When The Spirit & The Word Become One

Genesis 1:1–5 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

When light first came into a world out of order, the darkness tried to mix with the light and absorb it, so God separated the light from the darkness, making it ONE, and called it “Day.”

Genesis 1:9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. (NKJV)

From the beginning of the Bible, we see God’s desire to always bring order to chaos by unifying and bringing together that which is separated and make it ONE.

The Man & His Wife Become ONE!

When God created man, it is important to note that He didn’t see him as “one,” or as “one flesh,” but described him as “alone.”

Genesis 2:21–24 21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs (tsela – side, cell, chamber), and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made (built) into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

When God made the woman and brought her to Adam, he recognized immediately that she was human like him. He then prophesied, based on the blessing of the Lord that they “be fruitful and multiply,” the soon coming parent-child relationship must give way to a higher covenantal relationship in which the man leaves his parents and cleaves to his wife, so they may become “one flesh.” Then they are no longer the individuals they were. They have a new joint identity.

The Spirit & The Word Become ONE!

Matthew 3:13–17 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” 15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.

16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (NKJV)

When Jesus came out of the water, the Holy Spirit ascended upon Him and the Spirit and the Word became one. Because of this, Jesus now has a higher covenantal relationship and a new identity. “The Son of God, after the flesh,” is now officially “The Son of God, after the Spirit.”

Higher Relationships and New Identities Must Be Validated!

When the Word and the Spirit became ONE, everything became new. With new identity comes new power and new authority, but like a new marriage, it has to be consummated (tried) to be valid.

Matthew 4:1–4 1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

The “Second Adam” was off to be tempted by the same “serpent” that tempted the “First Adam” and caused him to fall. But unlike the First Adam, who was the “Son of God after the flesh (Lk.3:38),” the serpent would have to contend this time with the “Son of God after the Spirit,” Who would prove to be invincible.

From that point on in His ministry, Jesus would continually proclaim the triumph of the now coming King and His Kingdom of Light over Satan and his kingdom of darkness with anointed words never before heard, with powerful signs, wonders and miracles, never before seen. But the entire world was under Satan’s spell and under sin’s power, and Jesus could only be in one place at one time. So His plan was to father millions of sons by the Seed of His Word, who would follow after Him and demonstrate to the world, the supernatural transformation that happens and the miraculous dunamis power that is released, when The Spirit & The Word become ONE.

Wait for the PROMISE!

The same Spirit that became ONE with Jesus, the Word, and led Him into the wilderness, would be the same Spirit that would lead Him to the cross, then into the belly of the earth, and finally through resurrection. He would then appear ten times to His disciples in His new glorified body. Pay close attention to what Jesus told His followers, which is equally pertinent to us today, on one of those encounters:

Acts 1:4–8 4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power (dunamis) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (NKJV)

The disciples had heard Jesus announce the coming of the Kingdom on countless occasions, but they thought of it as a governmental kingdom to rule over Israel under a monarch like King David or King Solomon. They had no idea that Jesus was talking about the coming of a Kingdom that would rule not outwardly with laws and rules, but rule inwardly the hearts of men by the Spirit of God.

More than tongues—It’s a new life!

The reality is, we have millions around the world who are born-again “Sons of the Word,” but have not experienced the fullness of what Jesus experienced, when The Spirit and The Word Become ONE. But it’s so more than being able to speak in tongues occasionally—it’s a life and a lifestyle. This is the manifestation of the true Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus and John preached. This is the “Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven,” that millions are praying for in “The Lord’s Prayer” every day. But rather than seeing it as coming someday in the future, what about receiving it now, today?

Here is what happened one day when the disciples (“Sons of the Word”) followed Jesus’ command to wait before starting a ministry of joining a church and allow The Spirit and The Word to become ONE within them:

Acts 2:1–4 1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (NKJV)

After this experience, the same Peter who always meant well, but so often stuck his foot in his mouth, got up and delivered a message from his heart (which was now ONE with The Spirit and The Word) and delivered such a powerful message that 4000 people believed and became born-again. Instead of old dry religion, don’t we need this kind of power to live and see the world free?

It’s interesting that the text emphasizes that the disciples were in a condition of “ONE” before the Holy Spirit descended upon them. Could this be why the enemy is so busy sowing division everywhere in the world right now? But I like what Paul said in Romans 8:19: “The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious sons and daughters!” (The Passion Translation). He’s talking about us, those who are living the life of “When the Spirit and The Word become ONE.”

But, there’s more! We also need THE FIRE that John the Baptist talked about. The Bible has a lot to say about that and we will go further into it at a later time.