This week we will take a long spiritual journey from Genesis 1:2 to Revelation 22:17 to see what happened and what are the results of “the Spirit of God was brooding over the waters” becoming “the Spirit and the Bride say, Come!”
In a very real sense, whether or not we are actually and intrinsically in the very heart of the Lord’s recovery is determined by whether we truly know the difference between the Spirit of God in Gen. 1:2 and the Spirit in Rev. 22:17; these are not synonymous terms but they identify different aspects of the Divine Spirit.
This week we are getting deeper into the matter of the Consummated Spirit; this word “consummated” implies a process that has reached its consummation, its ultimate development. Regarding the Spirit of God, process is always a matter in God’s economy. We need to have the Lord’s shining in His holy word to see the truth concerning the consummated Spirit, and then we will enjoy this wonderful Spirit in our daily life.
The application of the consummated Spirit is an “all-or-nothing” matter: we either have everything or we have nothing. We have everything when we have the all-inclusive consummated Spirit as the Triune God with all His attributes, His humanity with al its virtues, the human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and enthronement of Jesus, the effectiveness of His death, and the power of His resurrection – all these are in the consummated Spirit!
The Spirit – the consummated Spirit – is for reaching us and entering into us. Apart from God going through a process to become the Spirit, we can only have an “objective God” whom we worship objectively, with no dispensing, mingling, union, saturation, permeation, and no corporate expression of God.
But when we have the Spirit, when we see the truth concerning the consummated Spirit who can be applied in a real way to our experience day by day, our Christian life will be revolutionised and uplifted. In a very real sense, the truth concerning the consummated Spirit is a separating line between the ministry in the Lord’s recovery and the total history of systematic theology.
May the Lord remove any veils from our eyes that we may see the consummated Spirit!
In the Bible there are many designations of the Spirit – from “the Spirit of God” in Gen. 1:2 to “the Spirit” in Rev. 22:17, such as, the Spirit of the Father, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of the Son of God, the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Lord Spirit, the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit of the living God, the Spirit of grace, the Comforter, the Spirit of power, the Spirit of glory, the Eternal Spirit, the seven Spirits – and the final consummation is, the Spirit.
The revelation concerning the Spirit is unfolded in God’s word, was hidden for centuries, and was rightly presented by the ministry of the age; this revelation has the capacity to greatly uplift our daily Christian life.
If we see that the Spirit has been consummated to become the all-inclusive Spirit, we can call on the name of the Lord to drink and breathe the Spirit, and the Spirit whom we drink and breathe knows where we are, what we need, and He spontaneously applies the Triune God to us!
But if we don’t have a vision of the consummated Spirit, realizing that our self-existing and ever-existing Triune God who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one can see or approach, in His economy has become a man, this man died as the Lamb of God, and in resurrection, He became the breath, and this breath is the consummated Spirit – then we miss out on this wonderful experience of God!
How much more can the Triune God do for His people than become the breath whom we can breathe in by praying, calling, and singing? Hallelujah, He’s the wonderful Spirit in us! God is in the Son, the Son is the Spirit now, and He is the wonderful Spirit in us!
The Spirit has been Processed and has Become the Consummated Spirit, the Spirit!
This term, “the consummated Spirit” implies that the Spirit has been processed and thus has become the consummated Spirit. Concerning the matter of the Spirit there has been much negligence, ignorance, misunderstanding, and misinterpretation in Christianity throughout history, but today this matter has been brought to light in the Lord’s recovery, and the truth concerning the Spirit has been completed.
According to the revelation in the Bible, the Spirit of God in Gen. 1:2 eventually became the consummated, all-inclusive, and compound Spirit (Phil. 1:19). Regarding this matter of the consummated Spirit, the negligence, ignorance, deficiency, misunderstanding, and misinterpretation on the part of Christian teachers have reached the climax; thus, there’s the need for the truth concerning the consummated Spirit to be recovered!
May this truth be recovered in us so that we may see that the Spirit of God has become the consummated Spirit who was made indescribably available to us, and now based on the blood of Jesus we may turn our heart to the Lord, exercise our spirit, and call on the name of the Lord Jesus; when we call, it’s not a physical person that appears to us but the all-inclusive Spirit responds to us right now to supply us with whatever we need! We don’t really know what we need, but when we call on the name of the Lord, the all-inclusive Spirit flows into us to supply us and dispense more God into us.
After being conceived in Mary’s womb for nine months, Christ was born as “the Mighty God” (Isa. 9:6) and was placed in a manger (Luke 2:12). He lived for thirty years in a carpenter’s house, working as a carpenter (Mark 6:3), and He worked and ministered for three and a half years to express God, heal the sick, deliver people, and release God’s message for His people.
He was crucified and stayed on the cross for six hours, then He died and was buried; He went to Hades, descending to the lower parts of the earth (Eph. 4:9), and on the third day He was resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit and the firstborn Son of God in His humanity.
The Gospels clearly show us that God has passed through a process: He was incarnated, He lived a human life, He died, and He was resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God.
All this happened in His economy – not in His essence, and this process points to the fact that today the Spirit is the consummated Spirit, the Spirit who went through a process to become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit!
Lord Jesus, thank You for becoming a man and passing through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God! Hallelujah, today the Lord is the Spirit – the consummated Spirit – for us to breathe in and drink of so that we may be filled with God! Lord, we want to call on Your name so that we may drink of the Spirit and have all the elements included in the Spirit applied to our being! Hallelujah! Oh Lord Jesus!
The Consummated Spirit is the Triune God after He Passed through a Process in His Economy
The consummated Spirit is the Triune God after He has passed through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection; this is indicated by verses such as John 7:39, 1 Cor. 15:45, and 2 Cor. 3:17.
How can we say that “God passed through a process”? In His Godhead there is NO change; in the essential Trinity there’s no room for change. God is immutable, unchanging in His nature, person, attributes, and purpose, but this unchanging God in Christ became a human being in His economy.
Essentially, God never changes; in His economy, He went through a process to become the consummated Spirit. This process included God putting on human nature to become a man, living a God-man life by denying Himself and expressing the Father, dying an all-inclusive death on the cross and releasing the divine life, being glorified by being raised with a human body that was transfigured, and becoming a life-giving Spirit.
This is a process in God’s economy, but there’s no effect or impact on God Himself.
Although God has changed in His economy, no longer will He change economically. Rather, He will remain the same. This is the reason Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, yes, even forever.” Before “yesterday” Jesus Christ did change economically. He changed by becoming a man. He changed in resurrection by becoming the life-giving Spirit. But now, after His resurrection, Jesus Christ remains the same. In Hebrews 13:8, a verse written after Christ’s incarnation and resurrection, the word “yesterday” counts from the day of His resurrection. Christ’s “today” is today, and His “forever” includes the coming age and eternity. Therefore, it is a mistake to use this verse as the basis for claiming that the Triune God cannot change economically. First Christ became a man through incarnation, and then He became the life-giving Spirit through resurrection. Now that He is the life-giving Spirit He will remain forever the same. (Witness Lee, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 914-915)
An imperfect illustration of God going through a process in His economy is our drinking of the juice of a watermelon: in order for the watermelon to get into us, it needs to go through a process of cutting, slicing and juicing.
In His economy God has changed in the sense of being processed; although God has changed in His economy, He didn’t change in His essence.
He passed through a process (referring to the steps He went through in His economy) and was consummated (the process has been completed); now the consummated Spirit is the processed Triune God who has been consummated as the Spirit (John 7:39).
This consummated Spirit is the compound of the Triune God, the man Jesus, His human living, His death, and His resurrection (see Acts 16:7; Rom. 8:10-11; Phil. 1:19).
Hallelujah, today we can experience and enjoy all that God is and has passed through simply by exercising our spirit!
Lord, enlighten us to see that the Triune God has passed through a process to become the Spirit, the consummated Spirit. Cause us to realize that in Your economy You have passed through a process with many steps in order to become the consummated Spirit, a compound of God, man, and the processes You went through. Oh Lord, today we want to drink You as the Spirit, the consummation of the Triune God! Hallelujah, God has been processed and He is now consummated to be the Spirit!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man, chs. 5, 15 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Crucial Points of the Major Items of the Lord’s Recovery Today (ITERO 2015 fall), week 4 / msg 4, The Consummated Spirit.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# Now the Triune God has come to dwell within / As the wonderful Spirit in us. / We are mingled with the Lord, we’re one with Him / As the life-giving Spirit in us. / Oh, He’s the wonderful Spirit in us, / He’s the wonderful Spirit in us! / God is in the Son, the Son’s the Spirit now— / He’s the wonderful Spirit in us! (Hymns #1113)
# The Spirit of God today / The Spirit of Jesus is, / The God-man who died and rose, / Ascending to glory His. / ‘Tis from such a Jesus came / The Spirit of Jesus to us, / To make His reality / Experience unto us. (Hymns #242)
# 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 Processed God)
The word consummation indicates that a work or a process has been completed, or finished. This may be illustrated by the cooking of food. Before the process of cooking begins, all the groceries are raw. After cooking for two hours, the groceries are consummated into a feast. Before His incarnation, God was “raw,” having the divine nature but not the human nature. Through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, God was processed and consummated. Now, He is no longer the “raw” God; He is the consummated and completed Triune God with divinity, humanity, human living, the all-inclusive death, the powerful resurrection, and the transcendent ascension. All these are elements, or ingredients, in the processed and consummated Triune God. (Witness Lee, The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man, p. 50)
Oh my! what an extremely powerful, powerful, powerful teaching of scripture….a well hidden gem of a mystery out in the open not understood by many a Christians. Read it over and over again until it finally sinks in…..