THE SPREADING OF THE SEALING SPIRIT

After we are regenerated, the sealing Spirit begins to spread throughout our being. With some of us this spreading may take place very slowly. Nevertheless, it is going on. Many of us can testify that the spreading of the gold has increased since we came into the Lord’s recovery. As we pointed out in the foregoing chapter, being overlaid with gold always goes along with transformation, for the gold overlays only acacia wood. The golden nature of God will never overlay our fallen nature, but will overlay only our regenerated and transformed nature. Our fallen nature is corrupt wood, but our regenerated and transformed nature is acacia wood. This is confirmed by our experience and by observing the experience of many other saints.

We have received not only the seal of the Spirit but also the sealing of the Spirit (see Life-study of Ephesians, Message 12). This sealing is spreading in our being, overlaying us with gold. From the time we were regenerated, we have had something very precious within us. By reading the Word we have come to see that this precious substance is the divine nature added to us with God the Spirit. Day by day this Spirit with the divine nature is spreading within us. The more we pray, have fellowship with the Lord, read His Word, and tell Him that we love Him and want to be one with Him, the more we sense that something is spreading within us and overlaying us with gold.

THE UNITING SPIRIT

Although we may have the initial Spirit and some experience of being overlaid with gold, we still need to go on to the uniting Spirit. After the boards, the rings, and the overlaying gold, we still need the bars. Without the bars the forty-eight boards cannot be one, for it is the bars that hold them together. What do the bars signify? Since we are the boards, the bars cannot represent us. Furthermore, the rings signify the Triune God, and the gold covering the boards signifies the spreading of God. Just as the rings are a symbol of the initial Spirit, the bars are a symbol of the uniting Spirit. The boards stand upright, and the bars unite them by crossing them horizontally.

Now we need to consider some details of the bars as the uniting Spirit. The first thing we should notice is that the bars that unite the boards are in three groups of five. With the initial Spirit, on each board there were three rings signifying the Triune God. Now with the bars there are three groups of five, also signifying the Triune God. Furthermore, in every group of five bars there were three lines, the middle line, which reached from end to end, and the top and bottom lines, which were each composed of two bars joined at the midpoint. There were three sets with five bars in each set, each set was arranged in three lines, and on each standing board there were three rings. The number three, therefore, indicates the Triune God.

We have pointed out that each set of bars contained five bars. The number five is composed of four plus one. One denotes the unique God, and four denotes the creatures. Therefore, the number five signifies the Triune God added to His creatures. The uniting bars are the three-one God added to His creatures. The uniting Spirit today is simply the Triune God, the three-one God, added to His creatures.

In the Bible the number five signifies responsibility borne by the man with God added to him. For this reason the Gospel of Matthew speaks of five wise virgins and five foolish virgins. Also, the Ten Commandments were put on two tablets, with five commandments inscribed on each tablet. We cannot bear the responsibility ourselves, and God will not bear it Himself. On the contrary, the bearing of responsibility is a matter of incarnation, of God added to man. This is the significance of the number five. Therefore, the bars signify the three-one God added to His creatures to bear responsibility. What a wonderful definition this is!

KEEPING THE ONENESS

We come now to a rather difficult question: Why do the uniting bars have acacia wood within? For us, the standing boards, to have acacia wood overlaid with gold is quite understandable. But what does it mean to say that the uniting Spirit has humanity, typified by acacia wood, overlaid with divinity, typified by gold? Some Christian teachers have pointed out that the uniting bars signify the uniting Spirit, but no one has explained why in the uniting Spirit there is acacia wood.

Ephesians 4:2 and 3 help us to understand this matter. Verse 3 speaks of being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. Although the oneness is the oneness of the Spirit, it is a oneness that we must keep. The keeping of the oneness is our responsibility, not the responsibility of the Spirit. Here we have both divinity, the oneness of the Spirit, and humanity, the keeping of the oneness. If we have the oneness of the Spirit without the keeping of the oneness, we will be short. Therefore, we need to be diligent to keep the oneness. The keeping of the oneness spoken of in verse 3 is related to the virtues mentioned in verse 2. We must keep the oneness of the Spirit by having lowliness, meekness, and long-suffering and by bearing one another in love. Lowliness, meekness, long-suffering, and the bearing love are all human virtues signified by the acacia wood within the uniting bars. Therefore, in order to keep the oneness of the Spirit, we need a humanity with certain virtues.

Such virtues are not the product of our flesh or natural man. Rather, they originate from our spirit, not from our soul. Hence, this is a spiritual meekness, a spiritual lowliness, a spiritual long-suffering, and a spiritual bearing in love.