Pages 1 - 406 -- "The Holy Spirit" (Volume 122).
Matthew 28:18 - 19; Matthew 1:18 - 20; Matthew 3:16 - 17; Matthew 12:28, 31 - 32
I wish to speak, dear brethren, about the Holy Spirit as presented in this gospel, which treats of the Spirit in a way that fits in with its teaching, each gospel having its own feature. The gospels, taken as a whole, present the truth in a four-sided way, and no one has the truth according to God, save as he understands this full presentation of it. Matthew has in mind the great pressure involved in connection with the declaration of God in this world; those who espouse it are contemplated as facing very great pressure of opposition, and, among other things, the Spirit is presented in such wise as to fortify them in meeting the opposition and in enduring till the end. The pressure inevitably comes, and the Holy Spirit is presented with this in view. I have, therefore, read from the last chapter first, because it presents the position we occupy, that is, all believers today, who, as loving the Lord Jesus, care for His interests: the verse presents the position of the gentiles, those of us who are of the nations. Indeed, we have to see that now the supporters of the testimony of God are from among the nations almost exclusively; there are very few Jews. You will all remember how the apostle Paul, in arriving at Rome, called for the Jews; it was the end of the great testimony to God's patience towards them; they went away reasoning amongst themselves, Paul having said "one word" to them quoting Isaiah 6 -- saying the salvation of God was now sent to the gentiles, and, he added, "they also will hear it" Acts 28:28. Thank God, they have received it, and many, if not all of us here, and thousands elsewhere, are today interested in the testimony of God. It is well to have in mind how it has come to us: for it has come, not
only as a matter of light, but as a matter of influence, an element of great importance with God.
From the very outset of His operations the idea of influence was pronounced, the whole physical system being involved in it, one body influencing another and all held together thus according to true proportions. John deals with influence in an astronomical sense, but Matthew contemplates it as among men, he contemplates it both in a good sense and in a bad sense. From Shinar onwards we see men combining in order to enhance or increase, their influence. To meet this Matthew would promote combination in a spiritual sense amongst the people of God. The influence that the saints have in this world is very much more than we are apt to think. God rules governmentally in this world on account of His people, for He loves His people, and all that transpires is regulated in relation to the testimony which they render. God acts angelically in this way, and with the most powerful results, for we could not subsist in this world as espousing the testimony of God, aside from the mighty forces that are at work outside of ourselves in our favour. As it says of angels, "Are they not all ministering spirits sent out for service?" (Hebrews 1:14). Think of these vast numbers of ministering spirits! It is quite clear, therefore, that the angels are not spectators merely of what goes on here, they are in commission, "on account of those who shall inherit salvation" Hebrews 1:14. But then there is the great influence that the people of God themselves exert in this world: there is He who lets, or hinders, and that which hinders the great anti-christian development. Is it not so, that in this great centre the people of God are holding in check the forces of evil? It is so. The combination of our prayers and moral influence in moving about among men effects much in holding back the forces of evil; a matter to be taken to heart because God would have us to understand that our presence in this world is used in that connection. So in this last chapter in the
gospel of Matthew the Lord directs His disciples -- not to preach, for He does not say anything about preaching here (I do not say He did not have in mind that they should preach, Mark provides for that) -- but here it is, "make disciples of all the nations" Matthew 28:19. Now, dear brethren, I speak thus because it is well to bear in mind that whilst it is intended that we should influence, we have ourselves been helped into the position we occupy in relation to God and to Christ and to one another, by influence. Our position, therefore, is not only the result of light through the preached word, but of influence, The relation of the Spirit to all this in this gospel is obvious. Being influenced, and thus brought into the wonderful position that we are in, baptised "to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" Matthew 28:19, there is suggested to us the means of our being held in this position. Divine Persons are presented objectively, even the Holy Spirit is not presented in a subjective way in this verse. It is a marvellous position into which the nations have been introduced and God would have us to understand it. "Baptising them", says the Lord "to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" Matthew 28:19: that is the great environment into which we have been introduced, but as having been made disciples, as persons influenced by what the ministers were themselves, those through whom the light came. One can gather what they were, because in this gospel we have the idea that the apostles were "made" under the hand of Christ for their service. Hence Matthew closes with this objective position into which we hay been baptised, but baptised as having been influenced, as made disciples.
Now, I want to show in detail, how the Holy Spirit as thus presented, takes a place in this gospel of peculiar activity in service. I feel it impressed upon me to stress the idea of the position He occupies, in this great environment in which we are set; He stands in relation to the Father and to the Son.
Now, having dwelt on the Spirit thus presented objectively, to be understood and known and regarded as a divine Person, I proceed to say something about the other scriptures. What helps me is that the Holy Spirit is presented in Scripture as active from the very outset. We have no formal change of form in Him, He is presented at the outset as "the Spirit of God" Genesis 1:2. If we take later utterances, He was employed in the garnishing of the heavens, and Genesis 1 presents Him as moving, or hovering, over the face of the waters -- but He was doing it, it was the Spirit of God! There is no idea suggested of any change of form, He is the Spirit of God. He is moving as expressing God, He is no less than God, the Spirit of God can be no less than God; it is God acting out of the exigencies of His holy nature. He is not explaining yet, explanation will come, but the telling fact is that He has taken up a position feelingly, and looking towards benign operations. He is hovering over the face of the waters, having in view all this wonderful development with which we are now conversant. And so in wonderful feeling God says, "My spirit shall not always strive with Man" (Genesis 6:3) -- "my spirit", it was God.
Having said so much as to the Old Testament, we come to this gospel, which is the beginning of the New, rightly so, and what we find is the same thing. A wonderful condition had taken place and the Holy Spirit is seen at once in relation to that. There is no previous announcement of the birth of Christ, as in Luke, no angelic visitation beforehand. The wonderful fact is that He is there, it is "of the Holy Spirit" Matthew 1:18. It is the most marvellous fact that could be, involving, as it does, redemption; the most transcendently marvellous fact that could be conceived or which could occur, is related in this simple verse (Matthew 1:18) and the explanation is, that it was of the Spirit of God. It is not now "the holy thing" Luke 1:35, but the "child", a definite formation of the Spirit of God; the utmost pains being
taken to make the position legal in regard of Israel, but at the same time to make clear that what was transpiring was of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit had operated and there was the tangible result -- that is the thing to see. That is the beginning of the New Testament, a much greater thing than explanation; the actual fact had occurred by the power of the Spirit, and the light given to Joseph confirmed it. One would love to able to enlarge on this; it is a marvellous matter. The enemy of our souls and of the testimony would becloud the magnitude of this wonderful transaction -- incarnation. We have two accounts, one in Luke and the other here: Luke's account is preceded by an angelic visitation, but not so here, where it is to bring in the great transcendent fact, that the thing which was happening was by the Spirit of God. And the Child was to be called "Emmanuel", "God with us" Matthew 1:23.
Now I want to go on to chapter 3 to show the bearing of the Spirit's operations in regard of Christ as baptised. He is now about to enter on His service and He goes up out of the water. What wonderful grace in the Lord to enter into the water! Against the forbidding word of John He enters into the water, saying, "thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness" Matthew 3:15. What quality there was there! Let us understand, that the Holy Spirit in this narrative has also ourselves in view as baptised. Baptism has become a mere empty rite abroad in the world; it is indeed a feature of the world, it has become enshrouded in darkness, with no idea of righteousness underlying it. The One baptised in Matthew, says, "it becometh us fulfil all righteousness" Matthew 3:15; baptism has that in view; and we can see that "made" disciples are persons who understand that righteousness has to be fulfilled. Of what value is baptism aside from righteousness? It has no value. So, if we are to stand, as this gospel intimates, we are made disciples, and we profess righteousness and practise it, we seek to "fulfil all righteousness" Matthew 3:15. Many of us, alas! whilst we have the idea of righteousness,
limit it, we make our own standard, but not so Jesus -- He fulfils "all righteousness" -- and that Person looks up and He sees the Holy Spirit. I believe a great defect with us is, that we do not see what happens at the outset, and the secret of weakness is the want of righteousness in entering on our christian course. How perfectly the principle of "all righteousness" was wrought out on the cross in that blessed One as He said -- as He does in this gospel -- "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46. If I am to be clothed with divine righteousness, it is as appreciating righteousness in Christ. So He sees the Holy Spirit coming down as a dove upon Him, and there is a voice, saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" Matthew 3:17. That is the position, and I think you will see that it stands on the principle of righteousness. There can be no disciples made save on that principle, the principle of righteousness. As I said, the baptism abroad today is a mere travesty of the truth, the element of righteousness is divorced from it, and thus the foundation has gone. The Lord would bring us back to the true foundation. If the thing that we are brought into is to stand practically, there must be the great principle in our souls of "all righteousness"; then we shall see -- there will be vision to see, the Holy Spirit's activity, and the pleasure of heaven. What can be more precious than the sense of the Father's pleasure, first in Christ, and now also in the saints? It is in relation to the waters of death that He says, "thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness" Matthew 3:15.
So in the next chapter He is carried up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, and with this I propose to connect the verses read in chapter 12 so that we may consider the array of evil with which we are faced. What combinations of evil there are in this world! And there is special opposition to those who, as seeking to walk in separation from evil, recognise Christ and the assembly. Let us not assume that if
one crisis is past another will not come; it will come, crisis after crisis will come, it is war to the end. We get in Revelation 14:13, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth" -- it is a question of the battle and of dying in the field. The matter is urgent. You may say, 'It is for those who are more prominent' No, the book of Numbers assists us in this respect as showing those who are reckoned for military service. I cannot stop to dwell on it, but it enters into the position, the combination of evil we are faced with is not peculiar. Although difficult times are here, they have been prophesied about, but the conflict was here from the very beginning; from the time the Lord was anointed from heaven the conflict was in progress, and it will continue. The position of the church is a militant one and will continue so to be. Let no one assume he is not in it; if he is not militant, he is not in the testimony. No one of military age was exempted in Numbers. I am not speaking of the Levites, who were numbered for the service of the tabernacle; but, from twenty year old and upwards, all the males of the other tribes were held for military service. The position here is that the Lord is carried up into the wilderness to be tempted the devil. Thus the conflict begins as I said, and it is to be maintained in the power of the Spirit. Dear brethren, may I suggest the importance of being moved by the Spirit? I hope to come in a moment to our using the Spirit, but before we use the Spirit (I speak reverently) -- we must understand what it is to be moved the Spirit. You will find in Judges, and Samuel, that the Spirit of God began to move the men who were used by God. Let young men and women take notice: have you been conscious at any time of the Spirit of God moving you? He carried the Lord here -- it is to show the perfection of the great Servant who had come in. He is "carried up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted of the devil" Matthew 4:1. You may have enquired, 'Why should He be carried up? Why did
He not go?' It is perfection: the divine nature recoils from evil, but it will face it if necessary. Here as quietly subservient to the blessed Spirit, He is carried up into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. We may be sure that if there is opposition to the truth, the Holy Spirit will know about it first; do not forget that. He knows all about the opposition. Many of us do not see the nature of the enemy's movements until they have been well matured, hence we are at a disadvantage, but the Holy Spirit knows, and He moves us if we are available. There is a great want, one would say in grace, of divine sensitiveness, of the exercise of the senses, of the spirit of the war-horse that smells the battle afar off. We are at a great disadvantage if we do not sense the opposition, the enemy will be upon us before we know it. The war-horse, according to Jehovah's remarks (Job 39:25) smells the battle afar off; and then the lion turns not aside from any (Proverbs 30:30). The Holy Spirit enables us to smell the battle afar off and we prepare accordingly; so that as He knows, if I am in self-judgment, and free of selfish motives and am thinking of His interests, He will let me know, and He will move me too. We read of Samson being "moved" in his own locality (Judges 13:25).
Well now, to indicate to you what the nature of the opposition is, I refer for a moment to the two demoniacs -- they are symbolic of the opposition in this gospel. There were two of them (suggestive of a combination), and they were so fierce that no one could pass that way. But then, if the way has to be passed, we must pass it, and if we are to pass it, we must understand how to fight and have courage to do so. We cannot turn aside -- the lion "turneth not away for any" Proverbs 30:30. The psalmist says, "The Lord ... teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight" (Psalm 144:1). You will say I am seeking to enlist you for the army! I am. I know what I am saying, I know that one attack after another will come, and this gospel teaches us how to meet it. Let the
Holy Spirit move you, be ready; thus you will not be taken by surprise; you will smell the battle afar off and you will be in line with the thunder of the captains, and the shouting, you will know where to stand.
There is that demoniacal combination -- no one can pass by that way (Matthew 8:28). But the Lord Jesus cast out the demons. How did He cast them out? By the Spirit of God, as He tells us in Matthew 12:28. It is only by the Spirit of God we can rightly meet evil, beloved brethren. The great military man of the Old Testament -- Joshua -- was nominated by Jehovah with this commendation: "A man in whom is the Spirit" (Numbers 27:18). Joshua is the great military man before David, and he has the Spirit as Jehovah says. If I smell the battle afar off, I am ready: having the Spirit I know how to deal with the evil intelligently and in power. And so the Lord says in chapter 12: "If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then indeed the kingdom God is come upon you" Matthew 12:28. The kingdom of God, therefore, is not a mere ideal conception, it is a real thing. The expression is seldom used in Matthew -- the kingdom of the heavens is more general there. The kingdom of God is what is here where the evil is: the kingdom of heaven is what is there, the rule and influence of heaven on the earth. But the kingdom of God is what here in a powerful way: it "is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). It is a real thing, no kingdom more real and practical ever existed than the kingdom of God. I often picture to myself that wonderful setting out of the divine position in the tabernacle in the wilderness -- Jehovah within, surrounded by the hosts of Israel. God Himself was there; the armies of Israel were there surrounding the camp, but God was there -- precious fact! So with the kingdom of God, the Spirit of God is down here available to the believer in meeting evil; as the Lord says, "If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons then indeed the kingdom of God is come upon
you" Matthew 12:28 -- that was the evidence. So, dear brethren, it is most important that we should understand this service of the Spirit; it is a military matter, it is a question of dealing with evil. It is not the blessed Spirit inside by which we draw near to God -- that is a blessed side indeed, which I cannot now touch on, it is not the feature in Matthew -- but it is a most precious thought that we have access through Christ to the Father by the Spirit (Ephesians 2:18). But here it is the conflict, and the Lord says, "whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven him" Matthew 12:32. What great power there is in the soul, as the Spirit is known in conflict! You are unconquerable, and you are sensibly enhanced by the word that if anyone speaks injuriously against the Spirit "it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age, nor in the coming one" Matthew 12:32. That, if rightly presented, weakens the opposition for, after all, men have to do with God, if not in this world, in the next; and they will be faced with this fact, that there is no forgiveness for those who speak against the Holy Spirit. It is a great stimulus in conflict to be assured that the enemy has to do with God, as to his position in this world. Is not this world suffering under the hand of God? I do not say retributively, but as the seed bears fruit -- is He not dealing with the world in this very connection? I think God is dealing with the world now judicially, not yet openly, but nevertheless really, and those who are spiritual understand this. God is dealing in His own way with men; and may I not suggest that it is largely because of their treatment of the blessed Holy Spirit? God resents it. For hundreds of years the Spirit has been displaced in christendom -- a terrible fact! We are not to think it is not our responsibility, it is, for we are in the very christendom where it has taken place. The blasphemy against the Spirit of God is an historical fact, and God has taken note of it; it is a great support in the conflict to know that God is
taking note of it, both in regard of this world and that which is to come.
I come back now to the baptism of the Spirit -- the positive side. I am sure you will all follow with pleasure as one turns from dealing with evil, which is a necessity, to dealing with good. In chapter 3 John the baptist says of Jesus that He would baptise "with the Holy Spirit and fire" Matthew 3:11. Here we have a positive service rendered by the Lord to those who believe. He baptises with the Holy Spirit, and that fact underlies the church. There can be no realisation of chapters 16 and 17 until we understand this baptising with the Holy Spirit. It means that all the natural traits that can distinguish us amongst the brethren, have to go. We see they have to go, but the Lord deals with them in the most gracious way. The waters of baptism ought to have taught us that they have to go, it is a matter of righteousness; but the baptism of the Spirit implies that they are dealt with effectively. Fire accompanied it here -- a sure means to make it effective. It is a solemn thing that the fire is added here, but as we look back -- any of us who have tasted it and proved the gain of it -- we thank God for the fire. He baptises with the Holy Spirit as Paul says elsewhere, "in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body" (1 Corinthians 12:13). This, as I said, lies at the foundation of the church in a practical sense. I know Christ is the foundation, but in a practical sense, we are merged by the Lord, it is His own doing; and a precious service it is to so merge us together that all the natural distinctions in which we pride ourselves disappear. And how? As baptised "into one body". It is not like Romans, where we are just said to be one body in Christ, that is we have that status in this world -- we are not Freemasons or the like, but are one body in Christ -- but in 1 Corinthians, we are all baptised by one Spirit into one body.
Now I just want to refer to one or two other scriptures I have not read. One is in Matthew 12:18 referring to
Christ: "Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul has found its delight. I will put my Spirit upon him". There you have the idea of the Spirit marking Him off in a public way -- "I will put my Spirit upon him". "He shall not strive or cry out, nor shall any one hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, until he bring forth judgment unto victory". Matthew 12:19,20. While presenting these beautiful traits as in Him, I wish to transfer the thought of them to ourselves, for the Spirit is upon us as the elect of God, that refraining from public iconoclasm and the like, for we do not want to break things up now, we may see that it is a question of going on for His pleasure. Matthew quotes from Isaiah 42 to bring out the lowliness and unobtrusiveness that marked the perfect Servant as rejected: Luke 4 quotes (chapter 4) from Isaiah 41 to call attention to the order, grace and power which, in exquisite blend, beautified and enhanced the public ministry of Christ. In Matthew 12 the Lord is already rejected, and it is a question of going on quietly, but faithfully, with certain victory in view. He sends forth "judgment unto victory; and on his name shall the nations hope" Matthew 12:20,21. I believe the Lord would bring us into correspondence with this, the Spirit being upon us, that we go on quietly but surely unto victory, and hence afford God something of that pleasure which He found in the Servant whom He chose, the Elect in whom His soul delighted.
I refer now to a verse in chapter 10 where the apostles are sent out to preach; they are sent out here in this service, and the Lord would have us go on with the preaching, as it says: "do the work of an evangelist" (2 Timothy 4:5). But how? The Lord says, "ye are not the speakers but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you" (Matthew 10:20). How God would bring us to that, the positive side, that the Person who affords that pleasure to Him is in us as the elect, and then our very words are
the words of the Father! Can anything be more exalted, dear brethren, in service than the words of the Spirit of the Father? -- "the Spirit of your Father", the Lord says, "speaks in you" Matthew 10:20. I am pleading that we should be vessels of grace, for one great idea connected with the Father is grace.
I trust the Lord will use these remarks to bring us into accord with His mind, as in Matthew. It is the great church gospel, as you know: it is the gospel in which it is said that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Is that to be a dead letter to us? Surely not! Surely the Lord would bring us back to that, that it should not be a mere doctrine with us, but a reality that the gates of Hades do not prevail. Then there is the Spirit of the Father speaking in us.
Luke 1:35; Luke 2:25 - 32; Luke 3:21,22; Luke 12:11,12; Luke 24:48,49
I wish to speak about the Holy Spirit, encouraged in the assurance that there will be not only a readiness to hear, but a measure of capacity for taking in any thoughts presented as to Him. I believe that it is of God to emphasise the presence of the Spirit. Indeed, it has occurred to me of late that it would be a profitable inquiry to see how He is presented in each of the books of Scripture; and with this in view I have ventured to take up Luke, so that we might see how the Holy Spirit mentions Himself in this book. For we have to bear in mind that whilst the Lord says of Him, "he shall not speak from himself" John 16:13, that does not mean that He does not refer to Himself, for in truth He is the subject of testimony, as the Father is, and as the Son is. Indeed, we are said to be baptised to the name of "the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" Matthew 28:19, so that He has His own place in the testimony. I thought that the consideration of Luke, in this regard, would help us as to the dispensation viewed as in grace.
Luke is concerned as to how the gospel should reach men; the vessels through whom it should come; and so you find with him great prominence given to heaven, that the gospel should come to men clothed with heavenly influence. Hence, he introduces at once a great heavenly dignitary; for it was to be expected, we being what we are, that in the service of the gospel there would arise a desire for personal distinction in it, such as painfully manifested itself at Corinth. So Luke would introduce the idea of personal dignity in Gabriel. Who of those at Corinth could measure up with him? The apostle in speaking to them refers to "the tongues of ... angels" 1 Corinthians 13:1, but here we have at the outset presented to us, not simply an angel, but a heavenly dignitary.
But I did not wish to speak about that, nor about the
visitations from heaven which Luke records, most interesting as they are. He would clothe the gospel with personal dignity, and with a heavenly atmosphere; that the thing might carry with it all possible commendation -- nothing to forbid, nothing to prejudice, but all calculated to invite; so that the most might be saved, that the greatest possible result should accrue. One is impressed with the divine forethought and preparation recorded by Luke, so that the gospel should be untrammelled; that nothing should be attached to it or detract from it, so as to render it unacceptable. Hence the Lord Himself is presented in Luke as personally attractive in His preaching; the manner in which He read the scripture and His deportment, both in standing up and sitting down, and in speaking -- all was marked by the grace that God intended should adorn the proclamation of the gospel.
Now I wanted to dwell upon the Spirit, as I said, and what impresses one at first is the filling by Him of persons. Indeed, Luke throws out at the beginning a sort of atmosphere which would disallow all corruption and render null all fleshly taint. The incoming of the Saviour was to be guarded thus; and so we have a remarkable set of vessels filled with the Holy Spirit; thus shutting out from the environment of the Lord's birth all taint of contamination; for a group of persons appear, filled with the Holy Spirit. It is an important matter; for a half-filled, or partly filled vessel is sure to be contaminated. Hence you find the first mention of the Spirit in this gospel is that He fills a person from the very outset of his being -- John the baptist -- a marvellous thing! There may be an inquiry as to its possibility; but how else can we explain the movements of an unborn babe, as the sound of the voice of the mother of Christ falls upon the ears of his mother? What can be the thought, but of wonderful divine preparation, so that the incoming of our Saviour in such lowliness and outward weakness, should be so greeted
and so protected that there is the acknowledgment of Him in an unborn babe?
Then the announcement of Gabriel himself; it is most interesting and touching to note the manner of his address to Mary. And when I speak of Mary, the thought of secret history comes into one's mind, of secret history with God. Who can tell what that history was? The angel Gabriel -- his name is given -- says to her, "Hail, thou favoured one! the Lord is with thee" Luke 1:28. Can we doubt that He had been with her? Can we doubt that He had watched over her as a unique vessel? Can we doubt but that He went far up the stream in her line? Can we doubt that there was extraordinary preparation in her, to be such a vessel, to be so honoured, so greeted, so saluted, by a great heavenly dignitary? The proof of all this is evidenced in her calm and subject demeanour in such august circumstances. And then in answer to her remarks he refers to the Holy Spirit, who alone could bring about the great design of eternity. "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and power of the Highest overshadow thee" Luke 1:35. What a scene is suggested! An operation of operations, the like of which had never been known or thought of by men as such! The Holy Spirit had been employed in garnishing the heavens, and brooding over the face of the deep; and right along had been engaged in the divine operations, but now, there is an operation of operations: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and power of the Highest overshadow thee, wherefore the holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God" Luke 1:35.
I wish to dwell for a moment on this, that we may apprehend what happened. Gabriel says, "the holy thing". Had the angel said, that holy Person, or, that holy Babe, the thought would have been weaker, but it is a question of what will be. We have to understand the distinction between what the Lord Jesus is, and who He is. The former speaks for itself. It is something to be noted; it is absolutely intrinsically holy. Holy
babes relatively there were, such as the babes of believers, but not holy things. No person ever born before or since was a "holy thing"; there was only one "holy thing" -- it was absolutely, intrinsically, essentially holy. It is what He was, the marvellous production of divine power; and so we have here what in due course was called the "Son of God" Luke 1:35. That is to say, what He was, soon manifested who He was. Hence His question to His disciples was as to who He was. It had come out; what He was had demonstrated itself, and now He is called "Son of God".
Proceeding from this passage I wish to show you how He is guarded by the Spirit as a Babe. The idea of the thing being introduced is made clear, and then we have "a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes", as it says, "and lying in a manger" Luke 2:12; and later brought up to Jerusalem. I wish to dwell on what was in Jerusalem, that is, "a man ... whose name was Simeon" Luke 2:25. Jerusalem here is not yet viewed as hostile. It was still the centre for God on earth and there are grouped here very precious features in this still divinely recognised city. One would love to be consciously in the centre; I believe God would have it so, that as giving us the Spirit He would link us on with the centre of His things. It delivers and saves us from mere localism and nationalism.
Mention was made to me a little while ago of a meeting in Scandinavia far away in the Arctic circle, the only one there, yet some one who had visited it said that he felt at the centre of things as among them. Look at that! Not that one would wish to occupy you with those dear brethren unduly, but what can it mean but the evidence of the Spirit of God, for what are miles to Him! what are geographical distances to Him! As we are in the Spirit we are in the centre of things, and so Simeon was in the centre of things. He was in Jerusalem. That is what is said of him. Spiritually, everything gravitates there; and as in the centre of things we miss nothing; current spiritual events are known to us; we are
conversant with them. Anna was there too, and she missed nothing. Then it says of Simeon that the "Holy Spirit was upon him" Luke 2:25. Now you have not only the vessel filled -- that idea is in chapter 1 -- but a vessel anointed; and that one in the very centre of things, who has the mind of God; to whom it had been revealed that "he should not see death before he should see the Lord's Christ" Luke 2:26. And "he came in the Spirit into the temple" Luke 2:27, and, as there by the Holy Spirit, the Child is brought in, and he takes Him in his arms.
I wish to dwell upon this because the opposition now bears on the smallness of things outwardly. This marks our own times; how much therefore is it incumbent upon us to recognise the Spirit, the anointing; so as to be able, so to say, to hold the Child. I allude to the Child for a moment as referring to the outward smallness of things; but how intrinsically precious at this moment! What a spectacle for heaven to see the priest with the Child in his arms, in the full light of God regarding It! What an awful darkness is spread abroad today around us, especially with regard to the Person of Christ! The best refutation of the error is the priest with the Child in his arms, and the light of God in his soul regarding It. It is God's salvation, and God's salvation seen. What a word that is for us as the powers of darkness are felt abroad!
As Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered him up a whole burnt-offering to the Lord, having poured water upon the ground in acknowledgment of abject weakness, God thundered on the Philistines and routed them. It is the holding of the Child, as anointed by the Spirit, with the light of God in our souls, that routs the enemy. I believe the Lord is doing this in a little way; I believe the Child, so to speak, is in the hands of holy priests at the present time. One would love to see it more definitely.
Then there is the blaze of light in Simeon's references to the Child, as blessing God, everything is made clear. "A light for revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel". Luke 2:32. The former is the very word that
covers our present position as in this dispensation; the revelation or unveiling of the gentiles still holds. God is God, and the dispensation remains unaltered. The patience of God is marvellous, that the world is still in reconciliation; and God would put it upon us to maintain it in every way. It may be in smallness, but the character of the thing, the principle of it, is never to be let slip. It is the gentiles' day. The glory of God's earthly people is imminent. Christ is that. We know it; we have the light that Simeon had, in our souls. We know what is coming; the glory of God's earthly people, for the father's sakes, is near. No one can be with God without cherishing that testimony, "for the fathers' sakes" Romans 11:28; and Christ is indeed seen here in relation to the house of Jacob in this book; He is the glory of God's earthly people Israel.
Now I pass on from this. We have viewed Christ in outward weakness; we have held Him, as it were, in our hands and blessed God! How much enters into this! Our very assembly privilege, as well as our public testimony, is in the Babe in our arms. We stand by Him. The sword may pierce through our souls, but our privilege is to stand by Him. But I pass on to the position in chapter 3, involving the full position of the Holy Spirit in a vessel. God gives us a view of that. The church is that now. We do not and cannot see it concretely, for it has failed outwardly; but the Holy Spirit in this regard gives us Christ as the Vessel great enough to receive the Spirit, and to move by His power, for that is how Luke presents the subject. He is a dependent Man, and comes up out of the water praying, and sees the heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit coming down in bodily form as a dove and resting upon Him. It is the Spirit, the Person, as I may say, in His entirety in that Vessel.
And then He began to be about thirty years of age. That comes in afterwards, as if you have the full thought of manhood there, with the Holy Spirit upon Him.
There is nothing to grieve the Holy Spirit in that blessed Man; for one idea of a dove, as I understand it, is sensitiveness; love doubtless too, but extreme sensitiveness. There was nothing there to grieve the Spirit in the least degree. All the fulness, we are told, was pleased to dwell there. Who can compass that? But there it is. The words "of the Godhead" have to be added simply to make the force clear in English, but the word is "for in him all the fulness was pleased to dwell" (Colossians 1:19).
But then He moved in the power of the Spirit. In chapter 4 we read, "But Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan" Luke 4:1; so that, in this wonderful picture we see what we do not see now in the church. It was seen at Pentecost, but here we see the full thought of God in a Vessel. He is about thirty years of age, and He moves by the Spirit. He returns in the power of the Spirit from Jordan, and is led of the Spirit in the wilderness -- that is the force of it -- to be tempted of the devil. He returns to the conflict in the power of the Spirit; for that is how Luke presents it. So He goes into the synagogue at Nazareth, and we have that beautiful picture which every preacher of the gospel should consider before preaching -- the way in which He read the scriptures and spoke. I think you have in these three settings the Holy Spirit as God intended Him to be here in the testimony, as the means for the maintenance of the dispensation of grace. It is not speaking only, it is in being the thing, filled, anointed, and then all that showing itself in our demeanour, as in our preaching. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach glad tidings". Luke 4:18. There was present in Him the full evidence of this.
Well, I may refer to other passages than those I read, and there is one in chapter 11 that we should notice; that is the desire for the necessary furnishing, in view of our assembly gatherings. The early part of chapter 11 has reference to the furnishings in a locality. I cannot
go into details, it has often been spoken of, but it comes in now in relation to what I am saying as meeting current conditions; calculated in a very distinct way to order and furnish our meetings; that we should know how to come together in the light of the church, agreeably to heaven. It should not be mere crystallised routine, but in the freshness of the Spirit; and hence the Holy Spirit is presented there as available for the asking. I refer to that, for we all should be concerned as to our local furnishings, and that is the way to meet them. They are to be met in the power of the Spirit of God.
Then in chapter 12 there is the public testimony which rightly follows; the inward order and furnishings corresponding with heaven as by the Spirit of God, and then the public testimony -- how we are to behave as brought before magistrates and authorities and the like. True enough we know little of that; there is very little of it today. In fact, I suppose the Lord means that when He says to the remnant in Thyatira, "I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come" Revelation 2:24,25. He has made a wonderful way for us, so that the authorities leave us alone; they are not opposed in general. That is of God. We accept it, we pray for them; but then there is the idea of public testimony that will incur persecution, and chapter 12 provides for this. So the Lord says, Do not think of what you are to say beforehand, "for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the hour itself" Luke 12:12. It is not simply that He gives us what to say, but He teaches us in that hour.
That is an important matter. It supposes that we have already been accustomed to be taught. Of all persons in the world, christians understand teaching, for they have to unlearn and learn so much. Before conversion we know nothing at all spiritually; we have everything to learn; and so there is the teaching of grace, which is first, the teaching of the Lord, and the teaching of the Spirit. When the Levite is in the service and comes
under reproach, and has to make answer, he has to be a quick learner, and he can be as in the divine school. It is not a short course merely. Let no one assume that the scholars of the world learn everything in the college. They learn there, of course, but they get principles of education, and learning goes on all their lives and they acquire the way of learning quickly. So it is in christianity; we have to come to the idea of quick learning, not simply hearing continuously, but learning at once. That is acquired ability; that you can learn in a moment; and then there is the teaching corresponding with this, so that the thought comes to you and takes form in your soul immediately. Who can effect that but the Spirit of God? Who else can teach you in the very crisis, when you have just to make your answer? Not only does He put the word in your mouth, but He teaches you what to say, and it would stand in relation to all the truth; it is not an isolated thing. The Holy Spirit is the "Spirit of truth", and He teaches in relation to the whole system of truth; and He can do it quickly.
We have remarkable examples in Paul's defences, say before the emperor, or Agrippa, or before the Jewish council. I would commend to you all the study of those defences of the great witness of Christ in the testimony, how the Holy Spirit gave him the thing, and taught him, as I may say. I would love to dwell on the speech before Agrippa; and then what he says later: "At my first defence no man stood with me" 2 Timothy 4:16. Undoubtedly it was the right word, got for the moment. "But the Lord stood with me", he says, "and I was delivered out of the lion's mouth". 2 Timothy 4:17. You may depend that the answer was Spirit taught. All forsook him; alas! that there was such cowardice at that moment; but the Lord stood by His great witness.
I want to go on to the last scripture, and what I wish to dwell upon in closing is "the promise of my Father" Luke 24:49, how the Father is brought in at the end, so that we may
see fully what the dispensation is. It is "The promise of my Father", but before that the Lord says, "Ye are witnesses" Luke 24:48, not yet "My witnesses". That is to say, it is not here that He is calling them to the witness box; the point is that they were eye-witnesses. In the Acts it says, "Ye shall be my witnesses" Acts 1:8, but here the emphasis is on them, on what they were. The New Translation emphasises the "YE". They were cognisant of what appeared in the Lord's ministry; they have not only been to school, but they have seen things. They were not hearsay to them. We should learn to see things, so as to become witnesses of them, that is, persons competent to speak of them as knowing them. That is the idea. But then that is not enough. To be sent is another matter, called into the witness box. And so the Lord says, "behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you" Luke 24:49.
Now you see we are in the presence of the Father, this is the closing touch, that is to say, it is God in grace and in love too. It has been remarked that the name Father always stands in relation to grace. "The Father judgeth no man" John 5:22. Here we have His promise. What is the promise? Some inquire, What is the unspeakable free gift? It is better to let it stand as it is and rest in it. It is an unspeakable free gift of God; who can compass the extent of the unspeakable free gift of God? It is better to live in it. That is the idea; for the dispensation is impregnated with the idea of an unspeakable free gift, and that must entail the Spirit, There is the gift of the Son for us, and the gift of the Spirit to us. The one enhances the other, so to speak, and together you have the fulness of divine giving. What a weight of glory rests upon us as having the Spirit of God!
So the Lord here says, "Ye are witnesses" Luke 24:48; you know these things, but He adds in effect, Do not attempt to speak about them until the promise of the Father comes upon you. What could any one of us do apart from the Spirit of God? Even although the disciples
were witnesses of the most marvellous powers, yea, the very vessels of those powers, yet the Lord would not allow them to speak of them until they received the promise of the Father. So the testimony is to be presented in the power of the Spirit of God. There is no other way. Any one attempting witness apart from the power of the Spirit of God, discredits the thing that he presents. Even a Peter, a James, or a John, although having been on the mount of transfiguration, could not preach the gospel rightly without the Spirit of God.
The Lord says, "Tarry ye in the city" Luke 24:49, meaning that it is not now a question of going a journey, as in Matthew; nor a question of the exercise of the servant to get his 'word', but what comes in sovereignly. We can reckon on this; it is a question of promise. I have not to work for something that is promised me; it is a question of promise, and what a promise! "The promise of my Father" Luke 24:49, He says, that is to come upon you; and then, "but do ye remain in the city till ye be clothed with power from on high" Luke 24:49. There are the two thoughts, the promise of the Father bringing in all that the Father is in grace; and then the power from on high, that is, moral elevation. Literal elevation to be sure, but it is moral elevation here also; it is "from on high". Hence the witnesses do not descend to the level of man, or the world, in their testimony.
Then the word here is "clothed", "till ye be clothed" Luke 24:49. We were speaking about the Lord's clothes today, what was said being very suggestive. Clothes do not convey the idea of acts of power. That is, a man acts by his hands, etc.; the hands are the symbol of a man's power to do things; but when curative effects are seen through the garments, that is another matter. It raises the question as to my circumstances, what is round about me. So the whole position is "from on high"; it is not only while one is preaching the gospel, or doing things as with your hands, but power emanates from
your very clothes, so to speak. In fact you have "greater things" in the Acts even than with the Lord. The people brought out the sick on couches, so that the very shadow of Peter might fall on them. That indicates how things stood, what mighty power was there, not only in the preaching, but going out from the apostles; they were thus clothed. And so with Paul; napkins and aprons taken from his body were laid upon the sick and they were cured. The Spirit of God says that these were "no ordinary miracles" Acts 19:11; they were extraordinary; they were miracles going out from the bodies of the apostles, from their clothing. God wrought them for the sake of the testimony. The maintenance of it is not only in the preaching, but in the persons and circumstances of the preachers, indeed of the saints generally. Power should go out from us, and it is power "from on high", hence things are carried through. Luke would help us to understand the ministry of the Spirit, and to rely on it, so that the testimony should go through until the end.
John 1:32 - 34; John 3:5 - 8; John 7:37 - 39
My subject, dear brethren, is the Spirit as seen in John's gospel. It is divided into two parts, the first relating to the Spirit as given to the believer; the second as given to the saints collectively. In the latter connection He is viewed specially as a divine Person -- "another Comforter" John 14:16. This part of the subject is found in chapters 14, 15, and 16, but my intention is to speak only of the first part of the subject, the whole being too extensive for one meeting. I hope to touch upon each of the scriptures read, and perhaps one or two others, so as to make clear the relation of the Spirit at the present time as given to, or available to, believers individually. He is said in this section to be given without measure, which is an important fact to take note of. In John 3:34 we read, "God gives not the Spirit by measure". (New Trans.). It is characteristic of this dispensation, showing the abundance from God's side; so it adds "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand" John 3:35. The Spirit is thus administered by the Son, in an unlimited way; there are no limitations on the divine side, the limitations are on our side. It is, therefore, a question, if we think of the type in 2 Kings 4, of getting vessels "not a few"; the oil only stayed when the vessels were filled.
I want to speak from John 1 of the visibility of the Spirit as a dove; then in chapter 3 the invisibility of the Spirit as suggested in the wind; and in chapters 4 and 7 Its tangibility, if I may so speak, as under the figure of living water. These are the features I wish to present, so that we may all be conversant with the fact that the Holy Spirit is presented here as available to the believer. That should not be a mere theory, but a tangible
reality to us, in such a sense that each one should be able to answer in the affirmative the question, "Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye had believed?" Acts 19:2. John the baptist says that he saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Jesus. He saw the Spirit descending. No doubt that was a privilege peculiar to him, although what he saw was there for others to see, but whether they saw it is not recorded, He says he saw it. That leads me to remark on what is visible. People speak of what they do not see, while it is perfectly visible to others. If others can see it why cannot I? The answer is, because of my defective eyesight, and that is a serious matter. In this passage one man saw this wonderful sight.
So there are things to be seen, and we have the opportunity of seeing them, but if we do not attend to our eyesight we may miss them. Things are not always visible; God does not make His things common; He likes to see respect for and appreciation of them, He expects us to take advantage of opportunities. This opportunity never came again -- Think of missing such a sight! According to the other evangelists the Lord Himself saw the Spirit descending. As far as testimony goes that is enough; nothing is said about others seeing it by the other evangelists. How delightfully heaven and earth were linked together on that event! But John the baptist looked, as I said before, and saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and abiding upon Him. John was full of the Holy Spirit, but it was not in this sense; upon no one, save a divine Person, could the Holy Spirit descend in this way and abide. We have to admit that we are very dull and insensitive in regard of what is divine. Things happen around us which are contrary to God and Christ, and we have no sensitiveness about them; and things happen that are positively of God, and we have no sensitiveness regarding them. John is fully cognisant of what is happening, he says "I saw the Spirit descending from
heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him" John 1:32. That is the kind of introduction of Christ John has in mind in his narrative. John the baptist, is an ideal of John the evangelist. He brings forward the baptist as a sort of ideal witness. He mentions no failure in regard of him, but mentions, more than any of the other evangelists, things which distinguish him. How beautifully is he content to disappear in the light of that glorious Person -- the Son of God! "He must increase, but I must decrease". John 3:30. He sees the Spirit descending like a dove and says, "he that sent me to baptise with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, he it is who baptises with the Holy Spirit. And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God" John 1:33,34. You see how the Son of God comes into evidence before his mind by the presence of the Spirit as descending and abiding upon Him. How are sons of God to be brought before us otherwise? The reception of sonship, is the reception of the mind of God about me as seen in Christ; but then that is for myself, it is a knowledge I have in my soul. Galatians 4:6 says, "because ye are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father". If I cry "Abba, Father" it is by the Spirit. Christianity is not merely light, the light of sonship disappears unless we recognise the Spirit; or it becomes beclouded and so mixed, that it is indiscernible. In recognising the Spirit, the light of sonship remains in its lustre. The recognition of sonship by John the baptist is by the Spirit coming upon Jesus. "Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he" John 1:33. And then John adds his witness that "this is the Son of God" John 1:34. The mind of the believer is here called upon to take account of two divine Persons at once, and John says, "I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God" John 1:34. He does not simply content himself with telling us what is told him, but he tells us what he saw: "I saw, and bare
record that this is the Son of God" John 1:34. His mind is filled with a Person upon whom the Holy Spirit has come, and he sees that He is the Son of God; and that that Person "baptises with the Holy Spirit" John 1:33. He does two things: He takes away the sin of the world, and He also baptises with the Holy Spirit. One is a great negative service; think of the immensity of that! He takes away the sin of the world. And then He baptises with the Holy Spirit. In taking away the sin of the world, He makes room for the baptism of the Spirit. Those that are baptised, are merged in the power of the Spirit.
Now chapter 3 is the next part of the subject, and there it is what we do not see; that is expressly stated by the Lord: "but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth" John 3:8. What we have been speaking of in chapter 1 is the Spirit in relation to Christ, but there is no reference to Christ in this connection. There could be no such thought attached to Christ, as being born again either in time or eternity. The Lord speaks to Nicodemus of the beginning of the work of God in man, for new birth is a very initial idea spiritually. The Lord had to speak to Nicodemus in a simple, forceful way because he was full of natural thoughts. I have no doubt that the things the Lord opened up to him, really existed in himself, but he was very dark as to them, and full of natural thoughts, like a child. With most of us it is thus in regard of God's things. The apostle speaks to the Corinthians of not being able to speak to them as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, they were looking at things in a natural way. John's gospel teaches us that we must be spiritual throughout. In chapter 4 we are told that "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" John 4:24. Nicodemus has to be taught from the bottom; he was "the teacher of Israel" John 3:10, but he did not know these things. The Lord speaking to him says "Verily, verily". John is the only one who uses this form of speech, he wants us to be sure. "Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" John 3:5. We might enter into court, have a part in society, know how to behave in a palace, but we cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless we are born of the Spirit. I do not speak now of the water, it has its place -- but every bit of us has to be affected by this operation of the Spirit. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" John 3:6, and Nicodemus' remarks were on that line. Many christians are on that line, but highborn or lowborn, it is flesh, and any variation in the flesh, is only on account of past or present environment. But then, "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" John 3:6: think of what is involved in that! It is the fundamental idea in the spiritual structure of a believer. "The wind bloweth where it listeth" John 3:8. That implies that what the Lord is speaking of involves the sovereign action of God, and then we do not know whence the wind comes or whither it goes: the movement is inscrutable. The Lord uses the wind as a figure, and adds, "so is every one that is born of the Spirit" John 3:8.
God has set us in a physical universe, but He intends to teach us, by the things in it, what is spiritual. Here it is wind; you hear the sound but do not see it, you know not whence it comes -- "so is every one that is born of the Spirit" John 3:8. The Lord teaches Nicodemus in this way; God would have us to be observant as to the things by which He teaches us. The apostle says, "Doth not even nature itself teach you?" 1 Corinthians 11:14. It does teach us, and God is behind nature. When Nicodemus wrapped the body of Jesus in the linen grave clothes he would remember this first lesson of the Master. The lesson as to new birth in which the wind is a figure of the Spirit, is of the very greatest importance. At Pentecost "there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind" Acts 2:2.
Now to go on to the end of chapter 3, I think we should ever have before us in regard to this dispensing
of the Spirit, that it is limitless. It is divinely given in chapter 4. "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water". John 4:10. The Lord does not say He would have given thee the Spirit, in speaking to this woman, His instruction is in accord with the capacity of the pupil. She comes to draw water, and the Lord uses water as a figure, as a convenient way to teach her; it was no accident that she came to draw water, and the well was there. It is an intelligible subject which the Lord takes up; He says, "If thou knewest the gift of God ... thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water" John 4:10. What did living water mean to her? What does it mean to me? It is the Lord taking up ordinary terms to convey an eternal reality -- that is the divine way. The divine way is to come within the range of our intelligence, He tells her of "living water". She says, "give me this water" John 4:15. He had said, "whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life" John 4:14. Now the light is breaking in on her soul, and she says, "give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw" John 4:15. That is what the Lord was waiting for, He wanted her to say something about it. A true teacher gives the opportunity for the learner to say what he understands. She has one thought, not to come hither to draw; that is good so far. As the conversation proceeded she left her water-pot and went into the city. Now she shows by her actions that she has understood that this tangible, living thing is to be in a vessel. We do not think of the wind being contained in a vessel, it is free; new birth is a sovereign act of the Spirit. Water is tangible, and is to be in vessels; evidently the woman understood this as to living water, and so left her water-pot. She would
be a vessel for this. She is becoming spiritual, and ceasing to be natural. These things enter into our everyday lives, dear brethren. What is in view is a person's body; a natural vessel is to be employed in regard of a spiritual thing, that is what is to be learnt. Have we all learnt it? If so, we should take more care of our bodies; not sparing them in serving the Lord; for as we are told here He was weary with His journey, but I am speaking of our bodies in another way: "Do ye not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit" 1 Corinthians 6:19.
This is wrought out in the epistle to the Romans, where in chapter 7 the believer comes to analyse things. He is an analyst in regard of himself. He comes to this point, "I myself with the mind serve God's law" Romans 7:25. Not I, but "1 myself", that is, in my own consciousness. Now you are a vessel for the Spirit, so that glorious chapter Romans 8 opens up the teaching of the Holy Spirit. I commend it to you; see what the Holy Spirit is to you inwardly. All the automatic organs of the christian are taken hold of, so that the Spirit Himself acts in him. The psalmist calls upon "all that is within" him to praise God, that is the believer of Romans 8. If we indulge the flesh we cannot then call upon all that is within us to praise God. But Romans 7 teaches us to discern the working of sin within us, and to judge it definitely, with our minds delighting in God's law. The Spirit maintains us in this, and so we realise deliverance, and enjoy the liberty and blessedness of the Spirit's activities in us. Thus Romans 8 begins, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" Romans 8:1 - 3. You see the thing is condemned; I no longer regard it as I did, but there is that within me
upon which I can call to praise God. The Lord does not here call it the Spirit -- He calls it "living water" John 4:10. The woman goes into the city and says, "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" John 4:29. And they came; showing that she was, in principle, a vessel of the living water, and thus her testimony is effective. As soon as our affections come under the control of the Spirit, people notice it. The Samaritans, who knew of her previous life, would note the change, and so believed what she said to them. The Spirit of God operates in our affections, so that we can talk of "a man". That is the great evidence of His work in us. "I have espoused you unto one man" 2 Corinthians 11:2, Paul says to the Corinthians. This woman ceases to be natural, and begins to be spiritual; she saw that she herself must be a vessel for the living water.
In John 4 and John 7 we do not get the idea of the wind; we get that in chapter 3, and we have breathing in chapter 20. The wind in chapter 3 refers to the mighty operations of God throughout our whole being. Chapter 20 is the breath of Christ -- it is under His blessed control. It is His life. It is most touching; it is a unique transaction; "he breathed into them and says to them, Receive [the] Holy Spirit" John 20:22. Chapter 7 is a continuation of chapter 4. The water here flows out, "rivers of living water" John 7:38. The Holy Spirit is careful to tell us that He refers to Himself as here at the present time. He was in Jesus alone, in a peculiar way; He could not be here in finite persons as He was in Jesus. If we receive the Spirit, it is as He is here in the assembly, but that was not so with Christ; in a unique sense the Spirit came upon Him. So chapter 7 tells us the Holy Spirit was not yet given; that means that He was nor here, in the sense in which we have Him. He is here now, for Jesus is glorified; and as glorified He has sent down the Holy Spirit, in the sense in which He is here today. We receive the Spirit from Christ as Man in heaven. He received It as a divine Person coming on
another divine Person. "The Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified" John 7:39; it is not that He was not existent, but He was not here as He is now; that is, as sent by Jesus as a glorified Man. The Lord speaks of Him as rivers of living water flowing out of the belly of the believer, that is a public thing. It says "as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" John 7:38. This is not what is said necessarily in words, but in effect. The finish of this subject is therefore that the Holy Spirit is here in an unlimited way, expressed in rivers of living water flowing out of believers, and men are immediate beneficiaries. One great feature of christianity is that God is no respecter of persons. A river benefits those who are near it; it is no respecter of persons. Think of the Mississippi, what an immense influence for good that river has! and so, too, the St. Lawrence! A christian should be seen in that way, as a general benefactor to men. One would test oneself as to whether one is that. As we see in chapter 4, the woman of Samaria benefited others, so every believer is set down here as a beneficiary.
May God bless these thoughts, dear brethren, so that we may be in the good of the presence of the Holy Spirit here.
John 14:15,16,17,25,26; John 15:26,27; John 16:7 - 14
J.T. I thought it would be helpful to dwell on these passages, as coming in the section which treats of the Lord's most intimate relations with His own, when He was in affectionate, holy conclave with them.
In the first part of John's gospel the Spirit is presented as seen. "I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove from heaven, and it abode upon him" John 1:32. John the Baptist said that he saw and bore witness "that this is the Son of God" John 1:34.
Then the Spirit is presented under the symbol of wind; His activities are symbolised by the action of the wind which is not seen (John 3); and then in chapters 4 and 7 He is symbolised under the figure of water. Then in the section 14 to 16 which we have read, He is "sent" to the saints.
When Peter announces the coming of the Spirit and explains His presence at Pentecost, he says, He is "shed forth" Acts 2:33 -- alluding to what was seen and heard; but the Comforter is sent to the saints. I thought we might see what a provision He is, as personally with us.
C.A.C. I notice that in the three scriptures read, the Comforter is spoken of as "the Spirit of truth". What is the force of that?
J.T. I think it works out in the way truth is held among the people of God. There is not only the doctrine involved in the Scriptures, but the Spirit of truth is additional to the Scriptures, confirmatory of course, but involving all the truth. The Scriptures are what is needed to be written as giving authority, but the Spirit of truth involves the whole truth.
C.A.C. It is even said that "the Spirit is the truth" (1 John 5:6).
J.T. Yes, as answering fully to what is stated in the
early part of chapter 14 where the Lord says of Himself that He is the truth John 14:6. He is it, in an objective way. The Spirit being here maintains it subjectively, in its absoluteness. "The Spirit is the truth" is a very full statement; but the Spirit of truth is characteristic, the Spirit of truth is a source of control in all ministry and service, and a control, indeed, as to the position of the saints in assembly. There is that which is "the Spirit of truth" amongst us, not only in the persons who speak in the meetings or minister, but in all the saints; and so the Spirit of truth becomes a check on what is ministered. The saints, in virtue of the presence of the Spirit of truth, have the means of proving all things.
M.W.B. Would you link that with the anointing of the priests who were to remain at the entrance of the tent of meeting -- there was the capability of proving?
J.T. Exactly. I think if we use typical expressions, such as "priest" and "Levite" we have to understand the New Testament equivalent. We get priesthood in Peter: it includes all the saints -- brothers and sisters alike. The priests in Leviticus 8:33 had to keep the charge of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle for seven days: that would include the whole period of testimony. To apply this to ourselves would mean that there should be watchfulness, as seen in the Bereans, and as is enjoined in other scriptures; "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" 1 Thessalonians 5:21. There is control of all that is presented to us and the saints have the means of proving -- that was my thought.
W.J.H. "Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge". 1 Corinthians 14:29. That implies the others are capable of judging; they would need to have the Spirit of truth?
J.T. Yes, and you would include all the saints in the "others".
C.A.C. Is it not connected here with the affections of the saints: "If ye love me" -- does not the Comforter come in for the support and the holy safeguarding of the affections of the saints?
J.T. Yea, "If ye love me, keep my commandments" John 14:15. This is especially in view of the time for which John's ministry is intended, when the will of God will be disregarded. Those who keep His commandments may rely on the Spirit of truth. I think we have proved that, as conforming with the commandments we have proved the presence and help of the Spirit of truth.
C.A.C. So you would expect that if there were any deviation from the truth, it would be quickly corrected by the movements of the Spirit in the affections of the saints.
J.T. The word "Comforter", as you know, refers to the Spirit's management in detail of all that relates to us, so that as keeping the commandments we come in for the Spirit of truth in a personal way; He attends to matters, in our meetings, and generally.
W.J.H. I am sure the keeping of the commandments would provide an atmosphere of subjection that would give liberty for the Spirit.
J.T. Yes, when that exists, we find the Spirit attends to matters. We pray to the Lord to attend to matters, but it is wonderful to observe how the Spirit adjusts matters current amongst us, I mean in a subjective way. The Lord comes in in the way of authority, but it is remarkable how throughout the world, where the brethren are, the Spirit makes Himself felt, so that the truth is maintained. There would be no divergence amongst us, if there were entire subjection to the Holy Spirit; He would see to that. He has first-hand knowledge of every christian on earth! Of course, the Lord has too -- He knows those who are His; but in the presence of the Spirit here there is the thought conveyed of immediate knowledge of every christian. If there is subjection, there is no divergence, and the truth will be developed in all its parts.
H.B. Would what you have been saying about the Spirit attending to matters be illustrated in Acts 15?
J.T. You see there how Barnabas and Saul were sent up from Antioch: the apostles and elders came together to consider the matter: that involves the authority of the Lord. As they came together we see Barnabas and Saul unfolding the things that God had wrought among the gentiles through them. The brethren present would be happily engaged in the wonderful things they could tell about the Lord's work among the gentiles; it must have raised the spiritual atmosphere immensely, as the work of God among the gentiles was unfolded by such men as these. Then Peter, as in that holy, free atmosphere calls attention to how God had used him to enlighten the gentiles, and James confirmed this. All this is authoritative, but in an excellent atmosphere, which made room for the Spirit. He was present and working in His own way in that company.
H.B. Is not that confirmed in 1 Corinthians, love being the atmosphere that gives freedom -- "Follow after love" 1 Corinthians 14:1 -- then we get spiritual manifestations, and the prophetic word?
J.T. Yes. The order is, fellowship, the Lord's supper, and then the truth relative to the Holy Spirit. Then there are gifts: they were "set" in the assembly 1 Corinthians 12:28, meaning that room is made for a universal touch, when brethren come together in any locality. We get what love is in chapter 13 and then the exercise of gifts. I believe that implies highly sensitive organism; so that when we come together one has a prophetic word -- then something is given to him who sits by, and the one speaking discontinues; he sits down, and lets "another sitting there" get up. We should cultivate sensitiveness and subjection. There is a sorrowful want of these features in our 'open meetings'.
W.J.H. Under what conditions should open meetings be held?
J.T. What is wanting first, is subjection -- subjection makes room for the Comforter; there should be subjection, and waiting upon one another in such
meetings: we should cultivate the sensitiveness that is proper to the assembly.
There is divine order in 1 Corinthians. If we begin with the Lord's supper (1 Corinthians 11), the Lord has His place first of all. Then the Lord's day afternoon is the most favourable time for a reading meeting, or a meeting for ministry; the saints then ought to be practically in a better state than at any other time. It involves a considerable sacrifice for some of the brethren to get together on Lord's day afternoon, but it would always be made up to them, because as coming after the supper, such a meeting has a peculiar advantage. The meetings during the week may become obligatory, and so do not involve so much sacrifice, but the more the sacrifice, the more the blessing.
The presence of the Comforter is personal in this section of Corinthians. In chapter 12 it is said, "There are distinctions of gifts, but the same Spirit" 1 Corinthians 12:4. The gifts would be used effectively where there is subjection and sensitiveness: that is to say, if we were in touch with each other in affection, each esteeming others more highly than ourselves, we should be ready for what another might have; and the Spirit would act in us in these circumstances, so that we should be conscious if another had something (1 Corinthians 14:30).
R.B. Do you mean He might indicate some thought that would be more profitable for the occasion?
J.T. I think He would; at any rate, His presence and operation would be felt -- a very blessed experience.
I think this section in John has to do with our exclusive privileges. The Lord is shut in with His own, whereas the Acts has the public testimony in view. These chapters are by way of resource for us. As we are together we realise the wonderful precious fact that a divine Person is here attending to matters amongst us.
We have been noticing in Luke 21:37 that the Lord was teaching every day in the temple, but at night He went to the mount of Olives. That means that His
secret living associations were out of view. His ministry was in public. He bore testimony in the temple, He taught there daily, but at night He was out of sight. He was at the mount of Olives. The point for us is to have these secret relations that the world does not see, but which will impress people in our public service so that they enquire as to our associations. John begins his gospel with two who want to know where the Lord dwells. Some one was saying to me lately, that there is a great depression which is universal, but among the Lord's people there is a great impression. We get impressions from the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who is with us always. It is by these secret relations that we are regulated, so that we can come forth having truth in the inward parts, and know how to render testimony. It is not only by our words but spiritual impressions are conveyed in our manner. Any one could have found the Lord around the temple during the day, but during the night, where was He? So now men might say, Where do these people get these things? The teachers and scribes had not these impressions, they might say much, but their nightly relations could easily be traced. So take any of the great teachers abroad today, you can trace and find where they get their impressions, but you cannot do this with spiritual men; the Comforter is beyond the range of the world, John 14:17.
W.J.H. Is not that the way the Spirit is presented all through John, whereas in the Acts, He is more connected with what is seen? They are "clothed with power from on high" Luke 24:49, signifying that there is something that can be seen.
J.T. That helps: it prepares the individual who is in view in the early part of John, for the collective side. Two disciples followed Jesus (John 1), they wanted to know where He abode and they stayed with Him that day; and then one of them found his brother Simon and led him to Jesus, that is the outward effect; He
got his impressions from where the Lord was. This outward effect is fully seen in Acts 2.
Ques. Would the recognition of the Spirit amongst us in our localities produce a state which would be pleasing to the Lord and to which He could come?
J.T. Yes, the Lord has a way of coming in because of the presence of the Spirit; the Comforter is in full charge and makes way for Him. We may have hundreds of meetings, brethren coming together in many parts of the world, yet you find they are holding and doing the same things; all is the outcome of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit. If there is subjection, He is sure to regulate us so that we are in relation to the truth.
Another thing comes out in John 14:26, He brings what the Lord said to our remembrance. I believe we get there the explanation of the volume of things that the Spirit brings to the attention of the saints through one and another. This is illustrated in David and Solomon. Moses sets forth authority, so that every member of the assembly is in his place and functioning -- but David and Solomon set forth headship. In our places in the assembly we are amenable to headship, to the operation of wisdom. In the case of David, we have his life recorded by Samuel, Nathan and Gad (1 Chronicles 29:29, 30); they were spiritual men and would record what David represented, what would enhance the testimony then current. We find with Solomon the same thing; his acts "first and last" were "written in the words of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer" (2 Chronicles 9:29). It is very interesting in this connection to have "words", "prophecies" and "visions". These records of David and Solomon would be of great value to the saints. The words of Nathan would give details of the life of Solomon. The prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, would bring something from God to bear on the conscience.
The visions of Iddo would be, I suppose, something that had been seen in the light of God.
W.J.H. The apostle John suggests something like that: he indicates that there is so much left that he had not given, that the world itself could not contain what could be written (John 21:25) -- but prophetic ministry has been given to open out what has been written.
J.T. John would impress you with the magnitude of the ministry which could only come from a divine Person. It ought to impress every one of us and we should keep the words "If a man love me, he will keep my words" John 14:23 -- I suppose one might say that whether it be the words of Nathan, or the prophecy of Ahijah, or the visions of Iddo, the life of the Lord was typically set forth in an authoritative way. Today the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, brings to us the words of Christ.
Ques. Is that broken up for us in the ministry?
J.T. Yes, the Comforter is continually opening up to us what came out in Christ. All is in accord with the Scriptures, but there is much more than what is literally there.
This second reference to the Spirit in this chapter (John 14:26), covers the whole dispensation. We get things administered now, that were not presented in the same way before: for instance, I do not believe the saints in Timothy's time, had the same understanding of 2 Timothy that has been given in our days.
W.J.H. The record as to David and Solomon seems to show that there was an immense scope of things dealt with that does not come within the letter of Scripture.
J.T. I think these books of old correspond with what we call written ministry, not inspired, but books containing instruction and food for the saints. Any spiritual man would like to see these books of Gad, Nathan and Iddo. I should like to get into the realm of spiritual visions! I do not know if we know much about visions.
C.A.C. I think I see the desirability of having them. Would you look for a complete presentation of truth as the time of the assembly on earth draws to a close?
J.T. What was written of David and Solomon would indicate completeness. The apostles were directed to speak "all the words of this life" (Acts 5:20).
C.A.C. I was thinking of the necessity on the divine side of things being brought to completion and maturity. A full presentation of Christ is needed for this.
J.T. The Spirit leads in that way. The service He renders as seen in these chapters (John 14 - 16) involves a full ministry of Christ, not only as to what He was on earth, but also what He is in heaven. The Spirit is here on our side; He superintends everything, He works for the full development of the truth, He is with the bride at the end, saying "Come", as Christ presents Himself.
"The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and will bring to your remembrance all the things which I have said to you" (John 14:26). That is one feature of the Spirit's service, and we may be sure that in our meetings, such as this, if we are subject, we shall get this; one is struck with it. We get a fulness of things, and the explanation of it is the presence of the Spirit; He is thinking of Christ, and enlarging the saints in relation to Christ. He is alongside of us, which the word Paraclete implies; He is attending to our matters; and if we are subject, there will be constant unfoldings of Christ, and what He said. Here it is not His public sayings but what He said to the disciples, "which I have said to you" (John 14:26). We would not like to miss one of His words.
Then the third reference (John 15:26) brings out that "when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who goes forth from with the Father, he shall bear witness concerning me". Now it is "from with the Father"; it conveys the
idea that He was alongside the Father before He came here, He had perfect knowledge of the Father's thoughts, He bears witness of Christ. He brings things to our understanding also, guiding us into all truth (John 16:13). This involves Paul's ministry, the heavenly side of things.
Then the Spirit has come also in regard to us in our public relations, and he brings in demonstration for us of certain things: of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, so we are taken care of in every phase of our position by the Comforter.
Ques. Would you say a little more about chapter 15.
J.T. I think it brings in Paul's ministry there. He would go beyond the twelve, He would witness additionally. The twelve had their own commission and carried it on in the power of the Spirit. So in Acts 10, while Peter was speaking -- that was his side, he was witnessing -- the Holy Spirit acted of Himself, and came on the gentiles before they were baptised. This agrees with Ephesians 2:22 -- "ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit".
It is profoundly precious to wake up to the fact that there is actually a divine Person here, sent to us; not only is He on earth but He is sent to the saints, and remains with them for ever.
Ques. Why do we not address the Spirit?
J.T. Christianity is founded not merely on precept, but on example. The book of the Acts is to show us how things were done at the beginning, and the epistles confirm this; we do not find anyone addressing the Spirit, and we ought to learn by observation. It is a question, not of inferiority of any divine Person, but of the divine economy.
W.J.H. It is clear the Spirit is not addressed, but we all acknowledge He is a divine Person.
J.T. We do, we baptise to Him, as we baptise to the
Father and the Son, so He is to be regarded objectively as a divine Person, equal with the Father and the Son; but still we go by what is presented in Scripture. If I had been in the company of the Lord when He was on earth, I should seek to learn from Him as to how to do things; I should hesitate to do anything in the service of God that I had not seen Him do. So one of the disciples rightly requests, "Teach us to pray" Luke 11:1. They learned from Him not only by what He said, but by what He did. Thus the apostle to be chosen (Acts 1) must be one "who ... assembled with us all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day in which he was taken up from us" Acts 1:21,22.
C.A.C. I thought the Spirit rather identified Himself with the intercessory position in which we are found so that He takes our side in intercession rather than being addressed in prayer?
J.T. Yes, He makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. That is, I believe, how we learn, by observation and experience, He cries "Abba, Father", thus spiritual intuition would lead us to move on that line. He makes intercession for us according to God with groanings which cannot be uttered, we learn in that way. At the same time, we have perfect evidence that He is a divine Person, and we are baptised to Him, on the same footing as we are baptised to the Father and Son. Christianity is a system in which everything is learned from Christ; He says here, "he (the Spirit) shall not speak from himself" John 16:13. The Holy Spirit takes the most lowly position, but we must be extremely careful in referring to Him lest we be derogatory to Him. Any one saying a word against Him is never forgiven. That is how God protects Him in the lowly position He has taken.
M.W.B. He is the only divine Person who has characteristically the prefix "holy".
J.T. The Lord addresses the Father as "Holy
Father", but the Spirit has the prefix characteristically. He is wonderfully protected, and we are warned as to that lest we might transgress against Him.
NOTE: Since the date of this reading, September 1931, the Lord has given light and help as to addressing the Holy Spirit. In this connection the reader's attention is directed to the ministry appearing on pages 407 to 431.
Reference might also be made to certain extracts from letters printed on pages 37 to 39 of the February 1955 issue of Notes of Readings in New York and other Ministry (Volume 199), and to pages 71 to 93 of Volume 179 of Mr. J. Taylor's printed ministry.
Acts 1:1 - 5, 9 - 14; Acts 2:1 - 4
J.T. The Lord seems to emphasise at the present time the idea of spirituality, because we may be moving with a measure of intelligence and yet be spiritually much below the level of the things spoken of amongst us. One might illustrate this from David's move to bring the ark to Zion (1 Chronicles 13). It is said that he took counsel with the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, and every prince, and gathered all Israel to bring up the ark -- which was obviously a commendable movement. Yet the sequel shows that the manner was below the level proper to the ark, so that the ark being put on a new cart, the oxen stumble, and we have the sorrowful occurrence of Uzza. But, in the main, the Lord was in the thing, and the next movement says nothing about taking counsel; there is the gathering of the people to Jerusalem and the acknowledgment that the Levites should carry the ark, according to the due order, and it is said that God helped the Levites. That is where divine help came in, so that they offer sacrifices by sevens: it came to pass "when God helped the Levites that bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, that they sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams" (1 Chronicles 15:26). So that the ark is now brought to its place, in a becoming way, on a proper level, David himself acting in a priestly manner. In the light of such a scripture and of many others, the Lord would help us as to spirituality, which throughout the Old Testament is reached on the principle of seven, beginning with Enoch. Then in Leviticus 23 Christ is seen figuratively as risen. In verse 15, they begin to count from the morning after the sabbath, the sheaf is waved before Jehovah and they begin to count by sevens. There are seven sabbaths complete, so that it is seven times
seven. Then they bring a new meat offering out of their habitations, showing that the people are now arriving subjectively at the divine thought of spirituality, corresponding with what is presented objectively in the sheaf. In this scripture in the Acts, what the disciples do after seeing the Lord go up, indicates that they were spiritual, as in the corresponding passage at the end of Luke; they recognise what the Lord had in His mind in leading them to a point. "He led them out as far as to Bethany" Luke 24:50, and their action there indicates that they understood, as does their action here.
C.A.C. Was the Lord impressing them with the spiritual character of His own movements when, speaking by the Holy Spirit, He gave commandment?
J.T. He did that by the Holy Spirit, and presented Himself alive and assembled with them. His movements during the forty days presented, objectively, the great idea of spirituality, and the coming of the Holy Spirit established this among them. He is not here in a bodily way, but as the Spirit, and we are to understand the realm of His operations, and in which the Father and the Son are known as revealed.
M.W.B. In David's action we see there may be devotedness, and yet the absence of spirituality! It had not the features proper to the movement, which the Spirit would have given.
J.T. Exactly. David in his earlier days had recourse to the priestly means of doing things -- enquiring from the Lord. That was on a higher level than taking counsel with his captains and princes. Thinking of the realm of the Spirit now, it is as real as was the realm of the Lord's movements during the forty days. The presence of divine Persons is as real now as then, only the Spirit is known and realised everywhere, whereas the Lord obviously was only in one place at one time during the forty days. The forty days afforded conditions objectively which would lead to a state of soul corresponding with His movements.
C.A.C. Is there something in spiritual experience today that would answer to the forty days? Is there a moral education or formation suggested in the forty days?
J.T. I think there is. The young believer usually takes some time to come to the idea of faith. The word is very current, but whether it is rightly understood is the question. It is said that the cloud received Him out of their sight, and that He was taken up, they beholding Him (Acts 1:9). The upward movement and the cloud are put together, so that the faith period beginning, believers are drawn away from what is geographical and material, and accustom themselves to what is spiritual.
H.F.N. It says that He presented Himself living after He had suffered. How would that bear on what is spiritual?
J.T. You would get an apprehension of a Man living outside of natural conditions. He presented Himself living. As here in the flesh, He ate and drank, as scripture says, in the ordinary way, but now He is living outside these conditions, and it would certainly incite desire to understand what lies outside natural conditions; this was after He suffered. Then, He is assembling with them; that would be another thing to be learned. It is not simply that we come together at a certain hour, at a certain place, as in 1 Corinthians 11but that we understand something of how He assembles with us. That is another matter.
C.A.C. How would that apply to us at the present time?
J.T. It is what we get on to if we are attentive and spiritual. We come into the assembly viewed as wholly spiritual, which is an advance on what it is according to 1 Corinthians 11. There we are said to come together "in assembly", that is, a formal external thing, at a certain time and a certain place, but you cannot say that the Lord assembles with us then. It is a question whether I understand what it means for Him to
assemble with us, and the idea of the Lord charging by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:2); all this contemplates a spiritual order of things. He speaks to them about the kingdom, and it says, "And having said these things he was taken up, they beholding him, and a cloud received him out of their sight" Acts 1:9. Then as gazing up into heaven they require some adjustment and they get it from "two men"; and then they go to the city, to the upper room, as if they knew what to do. Spiritual persons know what to do.
C.A.C. They thus know how to move in a region which is of God outside of this world.
P.L. Would the "Men of Galilee" referred to in Acts 1:11 suggest the public reproach accompanying this inward spiritual power and movement?
J.T. Exactly. There is the public position, and then the adjustment that was needed. It says, "as they were gazing into heaven ... . two men stood by them in white clothing" Acts 1:10. It is two men, they are not said to be angels, so that they would effect the adjustment in a sympathetic, intelligent way.
P.L. So that we are adjusted in the power of spiritual life within, and the acceptance of death without.
J.T. That is precisely the position here; it is a position of reproach externally and of spirituality inwardly. We are now capable of adjustment, and one could hardly speak of a period in which it is not necessary.
W.J.H. It would be easy to accept adjustment from two men in white apparel: it would come from such with sympathy and purity of motive, whereas the absence of that makes it difficult to accept adjustment.
J.T. Yes, they have no personal motive; they are disinterested, save in what is necessary to make us suitable for our great position. It is one of the most interesting things that I should be adjusted in relation to the going up of the Lord. These two men in white apparel represent that element, and how essential it is that we should be adjusted, that there should be no
discrepancy between that and our position and walk here.
P.L. Would the two praying men, Paul and Epaphras, suggest these two men in relation to the adjustment of the Colossian saints?
J.T. Quite so; and you remember that out of the vast number of those who assembled at Hebron to make David king, only two personal names are given, Jehoiada and Zadok and those are priests (1 Chronicles 12:27,28).
R.B. Are you suggesting that there must be priestly state in order to take part in this?
J.T. These two men in white raiment represent that, addressing us in terms that convey the proper attitude to the end; we are to be in a position of reproach. They say, "Men of Galilee, why do ye stand looking into heaven?" Acts 1:11 We might think that that was a right attitude, but these two men challenge it.
J.T. I think because the cloud was interposed -- the cloud that received Him out of their sight. You cannot see if God puts something between you and your object. The cloud is evidently something put between them and their object, it was as if God were to say, It is not sight now, it is faith; henceforth you do not see, it is a question of believing. This is according to what the Lord said to Thomas: "blessed they who have not seen and have believed". John 20:29 So much is apparently commendable, and yet not really so. When Stephen looked up the heavens were opened through, there was no cloud interposed for him. He saw something, but here they could not see through the cloud. If God puts something between, we may as well accept it.
P.L. It is said that the two men stood by them; would that suggest an impartial spirit of service?
J.T. It would. In Luke 2:9 you have a similar word. It says "an angel of the Lord was there by them". So these two men here stood by. There is definiteness; it was urgent that there should be adjustment at this
juncture, and the adjustment was effective because it says as to their next movement, "Then they returned to Jerusalem".
P.L. I wondered whether Isaiah 6 was in keeping with this, connecting the Lord as high and lifted up with His going up here? Then the seraphim are seen standing as available for the adjustment of Isaiah.
J.T. Quite so. "Standing by" is an expression in Scripture meaning support in certain circumstances. Paul speaks of the Lord standing with him (2 Timothy 4:17).
W.J.H. Would it also indicate that while the Lord had disappeared from their sight, there is still a spot where His interests are maintained, and that He is coming back again? Would "Jesus" suggest that?
J.T. It says, "This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, shall thus come in the manner in which ye have beheld him going into heaven" Acts 1:11. The period of our testimony is between these two events. What is to be noticed here is the manner of His going and of His coming; there is to be nothing out of keeping with that. His interests in the meanwhile were where there would be great opposition, so that how they were to maintain this manner in the presence of opposition, is a great question. But they go to the upper room; that is to say, they knew what to do. Something is presented objectively and the next movement you make shows that you understand. As far as scripture goes the Lord did not tell them to go there, nor did He in the end of Luke tell them to go to the temple, but they went to the temple evidently in keeping with the point of His leading. It was "as far as to Bethany" Luke 24:50. You can understand that that would be a spiritual question in their minds - Why did He lead us there? And why is it Olivet, here? If He led them to a definite point, He meant them to understand that there was some result flowing from that point, something hinging upon it, in connection with the attitude of God, and what He was
going on with; and obviously the point was, that God was to continue for a while witnessing in grace to the Jews. He was waiting on the Jews, and they understood. They went to the temple; they were in it daily. They worshipped the Lord, "and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God" Luke 24:53. They were there as a contribution. It does not say they were sent; those that are spiritual know what to do.
M.W.B. What would be the difference between that move and the one here, to the upper room?
J.T. I think the end of Luke is a Jewish position. Bethany was the scene of affection, suggestive of the Jewish remnant. We are told that the Lord having come into the temple from Galilee, looked round on all things and went out to Bethany with the twelve (Mark 11:11). That is to say, He was in a place of love with the means of establishing another world. He was there with the twelve. But now He leads them out there. According to Mark 11 He went out with them, but now He leads them there. It is a point in His mind, that He should go up from Bethany. And now, what will they do? Had they understood? They went back to Jerusalem, and having worshipped Him, they were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. That is what they do. Whereas here, they go back to the city but to the upper room; that would bear on the assembly. They understood that the assembly was in His mind; the assembly is in view from the outset in the Acts.
Ques. Do you think there is an indication here that priestly service precedes the service of the Spirit?
J.T. There is not only priestly service, but what the Lord does before your eyes. The point is whether you understand what a spiritual movement signifies, and whether you can move similarly. As learning from the Lord here you know what to do in the assembly.
Ques. Would they have learnt from the Lord's assembling with them?
J.T. They would learn how to assemble, and they would have in mind that that was to continue. He had also indicated how spiritual communications were to be received. He charged them by the Holy Spirit. Then as already said, we have a living Person outside of natural conditions, and that Person assembling with them. All that is to continue between these two events. They go to the upper room as if that were the place where it would develop.
Ques. Would the upper room be in keeping with the Lord going to heaven?
J.T. Yes. Nothing else is satisfactory to heaven but what corresponds with the Lord's movements; He is coming back as they saw Him go up, and you want to be accustomed to His manner of movement.
M.W.B. What is the contrast between being in assembly in Corinthians, and the assembling with them?
J.T. I think the latter comes in properly as we recognise the Lord as Head. We are accustomed to the movement, and so can discern Him, and get some idea of His assembling with us. Whereas 1 Corinthians 11 precedes that. They come together in a certain place, "in assembly" and do certain things according to that chapter, but for the Lord to assemble with His people, is another matter.
M.W.B. Would you say that the Lord's supper or the breaking of bread is the converging point of the two experiences?
J.T. I think so. It is what is done at the Supper that reminds us of Him; it is the act. Of course, the thing should be done in a spiritual way, but the act reminds us of Him; it brings Him before us, so that the idea of "like manner" comes in. And then you get something of His assembling with us, and that leads on to the assembly as in the land, where we are as sons before the Father.
G.W.W. Would you say that one of the first results of being spiritual is that the soul discerns that there is a
spot on earth that is dear to Him, and that spot has attractive power for us?
J.T. That is good; that answers to what the disciples did here.
G.W.W. If He was coming back, they would discern that that was the spot to which He would come.
J.T. Our position now publicly is that of "Men of Galilee", disregarding current religious customs, and out of sight, yet receiving communications, not from an Anglican dignitary or the Pope, but from Christ in a spiritual way.
W.J.H. Would the period of the forty days indicate how greatly the Lord desired the disciples to lay hold of His instruction?
J.T. I thought that; it is a period affording full opportunity of learning by experience.
Ques. Is there any indication in the Scriptures as to the course the Lord adopts to produce spirituality in us?
J.T. Well, I think the gospel as received into our souls brings the idea. It is the gospel of God concerning His Son. In principle spirituality is present in the believer as the gospel is received. It is the gospel "concerning his Son, come of David's seed according to flesh, marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead" (Romans 1:3, 4). The Spirit of holiness in Christ presented to us leads on to spirituality.
G.W.W. Have you any thought as to David offering sacrifices after they that bore the ark had gone six paces? (2 Samuel 6:13).
J.T. In Samuel, he offered an ox and a fatted beast. The ox would have Christ in view -- the steady step that marked Him, and that should mark the spiritual man. I think it is a contrast to the stumbling of the oxen earlier. Then the fatted beast would be that David referred all his prosperity to God; whatever spiritual
prosperity he had, he would not attach it to himself, which one is likely to do. David intended to yield that to God.
G.W.W. I was wondering if the seventh step would be taken in the power of his sacrifice.
J.T. It is the last step that tells the tale, and David was careful not to stumble here; that nothing should happen such as befell the oxen that drew the cart.
Rem. The sacrifice would come in to correct all that.
J.T. I think so. It would indicate what was in David's soul. John says "looking at Jesus as he walked" John 1:36, typically, David apprehended that. That is the walk; there will be no stumbling there. The ox and the fatted beast represent the full spiritual thought, and the last step is to be like Christ, to walk as He walked. That is the height of spirituality, but in Chronicles it says, "it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, that they sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams" (1 Chronicles 15:26). Seven bullocks would be a more spiritual point to reach, and it is what they sacrifice; that is to say, it is more general -- a fulness of appreciation of Christ. And then the seven rams would mean maturity, progenitiveness and energy.
G.W.W. As to our brother's question regarding there being any indication as to the course the Lord takes with us, do we not have to learn that though one desires to have his part in the testimony it must not be carried on in the power of nature?
J.T. The last step is most important, and David recognised this.
H.F.N. Is there any correspondence between David's spiritual action at that moment, and Paul in his prayer in Ephesians 3, bringing in the ark? He bows his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
J.T. That is an excellent connection; the ark is to be enthroned in all that is proper to it. The apostle
says, "in order that he may give you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts" (Ephesians 3:16,17). There you have the fulness of the thought. The Ephesians might miss that; evidently they had not come to it, and it is just a question how much the saints have come to it since Paul's day. It is a question whether we are going to take the last step, whether the ark is going to be installed fully "according to the riches of his glory" -- the Father's glory.
C.A.C. I think that is very exercising, because if we do not reach it in the last moment, there is going to be a very serious defect in the close of the church's history. J.B.S. used to tell us that each dispensation had ended morally as it began, and would it be your thought that Pentecost was to reach its culmination before the feast runs out, for I suppose the feast is still "accomplishing" (Acts 2:1, New Trans.). We have not done with Pentecost.
J.T. I hope not; it is a question of the Spirit, and the Spirit remains. The presence of a divine Person here and the spiritual realm in which He moves, is as real now as it was during the forty days.
C.A.C. Spirituality would lead us on to the perfection of the divine thought.
J.T. The Lord has ministered much light; we know something of what becomes us as to public order, we have been helped, but spirituality goes beyond that. It is not a question of what is written, but rather of what impressions have been received. So that as come together in assembly, we get the idea of spiritual communications and a living state of things, outside natural relations; also the idea of assembling in a spiritual way. All that is carried on now in the realm of the Spirit, by whose presence alone it is possible. The disciples went for ten days without a divine Person on earth, but now the Holy Spirit is here.
C.A.C. Would you say that up to the breaking of bread, we have to do with a divinely appointed order; it is then a question of what the Lord does. There is a danger of getting certain ideas of what ought to be, and endeavouring to move on lines that are supposed to be right, and might there not be all that without the freedom of spiritual intuition?
J.T. I am sure that is true; there might be all that without reaching the thought of His assembling with us as we are free and intelligently in the assembly. This is a sphere in which the Holy Spirit moves freely. Obviously this could not be where there are fleshly conditions, but if there be self-judgment, and the understanding of the living water and the Lord's breathing into us, there will be a realm in which the Holy Spirit moves, and we get the assembly in its proper character.
W.J.H. It says that the house was filled; there could be nothing else there. And then the cloven tongues sat on each of them indicating the presence of the Spirit.
J.T. And they began to speak "as the Spirit gave them utterance" Acts 2:4. But in the first chapter, in the upper room, they act rightly although there is no divine Person there. This shows thus that they had been instructed and formed by the Lord Himself before He ascended.
Ques. Is the suggestion that if there are the proper conditions, the Lord coming "in like manner" will be realised by us when He assembles with us?
J.T. I think so. It says, He "shall thus come in the manner in which ye have beheld him going into heaven". That alludes to our discerning His movements.
P.L. The man who was to take Judas's place was to be a man who had observed the Lord in His coming in and going out, from the baptism of John till He was taken up.
Ques. Going back to the two men -- is the suggestion
that we should bear their features, and so afford the conditions we have spoken of?
J.T. Yes, There are two, and they are in white robes. They represent the means of adjustment, that there might be no disparity between us and Christ in heaven. That adjustment is constantly needed.
Acts 2:1 - 14, 33; Acts 4:31 - 33
J.T. What is before us is the subject of the Spirit and what flows from His presence here -- among other things intelligent spirituality, as that which is invulnerable and indestructible. It might help to call to mind the first book of Samuel, in which, after Samuel's official ministry, he is rejected by those whom he had served so faithfully, and in his rejection Jehovah likewise was rejected. But it is said of him, that he judged Israel all the days of his life, and as Saul was in power and actuated by murderous opposition to David, the Lord's anointed, a spiritual system came into evidence. It says that Samuel was presiding over the prophets at Naioth; although he was not now over the nation, he was presiding over the prophets, and there was a prophetic ministry proceeding which effectively neutralised the opposition, so that even Saul himself is overpowered by it (1 Samuel 19:19 - 24). That may be taken, I think, to indicate what exists; whatever may be current publicly, and whatever the opposition, the spiritual system holds, and must hold, not only negatively but positively, so that the opposition is neutralised. I thought if we had that before us it might help; it is not simply a question of the doctrine of the Spirit coming down, but the effect of His presence. We have certain great initial features of His presence, and these must ever be looked for.
C.A.C. That is, you would look for the feast of Pentecost as a continuing thing today. Was that in your mind?
J.T. Yes; it says it "was now accomplishing", not that it "was accomplished". According to Deuteronomy 16:9 - 11 there is no limitation to the feast of Pentecost.
Other feasts in that chapter are limited by days, but not Pentecost.
Ques. Were you using the rejection of Samuel, and of Jehovah through Samuel, as typical of Israel's rejection of the Lord -- and the power of the Spirit in prophecy, as suggestive of the power of the Spirit in the early chapters of Acts?
J.T. That is evident; although rejected and unseen, He is still ruling. Samuel was out of view, but he was presiding over the prophets, which we may regard as a spiritual system.
M.W.B. So here it says, "he has poured out this which ye behold and hear" (Acts 2:33). The Lord was in command.
J.T. That is what I thought, and that will hold right through. There will always be the principle of rejection against what David and Samuel represented. Against Paul there was that principle, but still he was dominant spiritually, and the most spiritual and profound parts of his ministry came out under those circumstances.
W.J.H. Would you say that this is confirmed in the Lord's acceptance of the name "Jesus of Nazareth"? When approaching Saul of Tarsus He says, "I am Jesus of Nazareth" Acts 22:8. He is still rejected, but He sends Ananias; He has the whole divine system under His control. He does not say "I was Jesus of Nazareth", but "I am". It is the public position which the Lord accepts, though in heaven.
J.T. The character of the religious Jewish opposition runs through. The Lord refers to it in the address to Philadelphia; He speaks of "them of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews, and are not" Revelation 3:9. That is the sort of thing that would appear, but the spiritual system runs on and dominates. Christ has supreme control. He has the key of David, and the keys of hell and of death.
P.L. "I have set before thee an opened door" Revelation 3:8. Is that the Lord in control of all?
J.T. It is. "Because thou hast a little power" Revelation 3:8 -- the spiritual power is contemplated as here. That is, He does not set an opened door before people who have no power to go in. It is a question of power. If the spiritual element is present, the door will be opened.
C.A.C. Then "thou hast a little power" is not exactly reproach, but the recognition of the quality that was there.
J.T. I thought that. It says, "behold, I have set before thee an opened door ... because thou hast a little power, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name" (Revelation 3:8). That is to say, the Lord acted in relation to what existed. Thus in looking to the Lord in our prayer meetings, what is to be remembered is that what He does, is according to the power which works in us. It is not that something else is brought in.
C.A.C. That would directly raise the question of spirituality; the power would hardly work in unspiritual persons.
L.M. "God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power, and of love, and of wise discretion" (2 Timothy 1:7). Would that correspond with what you are saying?
J.T. It would. The Holy Spirit being here, the great spiritual system exists. The president, so to speak, is out of sight. Samuel was rejected but he was in power; he did not take a superannuated position or a position of inactivity because he was rejected. He carried on this great spiritual service, and it was greater than Saul. I do not know of anything in a way more comforting. Christ being at the right hand of God makes it evident that He has all power, but the "all power" is here, and in relation to a system that is incessant in its activities, and tends to neutralise evil, so that a way is made for the people of God. In that connection you find that Jonathan helps David and so does Michal. There are, so to speak, these external
governmental things, but the definite help and overthrow of the opposition, was in this spiritual system. Saul came down full of murderous opposition to David, but coming within the range of this spiritual feature, he came under its power and could do nothing; in fact, he prophesied himself.
C.A.C. We are apt to think, that the spiritual system is somewhat deteriorated on account of public conditions.
J.T. I think it is a great thing to realise that the spiritual system exists; it is a solid rock for us. Power is at the right hand of God in Christ, but it is here, and here in an organised way. It says that Samuel was presiding over the prophets. It was not simply a college or a school of prophets, they were actually prophesying. There was power there, so that even Saul was overcome by it.
L.M. Are you looking at Samuel as a type of the Lord, or as a spiritual man in power?
J.T. Well, it is the general thought of an organised order of things; he was presiding. Undoubtedly it would be the Lord in a spiritual way, rejected and hidden, though well known to the spiritual. David fled to Samuel as if he knew instinctively that protection was to be found with him.
Ques. Do you get the same thought in "having come, he will bring demonstration to the world, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (John 16:8).
J.T. That is what you get in this chapter. When the Spirit came, He brought in evidence of these things, so that everything is put in its place. Not only is a clear perspective given as in the Lord's sermon on the mount (Matthew 5), but there is power. It cannot be gainsaid. That is what is called attention to; first of all (Acts 2:1) you have the feast accomplishing, which we ought to notice. There is no time limit, whether it be the whole dispensation or access into eternity, it is not limited. Then you have the house filled with the sound, and the
other features of the Spirit's coming. Then there is the general result, that they "began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them to speak forth" Acts 2:4. There is not yet any mention of gift. I think the passage would remind us of the importance of all being present in the meetings. "When the day of Pentecost was now accomplishing, they were all together". Acts 2:1. We do not know what we may miss if we are not there. It is the time of the feast. If one is absent from any of the meetings he may miss something that may never happen again. There is not only the general thought, but "it sat upon each of them" Acts 2:3. There would be loss if any were absent. But then it says that they were all filled; that is to say, we have the inauguration of the great spiritual system. Then they "began to speak with other tongues" Acts 2:4; it is in keeping with the general position. First, the feast was "now accomplishing", and now, "they ... began". It was to go on. Then you have the effect of this, the kind of thing that results from the general condition in a gathering, is a "rumour" (Acts 2:6). It is not yet the preaching, but a rumour, showing how things move. The rumour brings the congregation together, so to speak. Then we have the great Levitical principle whereby the light of all this is to be radiated; it is in vessels divinely qualified, numbering twelve. But they are not all speaking; only one speaks, indicating the additional principle of leadership. The conditions for it are there, and leadership is introduced in a man who is not hesitant; he speaks forth. He does not begin with those that are favourable, but with the opposers, as it says in Acts 2:13, "others mocking said". Peter refers to them; he "lifted up his voice and spoke forth to them, Men of Judaea ... give heed to my words" Acts 2:14. That is to say, you have a state of things marked by a general spiritual condition, in which each one has part; then they begin to speak and a rumour goes out, so that interest is aroused; and then there is the exercise of gift. It says that Peter stood up, "with the eleven" Acts 2:14,
and he speaks with authority. He lifted up his voice and said, "give heed to my words" Acts 2:14.
A.M.H. How would you apply the thought of general speaking now?
J.T. It would refer to what brothers and sisters do in meeting one another, and in meeting people casually, in going about their ordinary affairs, so that a rumour becomes current.
A.M.H. So that in our ordinary contact with men we should call attention to Christ, and then bring interested persons within the range of testimony through gifted persons.
J.T. Yes. People speaking in spiritual power, and every one hears them in his own language. The speaking is concerning "the wonderful works of God" Acts 2:11.
Ques. Would that have the character of prophesying?
J.T. Well, a person speaking by the Spirit, whether it be a brother or a sister, would be a spiritual person. It says here that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, so that it is a question of being spiritual, and then one's conversation occasions interest, and a congregation is formed, not by printed notices -- I am not speaking against these -- but by persons speaking in a spiritual way of the things of God; and thus the rumour goes out.
C.A.C. It is something like the distribution of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12, which seems to be general. The distribution is to "every man" and then afterwards you get some set in the assembly, apostles, prophets, and so forth. While you get distinctive and prominent gifts, there is the distribution generally in the company.
J.T. What is to be observed, is that we must not be content to leave the testimony with those who can speak with ability. The principle of anointing is in gift, having in view the representation of God. But here there is conversation, and it occasions a rumour, and the rumour occasions the bringing together of a congregation to hear. So that Peter has an advantage; the truth had already been heard by those to whom he
preached. There was divine power in testimony, and he explains it in his preaching. But as far as we can see there is no one convicted, but there is this rumour and the people come together. The conviction was effected through Peter's preaching (Acts 2:37).
Ques. Does not the general speaking seem to be used by the Lord to remove the governmental restrictions of Babel, so that the spiritual system is available to all men?
J.T. That is how it appears. "We hear them speaking in our own tongues the great things of God". Acts 2:11. It was a very great matter.
C.A.C. The speaking to every man in his own tongue would be God coming nigh.
W.J.H. Is that not implied by the fact that the Spirit sat as cloven tongues as of fire on each of them? showing that every one was embraced in the ability to speak in a spiritual way.
J.T. In our day we have the privilege of travelling about, and this principle holds; you are able to speak and get to people where they are. They have not to come to you. No doubt these people could all understand the current dialect in Jerusalem, but the point was that God was speaking to them in their own language. They heard them speaking in their own tongues "the great things of God" Acts 2:11.
M.W.B. So that in the general speaking there was pre-eminently the idea of sympathy and nearness but in the public speaking more the power that accompanies the exercise of gift.
J.T. You can picture to yourself the scene at Jerusalem. Think of an ordinary Galilean coming into touch with an Arabian, and being able to tell him about the great things of God in his own language! How touching it would be to him! And that would be going on all around.
M.W.B. It is a great exercise to keep the balance of true sympathy with men, and yet maintain holiness.
W.J.H. How perfectly that is seen in Stephen! He was separate from all that marked the nation and condemned it; yet the spirit of profound sympathy filled his heart, so that it says he was full of the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:55).
M.W.B. Would you say that in Matthew's gospel, in the line developed there, we have the spiritual system as overthrowing the world system, and in Luke sympathy with men as found in it?
J.T. That is right. Matthew contemplates a public organisation; he emphasises twos, but the Acts supplies that which would maintain this, that is the spiritual organisation. The public thing, of course, did break up, but what we are dealing with cannot break up, and that is an immense thing to get into our souls. But what I was thinking of particularly, were the inward features; which must appear more or less at all times where the Spirit is recognised, that is to say, the general sympathy with men and readiness to speak. A brother without gift would be conscious that he could not present the thing as one with gift might do it, for gift is in order that things should be presented in power; but these persons said enough to cause a rumour and general feeling of interest, and then there is opposition -- mockers. Peter begins with them (Acts 2:15). In Peter's ministry there is authority. There is sure to be authority if the Holy Spirit is recognised. Rome of course arrogates it, and the whole clerical system assumes it, but here you see it in Peter. He "lifted up his voice and spoke forth to them, Men of Judaea ... give heed to my words" Acts 2:14. The recognition of gift and authority brings in a ministry of universal bearing; gift has reference to the whole church, to the whole area of testimony.
L.M. What about the sons and daughters that prophesy (Acts 2:17)?
J.T. That is the kind of thing that will come in in the millennium, but it is already seen here in character. The Holy Spirit comes on brothers and sisters alike;
that is what Peter explained to them; it was what Joel had prophesied.
Ques. Would authority accompany all gift?
J.T. I think so. There is a great disregard of authority now in the world, even as to the governments. So the Lord would lay it upon us that it should be seen in the church, that the thing is there; if it is you cannot gainsay it. Think of a Galilean fisherman saying, "Men of Judaea, and all ye inhabitants of Jerusalem ... give heed to my words" Acts 2:14. You might say, It is the word of God, but that is not what is said, it is "my words". There is a man who has something to say; he has authority and there is no hope of the truth being maintained with us, unless this exists in some sense. Where the Holy Spirit is recognised, there will be authority.
Rem. Where the Holy Spirit is free there is always something of a prophetic character going on.
J.T. Yes; and there will be gift. Of course spiritual gift is of universal bearing, so that Peter here speaks out to a large company. A man who has gift may not travel much, but his attitude should be universal.
A.M.H. It says that "God has set certain in the assembly" (1 Corinthians 12:28). That is the whole assembly I suppose. Do you connect the idea of authority with being "set"?
J.T. God's authority is seen in the position each one has; you cannot disregard him. With Paul, for instance, no doubt many thought he was a poor speaker and they turned away, not from his doctrine, but from him. But as he says, "the Lord stood with me, and gave me power, that through me the proclamation might be fully made, and all those of the nations should hear" (2 Timothy 4:17). Paul was "set" in the assembly, and whatever others thought of him, the Lord stood by him.
C.A.C. Going on to Acts 4, I suppose you get the priestly side where the disciples resort to prayer (verse 24).
J.T. I thought we might see that after the great exhibition of gift and leadership and authority, supported by the presence of the Spirit come down from heaven, there is in chapter 3 the exhibition of quality in two persons, Peter and John. And then true leadership is seen in that it is not only that one can lift up his voice and speak with authority, but he goes before, involving suffering for the testimony. Leadership is not in the reading meeting only, or the preaching, or the writing of tracts, but in suffering, so that Peter and John suffer. The true principle of leadership is thus marked off, and then being let go, "they came to their own company" Acts 4:23, which I think confirms what you say. There is that in connection with this great spiritual system which you can call your own. The idea that "they came to their own" is very precious. Then the prayer is mentioned, and the divine recognition of what was there -- the place where they were assembled being shaken; then that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. It is confirmation and renewal, because the first impulse of a movement is sure to wane, but sufferings bring in a state that God can recognise. It says, "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness. And the heart and soul of the multitude of those that had believed were one ... all things were common to them; and with great power did the apostles give witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all" (Acts 4:31 - 33). I thought we might note how in this confirmation or reassuring movement, the apostles that were in the lead, merge with the others, which is a wholesome thing. Merging with their own, the other ten come into recognition. The passage says, "With great power did the apostles give witness" Acts 4:33. It is not simply Peter and John now.
L.M. What is there in the thought of the place being shaken?
J.T. Well, it is the place where they were assembled;
that is, it is not the idea of a building by itself. It is as if the place is distinguished by their being there.
C.A.C. Is it not encouraging to see that it is the whole company who lift up their voice in prayer, that when it comes to the question of prayer the whole company is identified with it, as in full sympathy with the leaders. Chapter 1 mentions the whole company, and even particularly mentions the women. So here, when it is a matter of prayer, the whole company come in, for it is surely not a question of leaders or gift; we can all be fully identified sympathetically with the testimony.
J.T. That is, gift does not necessarily take precedence in the prayer meeting. It is a question of spiritual capacity and stature. That is very important; we are before God as priests in the meeting for prayer.
C.C.E. Have you any thought as to the expression, "filled with the Holy Spirit"? It occurs four times in Luke, and the rest of the times in Luke's second writing, except for once in Ephesians.
J.T. You feel that Ephesians brings the saints to the level of the gospels, and of course the early chapters of Acts too. Ephesians contemplates the full result of Paul's service and ministry, and you get completeness, which would be in correspondence with what you have in the Acts and the gospels.
C.A.C. Is not the thought rather suggestive of a vessel in which there is no element hindering the action of the Spirit?
J.T. That is very important. John says of the Lord Jesus that He was "full of grace and truth" John 1:14, and I suppose the waterpots of stone would symbolise believers as filled up to the brim in view of what you say. God's thought is that they should be filled. I think the idea of fulness here and in Ephesians, is to maintain the truth subjectively on the level of the gospels. It says, "They were all filled" Acts 2:4. I think we may look for these features, God stirring us up and bringing about
conditions through suffering, persecution, or whatever it may be, so that we seek "our own". Service is sweet, because one serving by the Spirit will have joy, but there is a peculiar sweetness in one's own. It says, "they came to their own" Acts 4:23. We can understand how Peter and John and the man who had been healed, would nestle in the affections of "their own".
M.W.B. There is great restfulness in returning to and sitting down with the brethren.
J.T. And it is not simply that Peter or John would pray; it says "when they had prayed" Acts 4:31. Priesthood belongs to all.
C.C.E. It is in contrast to the hierarchical system, where the one who is to pray is designated.
W.J.H. The family side is unknown in those conditions. "Their own" would suggest family affections and what is common to all; it is our own in the sense of those we love. It is very beautiful.
P.L. Would this answer to what Bethany was to Christ? "The hour being already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve" (Mark 11:11).
J.T. It would; I am sure the Lord found great sweetness in Bethany.
M.W.B. In connection with your remark as to God hating an empty vessel, have we not to be on our guard as to elements that would obstruct the filling with the Spirit? Along with remarkable light and increased privileges and fellowship, there is a constant danger of worldliness sapping the very life from us.
J.T. I am sure that is true. There is nothing more practical than being filled. Brothers and sisters come to the meetings without any sense of responsibility; they put it all on somebody else, and add nothing themselves. A person filled with the Spirit will add something.
G.W.W. The measure in which you are not filled with the atmosphere of the spiritual, is the measure in which you will be filled with the atmosphere of the scene around. There cannot be emptiness.
Rem. It says, "they shall not appear before Jehovah empty" (Deuteronomy 16:16).
J.T. That is the idea. There will be no unfilled vessels in heaven.
M.W.B. You were suggesting that the feast of Pentecost continues, that there is no time limit in relation to it. Do these spiritual conditions continue whatever the outward break-up of the church may be?
J.T. They do. Do you not think we realise it as coming together in various places? What a thing it is to be set for -- the feast of Pentecost!
W.J.H. Despite the conditions it says that Samuel was presiding over the prophets. So the Lord has not resigned His presidentship; He never will.
J.T. "Be filled with the Spirit", is that your relations with God are on the principle of intelligence. Overflowing would involve loss. But this is a question of intelligence, of what I do with what I have. It is true that the water springs up, but the thought of overflow does not perhaps fully recognise the idea of intelligent control.
Overflow would mean that one has enough, that there is abundance. You have in Luke, "Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over" (Luke 6:38), which would mean the abundance that God gives, but when we come to God, I think the idea is intelligent control in what we are doing.
M.W.B. So that in the assembly your remarks are not in ecstasy but in sobriety.
J.T. In the case of the woman in 2 Kings 4 the vessels were filled. The oil only stopped as the supply of the vessels stopped. There was no loss.
Rem. Then at the wedding feast the Lord caused that the vessels should be filled (John 2).
J.T. Yes; they filled them to the brim, and then the Lord says, "Draw out".
Acts 7:55,56; Acts 8:39,40; Acts 10:44 - 48; Acts 13:3,4
J.T. I thought these scriptures would indicate the remaining features of the Spirit's service as seen in this book. In the Acts it is not so much a statement of doctrine as of actual facts and occurrences, so that we might have before us, in a concrete way, how matters stood in the early days of the church's history; and especially how the Holy Spirit is seen in connection with the enemy's attacks; that is, attacks of a spiritual nature. The Holy Spirit answers to the "middle bar" which went through the tabernacle, holding all together. What the Spirit was then, He is today; and if we are to be held together in the presence of the enemy's attacks, there must be room for Him, and not only so, there must be the state in which He can move and assert Himself.
The first attack insideis in chapter 5, where we find a man and his wife under the influence of Satan, and this is met directly by the Spirit, through Peter, who says to Ananias, "Why has Satan filled thy heart that thou shouldest lie to the Holy Spirit?" (Acts 5:3). His wife appears after three hours' interval, and Peter says to her, "Why is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?" (Acts 5:9). We have here an indication as to how an internal attack is met; the Holy Spirit is brought into evidence. Satan's effort was a subtle one, especially in the wife, who came three hours after her husband had met with his death. It was a question of spiritual power to determine, first the effort to deceive in the man, and then the counterpart in the woman. It is a sorrowful reminder of how evil works; also we learn here how only it can be met. If room is made for the Spirit it can be met. Then afterwards we see an attack was made concerning the Hellenists, in chapter 6, and how that was met. We also see how servants
who come forward without special appointment, are vindicated and confirmed by the Spirit -- such as Stephen and Philip.
M.W.B. Do you regard the enemy's attack in chapter 5 as more difficult to meet, being internal, than the attacks in chapters 3 and 4, which were more external?
J.T. I think that is quite apparent. These two persons were inside, and what they were doing ostensibly was following a good lead in Barnabas. He had sold his possession and brought the money and laid it at the feet of the apostles. Ananias and Sapphira were apparently doing the same thing, so the evil was well disguised; it was hidden, and hidden things require special discernment.
W.J.H. Ananias and Sapphira wanted a name; Barnabas did not seek one, but had one from the apostles.
J.T. Yes, Barnabas had proved himself to be "a son of consolation" Acts 4:36. These hidden things which are amongst us, especially when they follow on a true lead, and are seemingly the same thing, though counterfeits, are difficult to detect and require great discernment. The question is, how do they affect the presence of the Holy Spirit? Peter says to Ananias that the lie was to the Holy Spirit and to Sapphira he says that the Spirit of the Lord was tempted. The agreement between the husband and wife made it peculiarly secret; they wanted to have honour, and Satan's aim was to make it appear that the Holy Spirit was not in the assembly. Satan sought to make it impossible for the thing to be detected. It is very solemn if there is light in the assembly, and yet evil being there it is not dealt with, for then the testimony is lost; it collapses; because the assembly must be marked by the presence of the Spirit of God. If the enemy can make it evident that evil cannot be dealt with, the testimony would collapse whatever light we may have, for it is not the word only, but the power. On the other hand, we see the awful ability the flesh
has even in persons who are christians, as doubtless these two were, for they were buried. We see what the flesh is capable of, even in those numbered amongst us.
Ques. What do you attach to Sapphira having three hours longer?
J.T. There was opportunity for her to repent, as the Lord said to Thyatira, "I gave her time that she should repent, and she will not repent" (Revelation 2:21). In the woman, evil is more secretive, but Sapphira had longer time to judge it. One can understand if she were on spiritual ground what feelings she would have had, and so in regard to anyone amongst us who may be acting under Satanic influence, they are sure to feel it. It makes the sin all the more terrible that she had three hours in which to judge it, and yet she came to Peter with the lie; he said to her, "Why is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?" Acts 5:9. The Lord being brought in implies not only the Spirit, but the authority of the Lord.
W.J.H. Why are young men mentioned here?
J.T. It would be educational. I am sure they never forgot it. They swathed Ananias for burial and having carried him out, they buried him. There is a certain respect due to the most sinful amongst us. And then Peter says to Sapphira, "Lo, the feet of those that have buried thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee out ... And when the young men came in they found her dead; and haying carried her out, they buried her by her husband" (Acts 5:9, 10).
C.C.E. Do all these matters contain permanent lessons for conduct in the house of God?
J.T. I think so. We learn from them how things were done. If the day of the Spirit continues, as it does, and the Spirit of God is among us, we should look for these features. It is interesting to see how the young men are brought in here, and they are ready to respect even persons who are under the influence of evil. People are not stricken dead in this way today,
but the judgment of God is inexorable; there is bound to be judgment against evil if God is with us. There is youthful energy among the brethren, and we learn here that what happens in the way of judgment or counsel does not exclude the young brothers, or indeed anyone. These things should be known to the saints.
C.A.C. I feel how serious this matter of the judgment of evil is. Was it not what largely led to the position of separation being taken up years ago, that J.N.D. and others felt that there was no power in existing bodies to deal with what was evil?
J.T. It seems to me that the young element in these matters is very important; they represent what is impressionable, and act with feeling and energy. The elder ones, of course, ought to have wisdom, but we have noticed in Exodus 24:5, that the younger men are sent to offer sacrifices; they are not called priests, but "youths". It was the great service rendered, when the covenant was ratified by blood. I think the Lord would encourage us to bring the youthful element into service, in connection with assembly matters.
M.W.B. Then you would not discourage young brothers from attending the care meetings?
J.T. Certainly I should not. This chapter would show the opposite; and the sisters should not be left in the dark as to matters relating to the assembly. Of course it is for them to find out -- "let them ask" -- but the principle is, that the consciences of all should be in action. If the consciences of all are not in action, we shall not get assembly judgment or assembly action; we shall not get results according to God without it. We get the law of the house of God in 1 Timothy and Titus to instruct us how brothers and sisters are to behave, both old and young -- that one should know how to behave in the house of God -- even the young women are brought into it. In 2 John we read of the elect lady and her children; what is written to her, implies clearly that she herself could exercise discipline.
C.A.C. It is important that what is said and done should have assembly character in view. I also feel that if it were recognised that the Lord was present at the care meetings, it would have the effect of silencing a great deal.
J.T. Then, what is said in those circumstances should be brought and put on the consciences of the saints, so that they are brought into action. It is through the consciences of all (brothers and sisters together in assembly), that God exercises a judgment, and action is taken that is binding; it is thus the judgment of God.
We must pass on to the next chapter that we may see how tables are served, that is how the work of deacons is carried on, it is to be in the power of the Spirit. Everything in connection with the assembly is to be in the power of the Spirit of God, so that even the deacons are to be full of the Spirit. "Look out therefore, brethren, from among yourselves seven men, well reported of, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we will establish over this business" (Acts 6:3). We have Stephen mentioned first, as a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. That raised the service of deacons to a high level, it was to be carried on in the power of the Spirit, and in that service we may advance; as it says in Timothy, "They that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 3:13). That is to say, we have the idea of a good degree and power of purchase. Simon Magus sought to purchase with money the power to give the Holy Spirit, but we have through good service in this way the power of purchase of a good degree.
C.A.C. What would you suggest is the service of a deacon today? Would you think it right to take it up as an individual responsibility, or from the will of the brethren?
J.T. I suppose we should look for correspondence, in every way to what we get in these chapters, so that if
there is to be the service of a deacon there should be in him or her (here of course it is a brother), what corresponds to the Holy Spirit. The very giving of the bounty of the brethren ought to be in the grace of the Spirit, not merely as a matter of "charity". There should be a dignity in giving something from the brethren, they who thus serve are "messengers of assemblies, Christ's glory" 2 Corinthians 8:23; that is the dignity which marks deaconship.
C.A.C. You would look for a deacon to be one of the most spiritual men in the meeting; it is not a service for anyone to take up.
J.T. It says, "Look out ... from among yourselves seven men, well reported of, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom" Acts 6:3.
A.M.H. "Having prayed, they laid their hands on them". Acts 6:6.
J.T. There is confidence, and thus committal by the apostles. I do not see how we can get on without confidence in one another. What we see in this chapter, is the part the Spirit has in brethren who had no special call to spiritual ministry, but who nevertheless take it on, and in taking it on, the Holy Spirit confirms and justifies them. I think we may see in Stephen and Philip this feature. In Stephen's case it is a question of purchasing to himself a good degree. I should apprehend that the conferring of a degree is not only an honour to the person who receives it, but it carries with it the honour or power of him who confers the degree; and Stephen certainly vindicated the assembly with which he was connected, and in which he obtained the degree. He honoured it. He could say to the Jews, "ye do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers, ye also" (Acts 7:51). That is what they were doing. He began by being full of grace and power, and his face shining like an angel, and he thus powerfully arraigns the murderers of Christ. Then we have the wonderful statement concerning Stephen, "being full of the Holy
Spirit, having fixed his eyes on heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55). Advancement among us is a matter that should be observed. Advancement is right, and the means of acquiring it are indicated here, but the confirmation of the person, and the justification of his position is by the Spirit.
W.J.H. The way we handle things is a test, as to whether we are able to follow spiritual lines?
J.T. That is a question that should challenge anyone who aspires to service among the people of God; the service is very dignified. One cannot take up service simply because one is superannuated or has made one's fortune. God requires more than that. He requires more than desires; He requires the formation that develops out of secret history with Him in your earlier days. What formation is there? Because one has to bear the weight of the anointing. In Exodus, the greatest pains are taken to work out details as to the furnishing of the tabernacle; everything is inspected by Moses before he puts the oil upon it. Then when each item is in its place, it is in action; it is seen in function, so that there is no discrepancy or irregularity; all is according to Jehovah's commandments to Moses and in the dignity of the anointing.
P.L. Is not this seen in perfection in the Lord as anointed?
J.T. Yes, see how long He waited; there was a secret history for thirty years. We get in scripture the life-sized pictures of servants such as Jacob, Moses, David, Peter and Paul, and all are marked by secret experience with God. There are others whose early history we do not get, but they justify the position at once; they were in the testimony according to God. I think that is what we see in Stephen, in a striking manner. Then in Philip we have one who began to preach without any commission; he went to Samaria and preached the Christ and many were converted, although
his converts did not get the Spirit immediately. It is a significant fact that God withheld the Spirit from his converts; it would have been a serious matter to him, and would have challenged him as to whether he was working with God. Peter's converts got the Spirit immediately, so Philip would no doubt enquire, Why should not my converts get the Spirit? That is the way I should look at the matter. I own the dispensational feature that Samaria had to recognise Jerusalem, but the fact remains that Philip's converts did not receive the Spirit immediately.
C.C.E. What was the defect in Philip?
J.T. There must have been something to be worked out in him; he had something to learn, because not a word is said about the Spirit in regard of himself, until he goes down to the desert, and then the Holy Spirit speaks to him. I am speaking of the way the Spirit records these things. Why did not Peter go to Samaria and preach, and his converts not get the Spirit? There was something for Philip in it. Then one among Philip's nominal converts wanted to buy the power to give the Holy Spirit to others; he was not genuine. We need to be very sure of our converts. In the beginning of our service we like to speak of and count our converts, but we may be counting people who are not converted. If I do not bring in material for the assembly, of what value is my work? Only those who receive the Spirit have any place in the assembly. Nobody is of practical value to God without the Spirit, he has no place in the assembly. Philip had to wait till Peter and John came down. There was great joy in that city, but what is wanted is material for the assembly; that is what the preaching of the gospel has in view, Of course it is true that men are to be saved, but this also requires that they should receive the Spirit.
C.A.C. The service is tested by what is produced. J.B.S. used to say, Do not tell me of your lectures, but show me your pupils.
J.T. When Peter and John came down, one who was reckoned as Philip's convert and "continued with Philip" Acts 8:13 was found unreal. If I had been in Philip's position I should have found myself challenged. Then we read, that the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, Go down to the desert. Now Philip is being tested whether he will leave all this, as of course he could when the Holy Spirit had come. Philip is instructed to go to the desert, and he goes. Now he proves himself subject, and then the Spirit speaks to him and tells him to join the eunuch's chariot. I do not know a more excellent work than this of Philip's with one man, and the Spirit was so pleased with him that He actually raptures him, as we see in verse 39. There is not another servant distinguished just in that way. It is very beautiful to be raptured; "the rapture", as we speak of it, will be no new thing to Philip; he was caught away by the Spirit.
C.A.C. Do you think it was the recognition of the quality of his service?
J.T. Yes, it was an excellent piece of work. The Spirit says to him "join thyself to this chariot" Acts 8:29, and he found the eunuch reading Isaiah 53, and he went on with the reading. He "began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus" Acts 8:35. No passage touches the heart more than that.
C.A.C. He left the man absolutely independent of himself. Is not that the proper and legitimate effect of the exercise of gift to make the soul independent of the gift by which it was benefited?
J.T. It was as if the Spirit said to Philip, Your work is so good that I can absolutely trust it -- He thus caught him away. "The eunuch saw him no more" Acts 8:39. The eunuch was now trustworthy and so could be left.
A.W. There is no indication that the eunuch had the Holy Spirit?
J.T. We do not get the whole history of every convert. The great truth that those who obey Christ receive the Holy Spirit is stated earlier and so attention is not
called to it in each case. From the facts mentioned here there cannot be a doubt that the eunuch received the Spirit. The Holy Spirit would never have taken away the servant from the convert, if the convert had needed him. One could not think of the eunuch being left without the Spirit in the desert. The eunuch was set up in all that is proposed in the gospel, which includes the gift of the Spirit. We see the same principle in what the Lord did in Decapolis. After casting out the demons He left the man there; it would be to show what a truly converted man can be for God in this world. The Lord left him in Decapolis. One might enquire How could that man survive in such a wicked place? But he did survive.
A.W. The apostles had to come down to Samaria to lay their hands on the Samaritan converts so that they should get the Spirit, but there is no word to show that this man received the Spirit.
J.T. The facts speak for themselves as was remarked; the Holy Spirit would not have taken Philip from his convert, if his convert had needed him; besides, the eunuch "went on his way rejoicing" Acts 8:39.
C.A.C. The man was thoroughly identified with the life of Jesus, and accepted His death as defining the position here. Was not that true assembly material?
J.T. That is what I thought; the man can be trusted. We cannot tell what happened in Ethiopia, there may have been an assembly there later, in which the eunuch would have part. The general facts presented show the work of God already in the eunuch, and the excellence of Philip's work in presenting the gospel to him, and the Spirit's pleasure in the servant.
P.L. Have we all this in Jesus; He was taken up into heaven? (Mark 16).
J.T. That is very good; the Lord was taken up after He had spoken to them. He left them provided for by what He had said to them. The early chapters of Acts prove that, and justify the Lord in leaving them; they
could be left for ten days by themselves, to show the character of the material He had prepared for His assembly, and then another divine Person comes down.
Ques. What is the difference between the Spirit speaking in verse 29 and the angel speaking to Philip in verse 26?
J.T. Verse 29 means that Philip had advanced in his service -- the Spirit spoke to him, and God loves to signalise our progress. I think the character of Philip's work is beautiful; he went down into the water with the eunuch; there was complete identification on the part of Philip with the eunuch. There are not many coloured brethren in South Africa, though there are twenty millions of that branch of the race south of the Zambesi.
C.C.E. I am very hopeful of the natives of South Africa.
J.T. I am glad to hear that. I know that in one town of South Africa there was one white meeting, and one coloured; but that is not Philip and the eunuch going down to the water together. I like to test myself with this question; the prejudice is very strong in America; we are not without this test, and it is a very real one that we ought to face. Philip and the eunuch went down to the water together; there is complete identification between them. The Holy Spirit brings the eunuch forward; we get first the Hamite (Acts 8), then the Jew (Acts 9), and then the Japhethite (Acts 10), but the Hamite is first mentioned.
W.B.C. Why does Ham come first?
J.T. The humanly despised man comes first; that is God's way; He is different from us, He does not think as we do -- "What God has cleansed, do not thou make common" (Acts 10:15). This cuts across natural thoughts.
Ques. Is not the colour question settled by their both going down into the water together?
J.T. Yes; and the next thing normally would be that they sat down together. The Lord's supper follows baptism; they were identified in the faith of Christ. We see the same spirit in Peter; when Cornelius would have worshipped him, Peter says, I also am a man; and they went into the house together. Acts 10:27 says, "he went in, talking with him".
The time is gone, but I had thought of mentioning that the Spirit comes in in connection with Peter in chapter 10, and that His action there involves a free hand; He had an entirely free hand in Peter's service; He came upon the gentiles as they were listening to the word, and before Peter stopped speaking.
Romans 5:5; Romans 8:14 - 16; Romans 14:17; Romans 15:13
My wish in regard of this meeting is to help more particularly those who are young, and for this reason I have selected Romans, which is particularly calculated to meet the needs of young believers.
My thought is to speak of the Holy Spirit as seen in this epistle; and what one would say to all, and especially to young believers, is that the best Friend we have on earth is the Spirit of God, answering to what is in heaven; for what is there is here in principle; we can never limit a divine Person. So that in the presence of the Holy Spirit here we have, as I said, our best Friend on earth. It is important that He should be regarded in a personal way, that believers should become acquainted with the Holy Spirit. The Lord in His communications of love to His own at the supper table in Jerusalem, ere He died, spoke much of the Spirit as another Comforter; One who, by the term He uses, was to be known as taking charge of the affairs of the saints here. He spoke of Him as the Spirit of truth, sent by the Father in answer to His begging for Him; He spoke of Him as sent forth in the Son's name by the Father; He spoke of Him as proceeding forth from with the Father, meaning that He had perfect first-hand knowledge of the Father's thoughts about the Son, the Son being the subject of testimony, the Spirit should bear witness of Him; and then, the Lord would Himself send Him. As the Spirit of truth comes, He brings into this world a demonstration of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. You see, therefore, a divine Person is here, and His functions are in relation to the saints, He is another Comforter.
Now I want to show how He operates, as seen in this epistle, and first in regard to the hearts of believers.
He is presented indeed earlier in relation to the Lord Himself as "the Spirit of holiness"; reminding us that what accompanies the gospel is the Spirit of holiness. He is also presented as the Spirit of life; the Spirit of God; the Spirit of adoption. All these designations are in relation to our souls' experience, and I mention them that you may have in view the comprehensiveness of the Spirit's functions and relations, as presented in this fundamental epistle. I say fundamental, because it is well to be grounded in the foundations; so that young people may have a basis for a superstructure which God will not fail to rear.
I wish to speak about the Holy Spirit in relation to our hearts. The heart is a sphere in which you would expect Him to be especially interested, for God would secure His people through their hearts; through their intelligence, of course, but the highest intelligence is through the eyes of the heart; the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God is through the "eyes of your heart" (Ephesians 1:18). Hence the importance of recognising this first service of the Spirit. He knows that the end in view in the gospel is a heart matter; and so, in the type in Exodus that is what God would stress in speaking to His people. He says, "I have borne you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself" (Exodus 19:4). This was after they had murmured, after they had complained, after they had talked about going back into Egypt. God knowing well our proclivities and how the things of the world cling to us, even after our conversion, delivers us out of them, bearing us on eagles' wings to Himself. What marks His early dealings with the people after they had passed through the Red Sea, after they had sung of His victory, is grace: on their side one complaint after another, but no reproofs, no punitive action on the part of God: it was the reign of grace; it was the era of grace.
Thus, in answer to their demand for water in their murmurings, God said to Moses, "Behold, I will stand
before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock" Exodus 17:6. That is the idea. Instead of smiting the people, the rock was smitten; and "that rock was Christ" 1 Corinthians 10:4. That touches the heart; it is intended to touch the heart; that He was smitten instead of me when I deserved it; when I had shown by my wayward, rebellious and murmuring spirit that I deserved it, Christ was smitten. He was "stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted" Isaiah 53:4, as we read. So that the Holy Spirit comes, in type, and the water flowed in order that the people might have another state.
And then immediately Amalek attacks them, and the whole divine system, we may say, is engaged to give victory to the believer; for that is the idea. Moses and Aaron and Hur and Joshua, are all actively engaged, so that the believer, as having the Holy Spirit, should prove His power. The intercession of Christ on high in Moses, and the skill of Christ as a warrior in Joshua, are brought into action, so that the beginnings of the believer, as possessed of the Spirit, should be marked by victory; that the young believer should get a taste of it, and as he gets a taste, the thing will increase. That is to say, what began in the type in Exodus 17 ended in Joshua, in the people being set in possession of the land. It was the same power, but in increased measure; and it is continually increasing, for there is no limit. It is a divine power here, given without measure.
It is a question, therefore, of capacity in the believer; and so in the type after this God says, Now I want you to be for Me, a chosen, priestly nation. He would have them for Himself, for Jehovah's inheritance is His people; and that elevates the believer at once, for he is of the inheritance of God. You see how valuable the believer is to God; His heritage is His people, but then He would have His inheritance. Ephesians 1:18 speaks of "the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints". It is a marvellous thought! and directly it gets into the soul it elevates it.
The believer belongs to God; he is the inheritance of God. God says, Now I want your hearts, but I want to open up My heart to you, so that you may know what a God you have:
That is in the wilderness. We have to know that God, and so He sets about at Horeb to make Himself known. I do not say at Sinai, for that is a question of demand, but Horeb, the mount of God where the covenant was made; there they spent a long time, and God opened up His heart to them. That is the principle of it. I know it was but partial, for the death of Christ had to take place for the full disclosure of the heart of God. "He ... spared not his own Son" Romans 8:32, we are told. He commends His love to us, as we are told in our chapter. He is so desirous that we might know it, and that it might be in our hearts. Think how God condescends to commend a thing that should never need to be commended -- the very best thing conceivable, the love of God! What a thing it is! and God condescends to commend it to us; reminding us of how slow we are to value what is most excellent.
Philippians 1:10 speaks of excellency, "That ye may judge of and approve the things that are more excellent". It is a fine habit. God commends His love to us, "in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8. But that is not enough. He intends that what He has commended should become resident in our hearts, and the Holy Spirit serves in that connection. He sheds abroad, says the apostle, the love of God in our hearts. Now this is most important for every young person, and for all of us, to have the consciousness of the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit; a transaction by the Spirit of God; not simply coming to us,
taking possession of us, sealing us, but bringing this love into our hearts, the love of God.
Now I pass on to chapter 8, a chapter, thank God, much read, and I hope understood; so that I do not intend to go into the details of the teaching relative to the Spirit, only that I would say that it answers in the types to Numbers 21 and what follows. It is an experience well-nigh forty years after that of which I have spoken. But it is not contemplated that this should be the case with us. It is well, however, to note the number of years that elapsed between Horeb and Beer, the well of which it is said, "Gather the people together, and I will give them water" Numbers 21:16. It is well to note that; so that we might not be "objective" merely in our apprehension of the truth; but that we may see that while the objective side is presented to us in the gospel, to be received on the principle of faith, the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures would teach us that a time -- however short or long -- elapses between that and the full formation in us that corresponds with it. That as God worked on the principle of time in Genesis 1, so He works on the principle of time in our souls; for we are still in time. Hence we find in Genesis that life does not appear till the third day. We have light on the first day; and then we have the heavens on the second day, all of which is what I may call objective; that is, what is presented to me, something outside of me, but which is intended to affect me and govern me.
Then on the third day you have the dry land appearing. Now the dry land alludes to what is subjective; because it is said immediately, that it is to bring forth of itself: "Let the earth cause grass to spring up", etc. Genesis 1:11. Of course, it needs the heat of the sun and the atmosphere; it needs water, although there is nothing said about rain until the flood; but it needs moisture. Thus on the third day -- that is, two days elapse, and then you have what we speak of as subjective, pointing to a result worked in us, a latent thing brought into existence by the work of
God. No one should be content until he begins to realise the power of fruitfulness, of life operating. It begins at the new birth.
In this chapter (Romans 8) we read of those who are "after the Spirit" or "according to Spirit", as it should read. That includes the initial work of the Spirit -- the new birth. This chapter contemplates the possession of the Spirit by the believer. Before the Spirit worked in us we were "according to flesh" Romans 8:8 and we thought only of the things of the flesh, but the work of God in the soul leads to thinking of the things of the Spirit; we are "according to Spirit", we are that. That is not objective, it is the state of the person. Now these are most important and practical things, and I am speaking of them in connection with the lapse of time, with that principle as to God's work in our souls. Two days would be a testimony as to the time needed, according to Genesis 1. Two days spiritually imply much; three implies ample testimony. Seven would be a complete exercise; so that we need not, dear young people, think of waiting for forty years for the subjective result. It should be practically immediate, but on the principle of lapse of time; and this is calculated to keep us humble and dependent, for we must wait on God.
I wish now to show how the Holy Spirit in Romans 8 brings into evidence the sons of God. To be sons of God practically we need deliverance; and this book is to effect that. The experience of chapter 7, which perhaps is not much known by us, nor so much dwelt upon as it used to be, is essential. Every young believer should take that chapter up and work it out. It is, as it were, a problem. I know of no greater problem in the Scriptures than that chapter; but the greater the problem, the more the advantage when it is successfully worked out; and when this one is worked out the enemy has no more advantage over you through the sin that dwelleth in you. You acknowledge humbly that it is there; but you have it kept under lock and key, so to
say. You have power to do it, for the Holy Spirit becomes like an armed official acting all-powerfully against a criminal whose sentence is pronounced. He restrains it. If it acts, you know it acts, and judge it; you regard its action by itself, and you are not brought again into bondage through it. "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Romans 7:24 is the cry, and the answer is immediate: "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord" Romans 7:25. He has done it, but He does it by the Spirit. By His death, of course; for there could be no Holy Spirit for us, nor any deliverance save by the death of Christ; so that He is the Deliverer, and the Deliverer becomes the Husband, as we learn in Romans 7:1 - 4.
But then chapter 8 is to show how the thing is effected in detail. It is by the Spirit. The condemnation of sin in the flesh in the death of Christ having taken place, a mighty power comes into the believer and takes up residence there (for the idea is dwelling): "If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" Romans 8:9, and He takes up His residence unchallenged. It is a poor thing if the Holy Spirit has to contest for His presence in the believer every moment of the believer's history. That will not do. The idea is that He is to reside, to have undisputed possession of the house, and if He does, He will give you a blessed time. Many of us know what wonderful times the Spirit of God accords us. The more latitude we give Him the better the time, the more enjoyment, the greater victory; "the Spirit is life" Romans 8:10, and "the mind of the Spirit life and peace" Romans 8:6. "God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh", Romans 8:3. It is condemned. How the love of God enters into that, sending "his own Son"! It appears twice in the chapter. And what for? "That the righteous requirement of the law should be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh but according to Spirit". Romans 8:4.
Now that alludes in the types, as I said, to Numbers 21, where you have the brazen serpent lifted up, as you
will remember, and following on that the springing well. The two things stand out, the one condemnatory of sin in the flesh, and the other an active power of life, a well springing up: "Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it" Numbers 21:17. So there is movement towards Canaan in that chapter. It is a chapter to be noted specially for the suggestions of energy; and it is military; "the book of the wars of the Lord" Numbers 21:14 is mentioned. How you would like to get into that book! Well, this is how we get into it, by recognising the Spirit, and as the Spirit takes full possession there is victory after victory, and no more murmuring. It is "the book of the wars of the Lord", and then "brooks" are mentioned there, and "poets" (N. Trans.). It is a chapter full of stirring things, all of which are the answer to the condemnation of the flesh, God having dealt with it judicially in the death of the Lord Jesus; and in the recognition of the Spirit of God. It is victory! It is a chapter of buoyancy; and so the people go right on towards the land. It says there, that they go as far as "the top of Pisgah" Numbers 21:20. You say, That is a look into the land. No doubt, but what is stated there is "Pisgah, which looks over the surface of the waste" (Numbers 21:20). It is a backward look, so that you may know better 'the God that thou hast found', not that you want to go back over it. No. The backward movement is over for ever, but the backward look is that you may think of the God whose love and whose support you have proved; so you may love Him all the more. And that is what comes out in this chapter: "those who love God" Romans 8:28. The wilderness brings out what God is to us in His love, and so we love Him, and there is nothing too good in His mind for those who love Him. "Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man's heart, which God has prepared for them that love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). And so it is here. He has foreknown us, He has predestinated us, He has called us, He has justified us, He has glorified us -- those who love Him.
Now I wish to dwell on the thought of the sons of God. I have already anticipated it, but I will turn back to speak of deliverance, because we cannot enter into the idea or realise the thought of sons apart from deliverance. You may get the idea objectively as I said, but to know it in the soul is another matter, and so "because ye are sons", we learn elsewhere, "God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Galatians 4:6). Now I touch sonship, "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God" (Romans 8:14). So in the type in Numbers, as I said, the movement is in the direction of Canaan. The backward look is just to enhance God in our minds and hearts, to review what He has been to us, but we are already moving, not now by the light and guidance of the tabernacle (that practically disappears for the remainder of the wilderness journey), it is a question henceforth of the power within. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God", that is the power within, "these are sons of God" (Romans 8:14). And so in the type, as they drew near to the Jordan, they were all sons; they were led typically by the Spirit of God; such are the sons of God. Moses took great pains to instruct them in the book of Deuteronomy that they might be characteristically that. "Ye are sons of Jehovah", he says, and he tells them many things they are to do, so that they might go into the land in the dignity and liberty and intelligence and glory and refinement of sons; that they should be in it according to God.
That is Romans 8 in a general way. Other things might be said about the Spirit. We have the first-fruits of the Spirit; and moreover He witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God, a touching and precious thing, He tells us inwardly that we are children of God (Romans 8:16). We have thus the comfort of being the objects of divine care here. The Holy Spirit reminds us of that. Be our circumstances severe, under pressure we may be, and what not, but the Holy Spirit would
remind us touchingly in our spirits that we are children as well as sons; that we are children of God, and hence objects of the Father's care in regard of every matter relative to us, in the wilderness. "So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me" (Hebrews 13:6). We may nestle in that knowledge under the Father's wing, for love will do its best for us. "See what love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God" (1 John 3:1).
Then He intercedes for us, we are told, "The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered", Romans 8:26. Wonderful fact! there is perfect representation in that intercession of the needs of our souls, with groanings that cannot be uttered. God understands them all. So you see, dear young believer, what you have in the Spirit. You may not know how to pray as you ought to pray (the Lord teaches us how to pray, and we should learn from Him); but if we do not know, the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Then God Himself searches our hearts; you see what interest heaven has in our hearts. "He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God". And then "we know" (by the knowledge we have of God) "that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" Romans 8:27,28. All that is Romans 8, and you can see how God brings you on gently, the Holy Spirit moving you inwardly, moving your affections and intelligence, so that you are moving towards Canaan. Egypt is behind for ever. You go into Canaan by attraction, but in the power of the Spirit, not led by the hand any more. You are no longer a child to be led by the hand out of the land of Egypt; we go into the land in the dignity of sons. You follow the ark through; you see it before you two
thousand cubits ahead, in all its beauty and power -- Christ going into death. How admirable! how it touches the hearts of the saints as they see the Leader of their salvation going forward and dealing with death, so that it disappears from view. It is cut off in the height of its power, as the feet of the priests who carry the ark touch its waters. Hence, they went over by attraction, as I might say, in the dignity of sons, but as loving Christ. The apostle says, "If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha" 1 Corinthians 16:22, as if he abhorred the thought, and pronounced a curse on any one that does not love Christ. So that we go over in the power of the Spirit of God as the sons of God following Christ; for He goes first. He is the Leader of our salvation. We go over Jordan as loving Christ; we are raised with Him by the faith of the working of God and we are quickened with Him.
Now I want to say just a word about the kingdom. It is a drop in a way, from what I have been speaking of, but the kingdom is a term that covers the whole position while we are down here. Although Romans shows that there is power in the Spirit to enter into Canaan, this being our place, yet the wilderness remains during our life in flesh and blood, but it is where the will and testimony of God are maintained, and the kingdom has its service in this connection. It is the guarantee for our protection and deliverance in view of the evil and the opposition that there is. It is not a question of dislodging the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Amorite; that is not the idea of the kingdom. That is a military matter; not but that the kingdom implies military power, for there was military order in the wilderness as in the land; but the order in the wilderness is much more pronounced, because it is to call attention to the permanency of the kingdom as here, as covering our position in this world.
So in chapter 14, after the apostle speaks about the authorities, "the powers that be" for whom we pray and
whom God uses, he speaks about the kingdom of God; that is direct from Him. The kingdom of God is that in which God rules directly. The kingdoms of this world God uses, but He governs through them indirectly. Hence, the kingdom of God is brought in in chapter 14 over against meat and drink. By going in for the things that are common to men, that the flesh goes after, by going in for them without control, without spiritual intelligence, we may destroy the work of God. That is a serious matter; the work of God is most precious, and therefore "the weak brother" must be handled carefully. But I cannot go into that; I only wish to show you that the kingdom of God is over against these natural things, and that it is "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" Romans 14:17.
Now that does not necessarily mean when we are together. The kingdom of God, as I said, is a permanent thing. In the types it is seen in Numbers in the ordering of the tribes militarily. Each man pitched by the standard of his father's house, and they were all arrayed in relation to the tabernacle, and God dwelt in the tabernacle. That is to say, God dwelling there influenced the whole area of the tribes. The influence spread around from the dwelling of God to the whole camp; so that it was a kingdom, and Moses in a way was king in it. It is said of him that "he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together" Deuteronomy 33:5. Moses had acquired that place. He was not always fully owned, for rebellion after rebellion showed itself, but I am speaking of the principle of Numbers, and it is the kingdom of God. It is a permanent institution in the wilderness; it is the rule of God as dwelling among His people; so that it applies to me in my house, in my business, as I walk in the streets. Whatever I do I am in the kingdom of God and under its protection.
But what is in view here is the enjoyment that there is in it; that it is an area in which there is righteousness,
in which there is peace, and in which there is joy in the Holy Spirit; that ensures living conditions even when we are not together. When we are together, we come onto a different plane; but living conditions are assured to us in the wilderness through the kingdom of God. Righteousness is the first thing, practical righteousness, of course. The righteousness of God is demonstrated in the epistle, and the answer here in us is practical righteousness; so that every man in Israel, from twenty years and above, had his own place in relation to the centre. That is the idea of righteousness; that you do not veer away from your appointed place, you are governed by the will of God. Moses the mediator being there conveys the will of God, and that is what comes out in Numbers. Every one occupies his place, he is in righteousness, and he stands in relation to his brethren and considers for them. He sees that the occupation of his assigned position is essential to the welfare of the whole. Everything is divinely ordered by God in the camp. It is the kingdom of God; and I occupy my assigned place, I am in righteousness. Then I am in peace. I do not quarrel with my neighbour if I occupy my assigned position; and then the Holy Spirit is at liberty to fill my heart with joy. I have got it always; in every relation of life it is granted to me by the kingdom of God -- "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" Romans 14:17. You can see, as I have said, "the weak brother" would be cared for in that. The powers that be will not care for him; weak people do not get much favour in the world; they are not much thought of; but in the kingdom of God every provision is made for the weak brother; he is not to be stumbled.
The last thing I had in mind is the rejoicing. Chapter 15 is full of energy, but I just refer to verse 13: "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that ye should abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit". Romans 15:13. I thought, dear brethren, that we could hardly finish our meetings with a better
verse than this, because the Lord gives us good times in these "holy convocations", but when we disperse we are apt to drop down, and not maintain the high spiritual level on which we have been, and it seemed to me this verse is very practical for us.
One might say much about the chapter. It is full of energy, as I said. It is the chapter in which the apostle speaks of the immense radius of his labours. "From Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum", he says, "I have fully preached the gospel of Christ" Romans 15:19. He was not a bit jaded. He says, I am going to come to you too. He was going to invade the Latin part of the Empire, as he had covered the Greek part. He had that in mind, and he said he thought of going to Spain also. No conqueror ever operated with such energy as this. What a mighty work was his! From Jerusalem, and in a circuit round to Illyricum he had fully preached the gospel of Christ. One would have loved to have heard him. How well he did it! "If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost" 2 Corinthians 4:3, and then he speaks of the "radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" 2 Corinthians 4:4. That was what shone out in his preaching. He fully preached in the East, and was ready to come on to the West.
The Levitical energy that marks him in this chapter is most stimulating, and so you see the power in this word of his: "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that ye should abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" Romans 15:13. Well, let this mark us, dear brethren. It is a question of dependence on God, the God of hope; for as He has helped us during the past days, He can do more for us. He is not changed, He is the God of hope; He inspires hope, so that the thing is to go forth in hope; and then to be filled with "all joy and peace in believing" in the power of the Holy Spirit. May God grant it!
Hebrews 2:4; Hebrews 3:7; Hebrews 6:4 - 6; Hebrews 9:8; Hebrews 10:15 - 22
I have in mind to dwell on the Holy Spirit as presented to us in this epistle. I have no doubt that the manner of His presentation in each book of Scripture is distinctive, and that it opens up a wide subject for us; our understanding of each book would be greatly enhanced were we to lay hold of the setting of the Spirit therein. And so I would venture to look at this epistle from that point of view; for whilst the Holy Spirit, as we learn from the Lord's own word, does not speak of Himself, that is, as from Himself, He does speak of Himself as an object. He should be that in our minds, for it is a marvellous fact that the Holy Spirit of God, one of the divine Persons to whose name we are baptised, is still here. Indeed, He is the continual attestation to the divine gift here. The apostle says to the Corinthians, "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable free gift" (2 Corinthians 9:15, New Trans.). It was not something unknown nor merely historical; it was a living presence, and is livingly present. The fact that the "gift" in that particular passage is not specified, presents it in greater evidence and fulness as appealing to the intelligence and experience and consciousness of the saints of God. It is a divine Person here, a marvellous fact, the fulness of divine giving; and the more we so regard it, the more we shall be affected, and brought into accord with God.
Now that is the setting of the passage in 2 Corinthians. It is a question of giving. "He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever". 2 Corinthians 9:9. We are thus in the very midst of the unspeakable free-giving of God. The gift of the Spirit and all that it involves is of a piece with the gift of the Son; the Spirit of God continuing here maintains the sense of divine presence.
The epistle to the Hebrews has remarkable correspondence
with our own times; it deals with apostasy. It indicates the divine way of meeting apostasy, and delivering the people of God from its current. As it was then, so now, the current is definite and strong. Young ones particularly are little aware of the strength of it, and how enormously it has been accentuated during the past quarter of a century; and hence the importance of understanding how God would fortify us against it, so that if we are caught by it, as some, alas, are, we may be delivered from it! The divine way necessarily hinges on the presence of the Holy Spirit here. The writer speaks of God bearing witness with the early servants "both by signs and wonders, and various acts of power, and distributions of the Holy Spirit, according to his will" (Hebrews 2:4, New Trans.).
We are thus brought back at the very outset of the epistle to the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost, and His subsequent activities and services; it was a marvellous intervention, far exceeding that of the heavenly multitude which came down when Jesus was born. The Holy Spirit had come, taking up His residence here. It was not a passing thing. It was not a visit. It is said that He sat upon each of them; upon each of those assembled; which word usually denotes permanency as to position with something in view, however short or long the period. He came in definitely and resolutely to take up His residence in the assembly, the one hundred and twenty at Jerusalem being the work of Christ Himself. No one afterwards received the Holy Spirit as they did. The great initial idea of His coming and presence and continuance here is indicated in Acts 2. He sat upon each of them, and in the form of cloven tongues as of fire. That is, He was here to speak, and to speak universally; and with means of dealing effectively with all obstruction, for there appeared cloven tongues as of fire. There were thus the distributions of the Holy Spirit according to God's will (Hebrews 2:4).
I think christians should begin with the great fact in their souls of what God has done, of what He did at Pentecost, and what He has done in a lesser degree since, even in our own time. There has been a great revival; not such as we have been speaking of this afternoon as seen in the work of Saul (1 Samuel 15). That was an incomplete work; it was not finished; it was like Sardis, of whom the Lord says, "I have not found thy works complete before my God" (Revelation 3:2). They may appear to be complete. Saul's victory over the Amalekites seemed to be complete, and he would persuade even Samuel that it was so, but it was not so before God. There had been disregard of the divine command in selfishly sparing what should have been utterly destroyed. And so, as at Sardis, which historically preceded our time, and which is still all around us, the works are not complete before God. Take all the great religious movements since the Reformation. In no instance do you find completion until you come to the true revival; not indeed what christendom regards as a revival, but what the Spirit would give us to understand as a revival, that is, in the recognition of Christ in heaven, and the Holy Spirit here; and, as a consequence, His presence for the maintenance of the assembly. That is completeness!
A believer begins with himself as regards the assembly; he is of it. As soon as I apprehend Christ in heaven and the Holy Spirit here, and what the assembly is, I begin to see that I am a Peter, so to speak, I belong to it; and then I begin to move. Then as to service, the Lord says, "Go, for I will send thee" Acts 22:21, and that is the important thing, especially for young people. I begin with it and move in it, and I hold myself in regard of it. So that you see what we come to in the wonderful sovereign mercy of God is genuine recovery, corresponding with what was at the beginning; and especially in the distributions of the Holy Spirit of God "according to his will" Hebrews 2:4. And that shuts out at once all human
innovation in regard to the church of God. It is all a question of His own will. God's will must enter into everything as regards the distributions of the Holy Spirit. It is said as regards gifts that God has set them in the assembly. It is also said that "there are distinctions of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are distinctions of services, and the same Lord; and there are distinctions of operations, but the same God who operates all things in all" (1 Corinthians 12:4 - 6).
Thus you see how we are set in this connection; the Holy Spirit operating in gifts, in distributions, the Lord operating in services, God operating all things in all, as over all. We are in God's world, and man and his world are shut out. However small the limits to which it may be reduced, these great facts apply. So, as regards the distributions of the Spirit; they are not something merely abstract or theoretic, they are existent and actively, livingly present; and that is the first great thing to recognise as to the Spirit, these widespread distributions. Whatever they are, they are for the saints, for every one of them, old and young; and our salvation in the testimony depends on our recognising this, that all is on the principle of God's unspeakable free giving.
Following the distributions of the Holy Spirit according to God's will, the next thing is the partaking of It. Chapter 6 contemplates partaking of the Holy Spirit and the possibility of one having done so falling away (verse 6). In speaking of the Holy Spirit's presence here, and of partaking in It, it is well to hear in mind that it involves the system of grace which God has inaugurated; and that is what is implied in the figure of a well in the Old Testament. It is not only the Person of the Holy Spirit, and His availability, but the system of grace that has been established in His power here. In this book He is called "the Spirit of grace" (Hebrews 10:29), a significant term! "The Spirit of grace" involves the system of it, making what is of God dominant for good.
Grace effects good in spite of evil. Hence I take Hagar in Genesis as a type of one who partook of the system, who had part in it, but fell away. She had part in the household of faith, and was treated accordingly. It is with her that the idea of a well is first introduced in scripture; and then with herself and her son. In the second instance (Genesis 21) she is an outcast, and he is an outcast, the "bondwoman and her son" Galatians 4:30, but grace pursues them. She was rightly an outcast from the house of faith, for her son was a mocker of Christ, but grace, as I said, pursues them. This epistle develops that thought; for it is the continuance of the overtures of God to His earthly people.
I refer to Hagar in a simple and practical way, as indicating how one may be a participator in the Spirit of grace in this sense, and fall away, and "fail", as it says, "of the grace of God" Hebrews 12:15. So in Genesis 21 she has her eyes opened. She cast the boy under a shrub to die, and a voice came to her from heaven -- that is the principle of this epistle -- the second overture to Hagar was from heaven. Then God opens her eyes, and she sees the well, and she filled the flask with water and gave to the lad, and he drank of it. She availed herself of it, but she did not continue in it. Abraham in this same chapter went on in it and contended for it. He rebuked the Philistines because of a well they had violently taken away. He valued it. The seven ewe lambs were to be a witness that he had dug the well. But Hagar did not go on in it. It says she took a wife for her son out of Egypt. I speak of this so that you may see how easily after coming to Christ one may turn aside and form links with the world. Ishmael became an "archer", and scripture says of Joseph that "the archers shot at him" (Genesis 49:23). As links in the world are formed the course then is rapidly down.
Simon Magus (Acts 8) would give money to receive the Holy Spirit, that he might be a great one, and Peter says to him, "Thou hast neither part nor lot in this
matter" Acts 8:21. It is a terrible thing to have neither part nor lot in this matter, but here in Hebrews it speaks of those who had had part and who fell away. Such were not born of God; they had part in an outward way in the Spirit.
Over against this we have the Holy Spirit speaking. First in Hebrews 3:7,8, "Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts". In this chapter He is speaking about our hearts, and how susceptible they are to hardening, but in chapter 10 He is speaking clearly about the heart of God, that never hardens towards His people! Moreover He intimates, as He speaks about the heart of God, that God takes away the stony heart from us. How blessed to retire into the knowledge of God in His faithfulness! He takes away the stony heart and gives a heart of flesh. The thought of the covenant tends to make the heart soft and tender; and then He says, "I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them" Hebrews 8:10. The covenant implies that God in His faithfulness takes possession of the heart and mind so as to secure us wholly for Himself. He leaves not a stone unturned to reach the hearts of His people. We are to keep them with all diligence (Proverbs 4:23). The Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts the love of God, so that God should rule and dwell there.
Chapters 8 and 10 speak about the covenant; and what I would point out is that what the Spirit says to us here is from the Old Testament; He gives it a present voice. Many belittle the Old Testament; scarcely a greater error could be made than to disparage or neglect the Old Testament. "Every scripture is divinely inspired, and profitable for teaching" (2 Timothy 3:16). So that you see the Holy Spirit makes these two passages speak now. He is a witness, "as says the Holy Spirit" (not "said"). Psalm 95 is thus written directly to us, for He quotes that psalm in chapter 3. He brings it to bear upon me, lest I should harden my heart; and in chapters 8 and 10 He brings Jeremiah to bear upon me, to witness to us of the covenant of God. Thus you
see what the testimony of the Spirit is, what He is to us, even without going on to the full christian state, which this epistle hardly gives you, for that you would go to Colossians or Ephesians. The Holy Spirit is speaking directly to us in the language of the Old Testament as a witness. How important, therefore, to read the Old Testament!
And then as regards "the holiest" in Hebrews 9, we read that the Holy Spirit shows, for the word in verse 8 is "showing" or "signifying", that is to say, it is a question of typical instruction. The prophets are one witness, and the types are another, showing the importance of typical teaching. "The Holy Spirit showing this, that the way of the holy of holies has not yet been made manifest while as yet the first tabernacle has its standing". Hebrews 9:8. How needful, therefore, to read the types, for in them the Holy Spirit would show us things! We have not only what He says but what He shows. In Hebrews 10 He speaks, and brings in the covenant through Jeremiah. He speaks from Jeremiah, using his very words. He is speaking now, and all is in view of our entering "the holiest". For if the heart of God is so brought to us in these precious terms, in the thought of forgiveness, we are perfected by the one offering for ever (Hebrews 10:14) -- we have encouragement to draw near to God. He says, as it were, I wish you to be so perfectly free that you can draw near to Me. Is it not touching, dear brethren? He is in the tabernacle, so to speak, and He would call us to Him. In Leviticus God called out of the tabernacle. The way into the holiest is open to us; "Having therefore, brethren, boldness for entering into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way which he has dedicated for us, through the veil, that is, his flesh" (Hebrews 10:19, 20). It is Jesus become Man here, and that involved His death. There is no other way than the death of Jesus; there is no way in for the natural man. It involves, too, the gift of the Spirit, for it is a living way.
And then "having a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, sprinkled as to our hearts from a wicked conscience, and washed as to our body with pure water" (Hebrews 10:22). That is the way out of this world of apostasy. Inside the veil, outside the camp. How can we be outside the camp save as we go in sustained by the great Priest!
What a group of facts we have here! The blood of Jesus, the new and living way through the veil, which is His flesh, and the great Priest over the house of God. All these things are grouped together so that a way is made for us into the holiest. It is "heaven itself" that is opened up to us in Hebrews; it has been called 'the book of the opened heavens'. It has special application to us today. Heaven is the outlet from what is going on around us! May God bless His word!
1 Peter 1:1,2, 10 - 12; 1 Peter 3:18 - 20; 1 Peter 4:14
My subject, dear brethren, is the Spirit of God and of Christ, in this epistle of Peter. The understanding of the place He has in each book and epistle helps greatly in understanding the mind of God in it; and whilst references in Peter are not numerous, being covered practically by the passages read, they are very significant, especially as bearing on the government of God, as Peter's ministry does. In his epistle he directs our minds back to antediluvian times, and onward to the new heavens and the new earth in which righteousness dwells. I hope to show that the references to the Spirit enter into all this instruction; so that we may see that the testimony of God is one whole, and so also the government of God.
I would stress the latter a little, because we are all subjects of it, but not always intelligently so, and thus much disappointment and discouragement enter into our experience. These would be eliminated were we more intelligent as to the government of God with us; for His government, like all else, is the outcome of what He is. Everything related to God proceeds from God, and God is love, so that His government is quite compatible with His nature. But the knowledge of the Spirit, as presented in these scriptures, enables us to link it up, whether it be in the entire extent of God's universal dealings or within the compass respectively of our own small histories. The knowledge of the Spirit and His part, enables us to understand, and to hear, and to profit, by what would otherwise appear to be against us. Jacob, as you will remember, thought that things were against him which in reality were for him, as intended to work out love in him. He, with certain other servants of whom we have life-sized pictures,
serves to illustrate what we are naturally, and how love is worked out in us, in spite of this. Nothing can be more comforting than that God works out love in us, in spite of what we are, that He does not give us up as incorrigible, but keeps on in His patience and works out His design.
So Peter refers in the opening of his address to the "sojourners of the dispersion" 1 Peter 1:1. Why should they be dispersed? Why should they be where naturally they would not wish to be? Why should they not be in the land of promise? So it is, that in the government of God, we find ourselves in positions or circumstances contrary to our natural wishes. Perhaps there is not one in this audience who cannot attest to the reality of this. We have to learn from the outset that the government of God will not promote us in our natural thoughts and wishes and aspirations; it invariably cuts athwart these. So here the address is to the "sojourners of the dispersion". Dispersed where? Abroad among the nations. The land is not mentioned at all. Has then the love of God failed? Have the promises of God failed? Do my circumstances, which seem to be wholly different from my youthful aspirations, or my fondest desires, prove that love in God has failed? By no means! The Spirit of God addresses us in our present circumstances, whatever they may be. If they be such as we have worked ourselves into, by natural effort and manipulation, then the voice of the Spirit would be to leave them for they are not such as love would have me in; but if they be such as naturally I would recoil from, and as to which I have had no option, then evidently, the will of God has placed me in them, and I am safe, and God addresses me as "elect". Can I be safer, than as addressed as "elect ... of God the Father" 1 Peter 1:2, although in circumstances which seem to be contrary to God, and to His love and a Father's best care? The fact is, that these circumstances which apparently are contrary and irksome, are the evidence of God's love and of His
election, they are the best possible for me now, in view of what I shall be.
Then as "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" 1 Peter 1:2, it is not a matter of light merely, precious as is the light of the mind and election of God, and we should be well grounded in the thought of election, but light does not make it consciously certain. Our calling and election, according to Peter, are made sure by certain additions. "Add to your faith virtue" 2 Peter 1:5 and so on -- knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly love, love -- these things being in us and abounding, we shall never fail; we shall make our calling and election sure, and so an abundant entrance shall be ministered unto us into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
So here (verse 2), as is usual with Peter, he does not rest in light simply, but in substance. If I am called, foreknown, and elect of God the Father, it is by "sanctification of the Spirit" 1 Peter 1:2. That is the first thought. If we take the ground, as we should, in the government of God, as being foreknown and elect in Christ, it should not be merely because of light, but because of something tangible. The Holy Spirit is here to make things tangible. Faith indeed is said to be that; it is the "substantiating of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). But without the Spirit, things can never be permanently real, and what God is forming is substance in His people. Then election is "by sanctification of the Spirit" 1 Peter 1:2. That is how Peter puts it. And so in his second epistle, if it be a question of what relates to godliness, "his divine power has given to us all things which relate to life and godliness"; and if He calls us, it is "by glory and virtue" 2 Peter 1:3, and then he goes on to the "exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world" 2 Peter 1:4.
We see thus, that Peter in opening up to us the certainty of divine life deals in substance, in realities --
for these stand by us, if our calling and election are to be made sure to ourselves. And surely that is the point. It is a question of what is sure to us, not simply as a matter of light, but by these substantial things. So here, it is first by sanctification of the Spirit, and what for? "Unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" 1 Peter 1:2. You see how practical all this is; that the Lord Jesus entered into the sphere of divine government; He, who was ever in the position of command, took up the position of obedience, the position in which the government of God applied and in which the most perfect obedience was displayed in a Man, going on to the sprinkling of His blood, going on to death. That is to say, the Jewish christians are taken out of the realm of types and shadows -- "the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer" Hebrews 9:13 -- and brought into the realm of the obedience of Jesus, and the sprinkling of His blood, and that as the outcome, mark you, of the sanctification of the Spirit. It is not simply that I have the Spirit. Peter, in his early ministry, made it plain that all who obeyed Christ, got the Spirit (Acts 5:32), but now he is speaking, not of obtaining the Spirit, but of being sanctified by it, to this supreme thought of God, the obedience of Jesus. God has that standard before Him, and the Holy Spirit is operating in the believer so that he might be sanctified "unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" 1 Peter 1:2.
Now, this is a most important matter, dear brethren. God has given us light (we can praise Him for it) but what He is looking for is substance in answer to it. Wisdom causes those who love her to inherit substance, but it is by the Spirit. What, in this sense, is substantial is by the Spirit, not simply by light. Light goes a long way and causes joy, as we see with Miriam and the women of Israel (Exodus 15). They represent the subjective effect in the believer of light. Miriam dies, according to the record of Numbers 20, and in Numbers 21 the Spirit typically appears as the means of permanent
refreshment and support. Miriam's refrain was very little; it was but the first two lines of the song of Moses and the children of Israel, but it was something. But she dies, and what follows upon that is the recognition typically of the Spirit of God by Israel: "Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it" Numbers 21:17. The well was dug "by the direction of the lawgiver" Numbers 21:18. That is to say, it is a question of obedience. The princes digged the well -- those who knew the value of the Spirit. As soon as I begin to recognise the Spirit in this way, the sanctification begins to take place unto the obedience of Jesus. That is what goes into the land; it is the result of the sanctification of the Spirit. This is a practical word for the young people, because it is not only that I have the Spirit, but I am sanctified. Much might be said about sanctification, but I confine myself to this: that the Spirit taking hold of the believer inwardly, in his intelligence and affections, separates him from the world and attaches him to Christ.
The next thing, in the order of the scriptures read, is the "Spirit of Christ", and the Spirit of Christ, not as given at the present time, but as in the prophets. As I have already remarked, I wish to show how the Spirit links us up, in this ministry of Peter, with the past and with the future. Take for instance, "For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead" (1 Peter 4:6). Why was it preached to the dead? It was not surely as dead in their graves, but when they were here in responsibility -- for that is a feature of Peter's ministry; he shows that the preaching of Christ extended back, even to antediluvian times. Whoever the persons used in the testimony it was no less than the Spirit of Christ -- even Christ Himself, according to 1 Peter 3:19. The gospel preached to those that are now dead was "that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit" 1 Peter 4:6. God is a Spirit, and the gospel is preached that men might live in the Spirit. The millennial day will be marked
by men living for a thousand years, or more, in flesh and blood; but that is a provisional state of things, to show what God can do, and that Satan is defeated at every point, that God can keep men alive in the flesh even in this world where death reigned once. But what He is concerned with, is a race of men who live in the Spirit. That is why the gospel was preached to them. They will be judged if they refused it; they will stand before the great white throne, but God's thought was that they should "live ... in the spirit" 1 Peter 4:6, and it is His thought now. So that, you see, the Holy Spirit is the link right through from the beginning to the end of God's testimony, and therefore this salvation that we have, was looked on to by men who had the Spirit of Christ. They thought over it; they enquired into it: "Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow" 1 Peter 1:11. And what did they learn? "To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves but to you they ministered those things, which have now been announced to you by those who have declared to you the glad tidings by the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven" (1 Peter 1:12).
Now we have the Holy Spirit "sent from heaven", but the preaching went on before, and when we come to chapter 3, we find that Christ, in Spirit, went back even before the deluge. I want to impress upon you, that as we are brought into the realm of divine government, we are linked up vitally, with the whole scheme of divine testimony; that the Spirit that we have, is the Spirit that operated before the deluge and after the deluge -- that operates now, and will operate, so that we might make room for Him; and that we might not only be in the realm of God's government, but the realm of His love, and the realm of the Spirit. See how love enters into all these operations from the very outset, and that in all God's operations
it is a question of the Spirit of Christ, as that in which He has pleasure.
So in chapter 3 you see that the Lord Jesus suffered in the flesh for our sins. We should not suffer for sins; there is no need for that. "Christ also hath once suffered for sins ... being put to death in the flesh" (1 Peter 3:18). Why therefore should I suffer for sins? We cannot be too much imbued with the thought of Christ's humanity. How real it was! He was "put to death in the flesh", but then it adds that He was "quickened by the Spirit" 1 Peter 3:18. This is the principle of the new order of things, the new life in Christ. And then the apostle links up all this with the past: "In which also going he preached to the saints which are in prison", 1 Peter 3:19. But when? "When the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing" 1 Peter 3:20. What a period of long-suffering. Note that it was the Lord Himself who went and preached through Noah.
Oh! beloved brethren, as in the sphere of divine government it behoves us to be long-suffering. The government of God extends universally today, but it is to make way for the testimony. We must be with God about this; it is the time of long-suffering; it is the time of divine waiting upon men, and it is for us to enter into the long-suffering, and the waiting, which marks the testimony.
It was a wonderful testimony. "My Spirit", says Jehovah, "shall not always strive with man ... yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years". Genesis 6:3. Can we doubt that in every one of those days there was a testimony by the Spirit of Christ to a disobedient people? Noah was the preacher, directly or mediately, and it is very touching that in his second epistle Peter says that God spared Noah, one of eight, a "preacher of righteousness" (2 Peter 2:5), He was pleased with him. It was a question of a preacher of righteousness, there were seven others, but he is just one of the eight; he is the one that is preserved; the others do not come in for
special notice; that is the idea. But let us mark, it was not merely preaching gospel sermons, it was the Spirit of Christ. That is the thought in preaching. The Spirit of Christ preaching, and perhaps no converts! There were none then, as far as we know, but the preaching went on as the ark was preparing. That is what marks these difficult days of ours into which the government of God enters. The Spirit of Christ continues on in patience, in the time of waiting; it is the long-suffering of God, whilst He is waiting upon men.
Well, these are important matters, the sanctification, and the Spirit of Christ in the testimony and in the preaching. As the Lord says, it is "for a testimony unto them" Mark 13:9. That is important with God. It is not merely the terms of the gospel, but the Spirit of Christ in it. How the prophets of old looked into these things. And the angels desire to look into them. May God arouse us to look more into the gospel! The current testimony and instruction are for us, upon whom as Paul says, "the ends of the ages are come" 1 Corinthians 10:11. All the education of the ages, is for the assembly, so that we might be fitted for the great service or function that is in the future for us, as "coming down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God" (Revelation 21:10).
There is a further thing in 1 Peter 1:12, and that is "the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven"; not now presented as the Spirit of Christ, but formally, as a divine Person here. Think of the magnitude of the preaching, of "the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven"! 1 Peter 1:12. And what a word for every one standing up to preach the gospel -- whether he does so by "the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven"! The principle of being "sent" enters into the preaching. "How shall they preach except they be sent?" (Romans 10:15). All this enters into the action of the Spirit in the preaching. As Peter stood upon the day of Pentecost, it was with the eleven,
not with the hundred and twenty. It is a question of the Spirit "sent down", and of those who are sent ones. Peter was "sent", and the Holy Spirit operated in him, He Himself being "sent down". We can understand, therefore, the position the gospel is in. Paul says, "Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!" (1 Corinthians 9:16). The Holy Spirit operates in those who are divinely fitted to preach, those who have gift. So the gospel is imperative; it must be preached.
Well now, the final thing is in 1 Peter 4:14, where it is a question of suffering. It says, "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you". It is reproach for the name of Christ. Is there any professed believer here who has never come into reproach -- reproach for the name? You will all remember the well-known passage in Hebrews where we read that Moses esteemed "the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt" (Hebrews 11:26). I believe that thought is implied in the word "Hebrew" in the early part of Exodus. In Egypt, that word implied reproach, and that is what Moses accepted; he identified himself with "an Hebrew, one of his brethren" Exodus 2:11; he esteemed the reproach of Christ. Did "the Spirit of glory and of God" rest upon Moses? I think so, especially as he came back from Midian complete in identification with the Hebrews.. It was the reproach of Christ, and how the Holy Spirit loves to magnify Moses. "The man Moses", we are told, "was very great in the land of Egypt" (Exodus 11:3). God saw to that. We may put it down as a certainty, that where we are reproached, we shall be honoured of God; and what can be greater honour than that the "Spirit of glory and of God" should rest upon us?
Now, note the words "rests upon". It is akin to the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus. Luke tells us that "the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove upon him" Luke 3:22. I suppose there is nothing more sensitive in the whole universe than the Holy Spirit. We are
enjoined not to grieve Him; He is very sensitive: and I believe the dove being mentioned means that the Spirit could come upon Jesus, and rest there, without any disturbance whatever. That is a challenge to one's heart, as to whether the Holy Spirit can rest upon us and abide there. Well, He comes in where we are reproached for the name of Christ. Where we accept that, the "Spirit of glory and of God" rests upon us. What a dignity that is! I know well enough how young people shrink from reproach, for it is hard to bear, but then that is the thing to face. In the book of Numbers we are all enrolled typically as military persons; not necessarily trained, but eligible for military service. The age of twenty is the age for military service in Numbers. It means that every person who believes in Jesus, and who has the Spirit of God, is enrolled for military service, and in all probability the first military action he will be called upon to endure, is the reproach for the name of Christ; the enemy will attack you on this line.
In due course we become trained military men, when we understand the captain of Jehovah's host, but that is not the book of Numbers; it is the book of Joshua. The book of Numbers, coincides with Romans, in that respect. Romans contemplates the young militarily, and so you do not get the "whole armour of God" Ephesians 6:13 in Romans, but the "armour of light" Romans 13:12. You arm yourself with light in Romans and that is armour for the wilderness. It is a question of light, that is to say, you know where you are, and why you are there, and what is involved in your being there. Therefore, Romans says, "if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9). The confession with the mouth, of Jesus as Lord, and the belief in the heart that God raised Him, means salvation. It is not justification there although it is implied. Justification is chapters 3, 4, and 5, but salvation is chapter 10, and salvation involves what is
military; that I have come under the authority of the Lord. He has undertaken to defend me, but I am attacking; I am in the ranks; I confess Him, and the enemy brings the effect of that to bear upon me. My schoolmate, it may be, or my fellow-workman or my employer, or my companion -- they are ashamed to walk or to be with me, because of "the name of Christ". Well, heaven looks down with extreme interest. The enemy would suggest to you not to take your place in confessing that Name; not to say anything about it; to keep it to yourself; that this is not the place for it. These, and others like them, are the remarks heard from the opposers. Well, the "Spirit of glory and of God" will rest upon you as you overcome such reasoning, as you manfully take your stand as a soldier, and confess the Name with all that is involved in it. Noah's dove did not find any rest for the sole of her foot in the deluge, but on the believer that confesses the name of Christ, and suffers for it, the "Spirit of glory and of God" rests.
1 John 2:20,27; 1 John 3:24 (latter clause); 1 John 4:2,13; 1 John 5:6,8
The mention of the Spirit of God in the various books of the New Testament is a subject well worthy of enquiry; and I have selected this epistle believing that the Lord will graciously help, first, as regards the teaching of the Spirit. The idea of teaching is, I need not say, very extensive in the scriptures. As in nature, so in a spiritual sense; as born again we have to learn everything; and so we have many teachers. Even nature is accredited with teaching; and then God Himself teaches. Scripture speaks of Him teaching a "ploughman" (Isaiah 28:26) -- showing how the idea enters into man's circumstances, for God as forming the creation, has not left it to work its own salvation; it is not something thrown out to evolve itself at its own expense -- God is in it. We are told that in Him we all live and move, showing how near He is to us, even as Creator, entering into man's circumstances, for man is His prime object in creation, and teaching him as I said, even how to plough and how to sow his seed. In a numberless variety of ways God enters into His own creation, imparting intelligence to it.
But when we come to the spiritual realm, we have, so as to make the thing wimple, the teaching of grace in which all young believers particularly should school themselves; a teaching in which God is very gentle with us, allowing much contrariety and murmuring to pass unrebuked. There is also the teaching of the Lord which implies authority and a standard of education, in connection with which we get discipline; and there is the teaching of the Holy Spirit, with which we are now immediately concerned. The Holy Spirit is first mentioned in this epistle in connection with teaching, and it is in addressing the juniors in the graded school of God -- the little children. "I write to you little children"
(1 John 2:13). Some of us who are older, are prone to look down with a measure of patronage on our younger brothers and sisters, but not so John, although he makes the fullest allowance for growth. Our younger brothers and sisters should accustom themselves to that, to the respect of grey hairs, but particularly of spiritual stature. Heaven will be graded that way; and it is so in the assembly, and in the families of God. It is sobering for the young ones to accustom themselves to the recognition of advanced growth in others. On the other hand, John connects the Holy Spirit with the little ones, and does not in the least convey to them that they are know-nothings, but rather that they "know all things" (1 John 2:20), and that makes a very great difference. It puts the young brothers and sisters on their feet, as soon as the Holy Spirit conveys to them that they know all things. But then this has to be understood; it is what I may call a potential statement, meaning that the Holy Spirit is in you, not simply as the earnest of the inheritance, a very precious feature, or as the seal of God that you belong to Him, but that He has dignified you -- in the way you read your Bible, in the way you attend the meetings, and in the way that you speak of the things of God. You do not speak of them as the most learned unconverted theologian does, but alongside of him you are dignified and he is despicable, unworthy of speaking of these things; in other words you are anointed; you have an unction, as it says, from the Holy One, and you know all things, at least in the principle of them. He knows nothing, nor can he know anything, he is unable on his present platform to know anything; he is attempting to know these things and to speak of them as a natural man, as a student with a trained mind, knowing the original languages, but he is utterly unfit to have to do with the things of God, "for what man", says the apostle Paul, "knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:11). These men may know the things of a man, but the things of God are only known by the Spirit of God. The youngest believer has the Spirit of God, even the Corinthians had, and we have the Spirit of God that "we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" 1 Corinthians 2:12. Thus the apostle John encourages young christians by putting this dignity upon them, and consequently he tells them that they do not need "any man" to teach them.
John is taking young believers (I am speaking to them particularly now) out of the range of men, for it is a question of men as such in this chapter, he tells them that antichrist is coming, and that there are many antichrists. They are legion in our time, never has there been a time, I believe, yielding more antichrists. Young people, going to schools and offices may be unaware of the influences that are being exerted abroad -- subtle influences in many respects -- to shut out Christ from their minds by bringing in man, and the sayings and teachings of man. So the first word here in regard to the Spirit is "ye have an unction from the Holy One" 1 John 2:20 -- not a degree, or degrees, according to man, but "an unction". A university degree gives a certain dignity to a man; the letters at the end of a name are intended to convey dignity and authority. Now, what we have here is that, only it is "an unction from the Holy One" 1 John 2:20; not that any christian would assume anything, but the point here is the dignity of the believer, even the youngest, as having the Holy Spirit; that the means of his learning and the character of his knowledge, are by the unction from the Holy One. Now that brings me down to what is very practical, and that is that all that is merely human, natural intellect and natural ability, is to be shut out from our mode of learning, and our mode of speaking one to another -- from our Bible readings, and above all from our ministry. The more the natural element has a place, the more degraded the teaching and the knowledge are; whereas where the anointing from the
Holy One is owned all will take on a certain dignity, and corresponding superiority to anything that you could find in this world. A meeting of persons dignified in this way has its own distinction, which when put alongside a meeting of the most renowned theologians is noticeable at once. The unction from the Holy One puts a character on us that is inimitable; it places us far out of the range of man; there is power with it; there is something in it that man cannot deny. As was said of our Lord, "Never man spake like this man" John 7:46 -- there was something there that could not be denied; and that is what God is producing. So in verse 27 the apostle says, "These things have I written to you concerning those who lead you astray: and yourselves",1 John 2:26,27, that is to say, the apostle looks upon these dear "little children" not as shiftless, unprotected persons, but as "yourselves", -- those who have received an unction which abides in them.
Now let us take account of ourselves, not to be self-occupied, of course, but as comparing ourselves with what the world can offer, religious or otherwise. God has been doing great things for His people in our own times; it behaves us to bow in thanksgiving for what He has done. It is a day of small things, I admit, but it is nevertheless a day in which God's Spirit remains among us, and His covenant (Haggai 2:5); in which He says to us, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit" (Zechariah 4:6). And so the apostle would direct us in this sense to ourselves; it is a question of what God has done. And what is there outside? One would challenge anybody in the whole of christendom as to what there is; let them bring it forth. Now you will understand that I am not seeking for a moment that we should be self-occupied, but rather occupied with what God has done, so as to be grateful and humbled about it; for what He has done He will do -- and more, if we are dependent. Now what about "yourselves"? He says, "the unction which ye have received from
him abides in you, and ye have not need that any one should teach you; but as the same unction teaches you as to all things, and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, ye shall abide in him" (1 John 2:27). Now you see the position as to "yourselves". In the gospel of Mark, when the Lord came down from the mountain with the three selected ones, the cloud having disappeared and the voice ceased, it was "Jesus only with themselves" Mark 9:8. They had seen the King in His glory, in His majesty, as Peter says; they had seen "the Son of man coming in his kingdom" Matthew 16:28; heaven was brought down to the mountain top for them, but all that had disappeared, and what an impression they must have had as they came down! It was "Jesus only with themselves" Mark 9:8, but the Jesus who was with them, had been the central object above, in the "excellent glory". That One who was the object of the Father there, and of all else, who had been transfigured before them, was now the humble Jesus with themselves. Did they need more? No, they did not need more; nor do we need more; for in speaking of the anointing I am speaking of Him. Christ in glory sent down the Spirit, that He might be upon us, that He might characterise us, that yourselves might be possessed with this, finding all outside but darkness and confusion. I would specially urge the young ones to look into this, into that which you have come into as believing on Christ. This epistle teaches us that what we have come into is already victorious, our faith which "has gotten the victory over the world" (1 John 5:4). And yourselves, our very selves, as I may say, through the grace of God, are brought into all this through the anointing, as he says, "which ye have received from him", and which "abides in you" 1 John 2:27.
Now you see we have come in this dignity of the Spirit into a certain fixedness; and that is the next thing I wish to speak of. I am not just speaking of fellowship, I am speaking of the word abide as used in
this epistle; it refers to fixedness in certain relations. In this particular passage as having the unction, and as having been taught of Him, we find that all outside is not only confusion and darkness, but unnecessary; you do not need it. Of course I am not speaking of ordinary education for business, etc., I am speaking of what is spiritual; and this passage contemplates a certain fixedness, as being possessed of the unction which "is true and is not a lie" 1 John 2:27. There is not a shade of untruth in it. The fixedness of which I am now speaking is as true as that the earth abides in the sun. It is as intelligent by the Spirit, that the believer is in a certain fixedness in relation to God, and his righteousness in this respect is in remaining in that.
In 1 John 4:13, we learn how we know that we are in this fixedness: "Hereby we know that we abide in him, and he in us, that he has given to us of his Spirit". Now you see there is a sort of dual action in this principle. God has in His people, according to the teaching of this epistle, that in which He can abide. A marvellous thought! I commend it to the brethren. What God has in His people, viewed in the effect of His work, as seen in this epistle, is that in which He abides. I do not know in what way this could have appeared earlier. God had great delight in the creation; it was "very good" to Him. It was all the work of God, and He rested in a certain way in it; He was complacent in it. I can understand how God delighted in the work of His hands, having blessed it all, and how it was before His eyes as a restful scene. Indeed, the Holy Spirit commenting upon it hundreds of years afterwards, says, "on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed" (Exodus 31:17). But when we come to the incarnation we have something beyond that. God waited for thirty years before He announced His delight in Jesus. What can we say? He did it, and Jesus waited all those years for that announcement. It is as if God would indicate that if He announces His delight, it is because of moral
worth. This is within the reach of all of us, for what value am I unless I have moral worth? And that is what came out in Jesus. Thirty years brought out the perfection in a Man in private life; known to Mary as to no one else, I suppose, outside of His Father, for she is the Lord's mother; known also to His brethren in some way, but poorly appreciated, but perfectly known and perfectly valued by His Father. So you see there is the idea of the Father resting in that One here; and He speaks both to Him and of Him. At His baptism the voice says, "Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" (Mark 1:11), and at the transfiguration, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 17:5). There was an object on this earth in which God the Father could rest and abide. There was perfect fixedness, if I may reverently use that word of God, in a Man here. Every breath He breathed related to God. He was cast upon God from the very outset, as the scripture tells us; every word that He uttered, every movement of Christ related to God. Having come in as a Man in obedience, all was for the Father. Everything that He did was because He saw it in the Father. "The Son can do nothing of himself", He says, "save whatever he sees the Father doing: for whatever things he does, these things also the Son does in like manner" (John 5:19). How delightful to the Father! There was the affection, of course, which went back before the incarnation, for He loved Him before the foundation of the world, but I am speaking of moral worth, of that which came out in Him, of what God intended in man here; so that as the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, it abode upon Him -- that is the idea. There was nothing there in that Man that would disturb the divine sensitiveness, for that, I apprehend, is the meaning of a dove in bodily form, so that God rested there. It was far beyond the rest He had in the Sabbath, although no doubt the Sabbath was a figure of the incarnation; He
rested there and was refreshed; but what He had not hitherto found in man, He now found in infinite perfection; that is what we find here. So in 1 John 3:24 the apostle shows us how we may know we are in this fixedness: "Hereby we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he hath given to us". It is not now a question of words, but of the Spirit, that we are conscious of this blessed abiding in God, and God in us -- and what underlies it is moral worth.
You see, therefore, the function and service of the Spirit in this epistle, first in teaching, then in bringing about this conscious abiding in God and God in us. It indicates the divine thought as to us, that we are intelligent, outside the world, independent of it, and are now such objects to God that He is restful in us; that He abides in us and we in Him, and that we know this, in that He has given to us His Spirit. It is not a mere statement of scripture, but there is the consciousness, God abiding in us, and we in Him, by the Spirit which He has given to us.
Now chapter 4 also speaks of the Spirit as "the Spirit of God"; it is characteristic. We are told how we are to know the Spirit of God, and this is another matter, because this chapter is treating of spirits.
Many cults have sprung up and even the elect are exposed, so we are given a test in chapter 4, in which the name of God appears something like twenty-nine times. It is a question of God: "God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" 1 John 4:9,10. These great statements fit into this wonderful chapter, but I am speaking now of the spirits, and what is intended to expose to us the spirit of error, and how we are to know the Spirit of God (verse 2). It is not now a question of men or teachers as in chapter 2, it is a matter that may baffle the very oldest of us, that is to say, the operation of spirits abroad, how we are to discern
the Spirit of God in the midst of all this spiritual activity. Agnosticism and blatant infidelity have not the place they once had; but they have been replaced by christian science, spiritism, and other like systems. There is the action of spirits all round us, but we are taught of God here, to know how to discern these spirits and to know how correspondingly to discern the Spirit of God. I cannot dwell upon it now, but the test is "every spirit which confesses Jesus Christ come in flesh is of God" (1 John 4:2). The Spirit of God, therefore, occupies us entirely and absolutely with that order of man. The spirit of error will deny that order of man, and will build up on the man that God has rejected and set aside for ever in the death of Christ. The Spirit of God confesses Jesus Christ come in flesh; it is His Person, of course -- a divine Person, but in flesh, that order and kind of man; and any teaching, any spiritual movement, that does not confess that, is not of God; it is the working of error, and the spirit of antichrist. In chapter 2 we have antichrists; here it is the spirit of antichrist, which is more subtle. We have to "discern" the antichrists who go out, but the spirit of antichrist is that which builds up man after the flesh, that is the test here. Anything that presents itself in the way of spiritual teaching, while building up man after the flesh, is not of God, but is the spirit of error.
In chapter 5 we come to the witness of the Spirit. It says, as you will observe, in this passage well known as to the letter of it, "it is the Spirit that bears witness" (verse 6). The Spirit is presented to us as a witness in relation to the things mentioned. "This is he that came by water and blood, Jesus the Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, for the Spirit is the truth. For they that bear witness are three: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood" (1 John 5:6 - 8). The seventh verse should not be there, for there is no need of witness in heaven. Therefore we are in the presence of witness now, and a witness
in relation to these two things in connection with which the Lord Jesus came.THE HOLY SPIRIT IN LUKE
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN JOHN (NO. 1)
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN JOHN (NO. 2)
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ACTS (NO. 1)
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ACTS (NO. 2)
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ACTS (NO. 3)
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ROMANS
"In the desert God will teach thee
What the God that thou hast found --
Patient, gracious, powerful, holy,
All His grace shall there abound". (Hymn 76)THE HOLY SPIRIT IN HEBREWS
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN