«　WEEK 8　DAY 1　»

　　Matt. 28:19 Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

　　John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

　　In the Divine Trinity, the Father is the source, the Son is the course, the expression, and the Spirit is the flow, the reaching. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is the Triune God reaching us. When the Triune God reaches us, He is the Spirit. When we receive the Spirit, we receive the Triune God….The truth concerning the Divine Trinity is that the Father is the source, the Son is the course, coming with the source, and the Spirit is the reaching, the flow, coming with the source. Hence, the Holy Spirit comes with both the Father and the Son….Hence, the New Testament shows that for us to receive the Spirit is to receive the ultimate consummation of the Triune God, that is, to receive the processed Triune God. Today the Holy Spirit is the processed Triune God (Vessels Useful unto the Lord, chap. 10).

　　The Bible says that Christ went into death for three days, but He did not remain there. On the third day He resurrected spiritually and physically (1 Cor. 15:3-4). The abundant witnesses to His resurrection, who saw and talked and walked with Him, are a strong testimony to a historical fact that has remained unshaken for the past two thousand years (1 Cor. 15:5-7). Socrates died; Napoleon died; Alexander the Great died; Karl Marx died; and Mohammed, Buddha, and Confucius all died. But Jesus Christ is alive! His tomb is an empty tomb, and He lives within the spirits of millions of people today.

　　In nature we can see the principle of resurrection every day. When a grain of wheat is planted into the ground, apparently it dies. Actually, what dies is only the outer shell. Soon the wheat germ germinates, and the wheat life comes out in a better and more glorious form. A caterpillar goes through its cocoon stage. Apparently, it dies and ceases from all outward activity; but the life within the creature continues to operate, and in a short time it emerges in full splendor and glory as a butterfly. Similarly, in His resurrection Christ was not only made alive but was also changed to another form. The Bible says that He was changed to a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). When He was on earth, He was in the flesh. In resurrection He became the Spirit.

　　The best way to understand the Spirit is by way of illustration. Consider the air around you. It is everywhere and is available to everyone. Whether you are in the East or in the West, in a closed room or at the marketplace, the air is always with you. The Bible compares the Spirit to air. In fact, the word for Spirit in Greek is pneuma, which can also be translated "breath" or "wind." On the evening of the Lord's resurrection, He came to His disciples and did something rather strange to them: He breathed into them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22). The divine breath that He breathed into the disciples was just Himself in resurrection as the life-giving Spirit.

　　When Christ was living on earth, He was not fully available to the disciples. When He was in Galilee, He could not be in Jerusalem. He was limited by time and space. He could not be present with all the people all the time. But after Christ was resurrected, He became a Spirit. As the Spirit, He can now be with His disciples all the time. This is why after His resurrection He could say that He would be with His disciples "all the days until the consummation of the age" (Matt. 28:20). Today, our Christ is not limited by time and space. He can dwell within all those who believe in Him - (Christ is Spirit and Life).