«　WEEK 7　DAY 4　»

　　Luke 24:26 Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into His glory?

　　John 7:39 But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

　　John 7:37-39 is very much related to the humanity of Jesus. We all know these verses well; I believe that many of us can recite them. We pay our attention in these verses mostly to the matter of the living water. And it is clear that the living water is just the Spirit. But we have probably never seen that the Spirit in this passage is much related to the humanity of Jesus. This Spirit, who is the living water flowing from within us, is constituted of the humanity of Jesus. Without the humanity of Jesus, there could never be such a Spirit. This is made clear by verse 39, which says that the Spirit was not yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified. This proves that the Spirit was constituted with the glorified humanity of Jesus. We must realize that at this point the Scripture is speaking of a resurrected humanity. (CWWL, 1971, vol. 2, "Christ as the Reality," p. 101)

　　The Spirit mentioned here is different from the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God already existed. We could never say that the Spirit of God was not yet. But the very Spirit mentioned here by the Lord Jesus was not yet. Hence, this Spirit must be something new and different from the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God was constituted only with the divine essence of God. But after the resurrection of Christ, the Spirit was constituted with something more. He not only had the divine essence but the human essence as well. Formerly, the Spirit of God was constituted with God's essence only, but now the Spirit of Jesus is constituted not only with the essence of God but also with the essence of a man. Previously, the Spirit had only one element—the divine; now the Spirit of Jesus includes two elements—the divine and the human. Thus, before Jesus was glorified, which means before He was resurrected, the Spirit of Jesus was not yet. The Spirit with the divine essence was there, but the Spirit with both the divine and human essence was not yet.

　　Without the human essence the Spirit of God could not be the flowing water of life. If God would be a flowing river of life, He must be constituted with the human nature of Jesus. For example, you cannot serve tea without water. In order to serve tea, you must add tea into the water. Before Jesus was resurrected, the Spirit of God was mighty, but He could not be the flowing life in man. If He would flow in man, He required the human nature of Jesus to be added into Him. If the Spirit of God were to be the flowing life in angels, He probably would not need the humanity of Jesus. But if He is to be the flowing life to man, He requires the human element. He needs the human nature of Jesus.

　　One day I was reading again chapter 5 of The Spirit of Christ by Andrew Murray. There I received the strongest confirmation....Listen to what Andrew Murray says:..."There is now the Spirit of the glorified Jesus: He hath poured Him forth; we have received Him to stream into us, to stream through us, and to stream forth from us in rivers of blessing."

　　It is in the humanity of Jesus that we have the life, the growth of life, and the flowing of life. It is this kind of flowing life that satisfies others. If we are drinking daily of the Spirit of Jesus, whatever we are will be a flow of life that will satisfy not only ourselves but also others. Such a flow of life is not a matter of speaking in tongues or the manifestation of gifts; nor is it a matter of power, knowledge, or teaching; rather, it is a life that is always drinking of Jesus. This life is manifested not in a miraculous, divine, and heavenly way, but in a very human way. (CWWL, 1971, vol. 2, "Christ as the Reality," pp. 101-104, 107)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1971, vol. 2, "Christ as the Reality," ch. 12; CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, "The Spirit," ch. 12