Drink the Spirit both Now and New Jerusalem (2)
In Zechariah 12:1 Jehovah speaks of Himself as the One who “forms the spirit of man within him.” (Our spirit is different from our soul because Heb. 4:12 says the word of God divides them.) Because of the fall of man, our spirit was dead (Eph. 2:1) but it becomes alive in the Lord’s salvation. John 3:6 declares, “that which is born of the [divine] Spirit is [our human] spirit.
The Spirit is the substance or the essence of the church. The New Testament tells us that we were regenerated by the Spirit (John 3:6b). This regenerating Spirit has become the very substance and the very essence of the church. The New Testament also tells us that we have been baptized in the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13a). Now we are those drinking the Spirit (v. 13b). Day after day the Spirit is our drink….Furthermore, we are now being transformed by the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18). He is now transforming us with the divine element, which is being added to us to replace and discharge the old element of our old nature.*
We are transformed “through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). The washing, beginning from the time of our regeneration, removes our old, fallen, natural element. The renewing of the Spirit imparts the Lord’s new element into us. This is our path to New Jerusalem.
Our cooperation is our drinking of the Spirit. We should develop this practice now to receive the renewing and to be prepared for drinking the river of water of life in New Jerusalem for eternity.
* From chapter 41, Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986
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Posted by Don on September 22, 2023
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