daily for His propagation is the Spirit of Jesus! Amen, Lord, may we experience the Spirit of Jesus in our propagation of Christ so that we may enter into the reality and full realization of the all-inclusive Jesus!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Acts, pp. 380-382 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Propagating the Resurrected, Ascended, and All-inclusive Christ as the Development of the Kingdom of God (2018 fall ITERO), week 7, The Spirit of Jesus.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Thou now art Jesus glorified, / From whom descends the Spirit; / The all-inclusive Spirit comes / To us with all Thy merit. (Hymns #187)
# The Spirit of Jesus has / All elements human, divine, / The living of man in Him / And glory of God combine. / The suff’ring of human life, / Effectiveness of His death, / His rising and reigning too / Are all in the Spirit’s breath. (Hymns #242)
# In all the churches we’re being filled now
For the saturation throughout the nation, / To spread our Jesus / To every city— / This land will see the living Christ. (Hymns #1196)
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