The Spirit is also the Spirit of grace ( Heb. 10:29 ). This aspect of the Spirit is related to the enjoyment of the Triune God, for the Triune God is Himself our grace. For the Spirit to be the Spirit of grace means that the Triune God in the Son as the Spirit becomes our enjoyment. The Spirit is the reaching of the Triune God to us. The Son could not come into us until He had become the Spirit. He was among the disciples, but He needed to go through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit ( John 14:16-20 ). Then He was able to breathe Himself as the Spirit into the disciples for their enjoyment ( John 20:22 ).
As the Spirit of grace, the Spirit is the reality of grace. In the New Testament expressions such as the Spirit of life and the Spirit of grace indicate that the Spirit is life and grace. To partake of the Spirit of grace is to partake of the Spirit as grace. If we do not have the Spirit, we cannot have grace. The reality of the divine grace we receive is the Spirit of grace.
The title “the Spirit of grace” also indicates that the Spirit is gracious. The Spirit we have received is a gracious Spirit, not a legal Spirit. The fact that the Spirit is gracious is indicated by Zechariah 12:10 , which speaks of the outpouring of the Spirit of grace and supplication.
Thank You, Lord for this precious hymn! I just release all the other things that I think I need and want. My REAL need is to be filled by You. Strip me wholly, empty throughly, fill me with Thy Spirit now!
We enjoyed the word “throughly” in the chorus, that it is a process that starts from the inside, instead of “thoroughly” which would indicate working from the outside. Lord, fill us throughly!
As God's people we bear the sign of taking Christ as the Sabbath. The Sabbath means that before we work for God, we need to enjoy God and be filled with Him. If we have enjoyed God and if we have been filled with God, then we are ready to work for Him. Such work will not be by ourselves; it will be with God and one with God. May we be those continually being emptied and filled with the Lord!